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Hi!
During the first minute of the video, you asked why you were getting your rights & left mixed up – it was because you were trying to go too fast š You can slow down the start of each rep to get the accuracy of the verbals without losing his speed:
Before you start each rep, hold his collar and double check the verbal – the early set of rep had verbals reversed. That moment where you hold him and start saying the verbal will help you be sure you have it correct, and let him process the verbal before he starts moving.
He understands the Minny Pinny so now we can do some crazy things with it! He was also turning away from your really nicely š The only thing to add is that moment of mentally double checking the verbal before you start.
Nice work!
TracyOh no!!!!! I hope you are ok!!!!! You and Sid are looking good in these videos so fingers crossed that your knee is fine.
T
Hi!
The jump set point is looking really good when she is in the sweet spot line up position – at :10, she is in the perfect spot! On the previous rep (:08), she was a little too far back so she did a little funky front foot movement before the first jump and landed short between the 2 jumps. Since she does a rock back sit (as you can see at :13), you can help her be in the right spot with a little cookie lure to get her front feet position precisely for maximum power. A couple of inches makes a big difference to her!
The distance (6 feet) and the heights look good! Leave things like this and we will build on it soon :)āØGreat job!
TracyHi!
She did really well picking up the line of jumps! For offset lead change lines like this, be sure to use convergence for jump 3, otherwise it will conflict with threadles to the other side of jump 3 because we don’t want her to flick herself away to the front of a jump if you are wanting to cue a threadle. I am pretty sure threadle slices and threadle wraps were NOT a thing when Linda M developed this game LOL!!!>>I am guessing that she learned to look ahead in the woods while running pell mell after something. (Survivalof the Fittest!)>
Ha! This is an incredibly useful skill for sport AND life š
T
Good morning! Hope you had a good weekend!
Her serps looked really good! She is driving in really nicely with you running! The only question she has here is about the reinforcement: she is not all that interested in the Manners Minder. She moves to it like a target, but she is not really driving to it like a reward. So the next step is to put something more valuable there as a rewardā¦ maybe the ball! The ball definitely seems higher value than the MM. And if you are using something on the ground as a reward, try not to have the ball also in your hand, as that is drawing her focus away from the reward target.
Nice work!
TracyGood morning! Hope you had a great weekend!
>>The first night we did this she was PERFECT, even on the more advanced pattern. And nowā¦
There might be any number of reasons why she was great the first night, but not as solid here – no worries, though! Everything looked strong except she cannot push away to her left with you are wing 3. So the main thing here is going to be splitting the behavior so she can do it, repeatedly, and successfully. The first step is to count failures (and use reset cookies): it is easy to count failures, because all you need to do is count to 2 LOL! It is like traffic likes: successes are green lights. 1 failure? Yellow light. Proceed, but pay attention. 2nd failure? Red light! Time to stop that level of challenge and help her out (and it is not 2 failures in a row, it is 2 failures, total, in the session. She had 6 failures in these 2 videos, which is too many.
She was good about shifting to her left away from you when you were at wing 2, so you can start there on the next session, get 2 or 3 successes on that pushing away to her leftā¦ then take one step back so you are one step past wing 2. If she can be successful there? One more step back towards wing 3, which can help use split the behavior and build up the hard skill.
On the 2nd to last rep, you angled the 2nd wing which is another way to split the behavior and help her be successful (and she was! Yay!) When you do that, leave the wing angled for several reps, no changesā¦ then maybe change the position by a couple of centimeters. And gradually inch it back towards the original position.
Set point:
With apologies to Riverā¦ Muso needs to not have an Aussie humping her on the first rep LOL! Ha!Overall, form is going well and it looks like you were also running – and she didnāt lose her organization when you were running and that is a HUGE WIN!
>>Sheās landing equal distance from take-off, but not in the middle. 5.5 feet apart, 6ā³, 8ā³, 10ā³ on second jump.>>
No worries about that for now, she is looking good and the dogs donāt actually need to be centered as the bar goes up – it is more about form and less about being centered (takeoff point will change as the angle of elevation changes). You can leave this setup where it is for another session or two, a couple of days apart, to let it percolate š We build on it soon!
