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Good morning!
I am glad you played the volume dial game – you can totally see her getting into the higher arousal state and how that changes behavior. Instead of one paw on the high five, the first high five cue produced almost her whole body doing the high five! LOL!
And towards the end, you can see how she had a harder time letting go of the toy and not jumping up to regrip the toy.
All of this is GREAT for 2 reasons:
– it helps her sort out how to handle herself when she is in the higher arousal state
– it helps us identify where she struggles and how we can help herSo looking at the toy “out” first – you can incorporate trading for treats to help her self-regulate: rather than try to pull it away or hold her neck/collar, you can trade her for a treat. Use your out cue (verbal and relaxing your hands) then immediately present a really good treat. When she lets go of the toy, toss the treat away for her to go chase and grab. The treat toss is key for a few reasons:
– it will maintain some action and we know this girl likes action!
– it will give you a moment to move the toy to a good position without her regripping as you move it
– it will encourage her to have a quick sniff to get the cookie, and that quick sniff is GREAT for self-regulation!And then using this volume dial game, you can incorporate this into simple training stuff that she is already good at. She has always been confident at the goat games and shaping games, so you can do the volume dial game while also playing those!
And also, you can add this into the tunnel – shorten up the tunnel and start on easy angles, but get her more stimulated to help her learn to do the tunnel (as an example) without biting the tunnel or the momma š When she is more stimulated, be as clear as possible with mechanics: have a collar on her to line her up, use cookies to help with the line up, and have the MM or a toy to throw for the tunnel exit. The volume dial game will add the stimulation so you will want to cue the tunnels as clearly as possible š
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>She likes work more than toys and treats? That explains a lot. Iām sorry, BCs are so weird. Cute, but weird. LOL.>>
Well… yeah. LOL!! They are definitely DIFFERENT haha! But the good news is, she is pretty normal and she is asking these questions early in her training, so we can find the answers. Every dog is a little different, but she is a really awesome girl and we will help her out š
>> I laughed when you mentioned we have to make her understand when we donāt want the work, Iāve been wondering about that, when I train something I typically canāt get her to stop offering behaviors and I wasnāt sure what to do about that.>>
Haha! She is an overachiever LOL! Sometimes the “work” that we want is for her to be still. To *not* offer stuff. Developing training loops as well as clean line ups that are fun fun will help – because she will realize that the stillness and the waiting is also part of the “work” š Plus, bear in mind that adolescent brain development makes for some ups and downs in training, but that is also normal and we are ready for it!
>> THE BIG MAD made me laugh. We really donāt want that!
A lot of dogs show The Big Mads in different ways… and herding dogs tend to want to bite something. It can be the obstacle (tunnel and also I’ve seen dogs bite the teeter) or us – but either way, we are going to help her NOT get a case of The Big Mads both with the Volume Dial and also with all the levels of the pattern games (the game added last night is how I taught my bitey dogs to allow me to sometimes really screw up and not feel the need to bite me :))
Have fun!
TracyYes, it is so interesting to see the side preferences! And totally normal š it all balances out eventually but we can definitely adjust the mechanics for now š
TracyHi!
>>First a general thought: I struggle with proofing all the skills that are new to me in threadles. I have had several classes for introducing the concepts and feel pretty comfortable there. But then I fail to execute since the skills are not trained well enough or proofed well enough. I set up things for Hoke on my own to try and get there, but I think I try to go from 0 to 60 without all the steps in between. >>
The MaxPup 2 and 3 bring the skills into course work, including some proofing, so I think working systematically through it all will definitely help!
Barrel game video – this is going well and she definitely likes wrapping her barrel! She also is really excited about the toy, so you can reward her for moving away from the toy on the ground (with cookies) .
Now that there is a lot more action… clear your floor a bit more so the teeter holder and the jump are not that close – we don’ want her to think of them on her line, but we also don’t want her to ignore things on her line. The easiest thing is to have a clear working space.
