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Good catch! I agree that the Cato plank meaning two different behaviors could be confusing. So yes, use the aerobic step for the organizers as that should be very different for him. And if it is too similar or two confusing, we can figure something else out, no problem 🙂 Let me know what he thinks 🙂
TracyGood morning!
>> Street did well when the jumps were angled at about 40 degrees and the wings were slightly overlapped. When I tried to decrease the angle, he started putting in an extra stride so I stopped the session and will try again later.>>
I think the session went pretty well – I only saw one extra stride (at :22) and I attribute that more to the Treat N Train being pretty close to jup 2, and also the stationary target doesn’t produce much forward drive through the zig zag. So, try it with the moving target and see how it goes 🙂 You should see more power in his striding and then should be able to change the angle.
>>I think this exercise is going to be difficult for Street given what we have been working on serpentines the past few weeks. The set up had the three jumps with stride regulators between each jump to encourage an extra stride between the jumps. The exercise focused on teaching the dogs to read the distances so they would collect/extend as needed. The distance between jumps varied from pretty wide (4ft between wings) to pretty narrow (wings touching).
Question: what was the desired striding when the wings were touching? Should be a bounce like we are doing here, so that would be fine (and adding strides when the jumps are further apart is fine but you might want to do some of this first then go back to that). If that is not the desired striding when the wings are touching, let me know of show me a video of what he is supposed to be doing and we can sort out a way that it will all work together 🙂
Nice work here!
TracyHi! Thanks for resetting the video! He is fun to watch 🙂
>>This video is after a couple sessions with both leading with the head and motion override. So let me know if you think I need to take any steps back. He has done some wrap work previously but not multi-wrap work. >>
I think the session went well! You dont need to go back to an easier step, all he meeds is one little tweak: He wasn’t always sure when to start or if he should keep going, so you can cue each wrap more: use and arm and leg to give him a little send to the wing to get started, then use an arm to cue the 2nd wrap so he is sure that he can go around again. It will also help you isolate that head turn. When you addrd motion and the toy at the end, he looked great!
>>For motion override… our hardest part has been that until now his ‘natural’ behaviour is a down.
Yes, this was a hard game! I think your motion at the beginning was a bit too fast, and he did well when you dialed back your motion. So to help isolate the sit, start by walking soooooo slowly 🙂 and keep doing the excellent click/treats you had here when he did sit.
Great job here! I’m looking forward to seeing the organizers and zig zags!
TracyGood morning!
She is doing well with all of these!
Leading with the head: The awkward luring was fine LOL!! Cuing the head turn will give you a crisp head turn to reward, so it is fine to use a hand cue to help her out when you want the 2nd wrap. You can think of the cue to turn her head away as being similar to a lap turn where you get her attention on your hand, the flick her away. That is a good bending game, both for the leading with the head and I also use it as a warm up on a wing before running courses or doing jumping games.
Moving target: “Hillbilly jump” LOL!!! She did a great focusing on the toy (I mean, it is her favorite!) on the flat and with the HB jump 🙂 Because she is so fast, you can keep the toy in motion til she gets to it then let her run through it by grabbing the toy and you let go of the line, so she can go past you with the toy in her mouth. That way she will learn to grab & go with it, rather than want to stop and drive herself into the ground.
I am glad the jump proofing went well! You were being properly dramatic LOL!!! You can probably add in putting a toy in your pocket and reaching for it as she is heading to the jump 🙂 Yes. you can move this up a notch (to 14 and then 16) and you can also add more speed by adding a tunnel before the jump – the sky’s the limit, as long as she is still successful 🙂
These are all going really well, so you can move to the step 1 of the zig zag (which you can probably move through quickly too, to move to step 2) as well as the organizers. I think the organizers in particular will be great for her because they require the dogs to be a bit patient as they approach the jump (that is HARD for the fast dogs!) as well as the dogs need to multitask and think about that hind end before takeoff.
Great job here! Looking forward to seeing more!
TracyGood morning!
