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Yes! It totally works now. YouTube likes to change things all the time and so we have to jump through hoops to find it all.
This was worth waiting for 🙂 Lovely session! He was basically perfect on the get outs and I loved that you mixed in a “Sid!” moment to NOT get out LOL! His only question about the get out was right after that moment, where he was really in handler focus so it took him an extra moment to remember the get out. Everything else looked great! My only suggestion is now you can toss the rewards more directly to his line after the get out, so he stays out on that new line (rather than coming back to you for the reward).
Great job!!
TracyIt still says it is private 🙂 You might have to click on ‘edit video’ to change the settings – YouTube likes to make it hard by changing things all the time.
T
Hi!
I totally relate about the “yes” thing – it was a hard habit to break and took a lot of practice, but it is totally worth it to switch to new words 🙂Hope you had a good Christmas!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>.I apologize, I’m probably not at my best here. My C3 and C4 vertebrae have a pinched nerve and it hurts pretty much constantly. But Sid is the best, despite his handler!
Oh no!!! I am sorry to hear that! Definitely no need to apologize – that sounds painful 🙁 We can tweak some things to protect your back, or choose games that are easier on the back. For example, the parallel path and rear cross games don’t have a lot of twisting so they might be good choices for now? And I am sure tugging is painful, so tossing treats or toys are still very rewarding for him 🙂
The rocking horse games looked good! He had 2 little questions at the beginning:
at :02 when he might not have realized that the pole was for wrapping 🙂at :06, he might have needed a little bigger step needed, or more connection.
But after that, he got in the flow really nicely! Great job with your verbals, that is great rehearsal for when you will be using them on course! You can reward more often by tossing a toy or treat after every 2 or 3 wraps – when you are feeling better, you can do a turn and burn or some tugging, but I am sure Sid will be happy with a tossed reward too 🙂
The get out video is marked as private, can you reset it to unlisted? The get out motion also has a bit of a twist to the upper body, so if it is painful, we can skip it for now.
Serps are looking really strong! He has a lovely stay, which is super helpful here. My only suggestion is to use a verbal release from the stay, not just the hand cue, because we don’t want him thinking a hand movement is the release 🙂
Your position and rewarding was great, even more impressive considering that it probably hurt to twist like that. You can have a toy on the ground, or a manners minder if you have one, to help get rid of some of the twisting for this game.Great job here! And I hope you feel better soon!!
TracyGood morning, hope you and the whole family had a great holiday weekend!!
OMG, mimosa on the turf LOL!!!! Oopsie!
The rocking horse game is looking really good! His commitment is really strong and he is turning beautifully. You can add more room between the barrels for sure, and move to the advanced game. That is good news! And the bad news for you is that his commitment is super strong, he is turning beautifully, and he is fast fast fast: so you need to be hyper-aware of your cue timing, and not tell him he is wrong to go to the barrel if he goes to the barrel, even if you thought you did not send him
(Narrator: Because, Keith in fact DID send him each time when Bob went to the barrel). Ha!
So what I mean by that is: any indication towards the barrel is a cue to go to it. So that first moment, when he was not in a stay or not tugging on a toy and you took a little step to the barrel: well, that is the cue and you should have told him he was a good boy for going, reward, then reset with a toy or hold his collar til you are ready. At :06 he was not trusting the cue as much, so when you tried to rotate earlier, he stopped – “dad, I was just told I was wrong to go on this cue, so I am not sure if I should go or not”.
The same happened at :29 – he exited the barrel, you clearly stepped to the next barrel: that right there was the cue to go to it, which he did at :30. At some point as he was committed and passing you, you stopped and put and empty hand down, then told him he was wrong to go to the barrel… but there was not indication to decel or not take the barrel (no decel, no toy/treat, no marker) so he was correct.
Sending him (even by accident) but then telling him he is wrong to go is frustrating, as you can hear on the next rep when he was vocalizing.
So for now – reward every.single.barrel commitment. If he wants to start before you are ready, either hold his collar or have him tugging on a toy. If he goes to the barrel and you thought you were decelerating or cuing him to NOT go – reward anyway (even if you think he was wrong) then *before the next rep* watch the video of that rep in slow motion, isolating the moment he is exiting the previous barrel: what does he see? Chances are he is seeing a cue to go to the barrel, so if you want a decel you will need to be showing him that picture as he exits the previous barrel, not after he is committing to the next barrel.