Serps – This is coming along! I also have a reward placement idea, see below.
>>rotated the jump a bit.
Rotate the jump a lot more, so she can see the bar really obviously on her line You might end up rotating it almost 90 degrees. 2 reasons for this:
– so she can do the serp with you parallel or ahead of her, not behind her (more on that below)
– so she can do the serp with you much closer to the serp jump. You should be able to reach out and touch the serp jump with a bent arm as you go by it, and you were pretty far from it here.
– to raise her rate of success (see above about the 2 failure rule so you donāt end up building failure or frustration in while teaching these more challenging skills). Because she had 6 failures on 16 reps, the next session needs to be 100% to start to balance things out. You can also maintain a high umbrella success rate by rewarding the adjunct behaviors like the line ups and the retrieves.
The start mechanics definitely helped her: starting her next to you or in āneedleā position, at the first wing of the serp jump, and sending her to the wing set up better start mechanics. You can (and should!) cookie that position so it retains its value, helps build up the success rate overall, and so she doesnāt get barky about lining up.
She was having the most trouble when you were parallel or a little ahead of her: you were a little closer to the start wing (you can see the start position at 1:31) and walkingā¦ so she was ahead of you on the serp jump (like at 1:01). Compare it to the blooper moments at 1:15, 1:35, 1:41, etc, where you were more parallel to her, and she thought about coming in but didnāt come inā¦ so she is asking questions about the pressure and lead changes. Angling the jump will help her sort it out!
You are also really far from the serp jump so she is coming in like a 180 on a lot of reps. Since serps have those tight pressure lines, we want you to be super close š And angling the jump helps there too – you can still run your line from the start wing to the toy, but the serp pressure and jumping line will be much easier.
>>Should the toy be in line with where the jump bar would be if the jump was flat?
Yes – it should be placed where the next jump would be on a traditional serp, to help create the in-then-out line for the dog. That is what she did at :48, and 1:01, very nice! Compare it to :51 where the toy was not placed there – she is doing a 180 on that line instead of a serp and cutting across your line, so it is not the ideal placement.
For serps, I also sometimes change the placement of reward to help promote the concept of coming in on the serp jump. I will explain it and then try to find the video:
If she starts on your left, your toy will be in your left hand. As you move past the serp jump, look at the toy, and drop it (you can use a get it marker) so she comes in over the bar and gets the toy. This can isolate and reward that coming in over the bar that is really hard. The drop location should be relatively close to the first wing (entry wing). This dropping is done before the dog even makes a decision about coming in over the bar or not – it is just plopped in there as you move through. We do this on the backside serp pushes too, to help build up the default of taking the jump.
Let me go find a video of that – and if I canāt find it, I will grab a dog and make a video LOL!!
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
This is looking really good! I think the more we make retrieving into a fun game, and also fun part of training sessionsā¦ the better the retrieving becomes! She did great here! (And I love training sessions that I can do sitting down haha)
>>I use a little extra ātransfer of valueā with a food reward, but I am making sure she can still tug after getting cookies.
This was great for many reasons. It is an instant reward for bringing the toy back and allows you to be very precise in your reinforcement, so she is bringing it to your hand. And it keeps working the toy-food-toy strategy, so she is able to go back and forth between motivators. Thatās so important and useful!!!
āØ>>Weāll find out in a little while if this is transferring at all to Amyās yard, and I havenāt even tried it with a ādeadā toy ā but no worries if not. Thatāll just be the next steps, along with fading out the cookies.>>Exactly! No worries and no rush. And also, sometimes there is pressure in training (even when things are going well) and the pups need to take a quick spin with the toy to clear their heads. So if she does take a quick spin, it might have nothing to do with the retrieve skills and everything to do with her thinking hard during training. All good!!! And you donāt really ever need to fade the cookies for agility or flyball retrieves – if she likes them, you can keep using them as rewards for retrieving and giving the toy back (rather than running off or clamping down on it LOL!)