Oooh, a birthday frizzer session of Motion Override: that must have been both challenging AND exciting because a certain Floof certainly loves his frizzers!!!! Glad he did well 🙂
Looking at the zig zags he is doing SUPER well!! This is such a hard game for the dogs and he was almost perfect.
>>I think he’s a bit more comfortable in the first direct (right then left),
yes, there is a subtle difference. It is fascinating to see the side preferences show up in this game, but it helps us sort out what the dogs need. He is most comfortable on your right side (moving target or stationary bowl, both looked good with more power coming with the moving target) and less comfortable on your less side – the one rep with the added stride and the bounces were wider from the jump and a little higher.
With that in mind, you might find that flattening the angles proceeds at different rates, depending on which side of you he is on: when he is on your right side, you can definitely flatten the angles a little, maybe an inch or two. But leave them open like there were here for another session on your left side.
That will mean a little bit of extra record keeping to remember where the angle was on each side LOL! You can jot it down, or I take photos on my phone after each session so I know where to put the angles for the next session (because memory is not my strongest skill LOL!)
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>> I have a Klimb platform that I think will work better for him to sit on.
Perfect! You can add a yoga mat to the surface if he finds it slippery.
Great job with he zig zags on the flat! You had the key elements going: The proper line up, the cue to shift his leads, and the good rewards. He seemed to have no questions at all. Yay! You can add challenge for him on this game by putting the wings 4 feet apart (or even 3 feet apart) to work on the super quick lead changes. I like to play with that with the bigger dogs like Alta, because agility courses give them less room than, say, my 16″ jumping dogs. So he has to learn to be quick with those leads.
I also think he is ready to do the Zig Zag 2 game, using the 2 jumps.
The distraction proofing game was hilarious! The only time he touched the bar was on the way back to the setup at the beginning LOL!! And since he doesn’t like it when you are in the way, I am glad you chose the distraction of being in the way 🙂 By making it a game with reinforcement, he was happy to let you be a crazy person with late handling… because it was all fun and he got lots of rewards. Super!! You can re-visit this game with a higher bar at some point.
So since all of these are going well, you can move to the next step in the organizer games as well as get the Zig Zag 2 game started.
Great job!!!
TracyGood morning! She is doing really well with turning her head to the wing! Using the plank worked well for her and it is a nice transition from the ‘leading with the head’ game into the organizers with the wing. Yay! Since this is going so well – move to the part of the 3rd organizers game (To The Wing) where you add more motion of getting on the plank, into the sit, then wrapping the wing.
And when she is good with that… add some tugging or excitement. I think at each and every step for Maisy, we should teach the games with arousal because she can be aroused on course 🙂 What I mean by that is to teach the games when she is calm to get the form and precision and understanding…. then gradually add more and more arousal so she learns to maintain her form even when she is really pumped up like she would be in a trial.
There was only one rep of the moving target with the taller bar, but it looked lovely!!! Yay! And she was great with the distraction jumping too 🙂 I think she was a little unsure of where to look for the reward on those, but that is actually fine on this game: the challenge is for her to NOT touch the bar even when she is unsure of where to look. Good girl!
Based on her success here, keep moving forward with the zig zag 2 jump game – keep the angles relatively easy but add in the moving target reward.
Great job!!!
TracyGood morning!
The sits on the platform are going well! Interestingly, now that there is more movement, the platform is actually a little too small and her back feet kind of hang off the edge. So, for future Step 1 games when you re-visit them, use a slightly bigger platform. But for now, move on to the plank in the next step – it should be an inch or two wider than the platform here.
The leading with the head is going well too – it will be easier to see what to click if you cue it rather than let her offer it. What I mean by that is you can be a little closer, send her to the wrap and as she is finishing the first wrap – use a hand cue in front of her nose to turn her away to the 2nd wrap. That will smooth things out so you can easily see what to click. If she is offering it, she is looking at you more – the cue will help get her eyes off of you and create a crisp head turn.
Head down looked great with the moving target! The form was spot on for most of the reps – I think there was one where she didn’t drive to the toy but she was fine with it on all the others.
She also did well with the distractions – no problem at all, even though she did maybe think you were nuts especially with the jumping jacks LOL!
