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Hi!
It was great seeing you and Brisket in person a couple of weeks ago!!>>How do I differentiate between random objects and actual hot zones? For example, I put the towel down to stop the treats rolling under the couch – she slammed her butt down on it and looked at me expectantly and won’t get off until she gets a treat.>>
I think two things will really help:
– clear the environment of other things to offer on, and make a big deal about what you want her to look at. For example, with the prop, have it in your hand until you are ready then make a big deal about putting it down (and make sure there is nothing else to offer behavior on nearby.– you can build up the focus on you during the in-between moments. So if you are using tossed food, for example, like with the towel – bring her back to engagement with you right after the treat by playing with a tug toy between reps.
– be sure the rate of success is really high and you are really clear with what you want. It is possible she is offering other stuff if things are unclear or rate of reinforcement is too low (too many errors, or not enough reinforcement, or both)
Wobble board – she is a brave girlie! She was not entirely sure about getting on it when she had to step on the part that was a couple of inches off the ground, so try to have her only get on the side that touches the floor, otherwise she gets hesitant.
Backing up onto the center was hard but she was dong it! Wow! It was moving a lot, so you can brace the board so it moves less (put a bunch of towels under it so it moves a little but not a lot). She definitely was offering good backing up on it, so having it move less will help even more.>>I had moved to a wooden wine rack but then realized something softer would be better,>>
A wine rack would have been AMAZING but yes, the softer thing was better LOL!
She did well with the new upright. You can totally cue the start of each rep – line her up at your side, then use your arm and leg to step to the upright to send her to it. That will give her a clear start moment, (rather than her having to guess if she should offer or not) which will also help you be able to add a little distance too!
The parallel path went well, she is hitting her target nicely! The beginning of the rears went well too – I think you can add a little more room so that she has more room to get ahead of you, so you can do the rear cross more easily. She was picking up the RCs, so if you start back by the couch and move the prop closer to where the camera was here, then you will have more room for it (or try it outside :))
On the countermotion video – she is hitting the prop well here too! One thing that will make the behavior even snappier is if you give her a very cleary defined send moment: start with her in front of you, looking at you, and you can be saying “ready, ready” – then do the send. And when you do the send, you can look at the prop too.
I think she didn’t always know when to start so sometimes she was locked onto you, and then she locked onto the towel. That was probably more of a ‘I don’t know what you want” moment, so be sure to keep the engagement with you (like with a toy after each treat, so the towel doesn’t have as much value) and get the toy involved, plus using the very clear sends can help too!Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
This looks great. Maybe this is Georgie’s FAVORITE GAME EVER lol!!! She seemed to have a great time and you were great about mixing in motion and distance, separately then together. Super!! It gave use a glimpse into what running courses with her will look like: super fast, super fun 🙂
Before she goes into the tunnel, you can start the cue for whatever is next: Go go go for the jump, or the right verbal for the turn (nice job throwing that in there!). The approximate timing of that would be when she is 6 feet before the tunnel entry, locked on to the tunnel, you can show the next handling (ike accelerating to the jump or turning for the right) and start the verbal. That will help get even more independence and distance!
And, I think you can raise the bar on the jump a little, just 2 more inches. She is ready for more but she would need more room to take off and land, so you can wait to add more height to the jump until she has a solid 18 feet on both takeoff and landing side of it.
Great job here 🙂
Tracy
Good morning! These games are looking great!
Leg bumps – these are going well! We are looking for balance and she was great with that here. With the bigger pups, the legs are like cavalettis at first but then when they figure it out, they start to bounce (which she did offer once!). For her, the next step of this can be on the turf at the training center so she can really did in (the floors being a little slippery might have kept her at a trot). And trying food can be good too: it gets her using her body properly in when in a higher arousal state.
And, you can enlist the help of other people to get a 4-leg grid going 🙂 That ay you can have bigger distances and she can bounce (and learn to ignore people while “working” 🙂 )
Looking at the ladder videos –
She did well with both the toy and the food! She was very balanced with the both when the ladder was flat on the ground. I think she was having trouble engaging with the toy because it was so close to the klimb and ladder, not enough room to really grab it and pull on it. She did engage when you asked her to put her front feet on you instead of you bending over towards her.
Getting into the ladder when it was elevated was much harder, so when using the food or toy: rather than ask her to do the full length of it, you can have her just move perpendicularly across it: start in the center, with her on one side and you on the other side. Have her just move through the one rung across it over to you and reward. You can do that back and forth a couple of times, then turn her so she can start in the middle and trot the rest of the way out of the ladder. Once she was in the ladder, she was nicely balanced!