Things were super smooth when you held her collar, added the wrap verbla, then let go. NICE!! She wants to start without you š so be sure to hold her, reward her for letting you hold her, then cue her to start when you are ready.
You can add in FCs and spins now – these were post turns but she is totally ready to see more handling moves š
>>I will start to step back from the barrel. (see above 0 to 60!). Maybe if I put the leash out there for my visual I can do it in small steps.>>
Yes, you can put a line on the ground to make gradually backing up the way to go, or you can take one step back at a time.
Serps –
>>She does not want to come in to me. I donāt like the lack of interest at all.Driving directly into a person like that is HARD for Border Collies who are not naturally wired for that, especially when something of value is there and not moving (the toy on the ground). I don’t think it is lack of interest, I thnk it is a combination of the hard-wired moving slowing into stationary things that we see in a lot of BCs early in training, and a lack of understanding about exactly what you want.
So since she likes the toy a lot bu tdoesn’t necessarily know how to ignore it to drive in hard to you, two ideas for you:
– do the serps with food for now – use an empty food bowl instead of the toy on the ground. Or have a ball in your hand and throw it after she comes in – she might like that!
– separately from the serp games, you can have her sit facing you. Put the toy down on one side of you, and hold your hand touch target out on the other side of you. Look at the target and release her to touch it. When she touches it, you can cue her to get the toy. If that is too hard, you an have the toy dangling from your hand and see if that helps.
When she can do those separately, it will be easy to put the toy back into the serp game š
You were doing something similar to this on the 3rd video (first couple of reps then again later on) – the adjustment at this point can be have the toy visible on the ground or dangling from your hand.
She definitely liked the volume dial game! I think er only question was about where to look from about :40 to about :50 – you had the toy visible but alsoa cookie in your hand so she thought you wanted her to look at the toy, but I think you wanted her to follow the cookie? She seems to like both equally now which is GREAT! so you can put the toy in a pocket when you want her to look at cookies, so she is clear about what is happening at all times.
Great job here!
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! He did well here too!
>> I wasnāt sure if I should have backup more to the middle since he was going for the end and I just kept holding him till he choose the other end.
Watching the video from end to start… the double whammys with threadles at the end were easy for him when you were in motion and not at the far end of the tunnel. Those looked great in both directions!!
When you were starting him at the exit of the tunnel earlier in the video and not moving… he had a valid question š So in that situation, start him halfway between the middle tunnel back and the exit, and move forward a bit – that should answer his question. And then when you go back to the double whammy game, you can meet him more at the exit of the tunnel send on the first rep of it, then you will be showing him the exit option (versus the threadle option) but supporting with motion. That should help make it clearer for sure.
Nice job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! I think he came back plenty fast on all of them š He did great here!!
Yes, he was a shade faster with the 2nd toy but he dropped the first toy. When you didn’t have the 2nd toy, he brought the first toy all the way back š Good boy!!!One thing I noticed here is that he turned to his left (away from you) on all of these, when your position should indicate a right turn. Since this game is also a foundation for countermotion commitment, let’s tweak the mechanics so that he turns the direction indicated by your position:
– rather than throw it really far and run away, put him in a sit facing you. You will be facing the direction you will be running (either towards him or off to the side). Drop the toy next to you, tell him to get it, then run the direction you are facing. That should help him turn the correct direction because you are in the visual picture more) and also makes the countermotion element harder.
– think of your line of running as being a little bit away from him rather than straight back behind him, so you don’t accidentally show rear cross pressure or cut behind him (which would cause turning away instead of towards you).
If he turns away from you, still reward him – but then set up the next rep where you don’t move as fast and you are more clearly in the ‘turn towards me’ picture so he understands to turn towards you on the retrieve.
Have fun!
TracyGood morning!!
>He does clamp the toy and delays giving it back a small percentage of the time. Less than half, more than a quarter.>
I asked about it because it is an arousal indicator. That clamping usually indicates that the dog is past the optimal state and a little over-aroused (could also be frustration based which is also an arousal indicator).