For the ZZ on the flat – it is perfectly fine to help her with strange looking handling LOL! You can use your arms and also your feet, but make them all more clear to her by moving closer to the 2nd wing and using a lower arm cue. The wings were not too close when you moved them in, her questions were more because you were so far from wing 2 that she didn’t recognize it as something she needed to go to. So, be close enough to wing 2 to touch it, and use lots of body language 🙂 Think of it as a bit of a half-front cross, so there is some rotation of upper body and even feet. Arms out to the side didn’t show the line to her because she was coming to a ‘front’ position unless you leaned over a bit (leaning over is fine in this game). No worries about needing to fade the body cues because we change the physical cues in the next game – the body cues here are just to get the game started.
Looking forward: You can definitely go to the next step of the organizer games. And, since the other foundation games look great, you can give the ZZ flatwork another spin with you closer to wing 2 and using more arms – then go to the next step with 2 jumps 🙂
Great job here!!!
TracyHello and welcome! I’m excited to see you here! And I agree – many dogs like Torrin don’t have a jumping problem, they just need more organization education 🙂
I’m looking forward to seeing the video! It is marked private so YouTube won’t let me see it 🙁 can you change it to unlisted?
Thanks!
TracyIt works! And the session looked really strong!
She is just about perfect on the left turns. The right turns were not as good at first here (and note how she offered a left turn in that section of the video) but by the end, the right turns had come up to meet the left turns in terms of leading with the head. Super!!!
Was she clacking at you? Lol!!!So the next step is to go to a wing, to help bring the behavior over and condition it to a wing. Then, if you like training this stuff, you can add making her higher with toy play then see if she can still approach the wing with the head turn 🙂
Great job! She’s ready for us to focus on the organizers and on the zig zags. 🙂
TracyGood morning!
The motion override is going super well!!!! The handle signal help is fine especially considering the moving down history. It is FABULOUS that you can already run and get this behavior. You can file this game into the “revisit sometimes” category and move to the next ones. I use this as part of a pre-run dynamic warm up (run, sit, release, tug) and it is also a good hind end wake up call at trials 🙂
I am getting an error message on the head turn video, I think the link is wrong – can you repost?
On the platform sits: I agree, this went well aand she is being quick to organize and sit tight. She was also doing well on the angled approaches – the harder angles required more organization, just like a backside circle wrap would, and she was nailing it. YAY! One of the thing the conditionnig gurus look for is tail position – they like when the tail is straight and relaxed like she had her tail here.
So since the motion override looks great and the platform sits look great: onward to plank work which uses elements of both of those. Yay!
Glad to hear the distractions on the jumps are going well – for dogs that don’t love reps or potentially being told they were not correct, you can totally keep making this game a party – it is fun when the dog is wrong, and it is MORE fun when the dog is right 🙂 We don’t want her to change states of arousal when she touches a bar (fast dogs sometimes touch bars) so definitely keep going with the soccer ball and you can use a reset reward when she touches the bar. And if video editing is a royal pain (I can totally relate) feel free to drop the whole video in and I can scroll through the soccer ball parties LOL!
Great job here!!!! If you have time, you can also start the zig zag work!
TracyHi!
The organizers are looking great! I agree that he is definitely quicker into position and into a tight sit! Yay! No worries about any east-west feet: they are already MUCH tighter and the plank is narrow, so he was giving himself room. You can try the wider foam boards a the plank instead, especially as we add more motion with the wing and jump.
The other thing you can do is release and reward forward, so he can be moving forward out of the sit (which sets us up nicely for the other games). And then you can turn and go the other direction for the next rep, which sets up a big back and forth element.
Great job on all of these!
Tracy
Good morning!
The motion override is looking great! Good job to you for NOT decelerating!!! He started with a bit of high latency (meaning it took him a moment to process the cue and sit) but then, happily, he got quicker and quicker to where he was sitting almost immediately. YAY! I think there was less manspread going on too – so now the next step it so wait for one more heartbeat before you reward, so he can stabilize his core into the tight sit. For example, on the last rep you can see a bit of wiggle in the sit. So you can keep moving and watch him – then when he is completely still (has managed his core and rear end) then you can mark and toss the reward. It will probably be one more step as you move forward, then he will have it.
