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Hi! Bummer about the calf muscle!! Hopefully you are feeling better. There are some things you can start with that don’t involve a lot of running 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
Hi!
She had some good reps here on the zig zags! The magic is in the reinforcement. On the first rep, she has extra strides because the reward was off her line, hard to see, and she was looking at the food in your hands. The 2nd and 3 reps were better – hard to see the reinforcement on the 2nd rep (the edit is too quick) but I think on both of those reps, she was targeting the reward and not looking up at you. Yay! So keep the reward on the line – meaning, when she lands from jump 2, she should have a straight line to the reward. And be sure she is looking at the reward and not at you.
>> I am going to do more of a split stride when I release her.
Not sure what you mean – your stride? You were fine here! As long as you are not facing her and she is targeting to the reward, you don’t need to worry about your striding.
>>Should I start to use more movement? flatten out the angle?
For the next session, add in the moving target/dragging toy with you walking (same jump angles). If she is fine with that, you can go back to the stationary reward like you had it here, but with slightly flatter jump angles. The progression will always be: stationary reward, moving target. Then flatten the angle.: stationary reward, then moving target. Then flatten the angle: stationary reward then moving target. You might be able to do both the stationary reward and the moving target in one session, or not – let her guide you and be sure to limit the # of reps.
Head turns:
>>Head turn: I am not feeling any Rhythm.No need for any rhythm here, because we are marking a very precise moment and tossing the treat to the side rather than in front of you or back around the wing. I think you were trying to get the head turn and then have her finish the wrap to get the reward – but after the head turn, you can toss the treat off to the side she turned towards.
Part of what was challenging was that I think the cookie was in the turn hand, so she didn’t really want to turn away from it. You can have your turn cue hand be empty and toss the cookie with the other hand. That way, after she finishes the first wrap, you cue the turn away with the empty hand (which is the same hand that sent her to the wing) and toss the cookie with the other hand. The cue hand does a pull-and-flip move to bring her in front of you then flip her back to the wing – make it a big, clear cue so she isn’t trying to figure out if she should offer it or not.
Sits on the platform: On the first couple of reps, you made it waaaaaay too challenging LOL!! There was a LOT happening in the environment in the first couple of reps so she simply did not even know the sit on the platform was in play (dog running agility, you running, toy dragging, late sit cue).
I am glad you dialed it back after that and she was a lot more successful, that was smart dog training. Try to get more success before you go back to the added distraction – you moved quickly to a higher distraction (running with toy swinging) so she had another error. The last couple of reps were the best ones – back and forth, with much better form.
>> I understand why we want a nice tight sit but I rewarded a couple that were not all four feet on on because there was effort. >>
Yes, rewarding effort is good! But is also tells us when we are making it too hard. So if you feel like you are getting failures or rewarding effort rather than rewarding precision, dial back the challenge so she can be very successful for the rest of the session.
>>does she need a longer platform?
Nope! She just needed fewer environmental distractions. When the distraction level was a bit lower, she did really well! You can use a longer platform when you move to the next steps, but still keep an eye on the distraction level so she can process the cues and produce great form.
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! This was a good session. Hard, yes! But successful in that mainly, adding the plank to the wing is about teaching the dog the framework of what to do when we add it to a jump. And I think she made tremendous progress with it!
Yes, facing her at the beginning stages of each side totally helped. It was insightful when you didn’t face her in the early stages of the first video and she kinda fell off the side LOL! She could not split her focus to watch you AND organize her butt with just a verbal. So interesting!!!!
At about 1:37 on that first video, you put yourself halfway between facing her and fully facing forward in the wrap position, and that was great – it really helped her start to get the idea.She was sorting things out nicely in the 2nd and 3rd videos too – I don’t think it makes a difference if she is exactly at the end of the plank or a little more in the middle of it for now. When there is a jump bar added in, she will put herself closer to a good takeoff point (probably not quite at the end, maybe closer to the middle).
