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Hi!
>. I figured it would be fun to have the video from our very first attempt.>>Totally agree! Always video those first sessions: partially because it is really informative for the training, partially because it is SO FUN to look back on these sessions in a few years 🙂
The session looked great here!
Wing to tunnel on both sides looked great.
When you added the bigger sequences, he looked great too!
He had little tiny head checks on the tunnel exits because you were very quiet – that is fine for now, we add tunnel exit games tomorrow 🙂 Your wrap and left/right verbals are nicely timed too! I think one thing to consider is repeating the left/right verbals (“lehhft lehhft” for example) rather than one long verbal (“lehhhhhhhfffft”) because on a big course, you won’t have the wind to sustain that length of ton while you are running hard – by repeating the word, you will probably be able to breath too 🙂His running past the tunnel at :51 was a great reminder that he is still a youngster 🙂
All of the mini sequences looked great! The only thing to add is the wraps on the jumps after the tunnel to go back to the tunnel (wrap -tunnel – wrap – tunnel) because you were mainly doing left or right race tracks. So the wrap after the tunnel and a FC back to the tunnel will mix things up nicely.
Great job!
TracyGood morning! Sorry to hear there is more snow 🙁 Boooo!!!!
The wrap versus tunnel went well!!
>>“Yes” is still slipping in sometimes so I’ll continue to work on that. >>
Totally relatable. Try to plan the directional and marker before you start each rep, that can help!
>.Not sure if 0:16 was just from him hitting the wing?>>
Yes, he hit the wing at :16 and I think it was probably because of the transition into the rep. It is hard to tell because of the video edit, but it looked & sounded like the verbal and release of the collar happened pretty much at the same time, so he didn’t have a plan when you both started to move… and was disorganized and looking at you.
So try to make it verbal for 3 or 4 times… then release to move. He was more organized on the other reps but we still want to be sure that he can process the verbal before he starts to move.
The mini sequences look great! Be sure to mix in tunnel-tunnel-wrap as well as tunnel-wrap, so he doesn’t get into the tunnel-wrap pattern 🙂
And also, because he is doing so well, you can add a little motion (not handling :)) into the mini sequence: send him into the tunnel and move to meet him at the exit. When he exits, you will be moving forward (walking at first) while saying either the wrap cue or the tunnel cue. That will add another layer of challenge 🙂
Great job!
Tracy>>r I am working with advocates waiting until the dogs are 15 months old before introducing them to odor since we don’t want any fear (or funky adolescent behavior, I guess) associate with the odor. I bet I’ll still see some after 15 months but at least I know not to freak out about it and just try again another day.>>
That is interesting – it seemed odd to me (like superstitious behavior on part of the humans, because we introduce dogs to ALL sorts of sporty things before 15 months old and don’t have fear associated with them, unless they are having a pre-existing anxiety issue or something terrible happens). But since I don’t specifically train NW, I asked a couple of the Brain Camp folks about it as well as Leslie McDevitt of Control Unleashed fame (who also does NW) during a meeting we had yesterday – they all agree that there is no issue with introducing odor before 15 months. I mean, if the dog is having a bad day or weird things are happening, sure, don’t do it, but otherwise it is perfectly fine!
T
Hello and welcome! He is SO FUN!!! What a cool addition to your group of dogs 🙂
I think he will do great in agility! He looks like a big dude 🙂 so even though he is 16 months now, proceed slowly so he can grow into himself and get the coordination he needs… then it will be clear sailing! I am excited to see more of him!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>Prytania had her first sleepover while Susan had fun at nationals!!! Lots of good things from the puppy!!! She looks so mature lol! I have to remind myself she is a 6 month old puppy!! >>
Yes – we have officially entered the stage where the puppies *look* grown up but are most definitely NOT grown up LOL!
>>Annalise is trying to process everything!!! She’s an adolescent too! She’s trying to remember to tell her good girl!! She said she was nervous the other night on zoom😊! She did good!>>
She was awesome!!!!!!
Looking at the videos –
On the wrap versus tunnel proofing, Prytania was pretty perfect with the different skills with the handling, including the mini sequence and when you changed sides. Prytty had no questions, and was also patient on the one rep where the connection on the right side was late (2nd to last rep). So since this i sgoing so well, the next step is to try it without handling 🙂 You can hold her collar, start saying the verbal a few times… then let go and see what she does 🙂 You can help with a little handling but the goal is to help less and less, and see if she can do it on verbals alone.
The set point is also looking really good – her stay really looks great! Nice work rewarding all those stays too.
Is this a 6 foot distance or a 5 foot distance? It looks a little big for her today because she was not really centered between the 2 jumps and on the last one she was cantering and not really doing little jumps…but we will be adding something to this tomorrow (stay tuned LOL!) so we won’t change anything til we see what she does with the new element. And you can also use a toy as the reward instead of the MM.I think she really liked the smiley face game!!!
>>I lost connection sometimes because of my hair😂😂😂🤦♀️.
Ha! Yes! And the hood of the jacket was big, so both of those can block connection.
