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Wow! Baby girl is growing up!! She did really well here!!! She was a little careful running for Kyla and Kyla gets a gold star for remembering all the verbals and having great connection! Very cool! I think the little blooper at the end is just a scenario Muso has not seen yet (the left verbal meaning to also ignore the jump you see out there that is not on the line :))
Great job! The future is very exciting!!! You can start bringing her heights up and maybe look for NFC opportunities in August and September?
Tracy
Good morning!
>.Tried a lick mat tonight- worked better than intermittent treats.>>
Yep! When I spoke to a rehab vet/conditioning person a few years back about it, she reminded me that we were NOT trying to shape behavior that would go into the competition ring, we were trying to give the dogs a workout and that it was TOTALLY ACCEPTABLE to do whatever it takes to get the dog stationary or moving with the correct form… lure lure lure! Lickimat for the win!
The Go lines look good here! You can definitely place the toy out past the jump on those so you can connect better (which supports the line more) and still be comfy that he will get the reward without looking at you.
Looking at the RCs: the key is to be showing the RC diagonal, which is basically pressure towards the center of the bar as you move up the line, then when he passes you, you can cut in behind him. I think you were trying to create the RC with the arm cue and a toy throw with the outside arm, but it is a motion cue on this type of RC. To show it to him, you can start closer to the tunnel exit so you can get on the RC line sooner (center of the bar is your destination). No need for the verbal for now, and don’t try to throw the toy before he jumps – your left hand coming up to throw the toy also caught his attention and turned him towards you rather than away. So you can let him jump and then throw the toy, even if he lands turning the wrong way (that would just mean more pressure towards the center of the bar needed, and also lots of connection :))
Working it on the flat by walking behind him didn’t quite make sense to him plus he was breaking the stay, but it brings us to this:
>>>>Something I realized this weekend, actually noted before but was driven home this weekend– when we have too many failures or repetition or he’s getting too hot- he starts grabbing grass or sticks when we finish a sequence.>>>>
Yes, he is not subtle with his stress behaviors! And if you are seeing *any* stress behaviors, you need to re-design your training sessions. You can see his stress behaviors here on the RC section (he was jumping up at your hands) and also on the backside proofing session (more jumping at your arm/hand and a little at your face too).
So in order to make sure he is not getting any stress or frustration built into his training:– set a timer for every single session. 60 seconds, ready set go! And when the timer says 60 seconds are finished? Throw a toy, game over for now, doesn’t matter if he ended on a success or not (don’t get caught in the “just one more” or “he seems fine” or “end on success” trap because that is the road to failure LOL!!)
– live and die by the 2 failure rule: 2 failures, total, in a session? No more failures allowed – make it easier. And if you are not sure how to help him, stop the session and watch the video. Still not sure? Move onto something else and post the video 🙂 If you are seeing stress behavior from too many failures, then you are ignoring the 2 failure rule!
– note the behaviors that are stress behaviors, even if he is successful, and change something to help him out.
With that in mind, looking at the backside proofing session: note how much he was jumping up at your arm/hand and even a little at yur face. That is Audie-speak for “this is unclear! I am frustrated!”. Even though he did generally go to the correct side of the jump, he was frustrated because you were looking ahead of him and pointing forward, so he didn’t see the connection which tells him exactly where to be. So definitely add in more connection, with your hand pointing back to his nose, and eyes on his cute eyes 🙂 so when you say the backside verbal, he will go directly to it and not have any BIG MAD moments of frustration 🙂
Note how when things are clear, like on the Go reps at the beginning, he does not leap at you at all! It is only when things are unclear – so if he gets leapy, take it as communication of frustration and add more connection or more help so he can get it right 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Yes, I definitely see what you mean about her not liking the teeter board! So, we need to approach this with a lot less pressure, more clarity in what you are asking her for, and a lot more value in the food or toys.
