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Hi!
>>When doing the counter motion should I use the verbal for a front-side wrap like digdig
You can use it if you like, but you won’t need it when we add the countermotion to the backsides. When we are using the countermotion in other contexts, then yes you can totally use it.
>>and drop the toy on the take-off side while I am running forward?
Try to get the toy to land on the landing spot, to emphasize going over the jump rather than chasing you š
Tracy
Hi!
He is reading the blinds really well – so we just need to figure out how to give you a better head start. Your mechanics when you were ahead were perfect when you did the blind (well done, that is the hardest part!)>>I tried to throw a toy at the start, so I could get ahead of him. But, he liked it better than his tug toy.>>
That was clever and worked well, with him bringing the toy back too! But yes, I agree with your observation that he didnāt seem to realize that you wanted him to drop the toy in his mouth to grab the tug toy after the blind.
By the end of the video, he had figured out the game and was very fast doing catching up to you which made one of the blinds late. If you think that he will be able to eat a low value treat then chase you and play with the toy, you can use a treat in the bowl as a target: let him see you put the treat in a bowl, then send him to it – and as he gets the cookie, you can run away and do the blind when he starts chasing you.
If he struggles to go back and forth from the food to the toy, no worries – you had great mechanics with the connection and the toy here, so you can put the game away until we add the prop to it š The blinds are looking strong!
Nice work š Let me know what you think!
TracyPost up a video! My guess is that you are waiting too long to throw the treat for her age, so she shifts her weight entirely back and end up in a it or down. Try to toss the treat for just one or two steps, before she stops moving. And we can also get her doing some back foot targeting to give her a ‘destination’.
T
Hi!
Toy races looked great! Her joy with the toy when she won the first race was adorable! And she brought the toy back – SUPER!!!I think working it with a toy (or two toys, to help her bring back the first toy) is better than trying to incorporate food. She was lovely with the toy!
>>But she still seemed to drive harder to the toy afterward.>>
Yes, that was hilarious – even though she only lost a little on the 2nd rep, she definitely found a higher gear of speed on the 3rd rep and left you in the dust LOL!! Good girlie!
>>I didnāt realize til I watch this that I pushed her back SO Hard. After this she was leery of me reaching for her and I didnāt know why.>>
Ah yes, she was not a huge fan of that but she still played really nicely! You donāt need to push her backā¦ you can just keep throwing the toy further and further and see how far ahead of you she can get.
Great job on all of these!
TracyHi!
>>Definitely having trouble with my mechanics today.
That is why we start with relatively simple games – to work the mechanics because those are really hard! And as an owner of big dogs and small dogsā¦ I always found mechanics to be harder with the smalls! You are doing great!
>>I forgot to deliver the treats on the plank instead from my hand so sheās not looking at me.
ļæ¼
. Even though she fell off, she got right back on and seemed happy to do so.>>Yes – she definitely forgot that she is a bit bigger and doesnāt fit as early on the plank LOL!! But also yes, she was not concerned about it. Putting the treats on the plank will help, and also move more slowly for now when you walk back and forth. I think she was rushing a little to catch up to you and that is why she lost her balance.
>>BTW. Thank you for your patience with me. I know Iām repeating mistakes and you have to tell me the same thing more than once. Working on it.>>
You are doing just fine with the mechanics!! Donāt beat yourself up! She is happy, she is enjoying her training, her skills are coming along beautifully, and your mechanics are very strong! Yes, there is a blooper here and there but that is part of the fun of puppy training š
Nice work!
TracyHi!
>>I can see watching the vids what youāre talking about with her body. Sheās twice as big and heavy now, so that changes the whole ball game.
Yes! She changes daily š so we need to partially see playing these games to help her sort out her body, and also remember that we are kind of starting over each time she ha a growth spurt (and when she enters adolescence) because her brain will keep re-wiring the pathways for her biomechanics. Being bigger and heavier totally changes how the board moves under her, and changes her center of gravity.
This was a good session! Leave the set up like this, and use lots of super high value rewards. Revisit it maybe once or twice a week and make it silly fun like you did here – no rush to make it harder š
>>Also. Iām now setting up the props as much as possible first. Then starting tug outside the room and tugging her into the room to try and make the transitions quicker. It worked pretty well here>>
Ooooh that is clever!!!!! I am going to steal that concept and call it the Mochi Move š And if she wants to, you can see if she will tug on the setup but she might need a bigger playing field to be able to shift her weight back.
Great job!āØ
TracyHi!
