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Hi!
Lots of good work here! She is finding the lines really well and she is a really terrific turner too. A couple of ideas for you below and 2 general ideas are to:– keep your arms lower on the sending š If you get your arm up high and send, it turns your shoulders to a different line and she ends up someplace you didn’t want
– turn her towards the next line on the wraps, which often means a rear cross š You were sometimes doing that and it was GREAT! And sometimes you were wrapping her away from the next line, which made it harder for you both because she couldn’t immediately see the new line, and you had to stay in position and help her get to it. Turning her towards the next line really makes it easier for you both.Sequence 1
:18 is a spot to keep your arm down for sending into the rear and keep moving forward, so you can send her into the RC and add layering.On this sequence, definitely try to do the RC on the blue jump near the a-frame each time, like at :14, :52 and 1:00 because then you can leave sooner to set the lines. By turning her to her right and doing a FC, you had to wait for her to get on the line to the tunnel before you moved up the line to the next section.
Getting up that line sooner will definitely help set the RCs! At :44, after the tunnel, it was hard to know if you wanted towards or away from you. Compare it to :55 with the earlier, clearer cues: it was definitely a clear RC ! Very nice!
Watching this section: The ri ri ri and lelele might sound too similar for those wrap cues? They are both higher in pitch and delivered rapidly so she might have trouble processing the difference at high speed. You can make them sound a little different by maybe leaving one as a higher pitch cue, and bringing the other into more of a conversational voice range.
You got brave and way ahead, and the BC after the tunnel at 1:04 looked great! You had plenty of time for that and it looked great.
And when you asked her to layer, she did a great job too!
In the middle of the video, you practiced the jump versus tunnel discrimination – she did well looking at the different obstacles based on the handling and verbals! Very nice!
On the sequence – I think you had her going to the wrong side of 3 (should be a front side to her left the first time). 2nd time – good rear cross at 2:39 into the layering! she didn’t see the backside jump, she probably needs wings on it and a serp arm/more connection – the ending looked good!
Running the opening as a FC 1-2 at 3:34 turns her to her right on the tunnel exit and makes it harder to find 3, so the RC between the tunnel and 3 works better (and then the layering – being able to layer with her will be a very useful skill!)
Really good connection and cues to get the backside at 3:43 but then she didn’t get the next backside at 3:44. To get that, you can use the outside arm like you did but point it more to the entry wing of the backside, and also do it before she takes off to be one step earlier. This is more like what you did at 4:20 and she got it nicely! Yay! On that rep at 4:20, try not to step back at all, keep moving forward and it will be even easier.
3:54 – This was a moment where your send arm got too high and she took the tunnel rather than the jump. The high arm turns your shoulders so she didn’t know where to be. so she followed the line of your shoulders (good girl!)
Overall, I think you were making very strong connections and that really helps! If something goes wrong, you can reward her with a cookie as you stop & reset, so she doesn’t feel the need to bite you (There was a moment or two of that happening :))
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>Oh, my, but the humidity is now matching the heat>>
Yes, it has been GROSS here too! The humidity is so hard. I was out on the field at sunrise today to get demo videos done – my dogs all earned BIG PRIZES for getting things right on the first run LOL!! Glad you enjoyed the live classes!
On your walk through: the 2nd time you walked it, you had really good connection, especially on the 6-7-8 part. I think you were looking ahead a bit too much on the 3-4-5 part, it is possible that the dogs would pull off the line unless they were really solid with the layering skill. (Spoiler alert: both girls were very strong with the layering skill and even though you were a little more connected, they didn’t need a lot of connection there at all. YAY!)
>> On her first run, she did something sheās started doing ā going to the back of a jump when I want her to go āoverā from the front>>
The way the sequence is designed, the tunnel exit points directly to the backside of 3, so an ‘over’ cue is likely to keep her on that line. The name call worked like a charm at 1:33! So when you walk courses, be sure to look and see if the tunnel exit or the line of jumps pushes her line to a natural backside or not, so you can plan your cues & verbals. Yuki comes out of tunnels looking for you, so you don’t need to do anything to get the correct side of 3, so I think it is just a matter of remembering that Keiko is more ‘forward’ and needs turn cues differently in those instances.
Her 2nd run, the full run, looked fabulous! She gets a double gold start for the backside at 8, with that yummy tunnel right there. Your handling looked really good – very connected and clear!