It is fairly normal to see this with dogs that love to tug, so it is important to help the dog when that happens:Be sure to constantly reward the “out” of the toy – either by directly and immediately giving the toy back, or with a treat, or another toy.
– be sure that the out of the toy is not immediately paired with having to do something un-fun, like ending a session or going in a crate or having to get into a stay. Mixing in a TON of reward for out-ing the toy will help that.
Also, if he starts to clamp, take a look at what is happening in the moment:
– do you need to raise the rate of success? Has there been too much failure?
– is the session too long, is he mentally tired?
– do you need to reward the out?
– are you playing before taking the toy back?All of this will help maintain toy drive as well as optimal arousal.
TGood morning!
He is wrapping beautifully! I think you can isolate the head turns more on the big wing here by creating them with the double wrap.
Have him line up at your side each time so he doesnāt send himself LOL! And send him around (no reward for the first time around) then as he comes around, the send hand engages him and turns him away – that is the click moment. The click should come just before he arrives at the wing on the 2nd wrap (the clicks here on the single wraps were for the exit of the wrap not the head turn approaching it)
I think you can also do this sitting so he doesnāt have to look up as much – keeping his head lower will help the turns too!
>>is such a little stinker to turn his nose up at yummy treats.
He did well with all the treats here – there was one that he didnāt like, which is fine, but otherwise he was good about eating the cookies and then getting back on the toy at the end. If he loses interest in the treats, you can limit the session to just a few treats then do something else, so he remains hungry š
Tunnel threadles – he is getting the idea here! You can warm up with some regular forward sends into the tunnel (not threadles). That will get him locked onto the tunnel, making adding the threadle stuff even easier.
>>But is this right? It didnāt seem right.>>āØ
I think it feels awkward because he has to turn away without our help š>>To be honest it didnāt feel great because I donāt have a clue what Iām doing.
I think it is an arm thing – you were using your opposite arm to point to the tunnel and turning your feet to the tunnel, but you donāt need to do that: you arm can be in threadle position while you just walk forward (slowly for now :)) and he turns himself away.
About threadle position for the arm: it should be high, across your chest, on your opposite shoulder , pointing back to him (rather than pointing ahead to the tunnel) – it is not meant to actually turn him away, it is just a visual cue that helps him turn himself away.
So for the next session, get him pumped up with a couple of regular forward āgo tunnelā moments š Then start the threadle side relatively close to the entry – and you will slowly move on a parallel line to the entry and do the arm and verbal. Donāt turn your feet or help him into the tunnel – let him turn himself away to it – then you can mark it and party and reward š He seems to have an easier time on the left turns here, so start with him on your left for the threadles so he can turn to his left away from you.
>>And I forgot to add in the verbal aagghhh!!
You did have the verbal going – kisskisskiss. Either that or I need a lot more coffee LOL!!!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
She did well on the tunnel threadle with the verbal! The left turns looked great and the right turns will come along nicely.
>>Iām sure my mechanics can use work. Itās embarrassing! I was pumping my arm with the verbal. ridiculous!>>
Ha! It was fine, sometimes there is nothing else to do with the arm š The only thing I would change is to let her do all the turning awayā¦ so you keep moving slowly forward til *after* she turns herself to the tunnel and then you can turn to the tunnel and finish the handling. You were turning to the tunnel here which created her line – so she was waiting for that on the right turns where you didnāt do it as much. In order to not get too far ahead or past the tunnel entry, you can move slowly (walking) and that way she wan turn herself away. It will feel odd to walk forward, doing the verbal and the arm, but not turning your feet and not turning her – just watch her cute little head and see if she turns herself into the tunnel. And when she does – bug party and reward š
She did well on the yoga mat here! For future running dog walk work (it is a good foundation skill even if you donāt end up training a running dog walk) – fold the yoga mat in half. That will narrow the space she needs to put her feet on, and also it will elevate it a tiny bit which will make it more salient too.