The other thing that I think will help is a target at each end, to keep her head forward as she trots through. You can use a small bowl, placed about 3 or 4 feet past the end of the ladder. Basically she can trot through it to the bowl, then you plop a cookie into the bowl. That will keep her from looking up at you and also make timing easier. You don’t need to use a clicker anymore (it often gets the pups looking at us too much) and you can just use the target with the cookie placed on it. Eventually you will be able to place the cookie in advance, but I think if you start that way she might bound through the ladder to it rather than trot LOL!
>>If I were to lure her I am sure that she would do the higher ladder without qualms, but with out a lure she did not feel as comfortable with this action.>>
Nothing wrong with a good ol’ lure 🙂 That can help her get started. Once she was in the ladder, she didn’t need the lure. So the lure, in this case, is perfectly fine to help get things rolling. And since it is a proprioception behavior, a lure is also a focal point to get head position while she works out what to do with the rest of herself 🙂
And the toy can be used in between as kind of an excitement-inducer (to start to build up proprioception when she is more aroused) and to keep her a muscle break – this can be quite the workout!
To get the toy play going, you can move away from the ladder and toss it around a little, then come back to the ladder after a bit of play.
Resilience game – JJ says this is the BEST GAME EVER (at least here in the practice stages where it is mainly about building the framework and eating a lot haha!) Working on leash seemed to be no trouble at all. Yay! It is so important to put this framework in place and you are doing a great job!
>>I sometimes find it hard to know when JJ is actually looking at me with her black fur and dark eyes.>>
You can use her nose as a guideline: nose towards you means you can toss the next cookie 🙂
>>. I know that my timing was not always spot on, but in this environment JJ was relatively good about checking out the environment quickly and returning to my attention.
You were good! She was happy with the rate and clarity of reinforcement. It looked lovely!
>>The one time that she got behind me though it was an interesting puzzle for her.>>
This was at :28 – she was behind you a little but engaged, you can toss the next cookie when you see that 🙂 She doesn’t have to be in front of you, she can be anywhere offering engagement of any sort. This will be especially important when she is in a harder environment and she is able to offer engagement but not necessarily move to the front of you.
On the 2nd video, Yes, she was totally unphased with the new thing in the environment. I think the barking dogs in the background were a little harder but she did perfectly: assess (oh hey, there is barking!) and then return engagement. Thanks, dogs! LOL!! That is a pretty good simulation of a real world distraction 🙂
And being a foodie TOTALLY works in your favor on this one: this game can be done with toys but it is so much harder.
Now that the framework looks great, you can take the game into the real world with real distractions. Start in easy environments: enter the environment, start the game with a ‘get it’ cookie dropped nearby (you can start the game, she does not need to engage first) and then see how she does with offering engagement! You can keep the sessions short and if it is really hard (she can’t offer engagement) then you can move further from the distractions.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Ouch! Sorry to hear about your back!!!
>>And that dog screaming was her brother running Agility in the next ring. 🤣🤣
>>It was definitely the dog in the crate (could see it) so maybe it was during a break and Stark was in the crate and feeling a bit ragey about it all LOL!! Either way, she was set back by it so you can protect her working space a bit more 🙂
Turn and burn is looking good! She definitely needs the release from the stay because, good girl, she was nt going to move without it 🙂 I don’t think she quite realizes that the wrap verbal is the release, so you can use your regular release then the wrap verbal.
She is super quick chasing you as she exited the barrel and her commitment looked good as long as you don’t say “get it” too early and pull her off the wrap (1:43) You can move away pretty early, but let her finish the full wrap before you say get it.She might have been feeling the effects of teething, because she was not super speedy about going to the barrel in this session. On the next session, if she is still showing more speed chasing you than she is going towards the barrel, you can use a ball or something as the reward and toss it past the barrel as you turn and run away (rather than have her chase you for the toy), so she drives to the barrel really fast too 🙂
Great job!!
TracyHi!