Things happen very fast with him, which is why the in-the-moment video reviews are really helpful! And, it is ALWAYS better to reward even if you think he was wrong, in the interest of making sure that frustration is not built into the game. Thanks to slow motion video, it turns out the dogs are almost always correct 🙂 and withholding reinforcement/stopping them (aka negative punishment) is frustrating for them.
The turn and burns looked great! He ended up in a tunnelat :45, which is correct: it was on his line, you were accelerating that direction, there was no “take the toy” marker,so he was correct to go in the tunnel. Good boy!
Parallel path is also looking really good, Bob was MORE than happy to drive to the jump. You can use a ‘get it’ verbal marker now (no more need for the clicker) and you can moev more – both with a little more speed, and further away (laterally) from the jump to build up a little more distance.
He had a couple of misses, so a little more connection can help. But the difference between ‘through the uprights, get the cookie’ versus ‘not through the uprights, no cookie’ was very clear, and you didn’t stop or tell him he was wrong, you just went the other way. That was clear to him and not frustrating, so he was happy to adjust for the next rep.
The ‘get out’ also looked really good – the Sponge really likes his commitment games!!! Be sure to cue the get out before he is released from the holder, and also balance in some “come to me” and NOT hit the prop 🙂
Great job here! He is looking great!!!
TracyGood morning!!
>> Thanks! I tried a little tugging in the bathroom today but the room is actually too small and he got kinda weirded out and didn’t want to play. I also tried the hallway, but I forgot to block and end off so he ran off with the toy. LOL, So next time I will do better. >>
I think blocking off the hallway into a short area should do the trick!
>>Sounds good about clicking for bringing me anything else too, with food. Just like scooting away from me he usually runs when he has something.
It is a good life skill training opportunity – you can keep a clicker on your wrist, and if he even looks at you when he has something, you can click and then run to a kibble cup and scatter treats on the ground. It will help to stop his reflexive response of running away, which is the first step for a retrieve (and very helpful for not running off if he has something dangerous :))
>>He is getting better at realizing I’m not just going to take it, sometimes I will play with the thing in his mouth and then let go and let him keep having it.
Perfect!! That plus trading for something better will really help.
>>Letting him have a chew after play to help calm him down sounds like a great idea. He loves bully sticks so that will work well.
The neuroscience stuff I’m learning about tells us that dogs find it soothing to do something repetitive with their mouth (we knew this anecdotally, but having studies to back it up is nice!), so chewing is perfect.
>>used a clicker and that did seem to help, though I will have to get my mechanics better when using the clicker. I felt a bit awkward.>>
It will get easier! Watch his feet, so you don’t accidentally click any pitter patter toes 🙂
>>Casper is getting so stinking enthusiastic about my laundry basket that he’s running the thing over!
Omg! He was definitely excited LOL The good news is that he is very excited for his toys, and for his training! Doing the toy two game with the wing is a good way to start transferring the concept to the wing, and it was smart to go to the two toy game. Keep the barrel in the picture too, for now. With the barrel, put some stuff in it to weight it so he can’t tackle it and make it move. My barrel has 4 or 5 foot pods in it, so it doesn’t really move. Then do some turn and burn where you are very calm, and reward when he goes all the way around it without tackling it. If he tackles it, just reset it and try again. This is actually a useful jumping foundation skill, to teach the pups a bit of respect for the wings of jumps (as in, don’t touch them!). It is easy to isolate this on a barrel, because it is easy to see if it moves or not, and it doesn’t hurt if he runs into it 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I feel like we all basically spent the holiday weekend hoping our pipes would survive it LOL I’m glad your pipes thawed out – 2 days without water is rough but at least no burst pipes!
Serps: these are going well! His stay looks good if you get in position fast – he would break if things too a little too long. You can try walking to position with your serp arm out, going the long way around the jump so you move across the bar as if truly serping. That will get you to position sooner and you won’t then have to take a moment to get your arm and feet in position.
One mechanics suggestion: Hold your serp arm back and shoulder open until he reaches the cookie target (or toy, later on) to simulate what the cue will look like when a jump replaces the treat target. You drop treat in from other hand while keeping your shoulders frozen (the treat might bounce around a little, but that is fine :)) keeping the open shoulders is what cues the turn away to the next jump, and closing the shoulders is what often causes the dogs to run past the next jump.
When the toy is in play, things get more exciting! Be sure to look at your target hand when using the toy. At 3:28 you looked at him, which didn’t give him as much info about where you wanted him to be so he went to where your feet were pointing: the toy. Good job with the reset reward. Compare it to 4:17 and 5:05 where you did shift your eyes to your target hand, and he was perfect. Yay! That connection shift is helpful for the pups!