Yuki did really well too! The whole opening looked great, and it was much easier to get 3 because she naturally turns to find you after the tunnel here.
>> I literally gave her my backside, so she decided to do something else>>
Your description made me laugh out loud hahahaha! Yes, you broke connection, pointed forward, and you were moving a little sideways so yes, she was correct to go take 9. It was hard to see where you were relative to the wing at 8, too, so you might have been blocking it the first time?
The handling is subtly different (to us) but not to her: compare your arm position and connection when she lands from 7 at 2:11 versus 2:29 – at 2:11, you were facing more forward, with more motion turning forward. at 2:29, you were more connected and more patient to let her find the line before pointing forward. And your best connection at landing of 7 was at 1:43 with Keiko, really connected! Probably because she is less experienced so you don’t trust her as much LOL! But that was great connection and she nailed it. YAY!!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! I love watching the walk through versus the run, we get so much great info!
Course 1:
Definitely can hear differences in the verbals here on the walk through!! This is good! And I could “see” the invisible dog for most of the walk through.
On the 8-9-10 section, you can consider pushing to the outside of the 9 backside then slice to the tunnel, and compare it to the threadle wrap to the inside – my guess us that the slice will be faster even if the threadle wrap is a little less yardage.
And with the threadle wrap at 9 – you rotated to face him like a lap turn, which worked – but you can also face forward and do it more like a threadle wrap/ flick move, which has less handler rotation. And less handler rotation means you are faster on course because your feet are facing the next direction sooner. In this case, it would have ypur feet facing forward with Griz on your left and then when he is committing to the jump, you can do a blind as you run away to get him on your right to the tunnel.
I thought the run was really strong! You were pretty prepared from the walk through, having done a fast running walk through. The 2 differences I noticed was that he is faster on the jumping lines than you expect: you were slower running in the walk through than you were in the actual run. So plan for him to be very fast! It is better to be faster than your invisible dog than slower than your invisible dog. Yes, you were a little faster than he was in the weaves but that is fine š
Th other thing I noticed (and I think this is linked to you having to run faster in the real run): Your verbals get more urgent when you are running ‘for real’. They are louder and more forceful for the most part. This is a good thing! If your verbals are too relaxed in the walk through, you are probably not running fast enough š
It was interesting that he did not read the 15-16 threadle At.All. Didn’t even look at you. It was hard to see what happened from the camera angle, so my guess is that your position was showing front side, and your motion was also showing it (you were backing up, which the dogs also read as forward motion). You also handled it differently on the run than you did on the walk. On the walk through, you were moving forward and not rotated, so that might be a better cue for him?
Course 2:
yes, this one is a little more complex š and has a lot more skill work! The walk through you posted was good but not quite ready for the full run – you were still sorting out the moves and verbals and timing. and not working the hard turns enough (in terms of connection, verbals, arms) like 2-3, 4-5, 14.15 and those turned out to be trouble spots. Your pace was close to what he needed and that is good! Add in more specific handling cues for the turns and I think it will be perfect 1On the run – the trouble spots in the opening were training moments more than anything else – he needed to work the section 2-3, and work the section 4-5. Be sure that the handling really supports the verbal. For example, the verbal timing of the turn cue at 2 was good but the physical cue didn’t support it so he went straight on the first run.
You got it the 2nd time but then you said ‘yes’ when you should have been handling the left – the physical and verbal left cue happened at 1:00 as he was lifting off, so he turned right because that is what he saw before takeoff (good boy!) The left was MUCH sooner at 1:11 and he got it. Yay!
Same thoughts on the 4-5 line, which is REALLY hard because he has to collect a lot for 4 to not end up at 9 – it is possible that left is the better verbal here than kenme? It went better when you gave really strong handling cues, working that line, to support the verbals.
A similar thing happened at the other part he had questions about: 13-14-15-16. At 1:52 n the first run, you had a good verbal, but the handling did not support which line you wanted (which is exactly how you walked it) – you need to do a push through like you did at 2:46 which clearly indicated the line and he was great.
So – on your next set of walk throughs, keep doing the verbals like you did, but also identify the really hard turn moments for him and then add in more clear handling cues to support the verbals on those too.