What I mean by less pressure is much shorter sessions (one or two reps, tops) and no body or wing pressure to try to get her to interact with it. The body pressure is when you were leaning into her or tossing treats towards her feet to try to get her to move backwards, or insisting she get on by going around the wings to come down the board. BCs in particular will move away from pressure, plus the pressure doesn’t build the value so we want to eliminate it.Using treats is a little low in value for her here, especially when there is a single delivery (one a a time). So, use her highest value toy, or a hugely valuable food reinforcement (like a bowl of breakfast). One rep gets the entire bowl or the toy to run around with – that will go a long way to getting her happy, as compared to the more traditional training of one treat at a time, with multiple reps.
A clicker can help, but be super consistent about what the click was for – in this session, the clicks were coming for all sorts of things like backing up, standing still, etc so I don’t think she was making the association of what you wanted.
On the 2nd video, when you were working the sound of the teeter – she definitely flinches when she hears it, which means it is too loud for now. You can do a one-rep session where you gently tap it to the ground (ideally she does not flinch) and then you throw her favorite toy or give her a giant portion of food or treats. And be sure that the toy thrown or food delivery happens after the sound, to really maximize the association.
>> She is comfortable on the solid board between tables & with a 6” tip on the tables but we stayed away from the end & then just put it away.>>
This is good! If she is comfortable with the teeter between 2 tables, keep working that progression, very gradually adding tip.
Separately, you can work a 2on 2off with a target on the plank that doesn’t move, so she really loves the target. Then when she loves loves loves that, you can put the target on the end of the teeter board and ask for 2o2o there – without the teeter moving. If she is happy with that, you can very gradually add movement – it will take a while, because it is a very gradual progression, but it will be worth it when she loves the teeter!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>I think what is confusing me a bit, as I was working the stay today, is it seems like if I move when I release, will I be releasing with motion? Instead of releasing in motion. So if I release AND move at the same time, will he think that when I move it’s the release, not my verbal?>>
Yes, the release is the key to training the stay, but also making sure that motion is *not* associated with the release. It is all about handler mechanics and making sure that the movement and the marker and the reinforcement are not all happening at the same time or in the wrong order.
What was happening on the video here is that the release and movement and reward presentation are happening simultaneously (or the reward is actually moving first, if you watch carefully: you were facing him, standing still, then leaned in, moved your hand… then said the marker) , so the movement is what he is perceiving as the antecedent to the reward which means the movement will become the release.. Even reaching to him to feed him in position is getting him to move a bit, so I don’t recommend you do that as you build the stay.
Think of the stay training differently: when he offers the sit or down, your response is to move away and then while you are moving, mark then reward. Nothing happens all at the same time, so the individual elements stand out and one does not get prioritized over the other (because motion will always get prioritized :)) Motion will not become the release for two reasons:
– your motion of slowly moving away is happening the whole time and does not predict that you are going to present the reward, unlike standing still then rewarding.
– the release marker will happen after you are already moving and away, and before the reinforcement moves (this is the key!!) and so the release marker will come to predict the reinforcement, so he will learn to wait for the release marker even when you are moving away.
So he sits (or downs, either is fine if you are waiting for him to offer). Then you slowly move away and while you are slowly moving away, you say “catch” and then you throw the treat. Remember to *not* move the treat until after you say catch – otherwise he will just watch the hand move.
You can replace the ‘catch’ with a clicker, and also you can use your forward release word so he leaves position to come forward to the treat. As with the ‘catch’, everything happens separately: you are moving the whole time, you mark the behavior, and only after the marker does the reward hand move.
>>I’ve been trying to teach Dreamer Left and Right since we have some downtime, and he is just not getting it at all. Maybe I should ask in camp. My verbals suck. >>
I use the minny pinny for this: holding the dog’s collar, start the verbal 3 or 4 times, then let go – that makes left/right much easier to train. If you start moving and then start the verbals at about the same time, he will not really learn the verbals because the brain is prioritizing motion.
