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Hi!
>>Loud may be my friend! I will try this!!!
Yes! Saying it loudly is the actual rehearsal of what you will be doing, so you might find it helpful!
The Get Out game looked really good! She was totally anticipating by the 3rd or 4th rep, so remember to keep mixing in different cues.
When you made the BIG eye contact on the get out, she got it (like at 1:04). When you did not make the big connection, she stayed on the regular line (like at 1:07) so keep making the BIG connection 🙂
The same happened when you were adding the cross after the jump. If your connection was too normal and not BIG eye contact, she would not go to the jump (like at 1:35, 1:37, 1:43). But when you added more intense direct connection, like at 1:56 and 1:59, she got the cue and you got the cross 🙂
When she went to the backside of the jump a few times (like at :34) it was because you were wrapping her on the outside art of the wing towards the jump, so the backside was on her natural line. Ideally you would wrap her around the inside of the wing (between the wing and the jump) so that she exits on the line on the outside of the wing (right next to you).
Looking at the lap turns:
>>She was either really excited about getting turned around on the lap turn or we’ve been practicing spinning too much!>
I think 2 things were happening here:
You were too early to step back with your leg, and it is possible that the cue looked too similar to a spin cue. I think it was that you were stepping back too early, because when you starting stepping back later, she got the lap turns nicely! So for timing: hold your cookie hand out towards her til she is about 2 inches from it… then use the arm and leg stepping back together to set the turn.
This is what you did at 1:17. 1:22, 1:39 for example, and she read it all beautifully 🙂 When she was spinning, your leg was already back before she got to your hand, so she was not sure of the cue.The zig zag session went well! When you get to the 2nd jump, you might have to step forward with your outside leg (left leg in this case) to indicate the takeoff spot of the first jump. That can help build up your distance! And you can also angle the jump a little so the bar is more visible in front of her. She was pretty perfect when she was on the other side of jump 1, jumping towards you for 1 then away on 2 – so the only question was jumping away from you on jump 1. She is doing a great job with her lead changes!!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! These sessions looked really strong!!
The backside wrap session went well and he easily contrasted them with the RCs and the GO line. Nice!!!
>>Slight distraction when the jumps in the background fell over in the first rep,
Yes, that was a legit distraction that he needed to look at, he came right back!
>> on at least 1 of the backsides I was really blocking the wing though.
Yes, a little over helping by blocking the wing, so remember to run to where the wing and bar meet, and really ramp up the eye contact to help him see the backside. Is the verbal you were using for all backsides, or just the backside wrap? I vote for separate verbals for backside slice and backside wrap 🙂
He is ready for you to add this week’s Mission Transition game 🙂
For the serp proofing, there was a question on the first rep. I can see his argument on that rep because your shoulders were a little forward and you had motion, so he was not sure which it was and choose the None Of The Above option LOL! The 2nd rep (serp) and 3rd & 4th reps (tunnel ) were much clearer, and so was the threadle rep – that was very obvious change of position and arm cue! NICE!!!
So as you add motion to this game, keep the very obvious shoulder positions and I think he will have no trouble reading it.
Great job!!
TracyHi! She was a really good girl and this session did have a lot of success!!
The better connection to 3 (:11) and more support of it totally helped! Saying Go before the tunnel (:48) helped commit her as well, AND also allowed you to get a turn on the 3 jump!
Th more experienced she gets with this, the easier the handling will be, so you won’t feel rushed like at :58 – your opposite arm was up and you were rotating as she exited the tunnel, so she was correct to NOT take 3. The last rep was definitely the sweet spot for the 1-2-3-4 line!
A couple of ideas:
When you start the FC, finish it asap so that you don’t end up moving backwards like at :50. And also, if you take too long for finish the FC, you end up accelerating forward after it rather than cuing the turn like at 1:06, which put her on the backside of 5.Releasing behind her with her looking at you at :13 was confusing – being nearer to her to one step ahead will help, and you can work on a bit of focus forward to jump 1 by placing a toy out past it so you can release her with you a bit behind her.
Great job here! She is doing really well!! Leave this sequence for now and try some of the others 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
Both dogs did well here! A couple of ideas of how to help even more and the next steps:
For Huck – try to stand still more at the start of this, and use treats that he can easily swallow rather than needing to chew. Something soft and visible will be good, like bits of string cheese.