He finds the stay game very exciting LOL! I am glad you started adding some distance & duration, because staying closer to him was so exciting that he could barely keep his front feet still LOL! The lead outs looked great. The only thing I suggest adding to this is more connection as you walk away. When you walk away not looking at him, he leans a bit and moves his feet, trying to see your face. So try to walk away with more eye contact and I bet he doesn’t move at all 🙂
Your tunnel bags are cracking me up! But they totally work! He was more than happy to drive through the tunnel from different angles. He had a little question when you changed sides – probably because all of the reward so far had been where you wanted him to turn away from, so he was not entirely sure. You can take a break in the session between side changes, to ‘cleanse the palate’ of where to look for the reward, so he does not anticipate where it will be and try to go to that spot.
Since he did so well here, I think he is ready for you to add the threadle side entries, where he starts by being between you and the tunnel.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyOnwards to tunnel threadles!
>.Two video posts in one day!? Thanks, Obama!>>
I admit this made me laugh out loud 🙂 Still laughing!
The key to being able to consistently get this behavior is to cue a wrap on the wing before it to set the line, and as he is arriving at the wing, you are already moving to the correct side of the tunnel and cuing the threadle.
Any time you did that? Perfect!
If you did not? Things went a bit sideways…For example on the first rep – your arm & voice might have been saying threadle, but the line he was on and your line of motion cued the tunnel entry in front of him. Your line of motion was a parallel path to the tunnel entry in front of him.
Compare to the 2nd rep at :05 – your line and his line were both different already as he exited the wing so he got it. Yay! I especially like how your feet were turned towards the correct line – not facing the incorrect tunnel entry, and also not rotated towards him (ideally you don’t rotate towards him as main cue, because you won’t always be there to show the rotation).
As things go faster and the wing gets added, cuing the wrap on the wing and showing the threadle info before he exits it will work best. With his speed, you don’t have time to be late or switch the toy from hand to hand (:13 & :38 for example, toy switches, no wing wrap cue, and late info so he took the off course because the cues were late and you were facing the wrong end of the tunnel on a parallel line to it.
On the reps where he got the correct end (:21, :31, for example) your threadle info was sooner so he was able to read the info. A wrap verbal on the wing will tighten the line, and on those reps you had a little rotation towards him that helped – be sure to show that before he exits the wing wrap 🙂
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
This is a really hard skill but I think this is going super well! On the first couple of reps on the flat, you were moving your foot a little too early which might be why it felt a bit awkward: you were stepping the foot back when you released him, but ideally you would wait til he is almost at your outstretched hand then both the hand and leg move back together.
When you added it to the wings, though, you didn’t have time to be early 🙂 because he was coming at you like a speeding train. Ha! That worked in your favor and so your cues were much more timely! And the good news is that he seems to recognize the position and was doing the turn away very independently! This is great because timing and precision of hand/leg movement are less important if he recognizes the position! YAY!!! So this all went well, and his commitment to the wings looked great.
Next up – try this with the tandem turns, which you’ll probably end up using more on course nowadays 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
This was a great way to build up the grid! He had lots of good rehearsals of sitting in front of jumps, focusing forward, driving to the MM. Lots of success!! And you had really good timing of releasing him when he was looking forward (also a good rehearsal with lots of success!)>.. I know it’s not how was supposed to be done…>>
The way it should be done is that the dog is close to jump 1, relatively calm, and drives through to a target. We were looking for balanced, consistent bounce striding. That is exactly what he did here! Perfect! And you built up a ton of success for the stay. You can tackle the accordion grid like this too if you want! His striding looks good, so the accordion will add a bit more challenge. And you will be able to oh-so-gradually build up the stays as well!
he was a good boy following the handling as you sorted out the blinds! Muscle memory was telling you to spin 🙂 And the blinds were a little delayed, which is why he ended up in the tunnel (or close to it) a few times. But you got earlier and earlier, which really helped. When you reward the blind, use the arm across the body to open up more connection so he can see the side change better (rather than using the dog side hand to reward, which blocks connection).
I do agree with your instinct that starting him from the tunnel will be easier because you can commit him to the wing sooner and start the blind sooner. You tried it at 6:23 but he didn’t go to the wing because your arm was high and forward (pointing to the wing). So even though your head was turned and you were looking at him, he did not see the connection and came to you instead. Remember to make massive eye contact with your arm low & fingers pointing back to his nose when he exits the tunnel, to commit him to the wing. That should totally make the commit sooner and easier to get the blinds.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyYay! A fun match – so fun! I wish there were more of those!!
Having a plan is good but also be flexible and change the plan as needed. The main goal is that she has a fabulous happy time in a trial-like environment. Resist temptation to do too much! That means keeping things relatively easy and super fun and super reinforcing 🙂
>>1. Engagement
Yes! Top priority.
