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Good morning!
>>oh my the death look I got when I yelled “yes” and messed up sequence
. Sorry Annalise!>>>>Bwhaahahaha that was hilarious!
The session went really well – excellent connection and motion really helped Prytania find the lines!!
The Go was easier when Annalise was further ahead but Prytania was driving ahead really well even after adding the tunnel! Great reward placement, Annalise!!
First wrap at :30 – you were running into the center of the bar a tiny bit and then as you decelerated, your feet turned to the right so she read rear cross. The same thing happened at 1:20 and 1:48 when you added the tunnel – movement towards the jump looked like rear cross pressure to her.
Compare to :40 (and 1:32 with the tunnel before it) when you were facing forward the whole time 0 that was perfect! So was 1:03!! The only little blooper at :54 was because you stopped moving a little too early so she was not sure if she should keep going.
Well done with the rear crosses! It is hard to get the rear crosses without a lot of motion on the 2 jumps, but you nailed it!! Super!!!
You still nailed it when you added the motion of the tunnel (it might have been easier with the motion?) and the last rep was especially excellent. YAY!!!
Looking at the rear crosses versus the wraps where she accidentally rear crosses, you can see that if you push into towards the rear cross line, she reads that cue early. So on the wraps, you can support the line by going straight towards the wrap wing, no need to push in towards the jump. That will help her see the difference between the wrap towards you and the rear crosses.
Great job here!!!
TracyGood morning! I agree, it is SO FUN to see these glimpses into the future!
>>At the show this weekend, I took Audubon to the practice jump. Off leash and he didn’t leave the area. It was a small area>>
Super!!!! What a good boy!!
>>Today, he was hesitant to climb the mountain. After a few reps where he went a little over halfway up, I decided to stop and revisit it another day.>>
That was smart to stop and do something else. Had anything changed about the setup, or was the teeter in a new location? It is possible he was just tired from the weekend if you were away all weekend.
Looks like you have some winter weather there of only 95 degrees LOL!! I am glad you were able to get out and get some great training in!
The teeter game started off really well for the first 30 seconds, then he might have been saying “that is all I have for this game today”. Sitting near the board was a smart way of saying “I am still engaged but please no more teeter thanks”. Then he barked at you because we humans are a little slow.
Looks like there was a little break and then he did a few more, but the session was very informational – this game might b harder than it looks for him, so you will want to get maybe 2 or 3 great reps (I love that he was offering his hind end on the board!) then take a break, then come back later.The sequences are going really well1
Great job breaking down the blind cross sequence into the smaller pieces – he nailed dthm all and he is doing a great job of finding the jump after the tunnel!
When you cue the 1st jump, be sure to stay connected and facing the jump til his feet lift into the air – you pulled away early when starting the full sequence. When you help position there longer, he got it nicely!
And the full sequence went well too – he is finding the line brilliantly! I think you can start the BC sooner too – when he lands from the middle jump and looks at the BC jump, start it and see how his commitment is 🙂 You started it just before takeoff. The grown-up Audie will need you to be finished by then, so you can use these baby dog sequences to start doing the earlier timing. Your connection after the blind was fabulous!!And then stay calm at the end when you cue the go go go – stay connected as you say go go go 🙂 You were accelerating and disconnected, which will draw him past the jump (it won’t be an issue with practice when he is an adult).
Motion override is off to a great start! It takes an extra heartbeat for the cue to travel from his ears to his brain to his hind end but you were GREAT about being patient and NOT repeating it or stopping. So keep working this game moving slowly until he is responding basically immediately – then you can add more motion by moving a little faster 🙂
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
This went really well! You were able to add a good amount of motion and she was still able to respond pretty quickly! When you were moving faster, she had an extra heartbeat to process it (as compared to the relatively immediate sit when you were moving really slowly). But that is normal and good, and she didn’t take too long at all!
Since she did so well here, the next step can be to add more arousal. This will be a GREAT prep for trials where she will be more aroused and we will sit want her to respond quickly and use her hind end:
– first, play tug before you start to get her more stimulated. Then start off slowly (because the arousal might make things harder) and reward with food, just like you did here. And tug again to keep the arousal high after every two or three food rewards.
