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Hi!
I am glad she still loves her slam! Adolescence does weird things to dog brains and sometimes they forget about their love for the slam LOL!! I guess the association with cheese is all-powerful đ You can move this slam setup to different locations for different noises: grass, dirt, maybe even concrete if it is not too hot to do that!
I see what you mean about the narrowness of the board being hard! She actually had both back feet straddling it at one point! Helping her out with the chair as a blocker was great – there was steam coming out of her ears because she was thinking so hard, but that is exactly what we want. Super! Are you planning a 2o2o teeter with her?
The moving sits looked good, she responded quickly and happily. The next step is to fade the little hand cue (hand lift) you were giving with the sit verbal. And if she is fine with that – add faster walking đ and build to a jog then a run (but not in 100 degree weather!)
Great job here!
TracyAwesome! The new games are posted, so you can set this one:
Let me know if you get this one done before Sunday and I can send you the next week’s set up!
Tracy
Hi! These are all looking good!!
On the send&go and BC video:
Great job breaking this down into the various elements!
The sending looked really good, she has excellent commitment! She had one little question on jump 3 of the very first rep but that was probably just the two of you getting into the groove because the rest was very smooth!Isolating the blind to the tunnel looked good in terms of connection and her quickness of response!
Putting it together went well – the hardest part was probably figuring out how much sending you needed (or didnât need :)) so you can get back down the line for the blind. She needed very little help on the line to the pinwheel jump, which helped you get to good position.
At 1:56, you donât need to support the BC jump as much because that put you closer to the line to the end of the tunnel you didnât want – so she had to do most of the turn on landing. You can totally use lateral distance so you are closer to the tunnel entry you want when she is at the blind cross jump.You had a better line at 2:06 – note how you were heading more towards the tunnel you wanted, and you were less near the jump as you did the blind.
Because she is so fast, one suggestion to get your connection on the new side visible more quickly: bring your arms in tight to your ribs. With your arms extended, you are starting the BC on time but the connection she needs to see ends up being a bit late because it takes a little while to get the arms changed. But if your arms are in tight to your ribs as you do the blind, the connection is quicker so she will see it sooner. That way, she will be able to mark the turn before takeoff and not on landing. The turn on landing meant she saw the new connection as she was taking off – ideally, we can show her the new connection so she can see it before takeoff and make the adjustment.
Rear crosses are also going well – she reads them beautifully and collects amazingly well on them!!! One suggestion – you can set up a little more decel on the jump before the rear cross jump then drive to the center of the bar of the RC jump to set the RC. That will get you a great turn, and will also make the RC cues look different than the post turn cues.
Like at 1:09, you turned your shoulders to the left turn wing then showed RC info to the right wing. She read the turn, but it did look like a post turn for a moment and we donât want her to think that a post turn cue with decel is a RC cue LOL!And added bonus of that will that you wonât get left too far behind on the RCs – you will be ahead of her again really easily.
Great job!
TracyHi –
>> got greedy with just getting her done :).Get greedy with the adults, not the teenager LOL!!!
>>I need to get better at being creative with ways to turn her bc yes I knew some of the cookies and line ups were gonna buy me something Iâd didnât want. Post turning on the one helped! Wraps and dig/check also sent her into high arousal lol.>>
I thought you were pretty creative! And the higher arousal is good, we need her to be successfully working in higher arousal!
>>The leash comes off before I step out. Or maybe it doesnât. Damn it. Now I gotta figure that out lol!>>
Prepare her for everything, because if you have an exact ritual… what happens when you make a mistake or something interrupts the ritual? Both of those are likely to happen, and I have seen dogs have meltdowns over it. So have a toolbox not a ritual and you will see more success!
T
Good morning!
>>Does this idea apply to just longer sequences or also to skills (e.g. training a wrap or a backside)?>>
Definitely to sequences and courses. And for training like one jump stuff? Do it 3 or 4 times, maybe, then move on. The dogs do start to ask us why we keep doing the same thing and we often see behavior changes when we repeat too much.
>>I tried to use more motion in the subsequent reps (once I remembered after the first couple, lol). It definitely seemed to help.>>
Yes! She is definitely getting the idea here with the layering! You can try running during the layering – nothing supports extension on a line like the handler also running in extension đ The more you ran, the better she stayed on the line. You can run deeper to the tunnel entry, which will give you more room to accelerate on a parallel line
The sequences went well! The flip away on the 5 jump went really well! (:48)
The wrap towards you on the 4 jump (1:06) was a little late and she didnât expect it. This is a spot where more acceleration will help too, because wraps need a transition into decel even when the handler is working at a distance. That will get a tighter turn and she will be more ready to go back out to 5 (a bit more connection at 1:08 will make it smoother but that is a hard line).