Wow, what a journey to figure out what is happening with Ronin!! Poor little guy. I am sure the vets checked the patellasā¦ but next time you see the vet, ask them to get Ronin on his side and re-check his patellas. What you describe is pretty much exactly what happened with my Hot Sauce, but now add 6 more months of issues until we figured out it was just her patella. It took 9 months to figure it out, and she was over 2 years old when they found it. All fixed now, she feels great!
The vet who found it said that the strong little terrier-types can tighten up and the patellas wonāt move during a normal exam when they are standing, but you can find it easily when they are on their side or the weight is loaded off the leg. Hot Sauce was examined by more than one Board Certified Ortho Vet and they didnāt find it. I mention it for two reasons – the little weird injuries in a young dog can be related to patellas, according to all the sports vets. And, if nothing else, it will rule it out so you donāt spend more time going down the wrong rabbit hole fi the patella is involved.
Back to Reacher and his backing up š
He definitely is getting the idea!! Yay! Bearing in mind that baby dogs are not all that coordinated, he was really strong with āfindingā the target with his rear feet.
One idea for you:
Start each session with his back feet already on the foot target, and you very close to it (you can lure him onto it) and do a couple of warm up reps with him stepping off forward, then stepping back onto it. Then you can slide yourself a bit further away each time. That can get the idea into his head right away and then he can offer with precision more easily. – which makes adding the verbal very easy too!But overall, this was very strong!! He will be able to add more and more distance pretty quickly š No worries about the markers – it was mainly hand-delivered cookies and a “yes” or “yay” is perfect for that!
āØGreat job!
TracyHi!
He did great with his wing wraps!! He seemed to really like it!
I think he is a righty – all of the right turns were way for him, he went out around the upright easily. The left turns were harder, and he needed you to be closer to her; jump start the behavior. So for now stick nice and close on the left turns (when he is going from your right to your left) and you can step back a bit for the right turns.Wow, he definitely loves goating all around on the mini teeter LOL!!! You can try tossing the reward off the end so he doesnāt stop – he was kinda stopping but going sideway and relying on your position at the end, so letting him run through for now with a cookie toss s great to keep him going straight. Then when you get to the real teeter, you can add in a target to get the end position you want. I love his confidence!
The blinds looked great and he LOVES the frisbee! You can do the blind even sooner, when he is maybe 2 steps towards you so he sees the new side sooner.
Watch the last rep – note how his little legs are trying to run as the daddy is holding him and putting him down LOL! And listen to his adorable sounds. SO CUTE!!!!
If you have enough room, you can try doing 2 blinds: do the first blind immediately as he start moving, then the 2nd blind when he is halfway to you.>>Ronin is on the injured list
What happened to Ronin? Poor guy! Hope he feels better soon!!!!!
Great job here!
TracyHi! This all went really well!!!! He was highly successful on this and it is a hard skill!
On the first video, he was mostly perfect but had a few questions like at 1:01, 1:58, 2:08 when he gt ahead of you and ended up on the front side of the jump. To help him there, you can move after so you stay ahead, and looked more directly at him when you give the backside cue (not at the jump). The angled entry wing totally helped!!!
2nd video was just one rep but it looked great! And the backsides at the start of the 3rd video looked really strong too – yay!!!
On the countermotion, I think you will have an easier time if you toss the toy down low behind you (rather than across your body) – that can allow you to add in moving forward.
One other suggestion –
You can make the verbals sound more different: the wrap verbal can be very quiet and the back verbal can be super loud š That will help him differentiate and build even more independence.Great job!
TracyHi!
This one looked great too! And the end to the tunnel was a true threadle (not a FC). She is reading things brilliantly! FUN!!! So you can definitely add more challenge with the longer sequences, and feel free to submit even more video!
TracyHi! This is looking really good!! Nice job with all the verbals, and her commitment looks really strong. You can read things out to move faster with her – she is ready for more speeeeeed š
At the end, you did a FC on the wing and then the tunnel threadle cue. After a FC, you don’t need the tunnel threadle because she is on the direct line to the tunnel entry. To use the threadle, you can use a post turn to keep her on your left and then the tunnel threadle will work great!
Nice work!
TracyHi!
Hopefully the April rain is finished and we have beautiful weather ahead šHer barrel wrap (and later on – the wing) is looking great – she is really digging in driving to the barrel and finding the line after if. She did a great job finding the jump as you added more and more distance – super!!!!
Since her commitment is looking fabulous, you can do 2 things:
– add even more distance between the wing and the jump
– add your āgoā verbal. You were saying your jump verbal, but you can use go for this because it is full on extension, and save the jump verbal for when you want jump commitment but a little less extension, like on a gentle turn line.She is definitely ready to see the week 2 games and beyond on this, with the rear crosses and backside wraps and decelerations for front side wraps š
The smiley face game also looks great! The wing-to-tunnel warm up at the beginning looked great, in both directions.