– second, if adding tugging goes well… do the whole session with a toy as a reward. Fun!! But also harder, so start things slowly and let her success rate tell you if you can go faster (or keep it slow if it is really hard).>>We were also playing around with it a couple days before that when a big firecracker (or maybe a rifle shot?) went BOOM>>
Wow that was incredibly loud and close! Total startle moment!!! You both did a great job of shaking it off. And yes, the pattern games can really help with the resilience after a scary moment like that. I think you both handled it well and went about finishing your game 🙂 Fingers crossed that our dogs don’t hear too many booms today!!!
Nice work here :)
TracyHi!
Yes! That is the spin: FC towards her, then blind. Lovely! And she was happy to do it. The whole sequence of FC – Spin – Turn and burn looked great! You were a little early on 2 of the rotations as you noted, so remember to stay connected until you see her arriving at the barrel. Nice job working it out – the next step is to add the race tracks.
>>Also, I think it may be hard for her when I have the toy waving in her face. I know she needs to learn to work with it in my hand. Putting it in my pants is awkward for me and would take More time in the transition. What do you think?>>
Yes – when connection is not clear and the toy is in front of her, she can get confused about what to look at. So putting it in your pocket is the best option here if you can’t scrunch it up into your palm – it is fine if the reward takes a little longer because it is not a precision reward. And the transition can take a little longer – rather than hand her a treat, drop a couple on the ground for her to find as you put the toy away. And try not to say “ready ready” while doing that, because it increases arousal before you are actually ready.
>> Maybe that’s why she was barking at me so much?>>
The frustration of not knowing if it is the toy or the barrel might be a part of the barking, but there were a number of things happening. Dogs bark for a variety of reasons and there seemed to be several reasons here:
>>Before we even started, as I was setting things up, she barked at me non-stop, like she does before we swim or play ball.>>
If this drives you nuts, don’t have her in the room while you are setting up. She can be in a different room 🙂
And if she is barking before swimming or ball playing, bear in mind that you will also get more barking when she is excited in other walks of life. And if she is barking during swimming or ball playing because she is excited, and then you throw the ball or let her swim, then you are likely to get more barking when she is excited and wants to do something with you, especially when there are environmental cues that something exciting is about to happen (like walking out with toys and treats to stand between the barrels.
Is excitement barking bad? Nope! I like it! And when she barks in excitement, she is continuing to work or engage with you. But you need to realize what it is and not confuse her by sometimes getting mad about it and sometimes being fine with it.
Looking at the 2nd video, I think she was barking either out of excitement at the beginning, or there is frustration being built into the training session (more on that below). She was continuing to work while barking – not a problem at all.
She had some barking during the transition from the toy play to the first rep, so you make a cleaner transition: drop 3 or 4 small treats on the ground and while she is eating those, put the toy away. Then line her up, connect, and start. The treat scatter also helps her sniff/breathe a bit which balances arousal nicely.
When you got her going again: you were early on a rotation so she didn’t commit fully (:33), but she kept going (silently) and wrapped a barrel (silently) at :34 and you walked away from her (punishment when she was not barking) so then you got frustration barking (:36) after you walked away.
Then got more frustration barking when you were turning off the camera.>>I think you said before this is a form of punishment and I don’t want to punish her or stifle her enthusiasm.>>
Yes – it is negative punishment which is withdrawal of opportunity for positive reinforcement. And in this case, it happened when she was *not* barking. Timing of punishment can be tricky and needs to be incredibly consistent, plus we can’t always be sure that the dog understands what we were punishing. Did you walk away from her while she was wrapping a barrel? Or because of the barking? She might not even realize she is barking, which makes it all very confusing and frustrating… and she barks when she is frustrated.
Looking at the 3rd video – 1st rep was really good
You didn’t quite have enough connection and the toy was dangling in her face, so she was not sure what to do – she got frustrated and communicated that to you. You walked away (punishment) – look at her expression change as you were walking away at :50 🙁So that is why I think there might be frustration being built into the game, which gets more barking: if sometimes the barking is fine in this context or others, and sometimes you disengage and walk away (and dogs can TOTALLY tell when we are mad or frustrated) – the game becomes wildly unpredictable in a way that can produce anxiety or frustration.
Bearing in mind that barking is communication and we don’t want to punish communication or be inconsistent about it:
>>Before we filmed anything, when she was nonstop barking I had to leave the room until she stop>>
If this drives you crazy, then bring her into the room after everything is set up and you are ready. My guess is the barking you are seeing here is similar to barking when swimming or playing ball, so she doesn’t know the difference.
