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Good morning and welcome back! I am excited for see more of Bazinga! Plus we get to celebrate her birthday soon!!!!
She did a great job on the wraps with the verbals, so easy for her.
>> Right is choo,choo,choo and left is sweet,sweet,sweet. Let me know if you think that left verbal is too wonky to use.>>
I love the sweet verbal! I don’t htink it is too wonky at all – at about the 1 minute mark here, you locked into a particular way of saying it and it seemed easier. It is a very distinct verbal so I think it will serve you well!
>>If I stand, it is hard to hold her collar…is crouching ok>>
Yes, sorry that I forgot to mention that sitting or crouching for the smallz was perfect 🙂
Great job here! Onwards to more fun ahead!
Tracy
Good morning! Welcome back! He is even cuter than ever!
He did well with the wrap verbals – I think the hardest part was ignoring the toy as the wing got further away, so keep the wing a lot closer for now and live by the 2-failure rule: if he fails twice *in the session*, make it easier and then leave it easier for the rest of the session (latent learning will kick in and cement the learning. He had too many failures here, so he had stress behaviors: scratching (he didn’t bother with the collar until after the errors started), shaking, jumping on the couch, slowing down. So especially now that he is an adolescent, that 2 failure rule will be a lifesaver 🙂
He was definitely happy to chase the moving target! Yay! The sit at :33 and 1:05 looked good! He doesn’t yet know how to hold the stay and let you drag the toy before the release yet, so you can definitely pump up his stay skills now with lots of thrown back reinforcement.
Great job! Looking forward to more fun times!
TracyGood morning!
>>and I felt like they were really hard!
Because they are really hard 🙂 Especially hard for less experienced dogs!
>>I didn’t think he was really paying attention to what I was asking for. He broke his start line a couple of times and just did what he wanted to do, aka the tunnel. Now that I think about it though, we were gone for the weekend and this was his first practice out, same day we got home. He may have just been really excited. LOL.>>
Now that we know a little more about what happens with adolescent dogs… it is possible that his internal biology was stimulated when you were away for the weekend (HPA Axis) so there was extra stuff floating around his system (like cortisol, adrenaline, CRF, ACTH, etc). And we also know that it takes adolescent dogs twice as long as puppies or adult dogs for their internal chemistry to return to normal (dammit! LOL!) Add in that he was in his training field and not a home, which also stimulates the HPA Axis (in a good way, but the body doesn’t know the difference and still pumps stuff out).
So in a nutshell – he was a little changed in his neurobiology and probably needed a day to decompress from DA MOMMA being gone for the weekend 🙂
Plus, adolescent brains often have training sessions like this, where we humans think it has all gone to poop – then they sleep on it, the learning gets cemented, and then they are perfect in the next session. Latent learning is truly amazing!
So in these situations, you can start a training session with something really easy like a super simple sequence, just to get him more in the zone before you try something harder.
I mention all this because the underlying neurobiology has really shifted my training views especially with our teenage dogs 🙂 In the past, I might have been like “whoa, naughty!” but now I am like, “Awww what a good boy, trying really hard even with all that internal stuff going on”. I know look at it more like he *couldn’t* fully pay attention, rather than he was choosing to ignore you (he definitely was not choosing to ignore you!) And you were really good with reinforcement, so overall these were strong sessions even if you didn’t feel like they were in the moment.
Looking at the first video:
>>I think this one was the hardest for him. Again, maybe it just took him so time to settle into the exercises.>>
Yes, possibly because he needed to settle in, and possibly because the position of the start jump made the tunnel extra visible and delicious 🙂 But overall a good session – from the handling perspective, try to keep slooooow steady motion on all of these for now. On that first rep, you released him and exploded forward, so he went into the tunnel. Great reset response, though! You were more stationary on the other reps, which totally helped him. So with the jump in this position, try to be in slow steady motion the whole time so he can process the verbals while there is motion.
2nd video – I really liked the slow steady motion on your very first rep! That was perfect. He seems to be reading your shoulders/feet – if you turn towards the jump when he lands from the start jump, he gets it right. If you don’t turn (closed shoulders) or take one step in – he takes the tunnel even if that is not what the verbal said LOL!
So to help him out, keep that slow steady motion but also either turn to the jump (as he is landing from the start jump) or move towards the tunnel. Try not to stop at all, and try not to send – just do subtle changes in your line of motion while staying in motion. This, as you say the verbal, should really solidify things.
