Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi! He did really well on the planks!
Plank work – he did best when you were tossing the treats off the end so he can get off for the treat, then get back on – that way he doesn’t have to go slow, but he will still have to think about his balance. Delivering the food to him from your hand on the first video was actually harder for him, because he had to look up at your hand and lost his balance. You can now start tossing cookies away on slight angles, so he learns how to get on the board at slight angles and remain balanced!
Tracy
Hi!
>.I am worried a little that she won’t go fast. Now I guess the answer is lots of reward, short sessions. She has great ground speed when she is gathering her sheep or running with Hoke. She is powerful too- the ground shake>>
This is a common worry when we have youngsters! A couple of things to remember:
She is too young, in terms of brain development and body development, to go fast AND be thoughtful. So she leans more to the thoughtful side at the moment, which is GREAT because the fast is easy to get. But thoughtful is not easy to get and we really, really, really need the thoughtful for agility success. So let her continue to think things through and the speed will come.
Side note: Over the course of the MaxPup classes, you can see how slow my pups started out being, and how they gradually get faster and faster (you can start to see some speed here in MaxPup 3 from them). They are adult now and very fast – and still thoughtful. That means they can lay down a run of over 7 yps in Jumpers with weaves (closer to 8yps when there are no weaves!) and be incredibly accurate and precise too!
Lizzie is definitely not slow – she is already pretty speedy! So imagine in a year, she will be super fast AND have a ton of great skills. That is really exciting!!!
Tracy
Hi!
>.. I worry about poisoning crates in the house. Or developing new habits/patterns of not going in.
Do you mean she might bark in the crate or she might not want to go in if she thinks Saphira is getting trained? Would she be able to chew a bone or eat from a Kong or Toppl in those moments? Would she be able to relax in the car? I often put 2 or 3 dogs in the car and bring it next to the field so they are relaxing and not barking in the house.
>>The other distraction is deer. I think she chased one out of the pasture the other day and a few (maybe babies) hung out in the back field for a week or so. She looks out the livingroom window for them too. Deer send her into orbit but she comes back pretty fast.>>
Looking out the window for them might be a bit too much rehearsal of hypervigilence for now – is there a way to prevent that access?
>>This really helped me see the importance. I probably ask too much from my curious independent puppy and have for most of her life.
“I think having her mom barking in the background is really hard, in terms of processing – the brain has to devote a LOT of bandwidth to deal with being barked at and still process cues. Basically the barking activates the alar m in her brain, so then her brain has to actively try to de-prioritize that while also trying to follow you cues.”>>Understanding adolescent brain development better was a game-changer for me. We can only ask them to do the things that their brain development allows them to do!
>>I would LOVE to get her going faster and be more passionate about things. A trainer recently commented that she does things but she’s not physically putting herself into it. We’ve also struggled with reinforcement as you might remember. The world is a wonderful place in her mind with so much to explore and discover. It has gotten a ton better though. I’ve worked hard. I see moments of crazy so I know it’s in there.>>
What are her current high value reinforcers and motivators? That will help sort out ways to build up tons of speed!
Tracy
Hi!
>> That’s what I was trying to do, to have him hear the tunnel threadle verbal rather than motion
yes, but you were actually using too much arm cue because you were not moving LOL! If you are moving your feet the whole time and sometimes it is the tunnel cue and sometimes the threadle cue and sometimes just coming to you, then you will get more response to the verbal. If you are facing him and only using arm cues, then he will rely on the arm cues which is not necessarily what we want there 🙂
TracyHi!
You might have gotten an email that had ,y reply to Linda’s post in your thread – sorry! Here is your reply 🙂Looking at the video:
Great job staying in motion! The layering is all about motion, even in a small space 🙂And then to get the tight turns, you can change your motion: let her see you transition from going fast to decelerating into the wrap at :28, so she has more time to set up the collection. There was not a clear enough decel there so she was a bit wide
She found the layering back to the tunnel perfectly!
You had a very clear decel at :41 (wrapping towards you on 4) and she had a great turn! If you stay more on the takeoff side of 4 (don’t go past the jump) the positional cue will support the turn even more.
She sent back out to the layering really well here too!!!
When you did the switch at 4 at 1:04 – you had the reverse of the motion needed to get the tight turn: you were stationary when she was taking then then you accelerated to 4, so even though she did the switch, she didn’t jump in collection because your acceleration cued extension. Compare to 1:26 when you stayed decelerated and she was much tighter on the switch. Yay! So definitely plan your decel into the tighter turns to come as she is over the previous jump so she can set up her collection.