>>I’m very sensitive to noise and when she does this it hurts my ears so much that I can’t think.>>
In order to make it so that neither of you are frustrated – if you must train indoors, you can leave her in a different room until you are ready. And you can play music or wear ear buds or something that reduces the sharpness of the sound.
Or, train outdoors for a minute or two at the earliest part of the day, or after sunset. It appears that the barking is not as hard to hear when you are outdoors?
>>In the sessions I don’t know what else to do other than stop the session, regroup, then try again with a fresh attitude.
Try coming in with an entirely different attitude on barking: it is communication and communication is important. So rather than stop the session or walk away from her, you can note her frustration and make the next rep a lot easier, then reward. And if she doesn’t fully commit to a barrel, for example, don’t re-send her to it: just finish your front cross and send more clearly to the next one.
If something is going wrong, give her the toy, stop the session and watch the video to figure out what her questions are.
Reducing frustration is the quickest way to reduce barking! And if it is excitement barking at the beginning, it probably matches the barking from ball play or swimming, so you need to change up how you begin the session so she doesn’t do that inside.
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>.I’m doing some processing on all the things that came up that led to the delay. Some were weather related (can not control) and some were that I think I just had a burnout & needed to close a chapter on the way I was approaching competing this year. I’m trying to process it & will post it in the Mental Camp thread since I think it is important for me to make some conscious decisions about what next year will look like. As ugly as the last week or so was, I think I’m on the other side.>>
I am glad you took some time to process! Burn out is REAL (and we talk about it this week, actually, as well as goal setting and boundaries!) You have had an intense year – time off to refresh and process is GREAT!
>>I had to give up on the jumping course for week 1. It got demolished by branches falling in a windstorm & then flooded with days of FL rain. It took a whole afternoon to clean everything up & mow>>
OMG! That is crazy!!!
>> I couldn’t bring myself to build it again.
Totally relatable! The storm clean up sounds exhausting!!!!
>.Rep 1 – Frankie did the exact same thing as Hot Sauce & dropped the bar. I’m glad I was ready to reward her since your video prepared me & explained why it happened.>>
She was a little bit like “wait, what??” like my Hot Sauce plus you were turning your shoulders away.
>>Rep 2 – Frankie did the exact same thing as Contraband! 🙂>
I am glad I included my bloopers LOL!!! On this rep, I think you turned your shoulders away too early – stay parallel and shoulders facing forward (not turning to jump 4) til you see her lock onto jump 3 (smaller dogs have to take a lot more strides to layer).
>>Rep 3 she got it! She wanted to curl in but made a great decision & moved back out to the jump!
Rep 4 – She slid coming out of the tunnel 🙁 she curled in a bit but still got it>>You were more parallel to her line on these, turning away less. That looked great! You can try it with a lower arm and see if being able to see more connection helps her.
>>Rep 5 – got it nicely!
YAY! This one had a low arm and you stayed parallel to her line, and she did really well!!!
>>I noticed she was not driving straight into the tunnel if I tried to send with too much distance.>>
You mean like at :37 and :52? She had a little zig zig there between 1 and the #2 tunnel. It looked like you got a little caught behind the wing of jump 1, so voice was saying tunnel but body was saying turn 🙂
The other reps of the opening looked good! She had a bar down at :50 but that was when you were stopping and getting the cookie out of your pocket 🙂
>>I have never heard of a “Throwback” before but it looks like it is based on the moves from MaxPup where we send them around the barrel with us facing backwards. I watched your video a bunch & tried to copy the move & break it down for Frankie.>>
Good memory – it is TOTALLY a backwards send from MaxPup 🙂 You were doing it nicely here, except sending to the inside wing rather than the outside wing. So as you do the backwards send, shift your connection from her cute little face to the landing spot of the left turn wing, and I bet she gets it nicely.
>>Turn Away – this is new for us too! Frankie really read this well after a few tries. Do you use a directional wrap verbal with it or is it just a physical cue?>>
The turn away is a cue that emphasizes your hands – you can also see turn aways in MaxPup 🙂 on the prop and on the barrels too! You did really well here which is why Frankie did well! She needed your feet to also show the RC line a bit but as you play with this more, you will be able to add more and more distance.