She had a little bit of a hard time committing to the tunnel.
Because she is so inexperienced, be sure to drive all the way to the tunnel and not trust her tunnel send yet. At :20, :34, :43, 1:59, you pulled away too early so came came with you. Because the tunnel is dark and curved, it will help hr if you ran towards the entry longer, and also maybe stretch the tunnel out a little so that it doesn’t seem as dark to her.And to help build the tunnel love – reward lots of tunnels. The wing wraps look solid so you don’t need to reward those as much.
One other thing I notice was that she was jumping up at your hand a bit. It could have been a bit of a ‘looking for a cookie’ moment, or a bit of frustration because the game was hard – but you can also run with low hands that don’t point forward so help show her the line (so it will emphasize connection and not hand movement as much). She didn’t jump up on the Wind In Your Hair game when you were pumping your arms to run rather than pointing.
>> She really likes first thing morning training! Her toy drive is really at its best in the a.m.>>
She is a morning person LOL! This is good to know, so you can plan to do the toy-based games in the morning and the cookie games in the afternoon/evening. And it will all balance out a she grows up.
Acceleration on the line for the Wind In Your Hair game was perfect! You can definitely spread this out even more so she has more distance to drive ahead 🙂
>>biggest issue on this is she is not living up to her retriever name 😂😂😂. She likes to go off with the toy. I even tried two toys, but today that was a no go. >>
We can use this game as a framework to build a retrieve up. I am not worried about getting more reps of the training skill in because she is great at it already. And, if we try to get the toy back, take it away, and make hre “earn” it again… that is one of the reasons thatpups run off with toys – too much work, not enough freedom to play.
2 ideas spring to mind (maybe more after I have my 2nd cup of coffee haha!):
– you can let her get the toy and then cue “go or a run!” with it (because she is going to do that anyway, right? So we might as well put it on cue LOL!) And let her run run run run run with that first toy, don’t call her back and if she tries to bring it back? Send her away with it to keep running – I know that seems counterintuitive but it actually gets the pups wanting to run off with the toy less, because the running off is less stimulating. Then when she is looking like she doesn’t want to keep on running off with the toy, you can whip out a different toy, call her, play, and maybe do another rep of the training.
– the other option is to use a bleh boring toy as the reward. What is the most boring toy? Usually it is a toy she gets all the time so it is not that exciting. And as soon as she gets it, you can whip out a new toy, or one she hasn’t seen, or one that belongs to another toy. Then rather than calling the pup back, I make a big fuss over the new toy, all by myself (yes, my neighbors think I am insane but they also think my dogs are on TV so it is all good hahaha). Then when she comes to the new toy, let her have it and let her party with it.
I also do a TON of trading toys for food in these sessions – high value toy, low or medium value food if the dog is a pig (my new pup is the biggest pig dog I have ever owned!!). That really helps the retrieve!
>>Maybe we need to do this with me at the end and dragging toy so she can’t run away with it??>>
I think now is a good time to revisit the retrieve (early adolescence requires a lot of revisiting things LOL!) so no worries about the wing and jump because she is great with the skill 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyWow, that is annoying! I am shaking my fist at Verizon!! Can you send me the video from your phone to my Facebook messenger?
Or try this website
https://wetransfer.com/And I can upload it for you?
Tracy
Good morning!
Someday soon it will stop raining on! Hopefully tomorrow is CLEAR!!!
The USDAA trial sounds fun – congrats on all the successes! I am very glad to see that USDAA is using bigger spacing now too!
>>We did see quite a few jump tunnel discriminations and some jump weave discriminations (almost as hard for him since he LOVES his weave poles.>>
Yep, it am not surprised! And also lots of the tunnel-under-the-contact sending & layering challenges. We are now seeing them in AKC too, based on what the AKC NAC courses showed us!
>>I did some FEO even though I’m not always sure he appreciates stopping his flow to celebrate, but he seemed to take it in stride.
Ha! Yes, he seemed fine with the parties in the video and that is a good way of maintaining things in the ring.
>> Took a Snookers run as FEO to get in a tunnel call off and LOTS of wraps after seeing the Biathlon Jumpers course was very wrappy. Paid off and he had awesome Biathlon runs (last 2 classes of the show) and came in 3rd overall in Biathlon.>>
Wow! That is awesome!!!!!! So fun! The video look really good – he was a good boy about all of those wraps (did I see a couple of threadle wrap moments in there too??) and also have gorgeous extension when needed too. The future is very exciting!
TracyHi!
These challenges look really strong!!! She did a great job turning away and even when she had questions, she didn’t get any BIG MAD happening or barking or anything 🙂 Super!!!
One thing to consider: using the outside arm to cue turning away and not the dog-side arm. The reasoning is that the dog-side arm mainly means to keep traveling on the same line, so she was waiting to see your feet turn before she turned away. If you add your outside arm to the cue, you are likely going to be able to get the cue in sooner and not have to turn your feet as much (or at all!)