For the turn away on jump 4 at 1:35 – I think you can give her bigger cues, starting when she is landing from 3 – the verbal can start and you can raise your hands, kind of like saying âget ready, it is going to happen!â She didnât read it because it was a smaller cue that started as she was landing from 4.
The turn away at 1:54 started as she was jumping which is definitely earlier, but I bet it can be one or two strides sooner to make it even smoother.
She found the layered line back to the tunnel really well each time!!
Sequence 2
Finding the jump behind the tunnel went well – you can play with an outside arm to support it even more dramatically.
When you put it into the full sequence, you did a really nice job cuing the difference between the tunnel at 2:35 so it was very clear to her, even after all the other reps of the jump behind it. NICE!!
Things fell apart a little at 2:43 – the cue to the jump behind the tunnel was not quite as strong as she needs it to be (this is where an outside arm and intense connection can really help!). But, she didnât take the tunnel and ended up close to the jump – totally rewardable! Remember to reward the small pieces and not try for perfection – you did eventually get her to take the jump at 2:59. She got a treat for that but there were 15 seconds of frustration that we would like to avoid rehearsing. So keep reminding yourself not to fix, just to carry on, reward something in flow, then if something needed fixing it can be fixed in flow.
>>I wouldnât exactly call Nox proficient with that yet. Do you think I can go ahead and start working on the big courses? >>
Yes – definitely move to those because our goal is to teach the layering skills, not to get these sequences perfect. But, since the skill is new, donât start by attacking the course as a full Cours to find the trouble spots. Instead, take a look at the layering opportunities and start with those – you can break things down with the lotus ball and MM, and when she can do the sequences with the layering, try to put it back together (but not in the same session, that will be too much yardage for you both!)
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyYay! It could be latent learning for both of you: her brain wired the mechanics and your brain wired the mechanics too đ It is a big win!!
TracyGood morning!
>>I do still find myself nervous if Iâm showing at a new site. Iâve learned to give myself enough time to either check out the site and set up the night before if I can or get to the site with extra time to get set up and settled before needing to walk.>>
Great! You have a solid plan to be prepared and that is wonderful! You can also note the nervousness, and listen to it. What, exactly, are you nervous about? Is it just the excitement? Or the nerves of the runs? New people and places? All are valid reasons, but it is good to sit quietly and listen to yourself sort out why you might be nervous.
>>And this is where more work on my part needs to happen. Sometimes I find myself watching and judging my dog as we run⌠Maybe that stems from the fact that I have long thought of a trial as a way to see where we are in trainingâ what we are doing well, what needs to go on antraining list. Making that switch from trainer to handler could use some help. Or I will have a random thought that I could do a different cross than I had planned (BUT NOT WALKED!) Yea, that doesnât usually go well. hahaha. Or I will fear I canât make the cross I had planned and change my strategy. Again, that doesnât usually go well. I am getting better about sticking to my plan and trying to make it happen.>>
This is an attentional state issue, where you are in the selective attentional state: doing the thing but also aware of the distractions such as what just happened. Ideally, you would be in the sustained attentional state where you are DOING THE THING and all distractions fall away.
>>Lately, we get almost to end of course, 2 or 3 obstacles from the finish and my focus wavers, and I lose it. Iâm reading the step on Mindfulness next and hopefully will get some ideas from it.>>
That is probably more about the attentional state too, thoughts creep in (âI GOT this! Iâm gonna Q!â) and then boom⌠error. I have been there LOL!!! Yes, the mindfulness will help but also all that you describe can be dealt with by âuppingâ your visualization game. And good news – we start that on Monday! YAY!!!!! Stay tuned đ
â¨TracyGood morning! Really nice session here!!!!
ââGame changer on the physical and verbal âwrongâ she was soooo good this roundââ
Yes! She was great here and so were you đ Anything that went wrong from a handling perspective as either rewarded immediately, or ignored (like when she didnât take the jump after the tunnel on rep 4). On the first rep, I could not ell if you wanted the jump or tunnel, so it was smart to reward her as if it was just a warm up round and then start over LOL! And when she ran past the jump after the tunnel exit, it was probably because she was sent into it on a really angled entry which causes an angled exit, and you didnât say âgoâ or anything to override that. She didnât miss that jump on any other rep when she was sent on a better line.
