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Hi!
>>the target was a 1l container so was about 3 inch hih and about 6 in square. This is what used for big dogs. This is what i hav been training with – if anything I wondered if it was too high. I did wonder whether a flat target that we used earlierwold be better .. but used higher to make obvious – a couple of times she actually ran into it, I had food on top occasionally but usually have a toy sitting on it. heres what we have been doing at home with running to a toy on a target.>>
I don’t think the target size was where her question was – she seemed to definitely see it. I don’t think it had enough value 🙂 So when you were saying ‘get it’ she didn’t really see anything with enough value to get. A high value cookie on it can make it more worthwhile! I think the ‘dead’ toy on it was not valuable enough for her.
On the video – I like that she was driving to the toy on the target then bringing it back! Don’t add too much distance too quickly, as you will lose the value of the toy on the target. The toy on the target might not be as valuable as the one in your hand to trade for and play tug with, but it is a good way to get her driving to a placed toy!
>>She has plenty of drive to a lotus and pod but as a toy she doesnt care about the treat in the lotus or hugger.>>
That is fine! She can use those as toys 🙂 You might notice I use a ball a lot on the demos as it is easy to deliver and the dogs love it!
Tracy
Hi!
You and Kashia looked great here! You were very connected and I totally see a difference in her drive away to the jumps – speedy and happy! She was spot on, in terms of focus, engagement, and enthusiasm. It is VERY COOL to see things coming together!!! So fun!>>I think I’m still closing my shoulders off to her too soon. I tried to think about it during the drill but once I watched it later, I think it still needs improvement.>>
I think you were good here! Yes, keep exaggerating it and working it (it will be easy when you don’t need to wear winter clothing) but she will tell you if the connection is unclear. She seemed happy with it!
>>For some reason it’s hard for me to keep the arm closest to the dog back! >>
When the weather warms up, remind me to send you a like to the game where you improve keeping your arm back to the dog by running with a drink in your hand. It is effective and entertaining, but you might end up spilling water and it is way too cold for that right now LOL!
One thought here – You can spread things out so there is more distance and more running. As the distances get bigger and even more commitment is required, you can throw her reward to the landing side of the wrap jump as you shift your connection and move away from the send. That will help develop even more speed and commitment.
The circle wraps on the cone looked great! It is fine to have started this with a cone, it might be easier than a wing for the first session. She had to slow down and think hard on those, so mix in some reps of easy stuff like just going fast on the line.
Doing the combos was great too – nice spins! She had no questions and all of your connections were clear 🙂 Yay!!!
>>I’ll continue to practice all these drills as we haven’t perfected any of them.>>
Perfection is overrated! You want them to be ‘really connected’ but no need to be perfect 🙂
Great job here!!!
TracyHi!
Nice work here! Keep going with getting the reward to the landing side of the jumps! Reward placement at :16 was spot on!! On the other reps she got rewarded, but you dropped the toy in near where you were standing on the takeoff side, so she got it closer to you. Getting it consistently to the landing side will make a big difference 🙂
On the video:
She really sees everything! On that first rep, you released and stepped forward with your outside foot… so that set the line around the jump because it shows pressure on the line (good girl!). You did not do that on the 2nd rep and she took the jump. Yay! To avoid any questions from her, point your feet forward and not sideways on the release – look back to her with your arm and eyes but don’t be rotated 🙂She is really good with the circle wraps! You can add challenge by staying in motion even more! Rather than being stationary as she passes you – when your line is clear, move forward as you shift your connection to the ‘landing’ spot 🙂
A timing suggestion as yo build up commitment on the sends and countermotion: Keep moving forward on the line with the sending and decel until you see her front feet liftoff. Then you can throw the reward to the landing spot and take off the new direction. When you are sending or decelerating, you were getting ready to move away so you were stepping backwards too soon (like at :23). If you look for her front feet lifting off as your permission to move to the next line (like at :36) then you will get much better commitment there too 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Good job on the FCs! Yes – it is important not try to race her to the wrap jump, but rather to stay connected so you can see her commitment and time your turns.You don’t need to be all the way at 2 to get the wrap, you can be anywhere 🙂 The first rep had all the connections. The 2nd rep had less connection so she had a question The 3rd rep had didn’t have connection so she didn’t take 2.
