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Good morning!
>> Then my phone storage filled up. I deleted the trash and somehow deleted all my good vidoes>>
Oh, I feel that pain! Accidental deletions and then realizing the camera was not on after a great session – those are the worst LOL!!!
This session went really well!!! She got everything correct when you were far ahead and when you were only a little ahead.
>> I screwed up on the connection when trying not to connect as well as looking at the wrong obstacle!!!>>
Right, that was an interesting moment to watch (at :45) – she didn’t take the jump but her response was still rewardable because you were saying jump but loking at the tunnel side – she went to the jump side (then when you connected more she came to the tunnel side, but didn’t take the tunnel. So totally a great response from her!!! Sometimes the rewardable behavior when we are saying jump is rewarding anything that is not the tunnel LOL!!
The disconnections are challenging, so you remember to just look ahead as much as possible and don’t add too much motion yet.
You can also add in starting very close to the wrap wing, so she is ahead of you going into the discriminations – rather than send to the wing and run away, you can start at the wing, let her finish her wrap, then move forward without a lot of speed while cuing one obstacle or the other (not sure if you already did this and it got deleted).
One other thing to consider: the pitch and rhythm of your wrap cue (sicsicsic) and your jump cue are very similar which makes it harder to discriminate. You might want to stretch the jump verbal so it is longer: juuuump juuuump versus sicsicsicsic.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
This is a super hard game and she had a lot of successes! She seemed to do best when you were standing, which is fine because it is really hard 🙂
>> The tunnel was her weakest in both exercises.
All dogs come to this game with a preference – and that is helpful to know because it also informs our handling choices and execution. So for tunnels, for now, you need to drive in more when you are moving and handling.
Because she was defintely not too interested in leaving you for the tunnel, you can take a couple of short sessions and just sit in a chair and send her to the tunnel (no jump involved)
I think the spin/bark moments are part of her processing during the tunnel sends (and some frustration because it is hard), so starting a shade closer to the tunnel, maybe 3 or 4 feet away) and NOT having the jump there for a session will help smooth that out. And then you can add the jump back in after a session or two – most of her sends to the jump were super smooth, and I don’t think she ever went to the tunnel when you said jump 🙂
And, separately, you can add in the handling games that will help her with the discriminations (and will build up even more value for the tunnel).
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
This is definitely a hard game and she had a lot of successes!
Good job having your verbals sound different at first – try not to let your jump verbal get too loud as you get excited 🙂
She seems to want to do whichever obstacle she just did, so there was steam coming out of her ears when it was the other obstacle. But that is normal – this game is really hard and she was figuring it out really nicely!
You were helping her a tiny bit by turning her to face the correct obstacle on some of the reps. That is fine for now, because there was no other motion that she would normally expect to see. So on the next sessions, you can gradually work her back to center where her line up position is exactly the same each time and you are not helping by pointing or leaning her the correct direction.
Because this game is so hard, there might be errors 🙂 If she is wrong, call her back immediately and happily, and give a reset cookie – when you get quiet, she gets confused so you can give more immediate feedback in the form of either the thrown reward or a “good girlie come here try again”.
Great start here! You can keep revisiting this game but definitely now add in the handling games where you get to move 🙂
>>Should have had a few cocktails trying this.
Highly recommended hahaha
Tracy
Good morning!
He did really well here! He was able to find the obstacles really well with minimal movement from you. I say minimal because you were moving 🙂 by leaning towards the obstacle you wanted as you said the word. This is still a really good start because many dogs would need a LOT more movement in order to move to the obstacles. So on the next session, you can make it a little more of a challenge for him by holding his collar with him at your side, saying th everbal a few times… then let go and do not move a muscle LOL!! You don’t need to go to the chair yet – you can remain standing as that is plenty challenging.
And yo ucan also do the handling games where you get to move and handle too! We don’t want to make it all about this verbal-only game 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi! Nice work here – standing still is SO HARD for us humans!
Good job getting her started with the jump with just the verbal! It was BIG HARD for her and she let you know all about it haha! She is spicy! And having to move away rom the toy was also hard – but she worked through it and she did really well! By the end of the video she had several really great reps. Super!!! You did really well to stay patient, reset her when she didn’t go, and then get the reward to her when she went to the jump. I bet if you try it again in the next day or so, she will be even better at it (latent learning).
The tunnel session was challenging but seemed easier for her than the jump session. I think the hardest part was moving away from the toy: you can keep saying the tunnel verbal after she starts moving – that seemed to be very helpful for her especially in the early reps. You can see the slight processing delays at the end when she was starting between your feet… but she got it!!!
So for these verbal only games… do one more session on the jump as a verbal only and if that goes pretty well (doesn’t have to be perfect), you can move to the discrimination with both obstacles.
And in the meantime, you can also start the handling 1 game where you are moving 🙂
Great job!!!
TracyHello and happy birthday to Promise! A lot of dogs turn 2 years old this week!!!!
>>We had an interesting opening sequence the other day and she actually pulled off the tunnel>>
yes, that was interesting! I think it was because you were on the rear cross side so the tunnel turned away from you – and you called and started moving away before she was in the tunnel, so she was confused.
Looks like the bar down was on the spread – she might not be able to navigate the jumping and turning on the spread yet (the rest of the run looked good!). It was interesting to see her run past the a-frame: probably a processing issue (right up against the fence). It all falls into the “more experience needed” category 🙂 I know it can be frustrating, but she is FAR less feral on course than any of my dogs when they are not yet 2 LOL!!!