One small detail that will also make a big difference: Use âget itâ to mark that a reward has been thrown, not âyesâ The âyesâ markers are more vague and often cause the dog to look at us (or come back out of the tunnel entry like she did here LOL!)
You ended on a couple of really good full runs. You had a perfect one at 1:57 – you can then take a break in the session and let her decompress, run around, etc. Do something else for a couple of minutes, check your email, have a donut. Then come back and try it again if you want. When you immediately tried it again at 2:26, she couldnât quite line up. You were smart to ask for something else and ended strong, but I bet a little mental break/dance party would have fit in really well there.
>>New thing coming up. Sheâs waiting for me to cue the set up. Is it ok to ask and if she says no change the plan? I know I have to be careful with it. I can usually read her eyes if Iâm too hot or what are we doing nowâŚ>>
That is fine – I donât believe in a single âstart buttonâ behavior because that assumes that all environments (internal and external) are consistently the same. They are not, of course đ so asking or changing plans, or accepting other offered behavior is fine too. You can also play with 2 other things at the start line:
– when to take the leash off. After the line up? Before the line up? She kind of needs to know both.
– sending her to the first jump without always doing the line up between your feet. If she offers eye contact, you can send to the jump. Or does a cued hand touch. Or offers a stand stay. Or responds to a sit cue. Mix it up!Mixing it up a bit can be helpful for 2 reasons:
– it keeps any âroutineâ from becoming paired with arousal and anxiety, so she can stay in a more balanced state
– it gives you are more extensive toolbox, in case there is some sort of delay at the start line or she canât do the lineup, for whatever reason.Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! The girls are doing well here!
Looking at Rosieâs video:
Sequence 1:
The thrown lotus ball totally helps – it helped her predict that when you were moving and saying âout jumpâ that she should carry on to the jump, so she did! Yay! That went really well – for now, keep throwing it really early and then you can start delaying the throw more and more and more til it is eventually faded out.Sequence 2:
You also had great reward throwing here as you built up the understanding of finding the jump past the tunnel. It made a huge difference for her! Only one little blooper: at 2:08 you were late with the out cue and had already turned, so she got the tunnel
The other reps looked good and it looked like the outside arm was really useful for her!And when you put together the full sequence, she found the #3 jump really consistently, but with a couple of questions (like at 3:03) so you can keep throwing the reward to her for that jump.
She found the line to the tunnel really well after taking the jump behind it! Yay! And then found the line back to the tunnel with the layering and visual obstruction really nicely!! I like how you randomly tossed the reward to her for the jump behind the tunnel even when working on the bigger sequence, and also when you moved the jump further away – that helps keep the value for distance really high!
On Lilyâs video:
She was really good with the jump after the tunnel on your left and not as comfortable finding the jump going towards the tunnel on your right. It might have something to do with the visual barrier drawing her attention (âis that an obstacle, dad?â) and also when you curved your line away a little too soon (like at 1:07)., and also possibly that she is better turning to her right than to her left. On the reps where you sent her and then ran the parallel line (like at 1:38) she found it really well.
You were great about throwing the reward nice and early, so that should make it a lot easier for her to find it just on the verbal (and then you wonât have to send her before moving up the line). You can already seeing it develop like at 2:14 and 2:20. Then she stoped doing it – partially because you were trying to leave the line sooner and werenât throwing as early, and partially because she had already done a lot of reps and was probably fatigued. It is fine to get a couple of good reps then leave the behavior and do something else đ
She dd really well finding the jump behind the tunnel! Yay! You had good motion and connection and verbals there, plus it was a right turn which might be the easier side for her.
The last sequence was going so well!!! I am sorry about your foot, that looks painful!!!
>>The doctor says it is plantar fasciitis. Not sure how long before I will recover. Right now it is very painfull.>>
Ouch! I had that in my left foot a few years ago, and now it is acting up in my right foot. It is very painful especially first thing in the morning! I found that massage (from the lower back down all the way to the foot) really helped, and so does stretching and there is a boot contraption thing I sleep in and that REALLY helps!!
>>I was wearing some water shoes that have very little support instead of athletic shoes. I think this was my downfall. Lesson learned the hard way.>>
Ugh, I totally relate – I basically change my shoes all the time, have inserts, etc, and cannot wear those water type shoes for more than a few minutes.