Then at :26, you had great connection so she nailed it!The rep at :36 also had great connection and a great spin!
>>Am I doing the spins correctly? >>
Yes! Think of it as starting the exact same way as the FC wraps here – then when she has the FC wrap, you do the blind. When you did that, the spins were perfect (they are a combo of FC then BC).
At :48 – I think you were trying to go too fast to get to the BC on the spin and you got in her way, running a RC line to the center of the bar so she pushed off to a left turn (it was either that or get run over LOL! )
Compare it to 1:02 and 1:08 where you cued the FC on the wing then a BC after you saw her get the FC – nice!!!The FCs on the other side had great connection and transition on the first couple!
>>something changed and she was running behind me.>>
The exit line connection got less visible, so she was not as sure about which side to be on. You were turning forward more and trying to connection with the dog side arm at 1:35, 1:42, 1:56 so she didn’t really see which side to be on (because the dog side arm closed your shoulders forward, so she saw more of your back and not enough of the front of your shoulders).
Scroll back to the earlier reps on that side (1:22 and 1:29) when your dog-side shoulder is back so she clearly knew where to be. And at 2:12 and 2:21 you made the clear exit line connection MUCH clearer and she got it! Great adjustment!!!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
SUPER nice session here! Just about all of it had lovely connection, so she had no questions at all. It was easier to see your connection on the reps at the beginning as you were coming towards the camera – your connection was very clear and note how she never had to look at you or ask a question. YAY!!>>There was a time towards the end I was attempting to send her from the jump around the wing and she went around the jump..>>
This was at :48 and 1:00 and 1:15 where she didn’t take the first jump. What was happening there was that as you released to send her, you were looking forward and leaning in toward the wing – so that looked like and felt like pressure towards the backside line past the jump… and that is where she went 🙂 Great job continuing to reward her and then at 1:24 you made a great adjustment! You gave better connection and less pressure onto the line and she got it 🙂 Really lovely!
Do you have any access to bigger spaces coming up? The weather has gone to poo so we might have to get creative on how to add more challenge 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
>>I am still struggling to figure out the balance of when my arms should be up and when they should be out of the way. I’m seeing the difference more and more, but it’s definitely a work in progress, lol.>>
Every handler/dog team develops their own type of connection, but in general: on regular lines and sends and stuff like that, the hands can be pointing down to her nose and following her nose on the lines. That will support your connection without breaking it. On anything with countermotion or turning away fro the handler (serps, countermotion wraps, backside wraps, tandem turns, threadles) then the hand/arm is generally used to support the connection shift that is used on the cue – more on that coming in the next set of games.
On the video:
You might notice she was jumping towards you on jump 1 on the dog-on-left rep. That was due to the placement of the start wing being a bit to centered on the bar, so she had to turn extra to her right to come over 1, then slightly to her left to get to 2. Lining the wing up with the wing of the jump closer to you will smooth that out.Exit line connection had some strong reps but also can be clearer on others. The main thing to do is to very consistently reach your arm and connection back to show her the toy and look directly back at her to get your new dog-side shoulder pushed back more to reveal connection. And, maintain that for more steps as you run to the next line until she has really picked it up – you were tending to show it for a heartbeat then closing your shoulders forward before she had time to really adjust. And when you made it obvious and held it longer for her to see – gorgeous!
On the first reps on your left – the exit line connection was a little harder to see at :05 (bar down). It was clearer at :17 and :26 but in those spots you can hold it longer so she sees it better.
On the other side – at :42, the FC info (deceleration) was late so she saw it after takeoff and she landed on the bar. On the next rep, you had a much earlier decel so she jumped the wrap a lot better. Yay! At :50 had a heartbeat of great ELC connection – hold onto it for 2 or 3 more strides until you see her looking at the next jump. That will get gorgeous turns and really support the jumping.
Looking at the spins:
She had a question at 1:01 -your motion had conflicting indicators with decel and RC info (pushing in towards the jumps) so she stopped to get more info: wrap or rear cross?Compare it to the 2nd rep at 1:09 – you were clearer about showing her the wrap wing and clear ELC – super nice! The exit line connection was also really clear at 1:34 and 1:40!!
Good job on the blind at the end! Rather than do the blind then drop the toy – show the exit line connection and let her drive through it and then you can throw the toy. That will give you better feedback from her about the exit line connection 🙂
>>s if you don’t mind answering them. I was wondering when Max Pup 2 is set to start.