I think he is ready for the toy to go to the ground on this, so he is doing the in-and-our of the serp to the toy on the ground. You can refresh that skill on the flat because there is a lot of impulse control, and remember to look at the target hand (shake it if needed :))
He is driving ahead really well for the rear crosses, which is allowing you to show the rear crosses and get the turn both directions. Super!! He sure to throw in some non-RCs, plain old parallel path, so he doesn’t go on rear cross autopilot. But this is going well and we will add to this game soon 🙂
>> We also worked on lap turns which I didn’t get videoed. He comes to my hand and does the turn okay but then doesn’t drive forward to his prop. Should I just throw the cookie to drive him forward or throw a toy? He will move up with me if I move forward but I’m not sure that’s the intent?>>
He sure has plenty of prop value, so he might be thinking that the lap turn itself predicts reward, so he sure to be quiet after the lap turn (no praise, just stay connected and move to the prop). You can also build more value for the prop in this context by first warming up the parallel path, then add in just turning him away on the flat, next to you (not the full lap turn) then moving to the prop. Watch his head: when he looks forward to the prop, mark it and toss the treat. Let me know if that helps.
>>On another subject, I will be traveling up north next week for New Year’s to see family and won’t be home for the zoom class either Wednesday or Thursday night. >>
We will miss you!! Hoping for great weather for your travels!!
Tracy
Good morning! Hope you had a great weekend!
Parallel path – this is going well! It took her just a couple of reps to realize she should look ahead and not at you for the reward. She was a little better on your left side at first but then even in this little session, she got better on your right too. Just be sure that you are watching her, to see that same is looking at/moving towards the props. When you were a head and looking ahead of her, she was drifting out wide to watch your hands instead of looking at the prop (like at 1:23). It does sound strange that looking at her a little more causes her to look at the line more, but that is how the dogs read things LOL!
Yes, she is ready for the concept transfer. And yes, a jump panel board should be fine as a “bar” for now 🙂 I’m looking forward to seeing how she does!
Rocking horses: Amazon barrels for the win! This went really well! I see what you mean about the left turn being slightly harder than the right turn, so yes: slow that side down for now and don’t do the Front Cross until she is at least halfway around. You can do the front cross on the right turns sooner, but it is also fine to do both sides at the same timing (halfway around) so you don’t need to keep track of it when you are in the thick of things LOL!
It is also possible that you were blocking the line to the barrel a little (hard to see on the video): compare your position at :28 when she was perfect going to her left, versus 1:19 where she was wider and didn’t get around the barrel. So you can show her a full visual of the barrel by moving over to your left, when she is on your right. And when you didn’t have the full Hallmark moment, I think she was trying to offer going to her stronger side (right turn) – which is exactly what happens with pups when we don’t give the full Hallmark 🙂
I figure one more session of this like you did here, and she will be ready for the advanced version. Have you started thinking about what wrap verbals you’d like to use? She’s just about ready for those too 🙂
Looking at the blinds: these are basically connection hallmark moments too, but while you are running 😅 it was hard to see your face, but based on your shoulders on the first couple of reps, it looks like you didn’t get the connection she needed to see in order to make the side change. Even with the toy, she needed to see your eyes. Compare it to the last rep at :25, where it was clear you had great connection and so she easily made the side change.
Getting the blind cross connection is harder with small dogs than big dogs, so 2 ideas that can help:
Keep your arms in really tight to your ribs (I bend my arms and tuck them into my ribs)
Or
Try dipping your new dog-side shoulder towards her after the blind, as you look for her eyes. That can give her a fuller visual of the connection.She did a great job holding her stay, but you can use a helper to hold her if you want more of a head start – that should give you more time to make the connection.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
This was indeed a lovely Christmas gift LOL! And the barrel games that I saw on Facebook looked great too 🙂 I am glad you have access to the club, that must be so nice in the winter!!!All the reps looked really good (two bloopers, more on that below)! You can try using a Manners Minder instead of a cookie toss to start the game, so you can better predict when she will begin moving towards you. And, one mechanics suggestion: keep your serp arm out until she has arrived at the reward bowl, to simulate what the physical cue would be if there was a jump there instead of a bowl. That arm back & shoulder position is what cues the line to the next jump, so it is good rehearsal to keep it back and out here too. You can drop the treat in with the other hand or you can delay the treat drop a tiny bit – the timing of the reward is less important than the arm position on the serp.