He did really well with the teeter here! A short, baby-steps session was perfect. He probably needs you to be one step ahead of him as he goes up the ramp, so he drives straight for the end without stopping to see if you are there. You can start with the treat toss like you did, and move to the teeter before he turns around – waiting at the bottom of the blue so as he gets on, you are a little ahead and can get him moving up the ramp at the same speed the whole time.
The lazy game looked great! Yay! He definitely figured it out. I think going from the lazy game directly to the toy with you running might have been too big of a leap – he got some of the jumps really well, but struggled to find the jump after the tunnel. So dial up one variable at a time – the toy dials up the arousal variable, so you can continue walking rather than running. Keeping your motion at a walk while he is more stimulated will help him find the line better without you needing to help too much on the jump after the tunnel. And when he can find it consistently, then you can add more and more of your motion in as well.
>> I was happy he was able to switch from treats to the toy. :).
That was awesome!! He has come along really well with that!!!
>>At the end of the video I considered resetting the jump and going again, then decided nope, that was enough, especially when it was already so hot>>
Smart! No need to do a lot of reps especially in the heat – I don’t think it was a resetting of the jump question, it was more of a too-much-handler-motion question. So if something was not quite right and you want to change something and do more – always look at the video first before you do more, so you can see what was actually happening there, and what is needed to help him out.
The tire shaping looked great! The lazy game really helped him here, and you can definitely add the tire into the lazy game with the 3 jumps and the tunnel by replacing a jump with the tire (but still walking for now).
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I totally agree that breaks are great! And hopefully the vaccines didn’t take too much out of you and you had an enjoyable time sitting 🙂
She really quickly figured out th elazy contacts game – good girl!!! Targeting is fun and easy, so offring the 2o2o to get it going was easy for her. She was sitting during this game, so if you prefer her to be standing during the 2o2o (I prefer standing over sitting), then we can make subtle adjustments – a lower plank might do the trick, something that is just 2 inches off the ground approximately. Or, moving you further back by amaybe 6 inches might help her stand. My guess is the lower plank will be easier to get her to stand, she was probably sitting because it was more comfy for balance wile targeting.
Great job here!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHave you ever taught him the Super Bowls pattern game? It is the foundation for the weaves game.
I don’t think I have a good video of it, but here is Leslie McDevitt teaching it:
T
Hi!
Sequence 2 looked great !>>irst rep I needed to continue saying Jump, I have no idea why I stopped, well maybe I do…I did a quick, refresher type walk through of this because I had really walked it so thoroughly the day before. Clearly, needed to be a bit more focused.>>
On run 1, you were definitely a bit too decelerated and quiet at the beginning and on the ending line. Big difference with the verbals and acceleration on the 2nd run! Nice!
Nice FC 5-6! Nice BC 8-9-10!!! You were a little in his way on the send to 10 at :17 and :46, he considered the backside of the 10 jump on both runs there when he had o go around you. Try to get closer to where the wing and bar meet on the right turn side of the jump.
>.Interesting mental learning….kinda similar to what can happen when I walk a couple of courses first thing in the AM and then don’t run until several hours later. Hmmmmmmm……>>
Yes! Interesting you should mention that, we talk about it tonight in the mental prep class 🙂
The opening of the second course went really well!
>>Then played around with adding Round at Jump 6. Almost got trapped in the “why isn’t this working, it should work” mindset but I was able to “recover” and try a few things to help Sly understand. Not sure what I think about all this info yet…need to think about it and watch some slo mo. >>
When something goes wrong and I am not 100% sure why, or I think it was a dog error… I always stop what I am doing and watch the video. Turns out that it is almost always handler error LOL!!
The bar coming down on 6 here was handler error – At :40, :54, :59 you were using a new verbal and moving to the center of the bar, so he set up his jumping on the line you set like a slice – then you moved back in towards the 7 jump so he tried to turn and couldn’t do it over the bar and hit the rail trying to adjust. The line for the turn there would be right where the wing and bar meet, on the jump cups, so he can collect more before takeoff.
Having him do it from the platform is fine and always a good exercise to revisit but also be sure that your handling cue supports the line so he doesn’t have to sort it out over the bar.