It will start in March, date TBD 🙂
>> bought the teeter class when it was on sale for Black Friday; at what age is it safe to do teeter training?>>
There is a lot of impact in teeter training, so I don’t start it until the dogs are well over a year old. Otherwise, there is too much impact on their baby bones and joints and muscles 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi! Super nice job on these!
Looking at the videos:
Video 1 – nice connection here! On the circle wraps, as he is passing you, you can switch arms so you can use the arm closer to the wing to point to the landing spot as yo shift connection to it (you changed arms sooner at :13 and that really helped!)Nice send to the 2nd jump on the 2nd video! He had a little question on the circle wrap at :15 because you were looking at him and not at the landing spot.
Video 3 – you added a FC on the 2nd jump so he ended up going to the other side of the wing (good boy). Nice job adding the turn away to still get the circle wrap!
You kept him on your left after that jump there on the 4th video (yay!) so the circle wrap setup was better! You can exaggerate the connection shift by pointing to the landing spot with your right hand and eyes even more so you can be ahead of him as he exits the circle wrap.
On the last video, I loved how you used your arms at :20 on the circle wrap! You transferred from your left arm to your right arm with the right arm pointing to the landing spot. As you do this, add in looking back to where your right arm is pointing, and he will commit better. You were looking right at him rather than shifting your connection, so she was not totally sure if he should follow your hand or follow your motion – shifting connection will help him follow the hand even as you move forward.
Great job here! The only detail to add is to look at and point to the landing spot on the circle wrap wings 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
Sounds like a super fun weekend of life skills and learning about the agility environment! Pooping on leash is a vastly underrated but hugely important sport dog life skill!!!!
Find my face is going well – what treats can you use that require less chewing? That was holding her back a bit in terms of speed of response.
>>On one find my face she sat watching me- not sure if I handled that well.>>
Bearing in mind that this is an arousal regulation and engagement game (and not a movement game)… all of that is rewardable. She was being very patient (“mom is disconnected, I can see her and will wait til mom re-engages) and offered a stationary behavior rather than jump up on you, get nippy, bark, or wander away sniffing. There was really not a lot of room to move AND this particular room has a history of stay training…. So she offered a nice patient stay. She could see your face… so it is all totally rewardable as soon as she makes and effort to re-engage.The stays are looking good! She is quick to predict that after you stop moving, a reward or release will come next – so mix in rewards/releases *while* you are moving. That way she does not get into the pattern of seeing you move-stop-release (dogs can predict the rhythm of our timing amazingly well, much to our dismay LOL!!)
So some reps can be exactly what you did here: move away, stop, wait a beat, say ‘catch’ then toss.
And mix in these reps too:
– move away, stop, praise quietly, wait a beat, say ‘catch’ then toss.
– Move away while watching her and if she is not moving, say ‘catch’ and throw the reward while you are in motion the whole time.Being able to release while in motion is a very useful skill! And it does not pair motion into the release, because you are doing it the whole time. What causes motion to become the release is if you stop then move & release all at the same time, then the sudden movement becomes the release (which we don’t want of course :))
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>I have been taking her to training barns and using whatever they have. I used cones at one place and the laundry barrels at another. She is not wrapping the barrels consistently, but jets out straight. >>
She might need a refresher on wrapping as the first session each time you use something different – cones are pretty different from barrels which are pretty different from wings, so se might the first few rewards to be just going around each new object (you can even bring out the bowls on each side to jump start it).
>>I think part of it is if my arm goes a little forward, she is looking for thrown food. This has only been a problem since I started the thrown food catch release on sit stays. >>
Maybe? But the catch toss is so different in mechanics and context because she is in a sit and you are ahead of her and throw it back to her) that it is less likely. It could be confusion if your hand has a cookie in it and is moving forward, to it could be that you are blocking the line so she is running fast but doesn’t see what she is running towards 🙂
>>I think it’s also a generalization issue because she doesn’t do it with the known items in the small space of my basement.>>
This is the more likely scenario: new object in a new environment can produce different behaviors.
>>I have concentrated on keeping my arm completely back, but that doesn’t always solve the problem. Any thoughts? I have video, but wanted to ask you asap, before I had time to upload.>>
Could be any of the above, all of the above, none of the above LOL!! Show me a video, because the visual will give us instant answers.
