Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Good morning!
Interesting results from the x-rays, I am glad you had them done. The irregularities in the sacrum and the arthritis could definitely contribute to ouch moments we can see (like limping) as well as ones we cannot see (where he doesn’t want to engage). The chiro and PT people can definitely help with ideas, maybe some supplements, conditioning, etc: knowledge is power!
Definitely stay off the contacts (especially the teeter and a-frame) and no weaves til cleared by the chiro & PT vets. A 4 or 6 inch bar is probably fine but not every day – every 2 or 3 days at most. Bear in mind that pain will change performance, and dogs hide pain a lot. So limiting performance work as you sort out what is happening and build up strength will definitely help!
The behind the back starts look great here, he seemed very happy to do them at the beginning of the course! To keep strengthening them, reward pretty early and often so they are associated with the start of the course (which is a good place to build value in general).
I don’t think you need to move earlier for now – he is still learning the skill and moving earlier might cause him to not finish going around you.
And yes, eventually try it without the treats in your hand but no rush on tat because it is a very new skill.
>>I can stay ahead of him if the course curves quickly but if it’s a straight run he beats me every time.
That is why we are adding the layering and verbals 🙂
Looking at Keltie’s standard course:
The whole opening looked good! After the DW, it as hard to see exactly what happened there – it looks like on the first run you were a little too close and pushed her line, so she took the wrong side then stopped? The 2nd time through you gave her more room, but almost too much so she almost went past it. Try to split the difference, running on her line a bit more so she can find the lines to the jump.
On the 12 jump:
On thing to think about is whether the slice or the wrap is better. In this case, turning the dog to the slice entry (from 11-12) sets up a really hard line that doesn’t have any flow: you would need to get a pretty tight turn on 11 then some fancy handling like a threadle or a Blind to a backside push to a blind. All of that is not intuitive to the line… even when she got it as the threadle at 2:18 or the push at 2:29, she had to slow way down to get it. So wrapping the other side of the backside would work a lot better there because she can jump 11 in extension, do a wrap on 12, then be back in extension to the tunnel.Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
This is looking really good, the angled jumps make it easier for you both! As you run up the line with the angles, keep your dog-side arm a little further back so your shoulders are facing the jump and back to him more (but keep your feet straight like they were here). Keep the name call after the tunnel and the jump verbals, those helped him too! Yay!
He only had one little question, at :38 – you set him up facing a jump but you were on his line so when you moved forward fast, it pushed him off his line to the jump so he went to the backside (small dogs are not likely to get caught in our feet if we are in the way LOL!) So, let him have the entire bar there and you can be past the outer wing.
I the next few sessions, keep your speed up like this and gradually, oh-so-gradually, straight then jumps. Do it inch by inch so he barely notices 🙂 It might take a few sessions, but that is great because we want him to be successful.
Great job!
TracyHi –
One of the things about toy play is that the toy simulates prey – which means for most dogs, the prey would be moving away and not moving towards the dog. So in the case of the frisbee, move it away from him by throwing it, or sliding it across the ground, or running away so he can chase you for it. All of that is engaging. If you bend over him and tap the toy in front of him, it is less engaging as the prey is ‘dead’ at that point, plus most dogs don’t like the bending over. Since the frisbee is small, tie it to something longer so you can drag it around for him to chase (this is a theme with all of your toys and the lotus ball – make them longer by attaching them to something so you can swing them or drag them for him to chase.)Tracy
Good morning!
Excellent session in terms of adding more speed and obstacles! He did well on the flat line with 2 jumps but I am glad you started with the big angles on the jumps after the tunnel because he could get all the speeeeeed going and you didn’t need to handle all that much: you could just run with some connection, arm back and a jump verbal. Yay!So for the next sessions, leave the jumps ever-so-slightly angled as they were here and add more of your speed. At first, you can run in closer to the tunnel then run up the line, so you are moving faster but still visible through the uprights of the serp jump. If that goes well, you can work your way up to getting ahead, past the serp jump, to challenge him to still take it even if it is tempting to run past it 🙂
If all that goes well with slightly open jumps, then you can start to tighten them back to the flat line (but no rush on that because adding the speed challenge is more important).
Great job! Let me know how he does with the next steps!