3rd video – super nice line of motion on the 1st rep to the tunnel – slow steady motion with suble line cues and the verbal. 2nd rep – not turn of shoulders, so he took the tunnel (especially since he just got rewarded.
At 1:07 you turned your shoulders a bit and got the backside (but did it without motion). 1:38 had the good shoulders and a little more motion!You easily got the tunnel by facing it more (no shoulder turn) then got the backside with the shoulder turn at the end. Super!!
I think Grumio gave us GREAT info here about what he is processing! So now add the motion into both of these:
– motion forward, facing the tunnel, when you want the tunnel.
– motion forward, turning shoulders to the jump, when you want the jump.>.I wonder, after watching these, is my cue for the jump that I am physically crouching?
I think what you were seeing there was that you were stationary and turning your shoulders, so it felt a little crouchy. The cue appears to be the shoulder turn plus the verbal, so if you stay in motion, it will feel less crouchy.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!!
>>
I was totally not driving!!! I realize how this reads! EEK! I was a passenger all the way.>>Ha! No judgement from me – I totally play webinars via bluetooth when I drive, I just put the phone out of reach so I am not tempted to start looking at it LOL!!!
The handling 5 video looked great – easy peasy on everything. If you want added challenge for this setup, put a line on the ground (I use a leash) and have your motion run along that line every time, to challenge her to process your tunnel verbal versus the backside slice verbal without any motion towards the obstacle you want.
The line on the ground can run from the wing of the start jump all the way towards the camera, so you are running towards the camera the whole time: can she go to the tunnel without needing you to step towards it? Start with the jump in the easiest position first and see how she does 🙂
The backside wrap can still be handled like you did here at the end. Something to consider as you keep working Frankie and start course work with Bazinga is to have a separate word for the backside slice and the backside wrap, to help them know what to do even sooner 🙂
Looking at the switch video:
>> In AKC, we don’t see a lot of layering.
Not yet 🙂 But those challenges are coming, I guarantee it. We are seeing the international-flavor challenges like these switches, and the dog walk in the middle of the ring, and layering opportunities begin to creep in, mainly thanks to the more popular judges who also judge for UKI 🙂 So these judges are bringing these challenges into AKC within the AKC rules – the courses are lovely! But we need to have the skills trained 🙂 So while you might not need this skill yet, definitely have it ready for when it shows up at a trial.
>>Would this be used to switch away to a single obstacle ever? If there is no layering? Or does there always need to be a layering & longer line involved? I listened to the live chat & the discussion, about “switch” vs directionals but I’m still a little fuzzy on the application. Should I save this for those “special” akc layer moments and work on directionals for turn aways to 1 obstacle?>>
The specific definition of the verbal is up to you. For me, I wanted the dogs to understand that a complete change in direction and layering/distance on a line was next (to get more independence) so I use ‘switch’ only in these layering moments. When I am not layering, I use verbal directionals to match whatever the turn is (left/right or wraps, for example) because the directionals theoretically can mean turning towards me or turning away from me.
She is doing well with the concept here!! On the jump: You can definitely add the verbal now! Adding the switch verbal to the jump will help her look for the tunnel even sooner, because switch is specific to the line she would be looking for. Break is more about driving to you, so you needed the extra step to the tunnel (that extra step worked nicely). Adding switch will let you fade out the step to the tunnel as she learns that it is associated with the next line – and fading out that extra step will give you a huge positional advantage on the next part of the course!
On the tunnel exit: she is definitely getting the idea here too! Yay! She is turning a little wide as she processes the cue, but that is fine – you were doing this as a big layer and mainly on verbals, so she needed to think about it a little. The right turns at the beginning seemed a little stronger, perhaps? Your timing got better and better as the session went along: the earlier you said the switch cue, the better she turned. For example, the timing at :44 was great when you starting saying it before she went in the tunnel.
And it is fine to say “jump” on the reps where you had the jump perpendicular to the tunnel, to help support her commitment. At 1:06 you got quiet so she started looking at you, and then ended up skipping the jump to get the toy when you tossed it. A jump verbal will support her line until it becomes second nature for her (layering is weird for small dogs, because it is really hard to see us with the big tunnel in the way!)
I think that moment at 1:06 where she skipped the jump might have interrupted her concentration for a moment – she had a few misses on the switch after that. You stepped in to help her at the tunnel exit for a rep or two, then she got right back in the saddle and nailed it independently again. Yay!