>>Definitely might need a new word…. Again…hmmm…. Interesting>>
I don’t think this was a word thing – if you watch it in slow motion, you will see it was a line of motion thing: he saw slice then convergence, so tried to adjust over the bar.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
The lateral sends to the barrel went really well! She was a very good girl to hold the stay and go to the barrel when released ad sent. And rewarding a lot of stays is PERFECT!!>.Plus, then she needs to leave the leash tug alone and transfer to the toy I’ve got.>>
A tug leash is a great thing! Definitely lots of trading for treat for it, so she gets used to letting go of it and having you take it off.
And when using it in a game like this, try not to put it right next to her – it is too soon for that LOL! She got a cookie at :27 then turned to her leash and you reacted like it was wrong… but the cookie delivery plus the leash right there was a little too much for now. She was also a little confused at :44 on the 2nd video, with the leash right there.
So, part of the transition is to play with it, take it off/ get her to release it, toss it away to the side (like you would at a trial) *then* start the line up to the barrel. That takes the leash out of the picture at that point, so it will be easier for her to engage with your toy (she did really well with that). You can have your toy in your pocket to get things started and have a free hand to take the leash off, that is fine 🙂 And you don’t need to give her a treat when she moves into the sit – that can also free up a hand 🙂Great job here! Let me know what you think and stay cool!
TracyHi!
I think the carpets worked great here! And it is definitely too hot to be outside at any time of day in your area for now.For the stays – the excitement of the toy plus the new rugs might have been a little distracting and made the stay harder, but overall I thought she did well!
>>Sometimes the higher value the toy the harder it is for her to stay. And if I’m accidentally waving it, it’s even harder.>>
Yes, all true LOL And be sure that you use your “catch” cue before you move your hand to throw it back to her, otherwise she is going to start moving when you move your toy hand.
A couple of ideas for the sit:
– most pups do better when you don’t feed them for the sit before you walk away – that is confusnig about when the behavior is finished or not. So try cuing th esit, letting her get into it, then moving away and either throw the reward back or release her forward.Also, you don’t need to move that fast on the lead out, but try not to move away very slowly or with any tension… it actually builds anticipation in the release and might get her breaking the stays more
She did really well with the jumping game here! The only thing I would add is to tell her to GO after the release when you want her to go straight. You got to your stationary position in time that she easily read the wrap cues. Super!
>.Since I can’t get far away with her stay yet, and she seems to be getting the idea of the going straight vs the decel in this room, ok to stay inside for now?>>
OMG yes, definitely stay inside! Way too hot to do any of this outdoors for now.
Great job!
TracyArgh, grumble grumble now I am mad at myself LOL!! I always put the feedback into a different doc then paste it in, for when my internet randomly goes out. But then there are the moments when I accidentally paste the same thing twice. Sorry! Be right back with Emmie’s info 🙂
T
Hi!
>> If you’d prefer me not to send the video of me walking without the dogs on further sequences, just let me know. It makes for a long video. Unfortunately, in the portion for the dog’s cues on sequence 1 I can’t really even hear what I was saying and it is a bit awkward watching how stumped I was on the first sequence trying to process where the dog needs certain cues and where I need to be watching them. Sorry about that. I did better speaking up so I could hear what I was saying on the second sequence but I’ll wait to see if you want me sending the walk thru videos or not.>>
No apologies needed! Walk throughs are indeed weird awkward things LOL! I am happy to look at walk through videos, because we handlers make the most errors on our walk throughs… and that translates to the run. So since we all share the goal of being clean and fast the first time, walk through planning becomes super important. these videos were definitely not too long – and they were very informative, because your runs matched your walk through for the most part. That is GREAT and also gives us insight into things to remember.
I thought your walk throughs looked really good – TONS of connection (yay!) and really strong emphasis on where the dog would be when you needed to cue him. It is possible that your go faster section needs to be faster when we get onto the bigger courses, but the pace was really good here!