The walk/run video is fun to see! Your pace was good – and the spots where you were not supporting the verbals as well were all in the walk through, versus what you had to do to cue the line in the run. So definitely keep that in mind for the next runs.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Great job on class last night! And nice work here, this is a hard skill! I think she did well in both directions, and yes – a little stronger to her right š
The hand jumping is probably a little bit of insight into how hard the behavior is: she naturally wants to turn towards you or take the front of the jump, and this game is all about ignore the front of the jump and then turn away from you.
On thing I noticed was that your verbal style of delivery changed even if the word was the same – you started with a higher pitch and an ascending tone, then later on switched to a lower sound and more of a conversational tone. I really like the higher pitched tone, it is really different from the Go Go Go and from the other verbals – and she was almost 100% accurate when you did it that way: for example, compare the sound at 2:43 (go) versus 2:59 (zip zip). Totally different! And that is great, because it really helps her differentiate between the cues (word plus pitch plus style is much easier to process than just word).
As you play with this skill, keep building motion like you did here. You can get yourself further past the wing of the threadle jump and also start moving faster: when you make it harder like that, you can also throw a reward back to the landing side so she maintains her commitment.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>The training is not transferring to curves yet. Thoughts?
I think the training video looked great – the go cues in the trial were a massive leap forward in understanding, though, because you were decelerated/rotated or stopped and wanted her to continue past you. She is not ready for that yet – it is more send training than it is go training, with all of the motion.
Also, to really transfer to trials, you should do lots of FEO runs for toys! She looked a little uncomfortable in the trial ring – tighter spaces, or environment? Hard to know for sure but the FEO runs will really help!
>>Also, here is an example of the sudden struggles we are having. We did weaves through AgilityU when she was younger, and though her head has always been up high, she got the entries and always weaved well. Now itās a mess. She has a vet appointment next week.>>
For now, I would give her a break from weaving til she is cleared by an ortho & PT vet because if it is physical then there is nothing we can do on the training side of things. When she is cleared, definitely do lots of FEO with a toy to help her see the weaves and love them in trials.
>>Are there any of the course maps I should be working on? I feel like I donāt know where to go next at this point.>>
To keep working on the independence of the Go lines and adding in more independent sends, I recommend the 2 sets of ESC games from Pack 2 and Pack 3, plus the 2nd live class stuff. All of those have really fun sequences for working on distance, sending, and driving ahead š
Let me know how it goes!
TracyHi!
>>Iām trying to increase his arousal on the start line a little at home (and in classes) to mimic what heās like at an actual trial. So, weāre doing some tugging and I let my 13-year-old BC be in the yard next to us barking her head off (which I used to avoid so that he could concentrate on what we were learning but now appreciate as a great distraction).>>
Perfect! Adding distractions at home I the best place to start.
>>Heās not the hugest fan of me tossing a toy behind him or to him on the startline. Itās not really reinforcing for him (same with a dead toy behind him that he could be released to). Manners Minder behind him is okay to be sent to instead of release but kind of an annoyance it seems. >>
It is that old saying, āreinforcement is in the eye of the reinforcedā or something like that LOL! If it is not reinforcingā¦ then it might actually do more harm than good so we can skip it š The release will be the key! He seemed to like it a bit when you tossed it off to the side so he could chase it. He interacted with it when you tossed it more directly to him, which is good, because at least it is reinforcement (although lower in value than the release).
>> if given a treat on the start line would spit it out and didnāt want to go back to or catch a toy, just wanted to be released forward.
Yep – the work is the reward, so the release will be the reward for maintaining criteria. It can be a little trickier because you have to watch very carefully, but I have total confidence that youāll be able to do it.
>>Normally I always give a cookie for the sit on the line but Iām playing a little with weaning off that because I feel like in trials I donāt have that (even FEO/NFC). >>
I agree with weaning off the cookie for the sit at the start line – BC-types donāt love the cookie, and it builds us into the picture too much without the emphasis on the āstay here til releasedā part.
>> could release him forward to tug but havenāt really tried that yet.>>
The first bunch of reps on the video had the toy on the line and he seemed very happy to drive to it, a work/toy reinforcement combo! When you added the handling:
Lead out to FC – easy! Looked great with lovely timing.
Lead out to BC – also easy, also looked great with lovely timing. As you mentioned, you can try running into it, it will feel better than standing still then blinding.
Lead out push – also super easy~ You can try moving sooner, as early as when you see him lifting off for 1.All the handling looked really strong!