>>Also, I haven’t been posting video because we have been spending a lot of time on focus work in the two training barns. Leash on and off. Coming out of the crate. Control unleashed patterns games. It is going well, but wasn’t worth uploading because of what it was.>>
It is a great thing to work on!! If she needs help processing the environment, then these games will help a whole lot.
>> I have been training the dog in front of me, as we must. I realized my grand plans of working xyz fun game on any given day needed to take a backseat to what she actually needs right now. The games will be there. >>
100000% agree! The engagement and resilience games are just as important as the agility running around things games 🙂 And if you have engagement, then those games are much easier in new environments. Yay for supporting her learning by helping her process the environment!
Tracy
Good morning!
>> She did fairly well being a good canine citizen (better when helping me score from my lap or the crate near me than she did in her crate in the other room)
She probably needed more social support in the other room. Was Kaladin right next to her? Or another friend? Being crated in that environment is definitely hard.
>>Happy to report that she was able to take cheese from Dean and turn away from Kaladin and I running.>>
That is awesome! Yay for Dean and the power of cheese!!!!
Power bowls went well with trumpet warm up in the background 🙂 Then a bit of volume dial for cookies also looked good.
Her facial expression was kind of hilarious when you asked her if she saw the cookies you put down on the chair. She was like “Obvs. I totally see them duh” hahahahah!!!
She did really well here – I think she was a little bit like “ok, this is odd and maybe too easy” but she moved away from you each and every time with no attempts to go back and snag the cookies. YAY!
>>Should I be pausing more after the HH cue and before I run to the treat?>>
Maybe one beat: Happy Hour then a beat then run back to it. That can really let the verbal cue get heard before the motion takes over. She is off to a great start here!
>> so I asked her if she wanted to play with her fox (aka – Fatally Flattend Fox”, a friend of “Roadkill Raccoon”). She did so I turned the video back on.>>
I love the names LOL! And she was very happy to play – I think that tells us something about the challenge of the happy hour game… not that mentally challenging for her. YAY! It might be more mentally challenging tomorrow even if you do the exact same thing (adolescence….) or as you make it harder, but for now it was pretty easy for her.
Looking the perch video:
One volume dial trick you can add is a spin on cue (do I remember correctly that Kaladin can do this?) It is a fun way to add arousal when using food.She did really well with the first rep and pivoted back to just about center! Rather than reward in position then wait for more (which caused her to stop), you can reward and toss the treat off to the other side sooner. Something to experiment with is NOT rewarding her for stopping after a few steps – see how she does if you reward by tossing the treat off to the other side (when she has basically arrived back near the center). That way it is all about moving and no stops get cookies 🙂
She pivots better from your left to your right so you can reward a different number of steps on each side: pivoting from your right to your left is mainly 2 or 3 steps and pivoting from your left to your right is more like 4 or 5 little steps. All good!
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>>WE really did this, but operator error, turned off video, then played and recorded 35 minutes of my pocket. Oh no LOL!!!! I hate when that happens! >>I was shocked at how well she did it.I am not surprised at all! She is a brilliant girlie and it is an easy concept transfer for her 🙂 try adding your left and right verbals in the next session and see how she does!
Keep me posted :)
TracyGood morning!
Your rocking horses are looking really good here! Her commitment is looking strong especially without needing much motion from you. Nice connection on the exit of the FCs before sending to the next cone! She had a tiny struggle going past your hand (especially when the toy was in it) and she would hop up a little… but then she carried on past it so we will let her sort it out because she is doing great 🙂
She is ready for you to add two things:
– your verbal wrap cues. Rather than praising or being quiet, you can send her to the cone with your wrap cue to get her really learning those.
– you can transfer this to wings (if you haven’t already shown this to her) – start with a bit of wrapping and turn and burn on one wing and if she recognizes it as a ‘thing to wrap’ then you can do rocking horses with 2 wings instead of cones.
Great job!!
TracyGood morning!
OMG! Your poor head! I hope it doesn’t hurt too much!