Great job!
TracyHi!
It is great that you are able to work outside!!! Yay!The set point is going well. The best form was with the moving target at the beginning (1st 2 reps) where she could move pretty fluidly to the toy and through it. The rep with the toy on the ground caused her to get over on her front then have to stop suddenly, which torqued her shoulders a bit. Then when she hit the toy and you held on, she swung around too (she might have swung around on the 2nd rep, but that part wasn’t in the edit lol)
So a couple of ideas for you:
I think the 6 foot distance looked good, so keep the distance there.Keep going with the moving target, but have it in your dog side hand (not opposite arm) so she doesn’t curl in front of you here.
And, when she gets to the tug, let go and let her grab it and “run through it” so she doesn’t have to do any sudden stops or wrenches. I have video of that somewhere to show you what I mean, I’ll go find it šLooking at the serp game – she was definitely amped up! Darn cat LOL!!!!
She did well, though – and yes, your shoulders can be more open you the jump to help her come in:This about twisting more at the waist, so your shoulders each line of with a wing and the center of your chest points to the center of the bar. The further ahead you are, the more you twist back, and the better she will see the cue.
You can see on the video, especially on the last several reps, that you were facing forward a bit too much so she had some questions.
She was pretty successful, overall, so you can add a bit more motion to these (jogging) and then we can change the angle.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
This looks super!!! Her stay looks fabulous and she was making the lead changes perfectly in both directions. YAY!!! You and Prytty made this game looks far easier than it actually is LOL!!!Since this went o well, there are two things you can try with it:
– with the sings at this same distance, you can try to use a little less motion with your arms, a little less twist at the waist and see if she can respond š– and if that goes well, you can shorten up the distances. See if she can do it at 6 foot distances (I think this was something like 8 foot distances?) And then if that is fine and dandy, work your way down to 5 foot distances š
Great job!!
TracyGood morning!
>>Ok, no more naughtiness on my part! Iāll set him up 6ā behind the first bar and not go too high with the second.
yes, take your time, do lots of video review, and let him grow into his body before we focus on height š The payoff will be HUGE!
>> but what height should the first bar be, please?
4″ or 6″ or a bump, it is just a regulator to how him where to put his feet.
T
Hi!
>I did not realize that I was dialing back my handling. I hope that I improved on this next session.
You rocked it! Looked great!!!
She is really getting those switches!! You can add the switch verbal on the jump before the tunnel (obstacle 2) and that can start as she is approaching the takeoff. It will turn her even tighter ,and that way you and leave for the next position even sooner (like you did at :47)
>>If she saw me move in before she went into the tunnel, she was ready to turn on the exit!
Yes! She is doing great with convergence!!! You can be even more aggressive with it: you were turning towards the tunnel kind of like a straight line exit and then starting the convergence, but I bet you can start the convergence as you are cuing the tunnel – just give her enough room to see the entry, which should be fine because you should be running towards the exit away LOL!!
I am glad you had fun! You and Frankie are a joy to watch, and you were both fantastic with these crazy challenges š
Tracy
Hi!
Glad you are back š
>>n the first exercise, in retrospect, maybe I am releasing him while I am too close to the second jump?
Yes – you want to be a solid 10 feet past jump 2 before you release, and center on the line (I think on a couple of the early reps you were off to the side). It looks like he was jumping towards the wall, so definitely turn the setup so he has a ton of room after jump 2 to stride out to the moving target.
On a couple of the reps he was a tiny bit too close to bar 1, so try for 6 inches away for the front feet being away from bar 1, approximately.
>>How is his form in spite of that?
Good on the lower bar, but will be better when you give him more room – because you were so close, he was working out how to stop rather than working out how to jump.