When using this to set up layering, I use a “switch” cue which basically tells the dog to turn away and get on a big line, listening to me more than watching me 🙂
>>Part 3
We tried to run the whole course. I didn’t remember to stay on the other side of the “fake DW”. We did do a wrap and a Turnaway!>>This went really well!!! And you were able to get all the crazy handling moves going too! The turn aways will get easier as she gets more used to seeing them on course, so you can keep adding distance and tossing a reward.
Wrapping towards you went really well – you can stay closer to the wing of 4 (a little closer to the takeoff side, not as much on landing side) and then do a big one-step send to get her to take 5 (and throw a reward. When she locks onto the 5 jump, I bet it will be easy to get her to take the tunnel after it.
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Yes, definitely go back to basics and do single rep, super high value sessions on the wobble board and cato plank: make the movement as minimal as possible, so she can interact with it a tiny bit… then give her an entire meal 🙂 Then be done, don’t try again! Doing multiple reps in a row is never helpful when the dog is concerned about something – just one easy rep then a big party always works better 🙂
The independent study teeter course does address this (both of my girl dogs were worried about the teeter).
Keep me posted!
TracyHi!
>>Hot weather is a bummer for agility training LOL.>>
So true!!!!! I am out there at sunrise to get a little training in or if I need to video anything.
The handling video looked great!
You can place the toy out ahead on the go line – on the first rep, you were looking ahead and hustling, so he pulled off the line. The 2nd rep had more connection and you were closer to the line so he got it : ) Nice GO rep at the end too!
Nice wrap at 1:08 – great timing and he turned his head before takeoff then drove back around the jump. SUPER!!!! Lots of speed and a tight turn too.
The RCs were a Goldilocks moment:
First RC – too late – yes it was the right turn verbal and you were a little late getting into the RC line, he was a good boy!
2nd time – too early – you held back too much by the tunnel, then had to hustle which ended pushing him off the jump when you were too early.3rd time – just right! You accelerated onto the RC line and let him get past you (because he drives ahead really well) so he saw the motion AND the pressure on the line, so he got it. LOVELY!!!
On the backsides – You can accelerate into these more too – it will definitely help you to not wait for him at the tunnel so you can be passing the center of the bar of 2 before he takes off for it – that can help him set the line more smoothly. I am not sure he needs the outside arm when you are relatively close to the entry wing, but it sure didn’t hurt to use it!
Wow, he is looking good on his mountain climbers! He was super happy to drive up the board to the cookies 🙂
You can start to add tip, a centimeter at a time, but ever-so-slightly changing the position of the upright that is holding up the end of the board. Make the addition of tip soooo minute that he barely notices. Place an insanely high value reward at the end of the board (same place you had it here, but the best possible reward) and lead out and face him like you started here… then do one single rep. Make the entire session that one rep so he can get a huge reward and doesn’t have time to think about that the teeter moved a centimeter 🙂
The wobble board is also going well! Yes, you can move it to the patio stones (at sunrise or after sunset LOL!) so you can try putting something under it like an empty water bottle that might crunch a little. And so a super short session of that (adding noise) because we don’t want him to start thinking about any of it 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
YAY!!!!! I give you both a giant gold star because the double tunnel was weird (he was like, “really? OK.”) And then a big YES to the parallel line where he took the finish jump. Huzzah!!! !Good boy!!!!
>. Poor Kaladin charges out of the tunnel expecting to go straight and I call him to send him back into the tunnel and then ask him to go straight. It got cut out of the video, but I was running the parallel line (and using the inside arm) and he did stay out (after a question) for the jump.>>
He was a good sport LOL!! And yes, a little question, but that was probably the double tunnel causing it and he probably would have gotten it nicely in flow. It looked like your parallel line and high dog side arm worked perfectly!!
>> It also had no good way to approach the teeter which was gamble obstacle #1.>>
Lordy, the angle of approach to the teeter as designed was not great (you were really good about helping him) and also I would be worried that a handler with less body awareness than you would run into the teeter on the way to the finish line – eek!!
Great job! Thank you for the video!!
T
Hi!