Hopefully the pain goes away ASAP!!!!! And if you are comfortable walking, we can work all of these sequences from a walk so the girls get the skills while your foot recovers!!
Nice work here – keep me posted about your foot!
TracyGood morning!
>RYG 2, this was hard. >>
Yes, this sequence opens up a big can oâ worms: verbals, jump/tunnel discriminations, strategizing motion, etc.
A couple of ideas:
Assuming the video is in chronological order: At the beginning of the video, the jump was probably not visible enough at the start so she had a hard time finding it. My guess is she simply could not see it đ I started with it just barely past the tunnel entry and then moved it eventually to where it was here in this session . At 1:28, towards the end of the video, you moved the jump to a more visible position – that is a good starting point for this and then you can gradually move it further and further away.>>Maybe my âGOâ jump was confusing to her there, since I had said go tunnel before.>>
Yes, that is a possibility: the go tunnel and go jump verbals sounded very similar in terms of rhythm and pitch and frequency, so she might have had trouble picking out if it was âjumpâ or âtunnelâ. You can try just using obstacle names for the tunnel instead of go tunnel, or tunnel tunnel tunnel GO to get the straight exit. Then for the jump, you can use a âjumpâ verbal or a âget out jumpâ verbal.
You can also play with changing the strength of connection – the tunnel there didnât need a lot of connection, so you can soften the connection for the tunnel then intensify the connection as you begin to cue the jump behind it. The outside arm totally helps with that intense connection too!
The rest of the sequence was looking good, so it is just a matter of being able to consistently cue the jump behind the tunnel and helping her understand it.
Because it is a trained skilled more than a handled skill, definitely re-visit it and let me know how it goes! I bet she will have it all sorted it out when you try it again đ
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
She is doing really well with leading with her head! Good bendy girl!!!!You can definitely go to clicking for the single wrap, but line her up at your side to let her have a straight approach to the upright for 2 reasons:
– A cleaner start to each rep so there will be less jockeying around to figure out how to get her going
– It will better simulate what she needs to do on course, which is approach the wing and turn her head to wrap it.Then after the reward, reset at your side to start the next rep each time so you can start to get further and further away, which challenges her to keep turning her head into the turn even when she is moving faster towards the upright đ â¨â¨Nice work here!!
TracyHi!
Tunnel threadles are looking good – you did a great job of staying in motion but helping less, so he learns the verbal more đ That is the goal!
When he is turning to his left, be sure to get the connection on the new side as you move – he could easily see the motion but not the connection so ended up behind you and did fancy new move to get to the end of the tunnel LOL!!
You can spread out the tunnel and add more distance away from it now, to keep teaching him to turn away on his own and find the tunnel threadle entry with less help from you (you just keep moving parallel to his line).
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
The threadles looked great! He totally has the in-then-out idea – so smart!! Just be sure to keep your shoulders open til he gets to the reward, so you donât rehearse closing your shoulders too early. You can start adding different start angles for him, and also move to the advanced level where he sees the serp and threadle cues in the same session đ
He is also doing a super job of finding the backside! You were really good with letting him see the whole barrel and rewarding him nice and fast đ
Since that went so well, now you can add more motion. Instead of being at the barrel, you can be moving up the line on a parallel path to his path. So start further from the barrel, about 10 feet away. Toss the treat about 5 feet behind you or put him in a stay about 5 feet behind. Start to move up the line to where the barrel and bump meet, then you can start saying your backside verbal – keep moving forward til he passes you to the backside, then reward like you did here. If that goes well for a few reps, you can move over a little bit so he sees a little more of the bump but still goes to the backside đ
Nice work here!!
TracyGood morning!
>>This sequence also had a double lead change. They exit the tunnel on a left lead, have to switch to a right lead to get to the jump and then back to a left lead to turn left and present jump 6. Thatâs a lot of fast footwork.>>
Truth! That is a lot of processing for young dogs! It gets easier as they mature but the latency is a little higher and responses take a little longer at this age.
>>Iâll dig out the zigzag exercises. Thatâs a hard task for Sprite to keep changing leads. Is there another exercise to help with that? She is organizing herself better overall. Yay!>>
The zig zags eventually build up to a jump grid, like this, then eventually more jumps get added:
>>Itâs doubtful Iâll get back to the park before Friday. So, Iâll see what the lives bring Thursday or try the agility pop outs at the park.
The lives might be perfect for the park – you can do a bunch of work on just 4 jumps! Stay tuned!
Tracy