And I agree – her sits are VERY good when she gets them! So since she is still figuring out how to process the sits without watching you, there are too things we can add to help:
– you can use an earlier sit cue and even a hand signal if that helps. At this stage, I asked my dogs to hop it up on the plank and said “sit” with a hand cue just as they were arriving at the plank.
– you can put a reward target out (empty food bowl, for example) past the outer edge of the wing, so she gets into the mode of get on the plank, sit, release to the reward target.
And then it is just a matter of practice and latent learning, as you fade out the hand signal if you end up using one. The potential need for a hand cue to help also gives us insight into how she processes motion and verbals and jump organization – motion is definitely in charge, nothing new there! But a motion cue (like a hand signal in this case, or a handling cue on course) might be far more effective than verbals for now – and with organization games, we can increase the value of verbals (like the sit cue without a hand signal) so verbals can be really prominent in what she processes, as hind end use gets to be embedded in her muscle memory.
So if you get a chance today, try the hand cue and the reward target – and we will also see what latent learning brings to the table after a good night’s sleep!
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I feel the pain of being too busy to video, and I don’t even have children! Even if you don’t get to video everything, it sounds like you are carving out bits of time to train and that is awesome 🙂 My guess is that you are NOT lazy but you are really busy 🙂 I try to have tripods everywhere so that all I have to do is snap in my phone…but even then, sometimes time pressure wins and I don’t video LOL!
>>I really hope you extend this class and I would even pay additional cost to continue.
We will definitely extend it, no additional cost! I figure we will take a bunch of days off during the Open, then we will get back at it til maybe end of November? We talked about it in the zoom session but I think I never put an actual date on it 🙂
Sit on the plank looks good! And you had a big motion override element going. I think the next step will be to get her to run more. I think you were trying that by adding your speed but she was still trotting 🙂 You can try a wing before and after (15 feet away) – wrap a wing, onto the plank, sit, release, wrap the next wing. And so on – that can bring more excitement to it and more speed!
Zig zag – the distance looked good! This is looking easy for her now and she is ready to move on. If you get a chance to do one more thing before the Open… do the 2 jump zig zags with the bars. It would be a great final warm up for the Open! (And if you are driving and have room, throw the cato plank in the car so you can use it as a warm up tool).
She did well with the leading with the head! One thing I notice about all the dogs (Wink, my dogs, student dogs) is that when they understand the goal, they set themselves up to get it the best possible way. That is what she is doing here – on the left turns in particular, she is “NASCAR-ing” her way in to the tightest turn by shaping her own line a little to set up the tightest exit. Smart! She doesn’t do it as much on the right turns (those looked good too, and she was approaching straighter).
What we find is that after they learn this game, when we time the difference between the dog executing the turn they way *they* think it should be done and the way *we* think it should be done… they are correct, it is faster the way they have sorted it out to do it. Ha! This is especially true for dogs that have powerful front ends or might be a bit more upright than, say, a highly angulated Sheltie.
So if Wink wants to shape her line a bit to get the good head turn to the left? We are going to trust her and I bet she produces incredibly fast turns & lines. Yay!!!This game and the plank game are both ready to move to the wing and then the jump. But that might not be possible in the lead up to the Open so if you get one more session before you leave – the zig zags with bars should be the session.
Great job! I am looking forward to seeing you in Florida! I will gladly accept course building help and we pay using the snacks & beverages currency 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
Awww, his wagging tail when you gave the sit cue! I just love his energy!
Starting with just the wing:
The left turn reps were definitely more organized than the right turn reps here. He was able to get right into the sit on the left turns at the beginning… he had all sorts of thinking to do when you were going to cue the right turns.When you added the bar:
On the left turn, he had a foot placement error (right hind off the plank) on the first rep but fixed it on his own the next 2 reps. If you see that a foot is off, you can help him fix it before the release but I am super excited that he fixed it on his own. It was an oopsie of the “I AM GOING FAST” variety and tight turns require slowing down… which is why I am glad he sorted it out on his own on the next rep.