The wing-tunnel-wing looked great too! On that section, I think her only questions were about when to start – o be sure to line her up at your side, and give a clear verbal and step to the wing to start each rep so she knows for sure that she has permission to start.One thing that you are doing brilliantly here is making your verbals sound VERY different. SUPER!! The soft turn/race track verbals are so different that she is easily able to know to NOT wrap when you use those. Click/treat for you!
She had a little question on the left and right soft turns – you can see it at 1:18, for example, when she is not entirely sure if she should stay out on the line or come into the gap. That was because you were pulling away a bit instead of staying on the parallel line, and opening up your shoulder a tiny bit too much: so she was asking if you wanted her to come towards you. To help keep her going on the soft turns, you can stay a little closer to the wings (moving in a parallel line to her line) and you donāt have to connect quite as much – a little bit of eye contact and your fingers can point to her nose šAt the end you had a bunch of fast & fun figure 8 rocking horses with the FCs getting earlier and earlier. Her commitment was very strong, and it looked best when decelerated into the rotation like at 1:39 and 1:46 and the last 2 reps, when she was really driving ahead into the commitments with beautiful turns.
When you had a more sudden stop-then-rotate, your dog side leg was not stepping forward as much (like at 1:37) so she had a question on those reps.The wrap proofing went really well! The first part where it was just wing or tunnel was easy š The advanced level of tunnel-then-wing was harder on both sides – you can see she was a tiny bit delayed in her turn, but she still got it right. Yay! The only time she ended up in a tunnel that she was not necessarily supposed to end up in was at 1:22, but I think that had more to do with the timing of the tunnel cue – she had not finished the wrap and was still seeing the tunnelā¦ and that was the exact moment you said tunnel so in she went LOL!!! The rest was great :: She is ready for the next proofing games for sure.
Fantastic job with these! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>That is good information about not overdoing the stationing. She is funny because when we go outside, with or without the boys and her little bed is set up or the upside down feed pans that the perch on, she races to them and leaps enthusiastically on them wagging her tail. I think it is easy for her when nothing much is going on, but if we do stuff with the boys then it gets harder. I will really be careful to limit that sort of thing.>>
I think the station indicates work/play, which is good! There is a misconception in agility that stationing is a way to help the dogs relax but it is just the opposite – it is work! And there is criteria to maintainā¦ which means it is really hard especially with other dogs working. So doing a little is fine. But doing a lot is exhausting for the puppy and there might not be a lot of brain power leftover for other skills š
The lateral lead outs looked great and Brad is a fabulous magicianās assistant by reminding you to walk the precise path. Thanks Brad!!
At :35 you said she wanted to come inā¦ I donāt think so. She was looking at you as you got set up, but then when you released her she went immediately to the jump.
And her turns on the jump looked perfect, exactly what we want: commitment while also turning. And she adjusted the amount of turn based on your position. Super!
On the backsides – this is going well! She had an easier time doing to to her right than to her left, but that might also have been 2nd session versus first session and one latent learning happened between the 2 sessions.
Doing it from ahead of her really helped! So with that in mind, you can start moving a little faster, and on a straight line toward the backside so you are ahead and able to show the motion to support the line to the backside. And angling the jump really helped too!
The countermotion in both directions looked super! I think she is ready for you to play with the advanced level here!!!
Great job š
Tracy
Hi! This went really well!!! She found the backsides nicely!! The opposite arm seemed to help her, so you can keep that going if you like it or you can try it with a more intense connection and not as much arm to see how that goes.
2 suggestions on the parallel path element:
Remember to have her go around the outside of the wing like at the beginning and :38 o she exits the wing on a parallel path to the backside. By sending her around so she exits on the inside of the wing (closer to the tunnel), she had to push away to find it and we donāt quite want to present that challenge yet šAlso, have the reward ready in your hand so you donāt have your hand in your pocket – that draws her focus to you and delays the reward. By having it in your hand, you can drop the reward in right away as she gets to the entry wing.
On the 2nd part –
>>I can see I need to lead out & stop before release.
Ideally you stay in motion (slow motion :)) and look at the landing and drop the reward in as you release while moving. That will help solidify the countermotion. She was doing well with the commitment, so now you can gradually add more and more movement past the wing (continuing to drop the reward in nice and early as you look at the landing spot :))
>>She happily tugged before we started & afterward, we ran to the other corner to play.
Super!!!! Great job on all of this!!!
Tracy