Great job here! I think she is ready for Handling 6 Super Combos!
Tracy
Hi!
It is great to train and practice in new places with new people & dogs! She did really well! I think the hardest part was the stay – but that can be trained separately from these little sequences.She had a little trouble finding the jump when you were moving forward pretty quickly. At :45 you were saying jump and she took the tunnel. Yes, we want to keep the rewards flowing but you can reward a little differently to basically tell her “nice try, not quite right, try again”. Rather than throw the toy as if the tunnel was correct (the placement and timing will affirm that she was correct) – you can call her back happily, reward at your side with a reset cookie, then try again. I use words or phrases like “C’mere!” or “you’re cute, come get a cookie” or “oopsie!” to reset the dog so they come back to my side for the cookies. It is a subtle difference for us human – but a massive difference for the dogs 🙂
When you broke it down she did well finding the jump! Nice!!! The next step now is to add your motion, because I think motion is the biggest challenge for her (and for all the dogs, not just Changste). So when you are back chaining or breaking it down, be in motion the whole time like you would be on course, – the difference is that you can be in slow steady motion for now, and over time build it up to running.
>>We did not have much time but then less is more! sometimes!>>
I think the session worked out perfectly: some distractions in place, a bunch of good reps on the skill, then finished! Super!!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>I tried to join the zoom class on Thursday but I was in a car and Zoom wouldn’t let me have audio. I guess there is a drive-safe mode that I couldn’t override. I’m sorry I missed it! I am watching the video this morning. >>
I guess our cars are smart enough to know when we should not be thinking about dog training LOL!!!
>>OMG Jitterbug is such a FuzzCute!!!! MEEP!!!!>>
Thanks, he is like a tiny teddy bear. He is virtually the same breeding as my Voodoo – both accidental, 10 years apart! I absolutely did NOT intend on a puppy right now but Voodoo is really special and I couldn’t resist getting another one like him 🙂
>>Frankie was AMAZING! We did not have a single off course! We trialed 3 days and she QQd 2 days!
WOW WOW WOW!!!! Being consistent like that with such a fast dog is REALLY HARD – well done!!!!!
>>I used the “jump,jump.jump” cream cheese spread verbal on a line of jumps that was pointing right into an off-course tunnel. The dogs needed to take a sharp turn right in front of the tunnel to a jump. I rear-crossed the jump in front of the tunnel and kept saying “jump, jump, jump” and she got it!>>>
Yay Frankie!!! Yay you!! The magic of cream cheese handling hahaha It sounds like you were connected and clear.
>>The bummer this weekend was that she was nervous in the environment. So that got us a few times. When she is nervous she runs slow so I probably had more time to handle because of that. There was a dog using the practice jump right outside the ring & it was aligned with the weaves and she saw the dog & jumped out of the weaves. I felt so bad for her because I could tell it was involuntary & she looked at me like “Crap! Did you see that!? Sorry!” and then she jumped right into the weaves and drove out ahead and did great. But the seed was planted and she was nervous all weekend.>>
Poor girl, I can see how that would have startled her!!
>> I really want to take the FACE class, because what I’m doing isn’t enough for her, but I just don’t have the bandwidth for another class right now. Maybe the next time it is offered.>>
TOTALLY understand the bandwidth thing!!! 10000% LOL!!! What you can try to add is the resilience games we did with Bazinga in MaxPup 1. Those games were all really easy for Bazinga, because she was a puppy 🙂 We never taught those resilience skills to Frankie’s generation, because we just didn’t know if would be useful. But Frankie can benefit from the pattern games and some of the later games in the resilience track as well – we use those with the adult dogs to build up confidence a lot too 🙂
>>We have nice weather today so I’m going to set up Handling 6 with Frankie. Excited to get back to it with her! >>
Have fun! They are challenging 🙂
>>Thank you SO MUCH for the extension, it really took the pressure off to not have to rush through the last set of exercises.>
The weather around the country has been INSANE so at least no one felt like they were rushing or missing out.
Keep me posted on how Handling 6 goes 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
>> I LOVE all the webinars and zoom meetings even though I don’t think I’ve actually “attended” one. They have become my new book on tape. And although I can’t watch while driving I listen and if there’s anything I want to see I just find and watch that section later. I didn’t sign up for yesterday’s as I’ve got so many in the cue to listen to already!!!>>
This is great to hear! Being able to do webinars with the Behavior Vets people has given me a whole new understanding of dogs. Dr. Murphy is basically giving me a masters degree education in the neuroscience LOL!!!! It is fun to pass it along and I am glad you are enjoying it!