The get out to the jump behind the tunnel was trickier! Remember to reward her if there is an error, the error is yours not hers. Mainly, pointing ahead of her to the jump blocks connection and turns your shoulders to the tunnel entry, which is why you had to go a little past the tunnel to get the jump on the first rep, and why she went into the tunnel on the 2nd rep when you didn’t go past it.
That was at 1:46 – if you play it in slow motion then freeze it when she sticks her head into the tunnel, you will see your high arm is blocking your face, and your feet and chest/shoulders are pointing at the tunnel. Yes, you were saying ‘out’ but all of your physical cues said tunnel, so she was correct there. I don’t think she got rewarded there and she should have been rewarded 🙂
Compare to 1:52 and the reps after that, with the vey different physical cues (massive connection, outside arm, you can see your whole body was pointing to the correct line) and she got it every single time 🙂 That set up a really nice ending to the sequence because with the clear cues she was able to work at a big distance!Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>We did the tunnel layering challenge and all 3 of my Monkeys layered the tunnel nicely for the sequences you had.
This is great! I am glad they all did so well!
>> Mookie was fine layering the weaves. He is my top sending dog, Alonso a close second. Buddy could not send that far, he is much slower and does not get ahead of me or go out well.>>
It sounds like they are all making good progress with the layering skill. For Buddy, you can help him send out by placnig the reward or a Manners Minder to he has a visual target to drive to – it can be hard to throw a reward early enough so he doesn’t look back at you, but placing the reward in advance will solve that problem.
<
> This is so awesome! It is TOTALLY additive LOL!!! I am glad you are having a great time. Is the class with Allison and her team?
>>I realize it will take years of training like agility and it will be super fun to watch Alonso progress. He is so into it. It was a great feeling to start a new fun Sport>>
So fun! And actually it doesn’t take nearly as long as agility. It can take anywhere between 6 months and a year to get up and running, depending on how much you do and how the dog figures it out – then you are basically done training and it becomes all about maintenance and timng passes 🙂
Thanks for the update! Keep me posted!
TracyWow! great opening line, I love that he sent to 4 and 5 while you ran away and layered!
As he is entering the tunnel, you can be using your ‘walk it’ cue so he exits knowing to look for the dog walk and not at you (:16)
Great job staying in motion past the contacts!!
That backside-tunnel discrimination is really hard – even stopping stressed his brain so you got sniffing. Doing it at regular speed was too hard but doing it in slow motion really helped him! So when you see the really challenging jump-tunnel discrimination spots, you can slow down so he can read the line clearly. When he is more experienced, you will be able to do this at normal speed.
The rest looked great – nice job finding 11 (and not the tunnel! You can send to 12 more and do the FC without getting past the entry wing, rather than go across the bar there (1:15). He was wide there based on your position.
The layering from tunnel 13 to the 14 jump looked fabulous!!!The layering at the end (after the teeter) worked really nicely too! The only suggestion is to give him his “right” verbal before he enters the tunnel (starting about 4 feet before his nose goes into the tunnel) so he can exit turned and looking at the new line.
Great job here!!
TracyHi!
He had some trouble finding the #3 jump here – you said go go go before he got in, but I think the ‘out’ is better verbal for him. And definitely throw the rewards so he doesn’t look at you at all 🙂 Nice job staying in motion when he missed it to try again!!The wrap towards you looked good at :57! Now, you owe him 10 cookies right now because at :58 you totally stepped out of the wrap and to the weaves, so off he went, Good boy! You gave him a verbal correction there but your step had sent him there, so you owe him10 apology cookies now LOL! You stepped towards the next jump a lot better at 1:06 and he didn’t go to the weaves 🙂
T
Aha! Look at :09 here – perfect timing of starting the wrap cues, right as his front feet were landing from jump 3. This was a wrap-towards-me and he did well with that, and sent back out to he line beautifully! That would be the same timing as the switch away, with the difference being that you would turn him away with your hands and step to the Rear Cross line with your feet.
Great job!
THi!
He found the out jump beautifully here too! Your timing was not as early with the verbals as it was in the previous rep, but still good!
The switch was still a little late: you did it about one stride before takeoff but it was still too late for him to set up the jumping – he tried but ending up dropping the bar. One stride sooner (landing from the #3 jump) should be perfect!
T
On this clip, you gave him the high energy out out out before he even entered the tunnel – and he stayed on his line perfectly! Suoer!!!
The switch cue was late at :09 (he was already taking off for 4) so try starting it (verbal and hands moving) as he lands from 3 and see how he does.Nice work!
Tracy