>>2. Start line protocol
Maybe, but don’t go in and start asking for stays as the first thing. Don’t even ask for a stay in the first run. Just go in, get engagement, then send and go for a few obstacles. If that goes well, ask for super short stays in runs 2 and 3 but don’t ask for one in run 4 (depletion). The stay goal is to always release before she breaks. No failure!
>>3. Happy crating ringside/car
Yes! Definitely in the car. Crating ringside is less important and will potentially waste brain bandwidth.
>>4. Wraps, L/R, Threadles, Lap/Tandem Turns, GO
That’s a LOT. There is no need to do any complex handling – she is a baby dog in a complex environment, so keep the handing simple. Tunnels, jumps, simple sequences. No wraps, no tandem or lap turns, Definitely no threadles! Don’t ask for anything complex that she might fail with – time is limited in a fun match run and the top goal is fast, fun, engaged, successful.
>>5. Short sequences (3-6 obstacles)
Yes, with extra big handler connection
>>6. Toy on ground (not in my hand) and small sequences, then send to toy.>>
This is a low priority and doesn’t need to be introduced yet. Her adolescent brain might not be able to successfully process that in that environment and we don’t want failure or frustration. I think all 4 runs should be toy-in-hand or pocket.
>>7. Decompression
Heck yes! And seeing how she does outside the ring while waiting (pattern games and tricks for toys :))
And of course get it all on video and keep me posted!
TracyGood morning! The sessions looked great here!! And I am glad the pattern games are going well too!
Really nice session on the RCs – I like how you started with just parallel path stuff, getting her leaving you for it, then gradually slid in the RC concept by setting yourself up to start close to her so it was easy to do the RC nice and early. It is hard to get baby dogs to read RCs at first, and you nailed it here. Click/treat for you! Woohoo!!
Ladder – she really had to think about where her little feets were at the beginning here! But that is exactly the point of this game LOL! Nice job keeping your hand low so her head stayed in a good neutral position. By about 1:30, she was so much smoother through the ladder! So now you start to let her do it by herself more without your hand in front of her nose. But to keep her head low, put a bowl a couple of feet past each end, so she can trot through on her own while focusing on the bowl (in which you can then drop a cookie). That will maintain the good form while adding a little more independence.
Prop value video is looking good too – she definitely goes out of her way to go smack the prop! Good girl! And she goes to it FAST! The toy brought a new element of fun to it. You added the sideways sending at about 1:45 – the first rep on each was just a little too far away, so try to start the first rep of any countermotion game in a spot that is about 50% easier than the last time you did it… then after that quick refresher, you can add the distance back pretty quickly. She just needs that first rep to be a bit of a reminder, then she is perfect!
>>Barrel Wrap – turn and burn>>
This is the same video as the prop value video.
Threadle foundation is looking good – it helps that her stay is going well and also she gets a gold star for being able to ignore the toy on the ground and go to the hand target: SUPER!!!! You were good about being relatively stationary and using your get it marker rather than closing your shoulders to the toy.
She did have some questions about driving to the toy as it got further from your foot (“that is pretty far, mom, am I allowed to get it?”), so for now keep it just past your toys so she can pounce on it. Since it is a great long toy, you can also hold one end of it so that as soon as she gets to it, you can start moving it for her to chase (which is more fun that a dead toy :))This one is going really well, and we do the concept transfers really soon for this game!
Look at her putting her little neck into your hand! What a great update! You can slowly move your hand away and see if she tries to follow it with her neck haha.
Since collar grabby stuff is pressure on the puppies, you can do the collar grab like you did it here then toss the treat away (kind go like a ‘game starter’ moment) then she can run back, shove her neck into your hand to get you to toss another treat. And then of course you can oh-so-slowly add in holding the collar for gradually longer periods of time.And the play in your lap at the end was so stinkin’ cute!!!!
