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Hi!
These all look really good!!!!
She is one confident girl on the mountain climbers so you will need to stay with her (which might mean moving faster sometimes LOL!) so she doesn’t jump off or lose her balance.
Plank confidence is looking super good too – she was turning around really nicely here so you can add in tossing the reward off the end of the plank, so she can find her balance getting on it at a run (I promise it won’t mess up contact criteria LOL!)
Look at her being a pro in a new location and in the blazing heat! Good girlie!
Very nice commitment in both directions! I felt your connection was MUCH better into the wrap at :33 (you don’t even need to point forward of her to the jump, you can keep your hand pointing to her nose). She had a little question at :12, where you disconnected and pointed forward so she almost came off the line (but the verbal and prxomitiy to the wing convinced her to take it – super!) So in those spots, remember to add a little more connection and let your hand follow her nose 🙂
Great job on these! Stay cool!
TracyHi!
Lazy game part 2 – super! The sends are really strong and she is collected to make the turn all on her own: PERFECT! The main thing on the send is to be connected til she is past you as you send. You can bowl after she passes you LOL! I think the last rep was the most perfect in this respect: note your eye contact and low hand as she is passing you, and she went miles away with no questions 🙂 Super!
You can definitely be adding more and more speed to this now – the distance is great for what we want it to be, so now we can start to get into the handling stuff more and more.
Great job!
TracyHi!
>>That was so interesting seeing your dogs gain so much speed and confidence on the mountain climber. >>
Yes, those videos were from an 8 week process to teach them the teeter 🙂
She did well here, and yes, you can lift her off if she doesn’t mind, or reward her for turning around and help her walk down. By visiting this game here and there for the next 6 weeks, you will see her confidence really bloom!
She did really well on the send sequences at the beginning!
The 2nd sequence was the wrap and it was a Goldilocks moment showing the transition: On the first rep, she went a bit wide on 4-5 because you were stationary at 3 then really accelerated to get to 5 – so she accelerated (good girl!) It was too much giddy up 🙂On the 2nd rep you were better about not suddenly accelerating at :34, but that meant you were decelerated the whole time so she never saw the transition 🙂 So it was not enough transition into the wrap. Same thing on the 3rd rep at :49, going the other direction, and your feet were pointing to the RC line so she rear crossed (very good girl!) Be sure to reward when that happens because she was correct! On the th rep, your feet were pointing to the correct line so there was no RC (yay!)
To get the ‘just right’ transition on the wraps – you can hustle as she is exiting the tunnel and show lots of acceleration from 3-4 – then when she landing from 4, show the decel followed by the rotation into the wrap.
Great timing on getting to the blind at 1:09! I bet you can do it even sooner, which will make the reconnection faster so the line will be better. And excellent job thinking on your feet when you did the FC after it on 5, then had to rear cross 6, Caper thought it was GREAT! So did I!
You started the BC sooner on the next rep but actually finished it later, so the turn was wider – watching it in slow motion from 1:19 you will see that you started the rotation as she landed from 3 but then took a few steps before you did the reconnection, which is what ended up making it late.
The send to 5 looked good!
For 6 and 7, you ran forward for a few steps at 1:23 which committed her to go straight (and past the 7 jump, as young dogs will do :)) On the very last rep, you turned sooner, which totally helped!!!Great job working to sort out all of the timing! It gets easier as she gets more experienced and then you will not have to be as perfect with the timing :)
Tracy
Hi!
On the fast lazy games, most of it was perfect – I was all set to say that she is a righty because she only had trouble finding the middle jump on the left turns… til she had trouble finding the middle jump on the right at the end. Aha!So, a couple of things:
Try to turn shoulders to it sooner, no later than landing of the previous jump. If you are at all facing forward, she shoots past it.And, break it down without the tunnel there – the tunnel can be present but not used, so it is stimulating but not *that* stimulating. She can be in a stay in front of the jump after the tunnel to do the little pinwheel section, then back chain so she starts at the exit of the tunnel.
And, add a clicker: click the moment she makes the turn to lock onto the middle jump. That might be very clarifying for her!