>.Seq 1. Mookie wanted to do a backside at 8 and I needed to reinforce taking the front of the jump with my “close close” vc with my wings tucked in>>
Yes, an da left verbal as he is over 7 can help him turb better for 8 as well,
>> I also needed to work on his turning out of the tunnel to jump 6.
Yes, that is a good one to work on – start the physical and verbal cues when he is still 6 feet away from the entry!
>> Buddy who is much slower nailed it. For Alonso who is a learning phase I needed to emphasize coming “in” jump 2 to 3 but he understood my vc and physical cues and nailed this seq also.>>
Yay! Good boys!!
>>Seq 2.Mookie nailed this seq 🙂 Buddy needed a stronger “in” verbal for jump 3, the rest was great. I worked jump 2 to 3 with Alonso separately before putting it together and he did great. He turned nicely out of the tunnel.>>
Awesome – that threadle wrap is a hard skill and I am glad they did really well!
>>Seq 3. This was the hardest one for Mookie man. He needed support for the backside jump 4. >>
BIG eye contact until you see him arriving at the outer edge of the backside wing will help!
>>I really needed to work to get the turn on jump 9. I decided to work stuff separately for him then put it together and he was fine.
That one is hard too – it requires a lot of deceleration on the part of the handler, to convince the dog to decel and turn 🙂
Sounds like Buddy and Alonso did really well too!!! And I am glad that the flyball is going well 🙂
>> For Mookie any extra advise on controlling impulsivity would be very helpful 🙂 I do warm him up with ball throws and reward him with his ball after every run and training run.>>
My guess is that he was not being extra impulsive… you were probably late or not connected enough LOL! When I feel like my dogs are being impulsive or not doing what I ask, the video shows me that I wsa just late for the needs of that dog. For example. even though Elektra and Hot Sauce are basically the same size, I need to give the cues to Hot Sauce a LOT earlier and more forcefully to get her to turn. Turning Elektra is like waving a feather, super light and easy so I don’t have to be as early or connected 🙂 So definitely watch your videos – I bet you will see where you need to be a lot earlier for Mookie 🙂
And using a ball is good but bear in mind that the presence of a ball is going to make him want to run far and on big lines (in anticipation of the throw). So you might want to use a different or less exciting reinforcement that he will come in closer to you to get, which should make turning easier 🙂
Great job! Thanks for the update!
TracyYES!!! That is SO COOL!!!!!!!!!!
(Remember we have a mental management live tonight, we have good stuff to talk about!)Hi –
This went really well!
You can lead out further so you can do the BC 1-2 sooner. Great job sending to 3 and then easily getting the BC at the exit of the tunnel. That set up a lovely backside push and you kept pointing your feet forward, so he found the #6 backside nicely too! Yay!You had your “out” verbal at :11 but trying to get out from behind the tunnel positionally, so he was still coming towards you – the outside arm will be very visible to him as you layer the tunnel and that should get commitment to 7 so you don’t have to get that close to the jump.
Great job here!
Tracyhttps://youtu.be/3nuKg9acWew Pop out#3
Hi!
He was responding a lot better on this than you gave him credit for!! You can smooth out the opening a bit:Lead out past 1 to set the line to 2 rather than push away after he lands. Then you can give him his in cue for 3 sooner (he was really good there!)
Backside was good 4-5!
He was not able to get the next backside at :17 – as you were moving to the jump, you were saying moo moo moo moo (which pulls all of his focus to you and the front of the jump) then at the last moment gave the push cue but it was without connection so he took the front (just too late for him to make the adjustment at that point). You turned him around to send to the backside, but it looked like a slice cue and you tried to turn him as he was over the bar… also too late for him to do correctly so he dropped the bar trying to adjust. Be sure that you either keep going or reward! Stopping is a punisher for him (and for all dogs) and it stresses him out especially when he was reading you correctly like he was doing here 🙂
T
https://youtu.be/pTU9RqXSt6o Pop out #2
Hi!
The opening looked good – nice blind 3-4 (after the tunnel) both times!! That set up a really nice backside! Try not to rotate towards him – try to keep moving to the next line, that can help him see the push better. Note the difference at :34 when you kept your feet facing the next backside – he got it easily! You got stuck behind the tunnel a tiny bit, so you can use your outside arm to commit him to the 6 jump as you pass the tunnel. The rest looked lovely – super connected and that really helps him find the lines!!Tracy