Handling combos – the first rep was hilarious. I thought you did a good job of downplaying that you had thrown the toy, rewarding her, sending her…. She had a different opinion and grabbed the toy. Nailed it! Hilarious! But then things got rolling and she did well. She was not that fast to the barrel and she had a couple of errors, but I don’t think it had anything to do with the understanding here:
One thing to be aware of was asking her to move towards the barrel and wrap it… while there is a dog in a crate barking at her. The barking started every time you started to add energy, and it was barking in a frantic way directly at her and you. It may seem like no big deal, but she says it is a big deal (it is a lot of pressure). At 1:28 when she went to the toy instead of the barrel, that looked more like pressure avoidance than lack of understanding. You can see it again at 3:11, where she starts to go, looks at the dog barking in the crate, then follows you instead, And at this stage and age, I don’t want to ask her to work on relatively hard concepts like impulse control with the toy on the ground in the face of that pressure (in all fairness, it is actually correct for a puppy brain to process NOT moving towards pressure of a dog barking at her in a crate)
So easy peasy answer: if there is a dog that will bark at her from a crate (or anywhere!) you can move your setup so she is not training near the barking dog. At her age, the brain development is not set up to really be able to ignore that, plus it is a little anxiety-producing for a baby puppy, plus she has to split her attention between the barking dog and the skill, and the barking dog will take up more brain space at this age. Eventually it won’t be an issue but for now, we don’t need to have it happening,
Tandem turns at the beginning went well! She turned away in both directions and found her prop. Super! You had good timing of the distinct actions, keeping turning away and hitting the prop separate. On the lap turns, you were not as clear about keeping the turn away and prop cue separate, so there were a bunch of reps where you tried to turn her away AND cue the prop (like at 2:48 and 4:24) and it was not as smooth – she hit the prop but didn’t quite turn away.
So for the lap turns, you can position yourself 2 or 3 feet past the prop, call her past it with the lap turn cue, turn her away, the walk forward to the prop. That should make it smoother!
She seems to be pretty balanced and able to turn nicely in both directions – YAY!!! That is great for such a young dog!
>>I was able to get her back after a few seconds and she went back to working. I kept this part on camera.>>
Probably some legit good smells but also if this was the last session of the day, she might have been a little over it with the all food, plus the tandem game can be a little repetitive for dogs who don’t obsess on food 🙂 You can switch to a toy for this game: an empty hand cues the turning away, and the toy is the reward after she hits the prop.
Great job here! And re-post that turn and burn video 🙂
TracyGood morning! These are all looking great!
She did really well with the 2nd zig zag game! No problems adding the bars and she was able to get the back-and-forth jumping effort with no problem. She was even getting comfortable enough to bounce some of the distances, especially on the last bar or two nearer you. Yay! So you can re-visit this game once a week or so – add challenge by cuing the jumps more quickly so she responds more quickly, and then you can also move them in a bit closer so the end of the bar touches the next wing 🙂 Eventually I bet she will bounce all of the distances.
The find the jump after the tunnel game is looking good. She had no questions about the lateral distance you added on both sides – easy peasy! Nice! You can be using your ‘go’ or ‘jump’ verbal on these to add a verbal so she looks for the jump even when the handling gets more complicated. And the 90 degree turns around with the wing with the verbal at the start worked perfectly. I really love how different those verbals sound – it will be a big help to her on course!
Because the lateral distance was so easy for her, you can also add more motion – still working through all the lateral positions, but with you running 🙂 And you can add in getting WAY ahead while running (this is harder for the pups then it sounds) and you can also go all the way close to the tunnel exit then start running forward, so she drives ahead of you to the jump. Basically – let’s show her all the possibilities of handling 🙂
The WIYH session was very happy-making in terms of clear handling 🙂 The Go reps at the start looked great, and then it was immediately obvious to me (and MiG!) when you wanted the RC. You can accelerate more through the RCs, letting her see the pressure and pass you with more speed – that way you won’t be as far behind on the RCs because she is a speedster!
The backside circle wraps are also looking really good – nice connection and running line! That really helped her! And she has good commitment to the jump bar too – it looked like it was a little easier for her when she was turning to her left, and the right turns were a little harder. So for the right turns (when she is on your left), keep the motion slower for now so she can be organized turning to her harder side.
There was only one oopsie – at 1:38 when you were late on the RC cue, so she didn’t turn to her right. That makes sense that it would need to be very timely turning to her harder side. The other reps after that were a step earlier, in that you were already showing the RC pressure as she was passing you. In the oopsie moment, she passed you, locked onto the jump, then you showed the RC. So definitely keep that pressure starting nice and early, so she sees it as she passes you, especially on the right turn sides.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>When we get into a new environment, no people or dogs, she wants to explore and check everything out before she engages with me for the game. >>
You can start the game in each environment, but showing her the treat then putting it down. The better she learns the framework for the game, the easier it will be to offer engagement.