For Zane, the small adjustments I was going to suggest after run 1 (a little sooner on our decel at 3, do it before he hit the halfway mark between the tunnel exit an jump 3, and letting him see you turn towards 6 before he got into the 5 tunnel rather than accelerate) were the adjustments you made in the 2nd run. Both runs looked really strong, and the 2nd run was particularly lovely because you were earlier with your cues at 3 and 5.
Comparing the walk through the run – you ran 3 and 5 exactly like you walked them on the first run, so for future walk through you can remind yourself hat Zane needs the info sooner for turns on jumps and tunnel exits.
On the walk through, you did not walk a spin at 7 (backside before the last tunnel) but you did it on both runs. I am not sure Zane needed it – he looked at you when he landed there, which might mean the spin was too strong of a turn cue.
Dice’s runs looked great too! Yay! You are probably a little less comfy running him, so the spots where Zane could be tighter were also spots that Dice could be tighter too (exit of 2 to 3, earlier decel, and exit of 5 to 6, letting him see you move away from the tunnel rather accelerate past it)
And same as Zane – when you did the spin, he looked at you and actually took a step towards you. So, he may not need it either – a send-and-go might be the best for both boys! If you send, call and when they turn say “tunnel”, I bet it works well! Definitely worth it to see what they do without the spin, so you know for sure if you will need it or not.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyAwww this is such a great update!!!! I am so excited for you both!!! Yay to Reacher for being a rockstar. And yay for you, for being the best dog momma and setting him up for big success!!!!!! The future is very exciting!!!!!!!!!!!
>>One last thing, you’d be proud of the fact that although I accidentally did not have two balls like I thought in my bag, NOT ONE TIME did I do a ball switch from hand to hand.>>
HA!!!! YAY!!!! Planning is key (or two balls LOL!). It is amazing how helpful it is when we do not switch the toys around – t he dogs see everything 🙂
Hooray for a fabulous seminar!!!
Tracy
Hi! Great to see you jumping in here!!
>>By the 2nd/3rd rep I was pretty much cuing as I had walked it but it took that long. >>
Do you have a video of the walk through? That can tell us where/what we need to focus on during the walk through, to get the run as close to perfect as we can on the first run.
I think overall the runs went well. A couple of ideas for you:
Sassy is happy to dial back her speed if you are not accelerating, so you can totally accelerate more and get more speed from her.
She also has questions about driving to the tunnel if you are not really connected to her eyes.
This happened at :19 on the first run – you were looking a little ahead of her and not connected, so she came with you. You can just keep going when that happens, no need to stop and fix – then if you know what went wrong, change it on the next run (or look at the video to see what happened). Stopping and fixing it might make her more careful, and we want her to run with a lot of confidence.
She had a similar question at the beginning of the 2nd run – you were looking forward after the release so she was not sure of which side to be on until you made a clearer connection. That is great info – be sure to make big connection to her eyes as you cue tunnels.
More good info from her – she had great turns on 3 and 6 with just your ‘left’ verbal and shoulder turn. On the last run you did a spin on 3 – it cued more collection than she needed there. Maisy might need a spin there but Sassy does not 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I am so glad you had such a successfulweekend! Who was the judge?>> It was like all the Camp stuff in actual courses over 2 days!>>
That is my goal for the summer: to try to train as many of these crazy course design elements as possible!
Wow, finding the jump layering the dog walk in the sea of tunnels – that was the highlight of the A3 standard run! Huzzah! The rest was great too, and you really locked in the connection and aggressive handling after the first 1/3rd of the course. Some of the lines on the course design were a little wonky which made it harder in the opening section, but you locked in and the rest was lovely!
And wowza on the Premier run too! I am not surprised that he got the weaves – I mean, you have actively worked that specific skill, and you planned & handled it brilliantly. It is SO cool to see training skills show up on courses that you are nailing! Yay!
>>The Premier JWW on Friday also got us qualified for EOTT!>>
This is very exciting! I hope you go to EOTT!!!!!
Tracy