Also – take out go verbals – too stimulating for now 🙂 We are getting a lot of go and so we don’t need to worry about that verbal 🙂
2nd seq – the wraps are looking good! Super!!!
The hardest part for her was the middle pinwheel jump. You were decelerating to help her, which worked, but we want to fade that decel asap because it is more of a management tool there than a cue.
Ideally you can just turn your shoulders. Since we have been talking about timing and the window to look for – let’s see how she does if you are turning your shoulders no later than landing from the jump before it (staying connected, of course LOL!) That should help fade out the decel.
The decel over the bar is what caused her question o the bar at :22 – and it also delays the transition into the wraps. Her wrap turns looked really good, so let’s focus on getting her to just follow the line of your shoulders as they turn without adding a change of motion/deceleration. Then you will be able to really drive into the wrap turns and decel which will get them even tighter 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know how she does with the earlier shoulder turn!
TracyHi!
>>I’m hoping to work on the Raise Your Game Challenges this weekend for package 2, so I need the weather to cooperate! >>
For real! It is like living in a rain forest here!!!
These sequences went really well, and you made really good adjustments!! Some ideas for you:
Seq 1: Finding the sweet spot of connection 3-4 is hard! Yes, your shoulders were open to the off course jump on the first run but you kept going like a pro 🙂 Yay!
She took off a little early for 4 on the 2nd rep because you closed shoulders and broke connection. The 3rd rep had the sweet spot of turned shoulders and connection so she did great! YAY!
The FC and wrap at the end looked great!
Seq 2A – The blind went well! I was writing that I think she needs a turn cue on 4 so she knows she was turning left, and then you added it on the 2nd rep (verbal cue, a little decel) and it really helped!! Super!
2nd rep had a turn cue (verbal) and it really helped!
You were a late on the turn 6-7 – some of the commitment questions and bars are definitely the processing in this tighter spacing with the tunnel right there: there is a whole lot of visual processing going on as they learn these skills!
2B – to help her set up for the threadle, she needs a turn cue on 2 so she is already turning. The threadle cue only tells her which side of 3, but if she is not already heading towards the the correct line, the threadle cue will be harder to get. A name call might be all she needs, or a right verbal. And the bigger upper body motion REALLY helped too (more rotation, swinging the upper body back like at 2:27 and 2:40).
She had a bar down at 4: a lot of the FCs are send and go where you don’t get past the entry wing to set up the turn. On this one, you were center of the bar at 2:30 so she read it as a slice based on your motion and position, then you did the FC as she was jumping and she tried to adjust and couldn’t keep the bar up. You were a a little less across the bar at 2:43 and she was already better! So try to not go past the line you want her to run and that will help with the bars too.
seq 3:
>>>.I did stop a couple of times for crazy bar knocking.>>It was happening in seq 3, so this is where we can look and see what is happening. I don’t think she was reckless on the bars here, I think she was trying really hard with what she could see. Reckless seems a little like we are blaming her. It is a different way to look at it: extreme effort versus reckless LOL!!
>>, but one of the things that seems to be making her more thoughtful about jumping is stopping when she plows into it;
I don’t think it is more thoughtful… I think the next rep is more cautious, which is different. She added strides and was more careful and slower.
>>there is no punishment, just communication that we are stopping and sometimes asking her to sit or down so she doesn’t turn into a barking tornado.>>
True, there is no punishment in the form of a physical correction or harsh verbals (positive punishment). But it is still punishment: there were verbals markers associated with it and a withdrawal of the availability of reinforcement, aka negative punishment. And that can work, of course, because the quadrants can work – but there is fallout that comes with it such as being more careful/slowing down, and/or frustration. We saw a bit of both here (she immediately barked when you stopped, so she has frustration built into the stops). And that frustration could bleed over into the frustration and barking we sometimes see when you decelerate.