He went into “thinking hard” mode on the right turn reps over the bar and was brilliant! GOOD BOY! I think the early responses to the sit cue were more about him finding it easier to sit on the ground than on the plank, but he sorted it out really well!
The next step is to now have a reward target on the ground – an empty food bowl or something that the cookie rewards can be placed in. It can be at the outer edge of the wing, on the takeoff side to start then we can gradually move it back so it is parallel to the entry line of the plank. That way he can be released to go over the jump then come fully around the wing to get the cookie from the bowl (the cookie can be placed it in it advance, or you can plop it in there after the release, whichever is easier for him).
Once the reward target is in place, you can add the wing before it so he wraps the wing, organizes on the plank, wraps the jump, and gets the cookie 🙂
Zig zags – this session looked great. He organized really well with the stationary target and was just as good with the moving target.
He was leaning forward in his sit, which adds challenge because it puts his weight forward and makes it harder to engage his rear… but he did and he looked strong!!! I love the side view too – I watched it in slow motion and I really like what he was doing in terms of head position, power, foot placement, etc. Yay!Definitely flatten the angle of the jumps for the next session. About using 4 foot bars… we tend to not see the 4 foot bars that often anymore but it depends on regions and which venue you compete in. If you are seeing them locally, then yes – do a session with the open angles like you had here, but with the 4 foot bars. And when you get to the backsides, you can show him some backside jumping on 4 foot bars because we do see that sometimes and it is REALLY hard for the big dogs!
Great job!!!!!
TracyGood morning!
She is doing well here, maintaining her organization nicely with the moving target. I think the spacing was a little tight for her, but she was still really good about NOT touching the bars. She hit the wing at :17 and then sniffed on the next rep (which might be because she needed a moment to gather her thoughts due to the difficulty of the stay and the jumping challenge!) but the last rep was strong. I think she is slightly better going from her right to her left (moving to your right across the screen) than going left to right.But both were strong enough that I don’t think we need to change anything except flatten then angle of the jumps. You can move the blue jump a step further away the pink jump and see how she does. And if she is balanced with that? Move it another step further away – she should still be able to see a line through the jumps, but we will be able to see her doing the zig zag back-and-forth even more clearly.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
I think we can adjust the setup for the zigzags to help him get the bounce. The line up position was great! And he was correctly doing the sideways jumping over 1. To help him bounce the distance between the jumps, a couple of ideas:
– We can adjust his head position to get more bouncing: getting his head down will help a lot, and the reward target will help that. He was jumping with his head up, because even though there was a target on the ground, the rewards were in your hands so he was looking at you hands. You can have the food already on the target (or use a manners minder) before the release (and have the target another 5 feet past the 2nd jump so it is a solid 12-15 feet away and he can accelerate to it. And try not to face him when you release, try to face forward because facing him might be inadvertently asking for collection.
– these bars were at 8 inches – with the challenging angle of approach, let’s put them at 4″ til he feels the wind in his hair with the power bouncing and the reward target. What length were these bars? You can go to a bar that is a foot shorter: if these were 5 feet, try a 4 foot bar. If these were 4 feet, try a weave pole as the jump bar 🙂
Then start with easy angles 🙂 This session was all right-to-left. Since we don’t really know which side is stronger for him, try the next session with left-to-right and see how it goes!
I love the little wooden sides to the platform!!! Thanks Jim!!!! And Sly likes them too – the sits were tighter for sure! The one rep without the sides (:17) had him leaning onto his left side a bit. So when you put the sides back on, he had to think harder but got a great sit on that last rep. Yay!
How long is the platform? You can probably use it as the plank for the organizer games with the wing and jumps.
Great job! Let me know how he does with the tweaks to the zig zags!
Tracy
Poor buddy!!! Ouch! I am glad the massage person was able to help him out. Will she be able to see him again soon, to see how he is feeling? I bet her is good as new after some rest 🙂 Keep me posted!