>>Had to laugh in that even with the tape on the ground to “manage” my movement I’m not exactly the same. Maybe I need 2 pieces of tape so I have a little well defined pathway>>
It is SO HARD to move but not handle. Soooo hard! You were really food with that here! And that was GREAT because alternating between the “back” cue and the tunnel was challenging in all the right ways here. The back cue was a little easier here, the backside was more on his line but he did take a little look at the threadle side (2nd rep). And going to the tunnel was harder for sure, he had to process it and he was great about finding it (note how he had to send himself back out to it in the first part of the session here!). The 2nd half of the session was great too – more excitement with Helen and Changste there, and more motion from you (but not in a helpful handling sort ofwhat :)) but also you were not as far ahead… and he NAILED it. YAY!! Those verbals are coming along for sure!
>>Now to change the 1st jump to a more difficult position
Yes – and you can throw in a couple of threadle slice verbals for giggles 🙂
Great job here!! Well done to you both!
TracyHi! Sorry for the delay, just finished a day long webinar!
I agree – this game is SO HARD because motion should not tip off the dog as we emphasize verbals. Eek!!
>>And honestly, I didn’t like them. I didn’t like what I was doing – way too many errors (thank goodness for reset cookies!) and I couldn’t seem to figure out how “to progress” without them – Felt stuck, not enough time to edit video, blah-blah, blah-blah, blah-blah.>>
This is pretty normal – some “meh” sessions then the skills lock in. Latent learning! This session looked really good! LOTS of huge successes!!! Good for you for regrouping and trying it again!
He loved the layering to the tunnel 🙂
At :13, it was fine to reward because at least he looked at you LOL! “Mom said something different!”
I was also watching this to figure out what he was cuing off of when he was successful versus when he was not, in terms of finding the jump or tunnel. I think what was happening was that he was reading subtle motion cues that were overriding the verbal cues:
– the tunnel cue was when you were moving parallel to the bar and with some speed
– the jump cue was when you were pulling away from the bar slightly and decelerated.For example:
1:09 – parallel – tunnel (correct)
1:15 – moving away – jump (correct)
1:23 and 1:31 – more parallel and more motion. Voice said jump but body supported the tunnel. (Error)So keep trying to have your motion and line be as identical as possible for these verbal-emphasized sessions. It is hard to move parallel to the jump bar and get him to take the jump with ‘closed’ shoulders, so you can start super close to the barrel so he is ahead of you the whole time and doesn’t need to be ‘serped’ in to take the jump, if that makes sense. The barrel can be on that same angle, but further away so as he rounds the barrel, he can drive ahead and see both the jump and tunnel.
The early ball throw totally helps – try to minimize your arm motion so that is less of an indiction to him. But also bear in mind that on course, we will of course use motion as well 🙂 So as the verbals solidify, your motion will support him too!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
This went really well!
All of the tunnel sending and backside slices were really strong! The only question he seemed to have was at 1:27 when he looked at the jump before going to the tunnel. That was because you stopped in backside wrap position while saying tunnel, so he had to take a look at it. For now, et up a little more motion so he doesn’t ask questions about the backside wrap position – you can do that by not being as far ahead (starting closer to the start jump).Looking at the backside circle wraps:
I think he was generally reading them well!
>>Looking at the video I can see that often he can’t see that off arm due to my body blocking it so I want to figure out how to show him a clearer physical cue for this skill so he doesn’t read it as a slice.>>
I don’t think you need the outside arm that early or in that position (I sometimes do use an outside arm, but it is low and right before the dog gets to the backside wing, kind of a stop sign before the dog starts the turn.
The key to making the backside circles clearer will be the positional cue and decel if you are ahead, the positional cue is you where the wing and bar meet, so he can see the whole wing, with your feet pointed wherever the next direction is – and you wait there til he passes you (decel!).
And, the verbal should be quiet like the front side wraps, to draw him in.If you are behind, you will still run towards the wing & bar meeting point but you may not be able to decel if you are really far behind.
I think there is a misconception that the backside wraps and threadle wraps should have the same fast & steady motion as the slice versions, but the wraps all have decel. How much decel depends on the dog and the context like handler position.