The 2 bloopers were timing issues (1st rep and at 1:28). On both of those, you started moving too soon so by the time she committed to coming towards you, you were past the exit wing (so you got a threadle based on the first angle, and she ran past it because of her angle at 1:28). So stay in position til she is on her way to you, or:
>>what I really need now is stays. So I’ve started working on that. I can do that at home too.
Yes – if she doesn’t have a stay yet, it is time to prioritize it especially if you’ve started sending entries out.
>>Warning-very unhappy terrier in the background.
Ha! Barely noticeable LOL!!! Just the sad song of the terrier people.
Great job here!!!
TracyGood morning! Hope you had a great holiday weekend!
She looked awesome on the zig zags! Were the bars 16” at the end here? She looked really strong on all of them. Yes, there was the one bad line up but also on that rep: it looked like it was the only rep where the toy was stationary until AFTER she was landing from 1, then you started to move it. The distraction of the toy starting to move was probably a contributing factor to the bar down. But it definitely goes on the list of good distractions to show her! If she was planning on the toy remaining stationary then it started moving, it makes sense that she couldn’t process it at her speed. But that is a common human error that we all make: sudden shifts to acceleration. So you can take an easy version of the zig zag (lower bars, easier angles) or even on one jump: and show her the sudden accelerations 🙂
Organizers: these are looking great too! Clear mechanics from you, and her latent learning kicked in so it all looked strong. Yay! I suggest adding in 3 more things over the course of the next session or two:
– using food, more motion from you: move in and out of FC wrap handling while she moves in and out of the sit on the plank. This should be easy for her.
– get a toy involved so she is more stimulated. The challenge is: can she be this organized while more amped up? So when you add the toy, use the calm mechanics and minimal motion you used on the video here.When she is happy with more motion using food, and more stimulation with the toy… use the toy AND more motion. Yay! You might be able to add more motion with food for a couple of reps, then less motion with the toy, all in one session.
When she is happy with that… start fading the organizer. I use both versions of fading: using the wrap verbals to let the pups run through the plank, and removing the plank and asking for the sit on the ground.
Backside zigzags:
These are the hardest version of the zigzags for sure! Looking at why she was ticking the bar (she ticked a little when it was on her right and a lot more when it was on her left), 3 things stood out:– it is definitely a harder skill, so keep the bars lower for now. When she was jumping to her left, she started with the higher bar (she started with the lower bar on jumping to her right at the beginning of the video). And latent learning will kick in too, and her brain will wire in the organization to help her out.
– some of the ticking was because she was looking at you (nothing else to look at in a short grid so it was easy for her to watch you and the toy throw :)) so have the toy on the ground as a focal point. Place it about 10 feet past jump 2, so she can power through with a straight, lower head.
– I think the footing played a role here too – mats are fine for most things (like all of the other games you do with her here :)) but the mats were not really giving her good grip to set up the power jumping on the backside on this angle. The focal point of the toy on the ground might help, or you might find it more successful if you can get to dirt or thick turf at some point. You might need to wait til spring for the tighter angles on this, but that is fine because she is doing really well and you can keep it to simpler angles in mats because the simpler angles don’t need as much “grab” of the footing as the harder angles do on the backsides. Once she learns the high speed organization, she should be able to bring it back to mats but for now, she has to slow herself down to get it on mats and that doesn’t seem like something she will do hahaha!!!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Hope you had a great holiday weekend and also hope for NO travel or weather issues!!
For the backside circle wraps – he did well sorting out the organization of it all through the various stages. Yay! I think the hardest part was ignoring the food bowl 🙂 So the next step is to treat this as a full circle wrap, with you moving past the wing to takeoff side as he sits on the plank. This might be hard for the first rep or two, so move at a slow shuffle 🙂 til he gets the concept, them you can move a little faster.
The food bowl placement will be a little trickier – we want to give him another stride or two on the landing side so he wraps the wing (lots of bending on this turn effort!) You can place the bowl at the end of the plank (the part further from the bar): that way he goes between the jump and the bowl to get on the plank (the bowl will be behind him when he is sitting) and after the release, he drives all the way around the wing to get to the bowl. That can give him more room to bend as he takes the jump, and less distraction as he is heading towards the wing (theoretically haha)
Great job here!!
TracyGood morning! Hope you had a lovely weekend! It was very cold here but no snow/ice and we made it through with only a brief power outage. Whew! Hope it is warming up a little for you too!