And using the clicker was fine, but at this point you can use your āget itā. When you do the next session, we will want to begin marking her back feet on the mat. The easiest way to do this is to stare at the mat and not at her LOL!! Staring at the mat will make seeing the feet sooooo much clearer. And seeing the feet is the most important part of running contacts (and the hardest part with small dogs).
>>Yay for pivots! She already knew how to target the bowl with her front paws, so I think that gave her a head start.
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āØ>>Thanks for the reminder that is a workout! I bet her booty is sore today>>The pivoting games were popularized by conditioning and PT vets! And they will give her a power booty for sure!
>>I tried another toy that was a longer tug toy & she brought it back! Iāll keep trying different ones to find her faves. What is the āformalā training for retrieve? It is not something I have really trained for agility before, but it is super nice to have them bring something back, so this is going to be cool!>>
This is super!!!! I train my agility retrieves pretty informally like this, all play play play. The next step is the reverse retrieve game š
A more āformalā retrieve on non-toy items can be shaped, click/treat style:
This is how I shaped one of my Papillons to retrieve the ball for flyball – he had zero interest in the ball before this and really didnāt care about toys either. So you can totally shape a retrieve with other objects for Bazinga too!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
This is fun to watch! Even with the toy and cookies and a relatively un-exciting thing to get onā¦ she still would prefer to āworkā by getting on it than to play or eat the cookies. She *did* play and eatā¦ but the work was more the reward for playing or eating, if that makes sense: If you play with the toy, Georgie, you can do the āworkā.
This is both good to know, and pretty normal for working breeds like a BC. As long as we know what her reinforcement preferences are, then we can really help her out!
So the toys and cookies are motivators in training situations: they get her focused, they motivate her to enter the session, they help us train the behaviorā¦ but it is possible that the opportunity to work is the real reinforcement at this point. The toys/ treats do have some reinforcement value, and we will continue to use them like you did here! And we will also set her up to be able to get back into work smoothly – as well as use the motivators to help her understand when we *donāt* want the work (so she doesnāt send herself to things then get BIG MAD when you tell her not to LOL! This will involve how we balance stillness with action.
A couple of ideas to help do this:
I think this shaping in arousal stuff is perfect to help her learn the self-regulation to handle the excitement of the tunnel!!Make the food rewards have more action – rather than hand them to her, you can toss them for her to chase. That should be fun for her!
Same with the toy – lots of thrown toys, or chasing them with you moving. That will help get more action into the motivator/reinforcement process to balance out the inherent motivation to work.
Build up stillness/lineups by getting a heartbeat of stillness then releasing her to have action: action can be chasing a cookie or toy, or doing a āthingā š At first, it will just be stillness (a stay is fine, or even just informal landing still. Then we add in stillness near something that will make her want to work. This will be harder, so work in smaller bits š I have a game coming today that will actually address this specifically – stay tuned!!!
And, pattern games : )That tossed cookie pattern game will be sooooo helpful especially when she has a minor frustration moment. And it is easy to do indoors! More on that one coming today too :)āØāØNice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Looking at the threadles:
>> We wondered if Sidās barking might be bothering her and she had no errors after we put him in the other room. Do you think that could have been the issue?
That absolutely could be it. If he was in a crate nearby and barking at herā¦ she could totally be feeling that pressure and not wanting to move towards it. Putting him in the other room was smart!
One other thing that can help: use a wing for her to go around, might be bigger & better visual than the little wingless.
I think she had a little concern about driving in that close to you (BCs donāt naturally love that LOL!) but she did well and we will get you moving soon, so there will be less pressure.
>> Also, am I releasing with the verbal correctly?
Yes! That was lovely!
Looking at the reverse retrieves: she is keeping you honest, she was correct here LOL!!!!
What was happening was that yes, there was a toy on the ground but you were moving forward and looking at her before saying get itā¦ so in that context based on your movement and where you were looking: she was correct toast if the āget itā meant the toy out ahead, where a get it toy would normally be (based on your motion and body language). She would go back to the toy when you hesitated.