Plus… the jumping error is all handler induced 🙂 She needs to see the info to process it, and if she can’t see it or it is delayed, the processing is delayed too and with agility dogs, the jumping form is usually the first thing to go. She is making a really big effort to get it done, and is not always successful with the mechanics. Reckless? Nope. Huge effort? Yessssss 🙂
So looking at the bars: at 2:52 there was a late left cue and sudden acceleration:
you marked it, stopped, she barked.At 3:06 -you were a bit too center of the bar on the FC set a wide line then you accelerated away without a lot of connection to support the next jump, so she rushed to get on the next line at 3:07 – you trying to get around the tunnel, a little disconnected, so she didn’t have time to produce good form. Definitely not a great mechanics processing moment! But not reckless.
You stop her, she barks…
On the next reps she didn’t touch bars but she was adding little strides to be cautious and also was barking a lot more on that section (frustration perhaps?) .So if there is a jumping effort that goes totally awry, you don’t need to acknowledge it by stopping or marking. If it needs to be fixed for a safety reason, you can do a couple more jumps with more connection, reward, then go back and as you reset the jump – think about adjusting the handling to be able to give more motion and connection support (or watch the video if you are not sure what went wrong :))
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyPS – since you are a teacher, you can also ask yourself what you would tell a student in that momen twhen you want to make it perfect 🙂
Hi!
>>, specifically wraps where I was decel’ing, was put her Lotus Ball near the wing of the jump where she was landing. It made a BIG difference with just a couple of reps. I will be adding this in where we have issues in sequences but also just to build value for obstacles as you have mentioned here.>>
Yes, this can totally help as long as you are not relying on the lotus ball to create the behavior (which means we humans are not actually cuing it properly :)) I do a lot of either-or in this context where the lotus ball or Manners Minder is there the whole time, but only available when I cue the jump. Otherwise, we don’t really develop the handling skills or commitment we think we are developing.
Like this:
>>>You don’t need to run it clean
I need to write this down and read it before every training session! >>
Yes, the brain is a crazy creature!!!
Maybe think of it like this:
Practice Makes Plasticity (Not Perfect)
Our goal in training is to create new neural pathways (plasticity in the brain) for 2 creatures: you and Nox. The practice creates the plasticity. Too much practice doesn’t create perfect behavior or more plasticity – it just depletes the brain. So do the 4 reps total and then be done with it 🙂 No need to revisit it or try to make it perfect, because you have accomplished the mission of more plasticity 🙂
T
Hi!
Yes, that was the only hard part for him: finding the jump after the tunnel. He had no trouble finding the line back to the tunnel when you asked him to layer with the jump-jump-tunnel line (probably because he could see you). So, we can build that layering skill from a tunnel with placement of reinforcement:
For each time he looks at/heads towards the jump after the tunnel, throw the reward to the landing side of the jump. You did that once (:55) and that was spot on!! The other rewards (especially the 2 reps after the rep at :55) were all tossed close to you, which is why he was confused and offered coming to you at 1:05. The placement of reinforcement will help him predict what the behavior is, so being more precise will make a big difference. And for now, it doesn’t matter if the bar is up or not, you still reward for looking at and seeking out that jump.
And to make it easier, you can move the jump in a bit more so that he sees it very easily on his line and doesn’t have to seek it out as much. When he doesn’t feel the need to head check anymore, you can then start to move it back out to where it was in this session.
The rest went really well! I only have one small suggestion: when you do the switch away at jump 4 at :38, do it more from the takeoff side of jump 4 and not the landing side – that will set up a tighter turn there 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyThank you for this! It explains why she couldn’t do it with layering: She doesn’t understand the RC pressure/convergence/arm cues unless you actually do a real real rear cross on her line – which we can’t do when layering. She got it at :49 but that was the only one.
So I htink the main thing is going to be to get her to read the arm cues and not rely on the foot work. You can go back to the tandem turn cues on the flat (like we do with Audie and the turns aways!) and then on a wing – I suggest using 2 hands: first both hands get her attention, then both hands ‘flip’ her away – and then you turn your feet 🙂 That can be easily done at a distance. We can get it started on the flat then on a wing, then apply it to a jump and the distance lines. Let me know if that makes sense!