>>Comes and goes for the game. Then eventually settles in to the rhythm of the game. I only stand there and let her go as far as the leash will take her. I don’t ask for any behavior, just say Get It for the treat. That’s ok?>>
Yes, that is one of the goals of the game – to let her just look at the world, process it, offer engagement, and get a cookie tossed back out to the world. If it takes her a long time to offer engagement, it is an indication that the environment is really challenging.
>>Sometimes if she notices something unusual she’ll just stand or sit in front of me, or front side, and watch/observe. And just stay there. Is that ok? Should I try to get her to re-engage?>>
Yes, just let her observe. No need to try to re-engage her. She is saying that something is really hard and she needs to look at it and process it all.
>>When we first got there tonight she was SO excited/over stimulated she didn’t want to take treats or play with a toy. People, other dogs, big dog barking at us through fence from next door, airplanes over head, other dogs barking in distance.
Wow, that is a LOT for a tiny puppy.
>>As class started and we settled in she was able to engage for the pattern game. So we did that A LOT during the whole class, when waiting our turn for something or sitting and listening etc. >>
That is a good use for the pattern game! I also like to give puppies breaks by holding them or putting them in a crate to relax, somewhere away from the action, if possible. Even in a short class, the puppies need a break.
>>For individual work I took her FAR away just like you said. She still noticed others but was able to engage with me. We kept things short and had play breaks.
Fantastic!!!! Yay!
>> When waiting our turn for a recall, some shade draping on the fence blew hard in the wind. She turned and stood and watched it. When she was satisfied she re-engaged for our pattern game.>>
Wow, there was a lot going on at this class – and some of it can be a bit scary like the flapping shade, the barking dogs, etc. Keep making it all about having a pleasant, happy experience and no pressure. No worries about the skills, that is the easy part when she is happy and relaxed.
I am so glad it went well! Thank you for the update!
TracyHi!
Nice work on these – these are going well and they are REALLY Hard! She had a couple of questions and we can easily answer those for her 🙂At the training school and at home, there was a lot of emphasis on the thrown toy, so she locked onto it like it was toy races game. You can change that up to de-emphasize the toy and make things more successful for her:
Start right next to the cone or barrel, with her facing it, toss the toy behind you without you really looking at it much (just kind of toss it back while paying more attention to the barrel or cone). She will still look at the toy, probably, but it will be less of a focal point and easier to make the barrel/cone the focal point.And, starting close to the cone or barrel – don’t pick her up or move her, I think that was creating some avoidance/frustration behavior (especially when you picked her up). Part of this is the impulse control, so we can still give her lots of choice while setting her up for success 🙂 When she was frustrated, she was making some poor body-awareness decisions (see below) so we definitely don’t want that!
The challenge was harder at home – maybe because it was outdoors, or there was noise in the background (a LOT for a youngster to process!). So after you drop the toy in behind you and her, be sure to step to the barrel and let her arrive at it before you move away – when you do step to it, and let her commit, she does it really well! When you don’t step to it with the dog side leg (1:23 and 1:37)or you step to the side too early (2:00, 2:35), she doesn’t commit to the barrel and heads to the toy, then gets frustrated.
I think the frustration manifested as rushing to get the toy and then falling over herself and flipping. Since we don’t want her to splat herself or get hurt, you can use a bigger toy (world’s largest hollee roller or maybe a giant jolly ball?) and less motion from you so she scoops it up but doesn’t fall or flip. Or, you can use a MannersMinder to help her learn the concept but it will prevent her from splatting herself when she arrives there.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Nice job starting the leg bumps off as cavalettis with her trotting a bit – really nice for balanced movement!! You will get more ‘bouncing’ if you toss the treats a little further away so she has a little more speed. The toy produced ore of the bouncing (sometimes over both legs haha!) but she was also nicely balanced with those too. The toy worked best when it was a couple of feet past your leg. Yo can also put it on angles, so she can bend and bounce too!And you can definitely try to enlist someone else to be legs 3 and 4 to create more of a ‘grid’ for her LOL!!
Her ladder work is going really nicely too – balanced trot without rushing. YAY! She wants to look up at you as she is finishing the ladder, so you can add a target at each end. An empty food bowl will work, placed 3 or 4 feet past the ladder, so she trots all the way through and then you plop the treat into the bowl. That should keep her head straight all the way through.
Great job here!!!
Tracy