So, you need to indicate the toy more clearly: Put the toy down, shift your connection to the toy (look at it and point at it), say get itā¦ and you can start to move *after* she starts moving towards it. And as you move forward, keep looking at the toy to support the verbal get it cue as well. That should help her understand that you do want her to get it in that moment š
Great job here!! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
It is great that you have the opportunity to go to these run throughs! Yay!
>>She is quite motion sensitive, so she was pretty wound up. Letās be honest, wound up is her normal state.
I had not watched this weekās resilience game-but that is **generally** what I was going for. I know I have some missed steps, but this activity we do at home all the time. Play with the toy, do a thing.>>Based on her response to the environment (internal and external environment) – I recommend starting with the pattern games before the arousal game. If you take her into the higher state of arousal (which is the toy-trick-toy-trick volume dial game) but she does not have the understanding of how to self-regulate in that environment that the pattern games bringā¦ you will get an arousal state that is past optimal, because she doesnāt have the tools to self-regulate and explore the environment.
So definitely make those pattern games into something she can do anywhere, any time – and use them each time you go into a new environment so she can assess is can rehearse self-regulating. This is one of the biggest pieces to get focus and engagement.
>>This is two 2 minute sessions. She called at my time at 1 minute and I knew it was time to finish. The process of getting the leash led to some out of the ring distraction. She certainly can go through those ring gates and did not, so thatās good.>>
Bear in mind that running and tugging at that level of arousal is probably too long to do for more than 30 to 45 seconds. One full minute? That is 3 full novice jumpers runs, and you can see she had nothing left in the tank after 1 minute (that is when she moved into leaving/barking at other things in both of the sessions here). So set a timer for 20 seconds, tops! Do 20 seconds of stuff. Then take a moment, pick her up, do a scatter of treats or a pattern game to center the arousalā¦. Then after 10 or 15 seconds of that, you can go back to the volume dial game and some agility.
2 minutes does not feel like a lot of usā¦ but it is a loooonnnnnng time for a baby dog! And because it goes on longer than she can handle here during the learning stages and adolescence, she is rehearsing other behaviors (barking at things outside the ring, leaving you, jumping up at you, etc).
As a point of reference, UKI limits the NFC runs to 45 seconds. And I will tell you that running around out there for 45 seconds is so exhausting LOL! In a small space like this, you are not also running so you donāt feel it as much.
>>It took throwing the toy to get her on it, but she didnāt do a victory lap which she usually does.>>
I think that part of the reason she wasnāt too into the toy was that you were facing her and it was ādeadā – throwing it gets it moving again and relieves the pressure of being leaned over. So rather than standing still with the toy – either throw it immediately or run with it dangling, so she chases it. Practice having her chase you for the toy like this because you canāt throw it in AKC FEO runs, so we will want to have her loving the chase so you can use it as a motivator & reinforcement.
>>To work on (my observation):āØ1. The trick/reinforcement routine for warmup.>>
Yes, but that is a small detail and should be put in place after the pattern games with the cookies.
āØ>>2. Food/toy reinforcement tradeoff
Getting more chasing of the toy from your hand in the rig – using a longer toy will help this too.
āØ>>3. proofing throwing the leash
Since there is already so much on the list with baby dogs, donāt worry about this and just put the leash down (no throwing) or in your pocket (legal in AKC nowadays, I believe). Throwing it can go back on the to-do list later on.
āØ>>4. Write out the plan for startline routine
I think a written plan is too hard to follow. Think of it as a toolbox and you whip out tools depending on what is happening, rather than trying to follow a routine. First up? Pattern games haha I might have mentioned those. They are the most important thing for getting engagement and focus in a really stimulating/stressful environment.
āØ>>5. Some leash on/off proofing (take off tug, put on tug)
You can take the leash off and stand still, rewarding her for also standing still. Do this at home for about a zillion reinforcements before trying it at a trial or run through.
And yes, developing a motivating way to get to the leash will help a lot. Will she jump into your arms as a trick? You can also teach her to target the leash on cue and maybe even pick it up for you.