TracyHi!
The pop outs are looking really good! You can totally add more layering too 🙂Pop put 1 – went very nicely when you ran in and handled it (no layering) but of course you can layer the weaves here in the opening.
Without the layering, you can get further ahead on the poles to blind cross the exit or show the smoother line to to RC the tunnel entry (she had a question there and did a zig zag)2nd rep – you did the BC at the exit of the weaves – yay! You can do it while she is weaving so it is done before she exits (do it approx while she is at pole 6) and that will be smoother – you were a little in her way because you started it a little.
Layering will make it much easier: layer the poles while she does the 3-4 jumps, then you can do a FC on the weave entry then it is all dog on right after that.
Pop out 2 has the option to layer the poles both times you go past them 🙂
This sequence really needs the layering to get the backside at 5 – without layering, the dogs leave us in t dust (as you experienced LOL) putting you behind, blocking the line as you try to get past the dang weaves, and having the teeter there did indeed make it look like you wanted the teeter.
She got the backside at 1:33 but had big questions there. Layering the weaves will get you to 5 much sooner and ahead of her, and will take the teeter out of the picture entirely 🙂Layering the poles at the end worked beautifully! You had to stay in motion and that really helped her stay on the line. Yay!
Great job here!
TracyHi!
He is pretty darned confident with this game! But he is also starting to think about it a lot, and we don’t want him (or you) over-thinking it 🙂One thing that is important about all training but especially about teeter training… don’t obsess!!! One super short session with incredibly high value food every few days is all he needs 🙂 Mountain climbers is a value building game so it takes time to build it up – he is doing well and we don’t want him to over think it by doing a lot of reps.
He seemed happy to go up the board for hte cookies the first time or two, but the value of whatever is at the top was not that high (for whatever reason) so he wanted off the board at that point.
So a couple of ideas for you:
– use the highest value treat at the top, placed there and let him see you place it there like you did on the very last rep here).
– do a total of 2 reps only per session and then be done (regardless of whether it looks like he wants to do more or not :)) Leave him wanting more!
– do this maybe once or twice a week, no need to do multiple sessions per week.>.Would it be okay for me to lay the teeter flat and use that? It can lay completely flat and I can make it so it doesn’t move.
Yes! That would work perfectly! Keep me posted!
TracyTiming and connection videos are also looking really good!
You were super connected on both of these and he is finding his lines beautifully. YAY!! So now, with that same strong connection, try to add more verbal cues (you were quiet here): as his feet are landing from the jump or exiting the tunnel, give him the cue for the next thing. That is challenging for us humans but will be easy for him 🙂Great job on all of these!
TracyHi!
One step sending: Easy peasy! I am super happy with his commitment!
The first rep (first video) was perfect! On the 2nd rep (2nd video), he was also great about finding his lines! The distance was not a problem for him at all, so you can keep adding distance by spreading out the jumps more and more, little by little.
Great job 🙂
Tracy
Looking at all 3 Mountain Climber session – I don’t think he liked having his collar held in the first one, it was worrying him a bit – so no need to hold his collar 🙂 You can let him jump off if needed, that way he has agency over what is happening and you can reward whatever he does. You’llfind that the more we let him choose, the more he will choose to go up the teeter!
That is what happened on the 2 next sessions: you were not holding him and it sounds like you said you had chicken, so he was very good about going up! He still had concerns but that will go away as he get more chicken parties on the teeter. So this is a game to play every couple of days with incredibly high value food, one or two reps, so he comes to associate the teeter with BIG YUMMIES and will get more and more confident gong up the board 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
The lazy game look good – slow and easy is the goal for sure! His commitment is looking really strong!It took him a heartbeat or two to find the treats at the beginning but then he figured it out – you can try using highly visible treats like big pieces of cheese, that might be easier for him to find.
And remember to only throw the treats when he takes the jump – I think you were also throwing the treats before he took the jump, so he was not entirely sure what the behavior was. Throwing only for taking the jumps will really clarify things for him.
Nice work!
Tracy