TracyGood morning! Strong sessions here!
Now that she has the idea of bouncing… the distances are too small for her stride LOL! She is having to collect to fit into the smaller spaces, rather than bounce powerfully. Try 5.5 feet, then 6 feet, and see how she does. You can also start her closer to the first bar so she pushes off of her hind end more and doesn’t take a couple of strides into the first jump. I like to have my dogs close enough to the first bar that they don’t have room to put their front feet down again on the takeoff side 🙂 I want the dogs to only be able to put front feet down for the first time after the release on the landing side 🙂 Also, you can move the MM another 10 feet from the last jump so she can power out of the grid too.
If she is happy at the 5.5 or 6 foot distance, you can go to the 2 jump zigzag game.
The wing organizers are going well too! We can now change things a little to add more flow and less looking at you (or at the treats :))
You can now add a reward target, like an empty food bowl to plop the treat into after you release her from the sit. You can use the MM if she can still sit when it is right there 🙂 Place the reward target on the outer edge of the wing for now, on the takeoff side.
When you send her to the wrap wing. head directly to where the wing and plank meet, cue the sit – and when she fully sits, release her to go over the bar and get the reward in the reward target. No need to click or feed in position anymore – the release from the sit will act like a click, and rewarding from the reward target will help get her looking forward more.
Great job! Let me know how it goes!
TracyGood morning!
>>I probably should have given Street a break on the Organizer exercises but it wasn’t raining and my brain told me …MUST TRAIN.>>
Yes, since you are now at the point where there is jumping involved in all aspects of these. Even with the bars low, it is quite the workout for the dogs so you don’t want to do both on the same days. Alternating days and days off from this are definitely the way to go at this stage. And also, count reps, so you don’t end up doing too many. The 2nd video was the perfect number of reps: 4 on each side. The backside zig zags also had a good number of reps. The front side wraps had a bit too many (14) so you can dial that back to maybe 4 or 5 on each side.
Looking at the front side wraps:
>The wing is not lined up properly so he doesn’t come in straight but he manages to organize himself pretty well.>>
I agree, he did a great job lining himself up even coming in from wider angles especially on the left turns. Good boy!!! You can begin to now move the MM further and further back: it started at the edge of the wing on the take off side, and now you can start to place it on that same line but maybe halfway between the wrap wing and the jump. That can help him power out of the sit now to drive to the MM. You were starting to move it when he was doing the left turn reps, and you can keep doing it til it is halfway between the wing and the jump.
Looking at the slices – good session here, you were able to stay in motion as much as possible, and he did well!
>.A bit slower organizing on this one. Not sure if the presence of the manners minder is making it harder for him (reward anticipation) than the bowl.
I agree, he definitely wanted to be forward on his front end – could have been the MM, and your motion. Even when he didn’t sit quite as fast, he was weight shifting into his hind end really well which bodes well for when we fade the organizer. And you maintained the sit for now, which is great. We will fade the plank soon so he can power through this 🙂
The backside zig zags are going well too! He had a little trouble with the tighter angle after :36 – that was significantly tighter, so he had a little trouble at :48 then the slip on the grass coming into it at :57 (he was trying to rush a bit and the footing did not cooperate). On the very last rep, you had a very organized lineup and cue, so he was really good with the jumping effort! Super!!! Definitely maintain the organized lineup so he takes a breath, has a moment to think, and then goes 🙂
The next step is a moving target on this game – he is mainly a foodie, so we can get creative. We don’t want to revisit cat food, but is there something else you can put in something to drag? Or will he do it for a toy? The moving target challenges the organization by adding speed (which is what will be happening on course) so we definitely want to add it in. The other option is to put the MM on something that rolls and attach a line to it, so you can drag the MM. I have piano mover bases (about 12″ by 12″ with a center platform and wheels on all sides) so I can drag things. Or a skateboard? We can get creative LOL!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