TracyGood morning!
>>We did a bit of bang game work but no vid – she is tending to let her rear end go off the side of the teeter away from where I am – can I put something in to prevent that so she doesn’t rehearse that?
>>Generally the pups do this when they are watching the reinforcement. Rather than use a prop that we then have to fade, take a look at the lazy contacts games first on a plank then on the teeter. Refresh those both to remind her on her hind end placement (both limit the speed so the dog can think about hind end). And then, before adding the speed of the bang game, move yourself off to the side of the plank and do the lazy game from the side, so she herself can think about her hind end and where to put all her feet. Then you can take it to the teeter (without movement of you or the board at first) and it will be an easier progression because she will have her hind end all sorted out.
Let me know how it goes!
TracyGood morning!
Happy New Lens to you!The tunnel-bed discrimination is going really well! She seems to have a high rate of success here – my only suggestion is to delay the cookie toss for the bed by one more heartbeat to be sure she is really going to it. Several of the cookie tosses were a little early, which might have been a lure to the bed (which is fine to start but now you can delay a tiny bit).
The next step is to pull up a chair so you can sit and she can be between your knees rather than one on side or the other of you, which makes things harder because there are no body cues at all. It is a perfect game for indoors when no running is allowed 🙂
Have fun! Let me know how it goes!
TracyHi
I didn’t see any frisbee on the teeter and contacts video, so maybe you are referring to the video of handling dated July 23rd (feedback on July 24th)? In there, there info about the frisbee, specifically this:“get that reward out and flying ASAP. You were tapping it on the ground and then he walked away, sniffing. So every time something happens, correct or not, I want you to keep going and reward as if it was perfect, with a flying reward. Stopping and turning to him and leaning over is not engaging with the toy (similar thing happened at 1:00, but then you got the frisbee moving a lot more and he re-engaged.)”
So keep playing with the frisbee, but keep it moving and not just putting it down in front of him.
Was there a different video that I missed?Tracy
Hi!
This one is more complex and needed a bit more walking, there were only 2 go-rounds on the video before you ran her LOL!! Even on a short sequence, that won’t be enough to really have it ready to run.
The main thing here is that in the walk through you were working your plan but not your execution and that is why there were bloopers. The execution relies on connection and timing (the plan is more about the handling choices and verbals and handler path). Watching the walkthrough, you were looking at the obstacles and so the next step will be to look at your invisible dog (or where she would be, like at the tunnel exit at 2, landing of 3, around the back line, etc).So when you ran the course with her, you working working the execution for the first time and that is why there were 2 trouble spots.
A definite place for more cnonection is the tunnel exit 2-3 especially if there is a RC on 3 – you would need to connect to set the RC line. When she turned the wrong way on 3… keep going! In keeping with the One and Done theme: You can still go clear with a right turn there, and it teaches you to stay in the saddle if things go a little wild.
The near collision 9-10 at 1:30 was a connection issue – even though you said jump., you rehearsed the body cue of facing the tunnel at 1:13 (and you can see it in the overlay at 2:03) in the walk throughs. The big sends involve a lot of connection to make sure the dog sees the line.
So your planning is very strong – the next think I will bug you about then is to work your execution to be connected all the way through, so we can basically see your invisible dog, and you are running Invisidog at the same pace as the real dog 🙂
Nice work on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyThis also went nicely! On the walk through, keep adding all the connections, all the time. Work each line to see your invisible dog, and if you re looking ahead ask yourself if she would really be ahead of you.
Also, try not to run backwards – if you feel that happening in the walk through, try to work it so you finish the rotation and run forward out of it. Running forward will get you further up the line and also able to show decels more as needed.The other think to note on this one in terms of handling/planning is that she might need a directional on 7 at 1:01 rather than a tunnel verbal (she hit wing on the way to the tunnel) . A left verbal when she lands from 6 can help that!
From the training side, I thought your timing and verbal and connection and brake arm for the right verbal at 3 were all good at :53… but she still jumped long towards the tunnel and needed an urgent name call. So this is a great training setup to working on strengthening the right verbal and handling, versus the ‘go tunnel’ verbal and handling.
Onwards to #3!
Tracy
Hi!