On the video, staying in motion the whole time was what caused a couple of questions on the backside wraps:
He was a little wide at :29 because you were blocking the wing. And he ended up in the tunnel because you moved too early at :34, which pushed him off the line (he chose the tunnel as opposed to going through you :))
The next rep was better – better position, better patience.
And I think the threadle wraps looked good here too! You were much clearer that it was NOT a slice!
So the main thing is going to be the decel to set it up as well as the patience to get the turn before you run to the next position. You will know you have the turn when he turns his head AND starts the lead change the new direction. As he gets more experienced, you can leave as soon as he turns his head 🙂
>>Rip the sooner he knows what he needs to do the better, and if he doesn’t have all the info he’s likely to make an assumption OR drop a bar trying to adjust at the last minute for the late portion of my cue.
With the decel on both cues, he can see that as he is over the previous obstacle so that begins the cue – decel plus position (push wrap or threadle wrap) will really help!
He did have a bar down at 2:10 but I think it was probably a little fatigue at that point because the wraps and slices are all really challenging – the turn was nice!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>Field is still under water so we’re on the front lawn again, no real room to open up yet.
I hear you are all under some type of atmospheric river or something. EEK!
This was a great session! It almost had a ‘proofing’ element to it because you didn’t do a lot of handling. In fact, your line of motion looked almost identical on each rep as he was approaching the first jump. YAY!!!!
>>He had 1 wrong obstacle – tunnel instead of backside of jump at the very beginning and then was fine. >>
That was probably the most important rep of the session. He was reading motion (your line of motion was pretty similar to the tunnel line you had just run) – then SURPRISE! Not the expected outcome for doing the tunnel. Not a bad outcome, just not the expected outcome, and that is how they learn. I have been geeking out on reward prediction errors and dopamine coding – fascinating stuff and that is why it is fine for the dogs to sometimes have this type of error with this type of human response 🙂
Speaking of line of motion: he had 2 bars on the rep at 1:06. That was a processing question because it really looked like your motion was saying tunnel but then he processed the jump verbal (first bar). Still rewardable, because it was a great response! And the reward was coming as he was in the air over the 2nd bar (the big yes) so he dropped that bar too, probably because he was in full brain-exploding processing mode. This is why I don’t get mad about bars – he was 100% fabulous on that rep and it was HARD!!
I think the reps at the end were actually easier because the line was easier to see and the tunnel was a little less on the line.
Yes, when the speed is higher and your have more room and you don’t have 10 days straight of rain, this might be harder but I think the main thing would be to add more speed into the challenges where your line of motion would be basically the same for both obstacles. If you stay in the smaller area, you can try adding more internal arousal with crazy tugging before each rep.
In a trial, I would probably add a little handling help (like a brake arm or decel, depending on the context) but in training, we can control the outcomes to the responses like you did here on reps 1, 2, and 3 to set up great learning. 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi!
Another really nice session here! You did a great job showing her the difference between the jump and the tunnel after the switch away. Since she did so well, you can add the switch away verbal on the jump too, she is ready 🙂 I didn’t have it in the video on all the early reps because it was the first session and I wanted to be sure the dog could do it.Only one blooper, at :34 – you needed one more step like you did on the next rep, then she was back to being perfect.
Adding the rear cross to the tunnel – awesome! She was brilliant! I think she really likes these!
Give these skills a day off so latent learning can kick in – then try the bigger super combos.
Great job on both of these!!!
TracyGood morning!
This session went really well! You can tell she is figuring out the situation, where she would be asked to turn away and do the big layering. Yay! I thought your handling looked great – nice easy timing, clear verbals and physical cues, and great connection. Click/treat for everyone! And great job gradually changing the angle of the jump. So good!!!!
If you wanted to play with this setup again, you can see if you can hang back and not go as far past the tunnel exit – can she turn away without you there? It might take a few sessions but definitely something to work on.
Great job!
TracyHi! This run looked GREAT!!! You were running aggressively and that REALLY helped him!!! He was working really hard and was a super good boy 🙂 The future is amazing!
>> We are still learning how to go from tight sequencing to finding a jump out on the line >>
There were 2 spots on that course that looked easy but were REALLY hard with fast dogs – finding the jump straight out ahead after the straight tunnel at the beginning was HARD! Good job rewarding or staying in motion, even if a jump was missed. This was so lovely!
Tracy