For the movement – start by standing still, then you can add back and forth walking. You were wandering a bit I different directions so there was not as much of a pattern effect, in terms of him and you moving back and forth along the same plane.For the up and down game, use both of your feet LOL! He should go up and down but also back and forth from foot to foot (you were only using one foot). He was really quick to re-engage with this one. Yay!
For Maple, I think she is not quite as fluent in this game so was slower to re-engage. That is fine, she will learn it really quickly. 🙂 Like with Huck, use more obvious treats that do not require chewing 🙂 And also, stand still rather than wander, so you can establish the pattern of going back and forth, as if moving along a line.
Both dogs are ready for you to do this with a leash on. If they don’t normally wear a collar or leash at home, then that is a huge difference and you will want to neutralize the collar and leash but using it a lot more in home training.
Great job!
TracyHi!
>>I really find your comments about food very helpful as they make total sense and help me get my own thoughts in better order if that also makes sense.>>
Yay! I think that if we think of eating food as “behavior” rather than as motivator or reinforcement, we can make tremendous progress 🙂
>>She will take food at a trial after she has run so we usually have a very brief tug when she comes out of the ring and then switch to food for the cool down She will also take food before she goes in if it’s high value enough, but prefers the toy.>>That is great! It means we can use food if needed and the toy when needed, to help optimize arousal states. The food is likely more of a gateway to getting the physiological effects of the patterns, but that is fine with me 🙂
>>I’m happy with her focus at a trial but I just feel that I need another set of eyes on what I am doing now as I’m sure there are always gaps and at 2 I think it’s a good time to address any.>>Perfect! At 2, she is still an adolescent so we can see what she needs help with, and what she does not need help with, and keep planning from there.
Volume dial game is looking good! She was quick to respond to the cues (except one down cue, she was delayed, which made me laugh because the down should be easiest for a BC LOL!!!!!) And her ‘out’ of the toy was great. So she was likely in a pretty optimized state at the moment, and we have a good picture of her body language at the very end. So the next steps would be to take this game to different places: what does it look like in a new location? When another dog is running agility? With a video on and someone yelling TUNNEL TUNNEL TUNNEL on that video? We can get a good picture of how her arousal states change.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyThis is the pattern games and volume with the novel object in the environment – looked great! Yay!! He had a great rehearsal here of seeing something new and returning engagement to you. When you play the volume dial with food- make the food into a toy 🙂 Rather than deliver from your hand in a calm way, let him chase your cookie hand as you deliver it, so there is more action.
Do you have any group classes or setting where other people/dogs are around, so he can practice these games with other new and happy distractions? He seems definitely ready for that.
Great job!
TracyThis session went really well too! I think he is ready for you to start your crosses sooner: When he lands from 2, cue the 3 jump (verbal, motion, connection). And when he looks at 3 – you start the FC or BC. You were doing it as he was lifting off for 3, so he was making the turn on landing. I think he is ready for earlier timing for sure and that will help as you raise the heights too (the bars will come time on 20 or 24 inch heights if the cues are late).
The only other thing is to either have the toy in your hand the whole time, or pull it out after he finishes. You were pulling it out on the ending line, which draws his attention to your hands. So having it ready will be easier for you both!!
He did have one question about jump 1 at 3:16, but I think he was probably not lined up as well for it as he was on the other reps where he found it easily.
Great job!
TracyHi!
This was a good session – you had really good position on the #2 jump so his turn to 3 looked good! And his stay looked really strong too – great job rewarding it!The hard part of commitment to 3 – and that was a connection issue. On the first rep and on the last rep at 4:22, you were more connected with him as you cued the commitment to 3. On the other reps at 2:30, 3:01, 3:42 – you were disconnected and looking at the jump, pointing forward – so he was not sure about what you wanted. Ideally, you would be looking at him as he is jumping 2, and maintain that connection while you send to 3 (the low arm helps because he can see the connection better) – remind yourself to say your dig dig cue directly to him and not to the jump LOL!
You gave that info more clearly at 4:22, so he committed! I think you were pressuring into the jump more, so he read it as a rear cross but that is fine – you were great to keep going and reward. If something goes wrong, try to keep going but definitely don’t mark with oops or uh-oh because you can see his demeanor change as he gets a little worried. And if he doesn’t take a jump, it is 99% be a connection issue, so you can ramp up the connection on the next rep and he will be great 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
The leash does make things harder here LOL!! He did really well. The harder part is the mechanics – try to have your treats cut up and already in your hands, so you can be super quick to throw. And, I like to loop the leash on my wrist so I don’t need a 3rd hand 🙂 and you can also throw a little less far so handling the leash is easier.Since he is doing really well, you can introduce a novel object into the environment, and also take this game on the road to different places (nothing scary or weird, just different :))
Great job!