The walk through looks good – I think you should probably not have her in the ring while you are doing the fast walk throughs there because she is gong to try to respond and things will get messy 🙂Your lines and motion and verbals all look/sound good… but try to get more connection on every point. The rushing the imaginary dog was because you were looking ahead of where the real dog would be. Being faster in the walk through is fine, but only if you are fully connected – so focus on ‘seeing’ where she would be. That will also give you a good sense of the timing.
>> You’ll see the RC didn’t work on the first try.
Looking at the blooper in the opening: The Lead out position at :42 on walk through versus the real run at :58 were very different, which is why she didn’t know which jump was 2. The run matched the walkthrough much better on the next reps.
Great job on the verbals, both in getting them out and making them sound different!
The off course on the first run was about the obstacles off to the side – without them there it would have been fine but always check the surroundings for off course obstacles LOL!
Nice work! Onwards to #2!
Tracy
It is not ideal to turn himself around – you might have to do more of a smear of the reward, so he stays there to lick it more. Or, you can reward him again at the top for waiting for you to get back, then helping him off.
T
Hi –
>>I was going to have two commands, but as we progress I’m thinking the way we are teaching the teeter that “teeter” is the only command I need (but I’m usually wrong)?
It is fine to have teeter as the cue for the full obstacle including the end position. Or, some dogs do better if you say “teeter” and then a target cue like touch. For now say touch and then see if you can fade it – we need touch for the bang game.
>>haven’t put words to dw yet, I may just use touch all the way around. Am I thinking along the correct lines or should I stay with two different commands
Since they are two different behaviors (2o2o versus 4on) I highly recommend different verbals or he will get very confused. So if touch is the 4on behavior, then you would need something else for the dog walk.
T
Hi!
Wow, impressive work, Todd! It looks great! She looks very confident. Bummer to hear about her tight teres but she should be feeling fine soon.My only suggestion is to place the reward further up on the board. The reward placement here stops her with her front feet too far back. You can have the reward placed just on the very end of the board, or on a target that is attached just past the end of the board. That way her front feet go all the way to the end of the board rather than stopping short. She was not stopping short because of a confidence issue, she was stopping short because of where the cookie was LOL!
She only had one question: At :56 you were ahead AND running. Choose one or the other for now, ahead OR running. Then it will be easy enough to eventually do both together.
For the next session, change the reward placement and see if she is still super confident. If so, you can then add the tiniest bit of movement to the teeter, so it tips a cm or two.
There were 2 videos here but they were identical – was there supposed to be a different one?
Keep me posted on how she is feeling! Great job here!
TracyHi!
Yes, it is SO HOT out there! Eek!!!!
This one and done sequence video was good, because the spots I thought could be improved in the walkthrough turned out to be the trouble spots in the run.
Watching the walkthrough, I felt you could be more connected to her at the tunnel exit of 4 and the exit of the backside wrap at 5. And that is where she had questions on the run:
>> I was late with my verbal AND my handling, disconnected ever-so-briefly, and my white dervish said – I’ll take the tunnel!>>
She was correct 🙂 That is where the cue pointed 🙂 It is not so much that ytou were late or slow, it was the connection that caused the questions. You were looking forward, a bit disconnected on the tunnel exit at 4 (both times) so she looked at you before going to 5 on both reps. Also, you were disconnected on the exit of the backside wrap at 5 the first time (looking forward at 6, which is how you walked it) so that is why she thought you wanted the tunnel (the pointing forward/ disconnect turns your shoulders to the tunnel there. You had MUCH better connection there the 2nd time and she easily found 6. Yay!
So in your next walk through, emphasis connection in 3 major spots:
– all tunnel exits
-exits of wraps
– sendsGreat job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Nice job on this one too! You were a little rotated on the first rep but then you got into the rhythm of running forward for a few steps before deceling and rotating. He is quite tight and zippy around the wings! Commitment looked great – my only suggestion is to be sure that you don’t block the wing as you run forward and connect back to him. You can plan to run directly forward from the wing you can see, so that should keep the next wing visible (you were bowing in a little bit which ended up blocking the wing).
You can definitely keep building this up to the point where you do all 4 wings in a row 🙂 and remember to throw in some race tracks too 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