Speaking of standing still: high on the list is teaching her to settle and be still so you arenāt locked into using action to keep her engaged, and so her focus doesnāt shift if you arenāt in high action all the time. Agility has a decent amount of stops and stillness, and I donāt think she knows a lot about that at the moment. For example, she checks out when you asked for that at 1:15. Guess what helps develop that, in the aroused environment? Pattern games hahaha š They teach the dogs to breathe and assess and have some stillness, internally and externally.
And separately from this environment, working on the stay (offered stillness) and on standing still when the leash comes off will really help.
āØ>>he jumps up and bites at my clothing. Help?
That is a frustration/arousal expression where she doesnāt quite know what else to do. The self-regulation games (pattern games and volume dial) will help this, as will the other resilience games. Plus, building in stillness to her training will help too, because it gives her something useful to do (stand still!) when she otherwise doesnāt know what else to do and can replace jumping up and grabbing. It is not a cued stillnessā¦ it is offered stillness š
āØ>>2. How can a 9 lb dog make so much noise in a tunnel???
Ha! Thunderfeet! And probably the matting combined with the tunnel being a little too squished up š
Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>Iām a little afraid of a quiet verbal, but it makes logical sense that if the dog understands their job & knows the verbal, it should work. >>
KissKissKiss is actually a fairly loud verbal š I would say it is medium volume. It canāt quite be shouted like GO or HERE but it will cut through the excitement š
>>When we get to the sequence where they go in the tunnel entry, exit & then threadle to the entry again, Iām not sure how to place the reward. I donāt think I can get her past the MM on the first pass, can I reward for the tunnel entry & then reaward again for the threadle pass? Or just work though getting her past the MM and taking the tunnel again for the threadle?>>
On the double whammy game, you can begin by doing a single tunnel send and throwing the reward (no MM). Then you can do the doubles, and throw the reward for the threadle pass. That way, you donāt have to teach her to ignore the MM as that would probably be frustrating for you both!
>>Seeing how you are applying the release words helped me think it through. I am going to dedicate myself to NOT saying āokā and using Break & Get it & Find it instead. This one is on me, I need to be clear & consistent and my use of āOkā is not.>>
Perfect! The two words I think we all need to basically eliminate: āOKā and āyesā. We humans use them inconsistently and the dogs get confused.
Looking at the box work:
She was more than happy to get into the box here! I like you reset cue! If there are no going to be cookies with it (it is just a line up cue), use a āget itā when there is a cookie going to be added to it.
Since she found this game really easy and was immediately offering getting into the box: time to work on the next step of getting her to move through the box and NOT look at you. The easiest way to start that is to replace the clicker with your get it marker, and throw the rewards ahead of you.When you see her starting to get into the box, you can say get it and toss a reward so she exits the box to get it – that also lines her up nicely for the next rep, where you can have her go through the box the other direction (and you can walk back and forth as well).
>>Can I use an uncut yoga mat for now or is it too narrow?
The yoga mat here looked good! And when you do running dog walk foundations, you will want a smaller version of it, maybe 24ā inches long and 12 inches wide approximately.
Pivoting is a great skill but certainly not and easy one to teach! LOOK AT HER MOVING HER BOOTY BACK TO CENTER!!!!! Brilliant!!! It normally takes longer to get this behavior but looks like she got it in about 30 seconds. Happy dance! And she was doing it in both directions.
So the next step would be to do one more change in reward placement: rather than feeding her in position when she pivots back to center, you can let her do the pivotā¦ then throw the reward off to the other side to reward the pivot and set up the next rep. This placement will also get more pivoting!
As you work on pivoting, it falls into the category of games where the dog works harder than the humans LOL!! So do fewer reps because it is quite the hind end workout for a puppy (all while we just stand there haha!) So for now, keep it to 5 reps in each direction and be done. It is a workout/body awareness/conditioning exercise all rolled into one and you can see her form changing as she got more tired by the end.