TracyHi!
>>A couple questions, I have the bars here at 16, I know we were doing a lot of reps – his jump height will be 20 or 24, will be going for first measurement in mid dec but he is borderline. I have done some sequencing at 20, 24 just on single jumps. When should I start moving him up more?>>
You can start moving up to 18″ on easy lines and good footing. If that goes well, you can move to 18″ on harder lines and turns. Then you repeat the process to move up to 20″ It will take a few weeks or more to get 20″ then it will take a lot longer to get to 24″. He can (and should) start his trial career at a jump height lower than his measured height. 24″ in AKC is REALLY hard because of the types of lines and short distances, so there is no rush to move to that height even if he measures into it.
>>Next week I have entered him in FEO fast one day at a newish location- he has been in to do some training and get body work. I am going there one day this weekend- work on the pattern games there?>>
Yes, pattern games and volume dial. And remember that he is only 17 months old, total adolescent 🙂 so make the FEO FAST run really easy and fun fun fun! Take a look at the “Just Like Home” game I posted.
>>Another question – there is an ACT test next month. You can’t use toys / food in ring. At this point i am thinking to hold off on this and get my contacts more solid- and keep doing FEO runs. What do you think?>>
I agree with you. There is NOTHING to be gained by putting him into a real run of any sort (again, only 17 months old, wildly inexperienced). There are 4 steps of NFC/FEO runs we will work through before he runs for real 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
You can try to change the default down by having your feet more spread out, so he has to move more to get the cookie 🙂Tracy
Good morning!
>>We walked out to the sequence yesterday on leash. Changtse shut down!!! She said that this was a strange way to start our training session in ouryard!>>
That is terrific feedback from the dog, and indicates that you need to use the leash a whole lot more in simple environments like at home. You can use in the house for simple pattern games, and simple pattern games in the yard. The more you incorporate it into the everyday things, the less weird it will be 🙂
>>Today, we went out with no leash, just doing the “GEt It!” Game (Back & Forth).
If she did well with it, time to add the leash! Add it in the house first then bring it to the yard.
>>Broke down the sequence with the bowl to drive to. That went well, except I noticed that she was very distracted by the bowl. On Seq 1, placed the bowl at exit of #1 jmp, then near tun ent., then at tun exit. C opted togo from jump 1 to the bowl. After 2 times of skipping the tunnel, I put the bowl inside the tun. ent. Then again at the tun exit. That went very well! We took a break after running more of the sequence.>>
She might have been confused about what the indication was for the bowl versus for the sequence, so be sure the the bowl marker is very specific and clear. That might help!
>>Later, we went out with no bowls. She is having difficulty with her start line sit/stays. Should I try your bowl to bowl exercise at the start line?>>You can definitely try that! She did well with the stay here on the video, so was she breaking the stay when she was struggling? Or was she not able to sit?
>>Here is her start line and then some tricks that she also could not do at the start of the session.>>
The start line and sequence looked really good here. You might not need to add bowls to it at home, that might be something you save for harder situations.
For the tricks – that is a great repertoire of useful tricks! The higher your energy was, the more she was able to do the tricks 🙂 That was mainly visible when you were giving little hand cues or physical cues to help the tricks, and that is great. The one thing to add to this is more energetic cookie delivery. Rather than handing her the cookie when she is stationary and delivering to her mouth, make it more of a chase-my-hand moment: have her follow your hand as you run a couple of steps, then hand her the cookie. Or, you can have her jump up on you to get the cookie. That will help to optimize her arousal but adding action!
Great job here :)
Tracy
A kong is a good option! And it is good feedback to note that she was able to walk on a loose leash 🙂 You can try adding the down to class, to see how she does in her next run – that is also good insight from the dogs 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
Thanks for posting the complete video, I love to nerd out on the entire process 🙂
>>If I let him he would constantly be running circles around me when we are walking.>>
It sounds like we are on the same page that running circles around you the whole time is going to send his arousal the wrong direction LOL!! You can add his leash to the process, even at home, so it is a part of the process that you both don’t even have to think about, and also so that the leash does not become paired with the arousal of the trial environment.