>>Also, I may have been naughty and raised the bar too soon in the last few reps.>>
Agree, naughty, no soup for you! LOL! Plus it was a BIG change, both Bob and I were like WHOA! when we saw it. Bars can go up in 2 inch increments, this looked like more than that. So it changed his jumping form, especially since he was still jumping to a target that was too close. (He was hoisting/carrying his back end over the bar rather than pushing from it)
So on the next visit of this, start with the bar at 6ā or 8ā and be sure he has at least 20-30 feet after landing , release him when you are 10 feet away. And if you feel like he balanced, you can raise the bar by 2 inches but resist temptation to raise it more – we have plenty of time to do that, and we donāt want to add height before his body is ready.
>>Second exercise, min pin went really well, I think. Not sure if I am telegraphing the R/L directions to him when I had him stand in front of me in the last few reps.>>
Agree! It was super!!!!! He likes this game š I donāt think you were over-doing any physical help. Maybe there was a little leaning on the turn away moments or maybe you had your head tilted in a helpful way LOL!! But it was super subtle and by the end, he was able to do it from the center position and between your feet š Yay! So the next part would be to hold him with both hands and just look down at his head in that center position and see if he can process the left or right.
Great job!
TracyHi!
Wow, she was great here!!! he was plenty excited but I didnāt see her look at the tunnel when you cued the wrap – perfect on both sides!!
She needed one extra step to the tunnel after all the wraps on the second part (when she was on your left, turning right) but otherwise, she nailed all of it. Very cool!!!
Since she did so well with such a hard game, we can use it to help her process verbals even when she is in higher arousal. That means to repeat the session but use a toy instead š You can use the toy, then trade for a treat to line her up and hold her collar to start the next verbal, then reward with the toy, trade for a treat, and so on. That way she will get even more excited but you will still be able to get the toy back and line her up easily.
She seems like she is going to be super excited about agility, so playing these games in high arousal will really help her transfer the skills to the ring. Doing this with food reward for the first session was brilliant and definitely contributing to her success. So now you can start to add the toy in and see how she does.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
Serp video 1 – looked great – you are running a great line and the little shoulder dip to the landing spot really helps him come right in! Yay!
Serps video 2 – dog on your right and his left turnā¦ harder for you both š It is perfectly fine and normal to have one serp direction to be flat like in your first video, and angled like you did here. You can angle it a shade more (the wing closer to the MM can move out towards the camera more, so he sees the bar more. He was coming on to the bar here, but it was a little last minute, on the part of the bar closer to the MM. That likely means he was processing, processing, processingā¦ because it is the harder side. So on this direction, you can make the jump on a really easy line for now, then it will even out with the dog-on-left side.
>>I need to learn to twist at the waist more!
You were good! You were moving forward and doing a little shoulder dip, works perfectly.
Tunnel exits – no worries about the first rep, it was just a warm up š
I love how he was able to find all the turns AND maintain a ton of speed – that is IDEAL for what we want with out small dogs!!
1:51 – really late with the right cue and he went straight, good boy!
Best rep was less late but you can be even sooner with the verbal and physical cues. We definitely want to maintain the go go go on the tunnel exits and not having waiting to hear a cue>>And I left at the end of the video for your amusement the joys of working him outdoors right now
ļæ¼
OMG! But he looked so happy being a dirty dog LOL!!!The tree loops looked great! So fun! What a great ācourse workā setup š Great connection – that is the hardest part of this game and you were nailing it. It is also quite the workout LOL !
On the blinds, keep your arms in really tight to your ribs so they donāt block the eye contact. The eye contact is what creates the side change, so when he was not seeing it, it was because your arm was blocking it.
For the inside circles – yes, these are MUCH harder! You can try being a little further ahead and just get a couple of steps of inside circle in, then reward, more like what you did on the last rep.
>>Youāll see on one of the last attempts I tried to push him back to give me a head start. I realize after I did it that Iām sure he thought we were doing toy races and blasted right past me.>>
That was hilarious! He smoked you! For a dog that does not enjoy being moved by a collar, he sure does like that push back! LOL!
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