>>In the trials heās done so far it feels like we start out where we are at home on day 1 and generally early day 2, but then towards the end of the trial he gets more and more focused on/locked onto the first obstacles and doesnāt want to sit. >>
This is normal internal state shift that most dogs do, especially as arousal comes up and they get mentally tired. A couple of things to consider:
– practice stay positions in front of very stimulating things, like favorite toy on the ground, running dogs, water house turned on, etc – anything that he will want to stare at and not necessarily āhearā the sit cue.– you can also have a general stay cue where he picks the position. All 3 of my youngsters have that because I donāt care which position they are in, as long as they donāt move once they are in a position. So for one of them, I bring her to her line up spot, take the leash off, use a āstayā verbalā¦. And walk to my lead out. She almost always assumes a stand, but sometimes does a sit. And she never moves (yay!). With one of the others, I use the stay verbal and he always sits. LOL! But also doesnāt break til the release. It has been a great āno fightingā way to get the dog to the start line and into the course.
>>We get more barking waiting for his turn and entering the ring and then he just looks on to the obstacles with me in his peripheral vision. >>
This is where playing around with different pre-run games can help you sort things out – being further from the ring, pattern games (those REALLY help mine keep their eyes off the ring and in a centered state of arousal), tugging, tricks, etc. to see if you can help him achieve a centered, thoughtful state.
>>This past weekend the 3rd day I ran him off the line on some courses where you started mid-course into a u-shaped tunnel so it made sense anyway and at the very end when he couldnāt sit on the line I just had him wait in a stand and he did fine (but I also didnāt ask for a long lead out since we havenāt really trained that in a stand).>>
3 days might be too much if you are seeing a behavior shift and losing behavior – his adolescent brain might be tired so fewer days can help maintain behavior, or fewer runs across the days.
>>We are continuing to do a lot of offered sits for reinforcing things (Premack) especially for playing in the hose since that is VERY arousing for him and heās doing well on that.
Ha! I was thinking the hose would be great for him LOL! You can do it as cued behavior, and in front of agility obstacles.
Nice work on the video! Let me know what you think about the stay ideas!
TracyHi!
This looked great! I was about to ask a question about the verbals but then you got them sorted out LOL! This game in particular will help him commit to wings on tight turns like wraps, even when you decelerate or rotate too soon (as sometimes happens š ) At this stage of training, young dogs will stop if we rotate too soon but this game promotes carrying on to the wing šSo the next steps would be to spread it out a little more so you both can run more, and work up to doing 3 then 4 wings in a row (and the racetracks to unravel it all :)) . That will add in the transitions into decel and the rotations, and he will commit more easily when you are rotated pretty early (try to be rotated before he even passes you :))
Great job!! Let me know how the next steps go.
TracyHi!
She is doing well with her teeter games here! The added motion of coming around the wing then up the board definitely seemed to help her drive up the board more than doing it from the stationary start, as long as you were moving straight (she had a few questions when you were changing positions a bit as she was going up the board).
Because she is making steady progress but also asking questions along the way, for future sessions you can leave the tip/setup exactly as you had it hear, no added tip and keeping the yoga mat in place (that was a clever ad-on!). But, start her around the wing so she is running up the board, and you can be moving alongside her. I would do that for 2 more short sessions with super high value food. And if she has no more questions? Add a little more tip, just a little š If she still has questions? Take out any tip and go back to going straight up the board with nothing moving. I am thinking she won’t have questions and you can add tip š
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
I think these are Maisy’s favorite games so far!
She had no trouble at all with the 1-5 line as you moved further and further away.When you added the FC at :20, you can rotate and leave sooner: you started it on time (as she landed from 4) but then you stayed there too long – you were still at the jump as she was taking off at :21. So try to cue the tight turn and then head to 6.You can keep an arm pointing to the landing spot and maintain connection behind you to support commitment, but that will help get the tight turn and keep the bar up
You were earlier at :30 and the other FCs, but you can trust her more and leave even sooner, so she is passing you to 5 as you are already heading to 6.
The blind-to-throwback option also looked great at :40 and 1:05! Trust her more on that and be moving towards the bind the whole time. You left nice and early after the throwbacks!
Just be sure to keep cuing the line to 8, you pulled up short a bit on the last one and she skipped 8 at :34, :43 an 1:05. But when you cued it with the verbal and a bit of physical cue? She was perfect. Yay!