Glad he could eat food, the pattern games look good!! Practice makes pathways! (Neural pathways 🙂 )
He looked lovely on the sequence. He is a gifted agility dog and all of your efforts to help him be comfy in the environment are going to pay off BIG TIME with huge successes in the ring! I am excited for you! In fact, it is really cool that. I can obsess on the tiny handling details here 🙂
>>You’ll see he started in full run mode :-)>>
I want full run mode – giddy up!! Of course, we have to figure out the cues and I think that is what happened here at the beginning of the sequence.
On the first release 1-2: I would give him the benefit of the doubt on jump 1 to the tunnel – the tunnel is not actually on his line there the way it is set up, and he is inexperienced enough to run past it. Marky would go in the tunnel. A youngster would run past the tunnel. And you acknowledged that by changing your handling which really helped! YAY!!
It is a good moment to look at how to handle oopsies on course with him: if something goes wrong, stay happily engaged, use a reset reinforcement (toy or treat) and try again. You got stationary and very quiet, which indicates error but when it is not *his* error or he doesn’t understand, you will see frustration/arousal creep in very quickly. You can see after the 2nd error, the arousal changes and he starts to circle a bit
Also – I highly recommend that you do NOT punish bars, for two reasons:
– he is managing a lot in terms of processing and speed and arousal and if your cue is wrong or weird (because we are human), he is likely not going to be able to always cover you and keep the bar up, especially at this age. So if a bar goes down, unless you can see the *exact specific mechanic* that caused it and you are willing to wager $100 that your handling was very clear (I am never willing to wager that my handling is very clear LOL!!!), just mentally note it but carry on. Then look at the video to see what happened.
– punishment needs to give feedback about the precise thing that he did that caused the bar to drop… which is something agility handlers are really NOT good at LOL!!! What happens is by the time we process that a bar in down, the dog is long past the moment of whatever mechanics or choice called it, so the feedback doesn’t make sense. That makes us humans pretty unpredictable and creates a lot of anxiety/arousal/frustration.
So looking at 2:33 where bar 7 dropped:
You were very decelerated and quiet in your cues, so at 2:32 he landed was approaching 6 in relative collection, responding to your cues. As he was lifting off, you dropped the connection, dropped your arm, and accelerated. He was like WHAT!! OH CRAP WE ARE NOT TURNING and hit the bar trying to adjust (you can see based on his placement on the bar that he thought it was a turn based on the cues).
The marker that he was wrong came 2 strides later, when he was facing jump 7. That is too late to indicate what the error was precisely.
Also bar 3 was down and he didn’t get feedback on that (it was a late FC so he was trying to adjust in the air) – but stopping for one bar and not the other bar is also really unpredictable.
So even though it looks like he got a cookie or toy, the marker and stopping is a definite punisher. It will skew the arousal in directions we do not want (over-arousal) and doesn’t help the processing that we need to get around the course. He is a really strong jumper on the next rep he actually started jumping HUGE over 3 and 7 but that is not really form we want because then he will stop responding to turn cues (because they can be unpredictable and sometimes come before a punisher).
So the key is to stay really connected and work on staying in high motion on the go lines. Dropping your arm down lower so you can make better connection and so he can see it will really help! And on these smaller setups, you can run closer to the lines so you can stay accelerated – if you get too far away, you might end up doing the decel-then-accel which confuses the dogs a bit. And for the FC 2-3-4, let’s test his commitment: as he exits the tunnel, be connected. Tell him to jump 3 and when he looks at 3, start the FC. So you will be running forward into it then rotating – you were running backwards into it while rotating, but backward motion can still present as forward motion.
>>I didn’t take a break after the first complete run to show you a bit of his escalation. >>
I thought it was overall a strong session and nothing worrisome in the escalation. The bits of arousal shift that I saw were due to the confusion when he was being told he was wrong. But he bounced back really well! The #1 easiest path to regulating arousal on course is to set things up so you don’t tell the dog he is wrong (because the dogs are really almost never ever wrong :)).
And I do have some more tools coming to help him regulate the arousal because when contacts & weaves get added, there might a time where we say “dude, no leaping over yellow please and thanks” LOL!!
For the next session: add the volume dial game. We need to bring him into that higher state of arousal. He is ready!!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