She did really well with the barrel-to-toy game! She wrapped beautifully and drove ahead beautifully. Super!!! And i think you were also using your wrap verbals – nice!! The straightest path for her was when you did the spin (FC-BC), that created the tightest line. When you did a post turn, she was wider but that was the correct ‘reading’ of the cue and line. So instead of post turns, do FCs and spins to rehearse the super tight lines around the barrel and to the toy. And keep adding distance between the barrel and the toy, so she really gets the feel of driving way ahead of you 🙂
She was not entirely sure when to drop the toy, because you were quick to trade. So it seems like she is not running off with the toy, so you can take another moment to tug with the toy that she has in her mouth then trade for the next one (or fade out the trade, if she is happy to give the original toy back :))
Turn and burn is indeed a hard game, but she is doing really well! There is a LOT of countermotion in this game but she is sorting it out nicely. She does best when you are totally stationary until she gets to the line on the ground – if you move too early, even a little, she looks at you. On most of these you were totally stationary until she got to the line, which really helped her! She seems to be a righty and did better on the turns in the 2nd half of the video. She didn’t seem to lose focus when she investigated the DW – I think she was just investigating the dog walk because it was right there 🙂
And I agree – the more action there is with the toy, the more she plays with it. She was GREAT here with the toy! And it is a good choice for this game(using a toy) because it is high enough in value that it is a reward, but not sooooo high that it is a distraction 🙂
Keep working this turn and burn so you can keep moving sooner and sooner. You can also move to the rocking horse games, which will add the 2nd barrel and more action (she likes action!) and you don’t have to move as early as you did here.
Great job! Let me know how the next steps go!
TracyGood morning! Hope you had a lovely holiday weekend!
He did really well with the beginning retrieve game! Definitely strong tugging and you were great about the pressure-then-release of having him tug on you then letting him “win” the toy and letting him have it. You were also great about resisting temptation to touch him LOL!! I really liked how he drove back to you when you asked him to jump up for it. Super! The next step can be in a small area (bathroom!) where you can toss the toy and encourage him to bring it back (because in a small bathroom, there is no place else to go :))
And since he is a foodie, you can also go to the next step of shaping him to retrieve something using a clicker and food rewards. The item doesn’t have to be a toy, it can be anything that is easy to pick up. That can help give him the idea of bringing things to you.
Later on down the road, these 2 steps will merge and huge will bring you the toys 🙂
You can end the session like you did here – he wins the toy, you trade for a treat scatter. Or, you can let him win the toy and cue him to take it on a run! Or trade the toy for a chew bone. All of these approaches allow him to decompress, which is great after tugging because the tugging is very stimulating and intense so a bit of decompression is needed.
He is a great age to start the stay games: old enough to be successful, and not yet a true adolescent haha! And you are correct: this game is HARD – the concept of NOT moving when the momma moves away is a mind-exploder for puppies. He had a good rhythm going then got lost in a smell for a little bit but then came back strong. Nice session! It is actually one of the only games where a clicker can be super helpful, so in the next session you might want to add a clicker: begin by click the sit then say “catch” and toss like you did here, for 3 or 4 reps. Then, delay the click for a heartbeat, then click/stay catch/toss. You can start delaying that click more and more, in a variable way: sometimes 2 heartbeats, sometimes 1 heartbeat, sometimes click immediately, sometimes 4 heartbeats, etc. If he moves before the click, no worries, make the next rep easier. I have found that the small, fast-moving dogs find the click immensely clarifying for this game 🙂
About the release word: I also use “break” to mean “move forward towards me” which in agility also means to take the obstacles on the line (although releasing with an obstacle name is cool too). I think wait and break sound pretty different, especially in context: BREAK! Is high energy, fast, with an emphasis on the BR. Wait is usually longer and drawn out and lower in energy, with emphasis on the “ai” diphthong, so the dogs don’t mistake the 2 words. And catch is totally different in meaning and delivery, so it should make sense to him.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>> how do you teach your dogs to bark on cue?
I get them super excited, get my other dogs involved because they will bark and add some competitive spirit… and show the dog something they all want like a toy or food. Then I use trigger words like “ready ready” or “cookie” and whichever dog makes the first noise, gets the the thing. It is shaped (amidst the chaos haha) so I reward mouth movement, tiny noises, sneezes, etc. it eventually builds to full on barking and/or clacking, with the trigger words as the cue. Let me know how Casper does!
T