>>Currently in a K9 conditioning course and doing Fanny gotts jumping class. Also auditing Nina gregyls class. I know the bars are going to take time! I’m being very mindful of how much jumping we do too! Lots of rest days.>>
All great! Yay!
>>Also I leave for Italy Friday! Going with the high school for 10 days! Super excited! >>
Wait what?!?!?!?! I need more details, I LOVE ITALY! Where in Italy will you be? I am so excited for you!!!!
Tracy
Hello! Great to see you here!!! I am sure you had a blast with Rachel!
Have fun with the games 🙂
TracyGood morning!
>>I felt like last time I tried that Tunnel Rocking horse that she did better to her right although this time to her left so I am still not sure if she is a lefty or righty.>>
The other pattern might be that she does better to whichever side she is seeing as the first and 2nd rep of the game – so you can warm up the game by showing both directions as wing-to-tunnel, then tunnel-to-wing, and then try putting it together.
<>>
Yes, that will end up being too early and cue the turn on the tunnel exit. If she hears it before or as she enters the tunnel, se is highly likely to turn on the exit which is what was happening.
>> I should give the wrap verbal for a jump just as she exits the tunnel. Since this is an early game and the wing is super close, is it okay to give the wrap verbal as she enters the tunnel or should I try to deliver it just before she exits the tunnel?>>
Even with the smaller distance, maintain the window of timing: so if you give her the wrap verbal as she enters the tunnel, she should not drive out straight to the wing. So give it to her as she exits the tunnel. If she doesn’t exit the tunnel straight, do some training of the tunnel-go-go-go reps and reward straight, so she is not exiting and trying to turn to you.
>>but I tried to do the pattern game when Julie was working Mitre. She couldn’t break her gaze from the other dog moving. I don’t know if we were at opposite ends of the arena if that might be enough distance but I am not sure it would be. She can get sort of stuck staring when she sees motion like that. I can see progress but it is very slow and I have to have a lot of distance.>>
Yes, increasing distance will be the first thing to try. And, changing to a different motivator will help too for most dogs. If food is not very motivating, she will stare at the movement of the other dogs because, well…. border collies. That is what they do! So try doing the pattern game with 2 tug toys replacing the food. The mechanics are different: you can have a toy in each hand and use a “bite” marker then engage her, rather than toss a ‘get it’ cookie.
I did this variation with Contraband using 2 frisbees, to help him NOT stare at or bark at or chase dogs running in flyball.
Keep me posted! Fingers crossed for good weather ahead!
TracyGood morning! I’m excited to see Frankie!
For the single obstacles – you don’t want the MM because we need to see what Frankie says about each obstacles. So thrown rewards are best for that.
You can use a manners minder when you go to the discriminations on the first game, as long as it sits out past the obstacles, in a spot kind of opposite you – so it can be used as a reward for both, but is basically a lure for neither lol!
Have fun!
TracyHave fun! And we can figure out ways to put the games indoors if the weather doesn’t cooperate 🙂
TracyHi!
These games are going well!On the countermotion wraps:
His commitment looks great! Your connection on the exit looks great, that arm-across-the-body rewarding is soooooo clear, he was tight and correct every.single.time! Yay!He had one question and that was at :34 (first rep on the other side). It was handler error – you were looking at him very directly during countermotion instead of looking at landing spot. He didn’t commit because the motion into him on the countermotion was very strong and the lack of connection to the landing spot didn’t support the wrap enough. On the first part of the session, the right turns had more connection to landing on the first couple of reps (less on the next couple, but he had it by then) So on the new side, you need to use the same strong connection to the landing spot. When he didn’t go to the barrel, you did a punishment marker (big sad trombone noise) and didn’t use a reset reward – try to use a reset reward when there is a handling blooper and resist having a big reaction to an error – it is confusing to the pups!
You definitely had better connection to the landing spot on the next reps – nice adjustment!
One other thing to consider on this session:
At :07 you said to him “I didn’t release you” but actually….
in the category of “what we think we are training versus what the dogs are actually learning”, your releases are happening mostly on hand movement/reconnection in this session and not on verbal, so he was reflecting back what he was learning about the releases 🙂 Your verbals were sooooo quiet and not clear enough or distinct enough from the motion that I suspect he really believes it was a motion-based release. I couldn’t really hear a release on the first bunch of reps.I heard a release at :27 but it was super quiet and hard to tell if it was distinct from the motion.
:50 – I think you said a very quiet “break” then moved – that was the clearest rep of the release on this game. Compare that to :54 – you moved your arm (lifted the hand to prep for the send back) then said the release – so it is entirely possible he is releasing on the motion because that has )accidentally) been reinforced as correct multiple times. So be super careful – be totally stationary, say a loud clear release, then move to the send.
On releases that are not sends, like parallel path lines, you can be in motion the whole time and release without any change of motion. It is the motion-as-sudden-cue that can become the release if it happens before the verbal.
Since I am obsessing on the releases, look at the 1:15-1:17 rep of the lateral lead outs: you moved to position, stood still, released very clearly, then moved. Perfect!
Lateral lead outs are also going well – great connection on the exits and his commitment looked great! These should be ‘soft’ turn exits, more like 90 degree lines (not wraps) so be sure to send and step away laterally. And, as you move away, if there is any countermotion, look at the landing spot (1:42, you looked at him as you moved back towards him and he didn’t commit, same as what happened at :34) But you rewarded him and that was good!
>>I actually did the tunnel Threadle drill and feel like it went well, BUT my camera skills were off to the point that submitting exercises would have been a waste of your time. argh.>>
Just the camera position and no problems with the game? We will score it as a win 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