ZZs on the flat: Super nice! He seemed to have no questions and was doing the lead changes beautifully, even when the wings were a little closer together. He is ready to move to the next step with 2 jumps, low bar, nice open angles and the stationary reward target at first, then the moving target 🙂
Great job! Onwards to the organizer video below:
Good morning! All of the foundation games are looking strong!! Here are some ideas for you :
Moving target: yes, he was a little chill about this and looking at you more than at the lotus ball. You can try 2 approaches to getting him to look at it:
– hold his collar, show him the lotus ball, and drop it: when his gaze follows to the ground, release him immediately to get it. Then when he can do that successfully for a few reps, you can move to doing it in a sit: he is in a sit, you drop it (but don’t drag yet) and when it lands and he looks at it: release and drag it for him to chase.
– try a high value toy, that might naturally get him looking at it 🙂
Organizer 1:
The platform might actually be a shade too small to start with! He is a big guy and it took him a moment to realize you wanted him to put his booty on it LOL! And when he was on it, he had a little trouble getting all four feet on it easily – do you have anything that is a tiny bit bigger? For now, it is ok if it is pretty easy for him to get on and sit because it begins teaching the form, then we can move him to something smaller and narrower. This is a great game for him, to help get him to use that powerful booty!Leading with the head:
Yes, this game is for the dogs that are NOT naturally a bendy, because it teaches the head position to create the bend… then they end up looking really bendy LOL!
He was a little confused about which way to go at first, so remember that it is a double wrap: send him forward around the wing like a normal wing wrap (which is what he thought you wanted) then as he is finishing that first one, use your hand to turn him away for the 2nd wrap – then reward that head turn. I think you were trying to start with the flip away into the head turn which is a little harder.
But I agree – you should be really happy with his, he was really using his head to lead into the turn! Yeah!!!! For the next session, you can try it with you sitting to help keep his head a little lower (there is a lot of focus on our hands in this game, so having you sitting will get your hands lower and therefore his focus lower too).I think in the motion override, he was guessing a little about what you wanted so he was offering the sit then shimmying into the down LOL! Also, you were facing him which adds pressure towards him… and most herding dogs will go into a down when we do that. And when he figured out it wasn’t the down but you were moving towards him, he was sliding backwards in the sit, which is what caused the sloppy sit (moving back from pressure)
So, easy tweak! Don’t face him 🙂 You and he will both be walking forward in the same direction, and you will ask him to sit while you continue to move forward (not towards him or facing him). That will help tighten the sit and he probably won’t offer the down either. Since it is a new game, you will want to walk very slowly – so slowly that it is not really walking LOL!!!!
And yes, you can still reward any sloppy sits because the criteria is simply “sit while I move”. The organizer games will help with the ‘tight sit’ criteria. And if you get the down, you can just toss a treat off to the side to reset and try again (I would not fix it in position because you won’t be moving at that point).
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>Sits are a perennial work in progress
For this game, you can use a stand stay and maybe start her a little further back from the wing in case of creeping 🙂
The flatwork looked good!
When you added the bars – it got much harder 🙂 I think the angle of the 2 jumps were too challenging here, they were almost flat, which might be why she had trouble doing the stay (really difficult challenges make stays disappear, especially if she didn’t love the stay to begin with). So you can definitely use the stand!The toy placement was spot on, so definitely keep doing that. For the next session, open up the angles so she sees an easier line, and drop the bars on notch (again, so it is easier, to help develop the form).
She was stronger on the last few reps when she had to jump to the right on the first jump! For the next session, start going that direction, with her right shoulder next to the jump. Then you can switch to the other direction (left shoulder next to the jump) after a couple of reps.
When she is looking very comfy on both sides (no dropping bars, and powerful bouncing, you can leave the bars low but tighten the angles up a bit in the session after that.
Great job here!!!
Tracy