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
>>I went ahead and included the walk-throughs. I wanted to improve my connection as you mentioned in the last sessions.
I thought your connection was super strong here! Nice! And your rehearsals looked good – the work session with her showed up a couple of training questions (trained skills more than handling skills) and one handling thing to add to help out.
The threadle on 3 at high speed was the hard part – I think with you running, she needed a turn cue before she entered the #2 tunnel. It can be a name call to get her turning before she exits the tunnel, setting up the threadle more easily.
In the handling, pulling further away is a good idea for the threadle but it is limiting because you don’t want to pull toooooo far away -so the turn cue before the tunnel plus a little pulling away can help. She also did better without a lot of motion, so part of the training (and planning for course runs) is to reduce motion in those threadle sections so she can read the cues (upper body and verbal) that override motion.
Her only other question was weave understanding, popping out or needing you to go all the way to the end. that is something to train on a bit where you start her and let her finish without you, then throw the reward : )
>> but I also knew she would struggle with the RC at the weave entrance. We still struggle with a RC on a jump.
Those are 2 slightly separate skills – for the RC on the weaves, I would go back to how you originally taught them, open them up a bit (like slightly open channels) and work the rear crosses with a reward at the end. If she has questions, you can start by placing the reward at the end, then work up to throwing the reward.
Rear crosses on jumps are more about handler line – setting the pressure diagonally so you are running more towards the center of the RC jump.
>> Since I have access to many of your classes (including the puppy series), I wasnāt sure if there was something I could back up to as I feel like there is a training piece missing on our RCs? I set up an exercise from a previous class with two jumps in a line and then left or right jump perpendicular as RC options where you reward in the correct direction regardless. That is still tough for her. Should I back up even further to earlier foundation work? Thanks for any reference or suggestion>>>
You can work that 2 jump game but lay a line on the ground so you are properly running the diagonal – if she is struggling, you are probably late š She will need to see the RC pressure for jump 2 starting before takeoff for jump 1 (remember the WOO!) so it is possible that she has already made a takeoff decision when you begin the RC cues.
We have more RC work coming up here next week, that should help too!
Nice job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
This is going really well! She transferred the concepts really quickly!
On the 2 jump setup where the jumps were in that flat line, you had a clear upper body rotation (serp arm back, eyes on her) to create the serp line – keep that going as well when you add the tunnel to the sequence even when the jumps are angled open by still having your serp arm all the way out and more eye contact as you move forward.
You did this t 1:33 and 2:37 when you released her to serp that first jump, looked great! One some of the reps where she was coming out of the tunnel to the serp jump, your serp arm was closed more forward and it was harder for her to read the line (like at 1:45 and 1:57)
This might have been part of her question at 2:50 and 3:38 when she missed the jump. Good job to angle it a bit more so she could find the line more easily – you can angle it even more because that side is harder for her. And you can add even more connection there too, to help – it is possible that she saw your shoulders too far forward and didn’t know where to be. When you did add the connection back more, she got it very nicely š
She thought the discrimination game was crazy at first LOL!! You can even isolate just the tunnel sends with you sitting – she was really wanting you to run but we want her to go to the tunnel using just the verbal. The getting on the cot made a lot more sense to her, she is probably used to seeing it in this context (you sitting and not running :)) You can also shorten the tunnel so it is easier for her when you are not moving. She was getting the idea by the end! Yay!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
It was great seeing you in class last night (or yesterday morning for you LOL!)
This session looked great – I think putting the toy away TOTALLY helped commitment to the middle wing! The only rep where she had a question on that middle wing (:18) was also the rep with the toy in the hand š All of the other reps – no toy in hand, no questions about commitment š
Also great job keeping your wings in – that also made a big difference in the quickness of the blinds. You were a tiny bit late on the very first on (I think having her on your right is less comfy for you than having her on your left) but then the rest were great – strong timing and excellent quick connection so she knew exactly where to be – SUPER! Also, you maintained that strong connection on the exits of the middle wing: for example, when you exited the spin at :42 you made a big connection back to her and she accelerated ot the tunnel. And at 1:05 on the exit of the FC on the middle wing, you had low arms and clear connection, so she accelerated to the tunnel there too. YAY!
Definitely keep up this wings-in, great connection, it looks great! Well done :)āØ
Tracy