Retrieving video:
>>She ran past me to a cat & then brought the toy back. Iām amazed.HA!!! Cats always show up at just the right time to distract the puppies LOL!!
She did great! She liked the chase element of this, which is probably part of why she brought the toy back so nicely each time: tug then throw seemed super fun and motivating for her! So when you use retrieving in āformalā training, be sure to do what you are doing here: making it fun for her to chase it and bring it back with lots of play and more chasing šWhat other toys does she like to retrieve? This one looks like the handle was small enough that it was easy to carry, so you can get several toys like that to have a variety of things for hr to bring back.
The rear crosses are going well! She is getting the idea really well in both directions!! I am excited that she has it to the right now as well.
At this point, you can start moving sooner because she seems to know that it is about the prop (you donāt have to let her get to it before moving).
A couple of things to change to as well:
Put the prop more directly in front of her now (or move yourself over :)) so she is not needing to cut in front of your feet to get to it. That way she can go straight-ish and you can cut behind her for a rear cross like it would be on the jump.
Also, try not to say āgoā or swing your hand across you – both of those will mean different things when we move to a jump. What to say instead? You can do something like a āready setā¦ā then a silly noise š When we move to a jump, we will add directionals for the turn, but for now we donāt want to add them to the prop.
Great job on these!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Loved your energy here on the tunnel session! So fun!!
>>I may have used my threadle hand to āhelpā Bob a little too much initially.
Your hand looked good to me but there was a little too much foot rotation to send him into the tunnel š We want this to be a cue he reads without you needing to rotate your feet at all, so on the next session, you can add a little motion by meeting him at the tunnel exit a bit then (using the arm and verbal only) – just walk forward on a line parallel to his path to the tunnel entry for the threadle. Watch his head as you do the – as soon as he turns his head to the tunnel, *then* you can turn and move to the tunnel and reward. Let him make the first turn, rather than him waiting for you to turn your feet. Walk slowly at first, so he doesnāt have to sort out the cue with a lot of motion.
āØ>>I also wonder if my verbal cue is a little late.>>The timing of the threadle cue seemed fine to me! Sometimes you threw in a tunnel verbal after it, but you donāt need the tunnel verbal with the threadle verbal, just the threadle verbal. The name call to get him turning on the tunnel exit was a little late, but I am not too concerned about that in this game š
Question: At :44 – he had a delayed drop of the toy., like he was a little clamped on it Is this something you are seeing, or just a random moment?
Jump threadles –
>>Why did he come directly to me through the jump a few times? When SuZie moved him closer it was not an issue. Or could it have been my position?>>
It was your position š Susie was also holding him longer to make sure he didnāt end up on the front of the jump LOL
When you were in threadle position, with more of your arm/leg/shoulder visible outside the wing, he did really well!!! When you were mostly between the uprights, that reads as serp position to him (correctly) because the tiny hand cue disappears behind the wing and he locks onto the rest of the physical cue. You can see his questions starting at 1:43 and 1:50, where you were almost entirely between the uprights. He came through the uprights at 1:59 – you didnāt have connection to him before the release and you were fully between the uprights, so it totally did look like a serp cue.
Compare these reps where he had the big questions to 2:20 and after that, where you were so much more visible outside the wing and it was easy for him. So always check your position – your threadle arm and shoulder should be fully visible outside the wing, with your legs/chest lined up to the wing and not over the bar.
Also – using the threadle verbal versus the regular release verbal will make a big difference. The ābreakā release will always mean front side, so the sooner you can add the threadle verbal as the release, the easier it will be for him to discriminate front versus back (along with positional cue).
Driving ahead: Yay! Always good to revisit this one!!!! When he gets to the toy, you can turn and run the other way so he chases you with it rather than you chasing him for it š On these straight line go go go moments, be sure you have enough room to run completely straight so you donāt cut behind him by accident on these (also note you called him Cisco at the endā¦.so cute! I bet Cisco would be thinking āI am faster than that silly puppyā hahahaha
Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
