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Hi!
I agree, the timing of young dog handling is tricky! We keep trying to get it earlier and earlier, which might show us where he commits well or where he needs more help. All good info!
>>The sit was MUCH harder for him on the Volume Up game, but his hand touches were GREAT, he really pushed nice and hard. The sit was so much harder for him, but definitely keep it separate.
Yes, the sit was hard! You don’t need to do the sit in the volume dial game, you can stick to the fun tricks 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
I think what’s happening here on the a-frame is that he is cuing off of your position by taking several small steps over the apex then may or may not hit through the box, depending on where you are or how fast he is moving. He is looking at you, which changes the striding.On the flat, did you do any jump-box-wing patterns, where he could go through the box by jumping in and out of it then around a wing, without looking at you? If not, go back to that 🙂 You’ll vary your position the whole time.
And then lower the frame so he is taking bigger strides over it, through the box, then to a wing to wrap after it. That should help getting him to look straight!
Let me know if that makes sense.
TracyHi!
>>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