On the first video, she was great about turning away on the jump! On jump 1, you were waiting for her to land before turning her away. I think she is ready for you to tell her before she takes off (ideally as she is approaching the jump) so you can turn her away even sooner! And since she was so good at turning away at the 2nd jump (yay!) you can start to be sooner there too (cuing the turn away to the tunnel) because you can get even more distance that way. And the outside arm can help with both of those – you can raise it really early and use it in kind of a ‘check mark’ motion to get her focus on it then flip her away.
On the 2nd video, turning away from the tunnel exit – she was doing really well here too! She was a little wide because she was seeing dog-side arm and feet going straight before she entered, so she was going straight and turning away after your feet turned. To get it tighter, you can raise the outside arm before she enters, then flip her away as she exits. If she sees the cue starting before she enters, she will be able to more easily turn away at the exit.
3rd video – switch away on the jump to the tunnel looked good! Yay! This is also a good place to consider using the outside arm because you can show that cue without going past the center of the bar, which can really lead to great position wherever the course goes next.
She found the going ahead to the jump past the tunnel a little harder:
at :54, she just needed a little more connection (she ended up on the other side of you). On the other reps, she was sorting out driving ahead of you to the jump (past the tunnel). So you can try a ‘jump’ verbal instead of go – it is possible that ‘go’ could mean either the jump or tunnel, in her view? She did get it really nicely at the end, so it might also just be a matter of exposing her to this type of challenge 🙂Great job!!!
TracyI will keep digging into the brain stuff and share it – knowing how the brain develops and how it takes twice as long for adolescent dogs to bounce back from stress has really helped me be a lot more relaxed LOL!!! And it is all backed by a lot of studies, so we can lean on the science to help get us through adolescence 🙂 It is better to be science nerds than it is to be stressed-out dog owners LOL!
Hi!
He is doing well here too! We can start building up even more independence with the verbal, with the end goal being really strong verbals to get either obstacle so that you don’t need to be right there to show handling. To do this, let him hear the verbal for what you want, before you start to move:
Try to have him start next to you, gently hold his collar, so you can start the verbal without also moving before it (or at the same time). If he sees the movement before the verbal, it will be harder to build up the power of the verbal. This will be especially important on the wraps where he is turning towards the tunnel, to help him resist the tunnel (or go to the tunnel after a couple of successful wraps :)) For now it is ok to use handling after you say the verbal, but the goal is to be able to get the cues to him without any handling, and he does it independently.Nice work here! Let me know how he does with adding the verbal before you both start moving!
TracyGood morning! Super nice work on these – his commitment looks really good! I think the only thing he had a question about was connection. Here are more details.
I got confused on the first video, I couldn’t remember Charlie barking while he worked LOL! But it was not Charlie LOL!!!! I guess it is part of a playlist? He did well!
Charlie was on video 3 – he also did well! The wraps looked really good at the start! At :09, you had him on your right and wanted the tunnel – he would have had to turn away, so it would require threadle handling and the threadle verbal, so he turned towards you first then back to the tunnel.
On the 2nd rep, be sure to emphasize maintaining connection. You had excellent, clear connection at :26! At :27, you looked forward to see the next wing and that looks exactly like a blind cross starting, so he did the blind cross side change to your right side. Good boy! You are doing a great job of staying in motion and rewarding him, even if things were not exactly what you wanted 🙂
The key with the connection will be to say the verbal cues to him as you move, and resist the temptation to point forward to the obstacle or look ahead, while he is still behind you. If he is behind you, he will read the line better if you are connected back to his eyes, with a lower arm so he can see the connection.
On the FC at :30-:31, you had excellent connection! At :34, you broke connection so he saw your back and guessed that it was a blind cross, so did the side change to your left. In the moment, it might have feltlike he was going to the toy but if you watch the video in slow motion, you can see the disconnection. One thing that will help to put the toy in your pocket so you don’t feel the need to change hands – that way you can maintain the connection the whole time.
Then I think at the end of that rep his brother was blocking the tunnel entry, so he didn’t want to run into it. Now that things are moving fast and he is doing these sequences, it is better to have no other dogs on or near the course so he can build up the confidence to drive to the obstacles.
Next video –
Really nice start, very connected! At :12, you had a looking ahead/pointing ahead moment, so he did a blind cross. On the next rep, your connection was perfect! Yay! You slipped on the grass at the end, but definitely maintain that fabulous connection.Last video – I think he is a little confused on the tunnel sends that are on the threadle side, so try to run these sequences more as wrap – tunnel – wrap – tunnel, doing a front cross on each wrap so he can drive directly to the tunnel (rather than having to turn away from you to find the tunnel). It looks like he was getting a little grabby for the toy because he wasn’t sure where to be, so you can have the toy in a pocket, emphasize connection – and not try to run as fast (for now :)) By slowing down a little to get great connection, he will go fast and find the line perfectly! When we try to run fast, it is easy to break connection and that is where things come off the rails.
Great job here!!!
TracyI bet you are all so done with the snow!!! It is March now, we are all ready for lovely spring weather!