Looking at the ring rentals:
The tunnel work looked good! Then you can break up the session and play between games rather than go from game to game with no break. The leg cookie toss at 2 minutes was probably a combo of something interesting to smell (especially is her big brother thought it was an interesting spot too!) and 2 minutes straight of work. Cookies tosses are going to tend to get noses to the ground, so you will want to do sort blasts with big play in between 🙂>>things can change a lot day to day.
First I was worried she didn’t like food and now I’m concerned her interest in toys is fading >>Yes, things can be different every day. She did well going back and forth between toys and food on the 2nd video. DOn’t worry about it too much, just keep balancing back and forth for now – if food is higher value at the moment, you can use lower value food and a higher value toy. And if that changes, you can switch the value again.
The rocking horses are going well here! She got the wraps in both directions and she was super fast on the last one too! Yay! You can spread the barrels out even more so there is more running – she will really like that a lot 🙂 Your connection was very clear and your step to the barrel was also clear in each direction.
I think she didn’t understand that the step and verbal cue was a release from a stay that she put herself in as you were getting a cookie out to line her up, so it was smart to get her out of the sit with a cookie toss.
At your next ring rental, you can use a wing for wrapping – just one wing. And if she recognizes it as a thing to wrap, you can move your rocking horses to 2 wings – she looks ready for that!
Great job here!
Tracy>>. Lu just turned 14 months this month. She’s my first puppy I’ve gotten during the winter so my timing for training is all messed up. When do you start raising jumps?>>
Great question! The answer is not really age-based once the dog gets into the 14 and 15 month range… at that age, she is still fully an adolescent so processing skills are NOT in place. So we progress slowly and allow for more physical and mental maturity to come into play (this also means I am 100000% *against* dogs beginning their trial careers at 15 months or 18 months because there is simply no way all the pieces are in place enough to be in the trial ring).
if you have good footing, and she is well-muscled, and has good jump commitment and you have good focus forward to a toy as a reward, then you can start raising the height a bit to get closer to elbow-height in jump grids first. The set point and the striding grids are the first to see the higher jumps, and I make sure there is motion added onto those before I bring higher heights into handling.
When she is happy on the grids, the heights can come up in handling bit by bit – this will vary based on how familiar she is with the skill and how well she can do it. If it is a familiar skill in a familiar location? The bar can come up. Unfamiliar skill in familiar location? Low bar. Familiar skill in unfamiliar location? Low bar. Unfamiliar skill in unfamiliar location? Definitely low bar!
All of my dogs begin their trial careers at a lower height, because of this unfamiliar skill thing (trial location, running courses, so many internal and external distractions) in an unfamiliar location (trial environments are different even if the pup has trained there before).
For full height jumping: Before going to the full height, I bring my young dog to a sports vet to get a full sports assessment. Is the dog developed enough? Well-balanced with muscling? Any sides of weakness is muscling or movement? Any limits to range of motion? The sports vet then either clears the dog to begin moving jumps to full height (or not!) and also helps me develop a fitness program for the dog with specific exercises.
This never happens before 18 months old, because based on what we know about the physical and mental developed of dogs, they are not going to be ready before 18 months old for that level of processing and mechanics (and it doesn’t matter to me what people show on Facebook or teach in online fitness classes LOL!!)
So my Whippet puppy is 17 months old – he is about 21 inches tall and is seeing 16” jumps in some sequences at home. In about about a month, I’ll schedule his sports vet consult to see if he is ready for next steps.
Tracy
Hi! This is going well and I think it went best when you added the 3rd jump after the FC or spin. When she started on your left and went to the right on the FCs, your exit line connection was great! Nice job opening the connection back to her and showing her the toy across your body.
When you went to the other side, you were tending to switch the toy from hand to hand and drop the toy down at your side with the dog-side arm – so she came to the toy but it was not because of exit line connection 🙂Compare that to the connection on the other side at :54 – perfect! You definitely have a side preference LOL!!
And look at 1:02 on the other side – the exit line connection is not as well-rehearsed when you added the next jump, so you were looking forward more and she was wider on the line there. So keep exaggerating the exit line connection and showing her to the toy across your body.
Looking at the spins:
Adding the 3rd jump here really helped – especially on the last one where you had your connection really opened up back to her. Yay! So with the spins, I think the most important thing to get great exit line connection is to work on not switching the toy from hand to hand – leave it in the hand it starts in so you can show it to her to create the exit line connection.
Nice work!
Tracy
