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Good morning! I am glad you had gorgeous weather on your birthday weekend!!
The skills are progressing very nicely 🙂
The organizers are going well in terms of hind end use. after the first rep from the wing where he was looking at your hands and almost fell off LOL! He did really well with the food bowl and also with the distraction of the moving target for the most part 🙂 You can wait to present the moving target til after he is taking off for the bar. The 4 inch bar was a good intro (“oh hey, now there is a bar”) and the 6 inch is perfect for the next steps.I think on the next steps, we can add even more flow. You were already doing the flow of: sit – release – reward. Now add on more actual handling that he would see, which is you would be rotating away before he takes off. This will rely on some serious motion override 🙂 so move slowly at first: Move forward like you did here, cue the sit, and as he sits: You release and rotate to finish the FC as if it was a ‘for real’ handling moment. He might need a food bowl target on the landing side to help him get the idea at first that he needs to take the jump.
And you can also start the slices!
The zig zags look really good! Only one suggestion:
You can lead out further before releasing him. when you are just a step or two past the 2nd jump, he ends up shortening a little – you can see it when he landed on the foot of the 2nd jump at :14 and touching the bar at :33. So, go a full 10 feet past jump 2, start dragging the toy… then release 🙂There are 2 different “next steps” you can add:
– you can stay on the front side and tighten the angles more
– you can open the angles back up the tiniest bit and go to the backsides. I know the backsides are actually step 4, but they can be done before the 3 jump game. With the US Open coming up, I’d want to take a look at these and then we can always go back to the 3 jump game when the 2 jump version is tighter (almost flat). When you do the backside, you will want to have a reward placed out front or someone else dragging it, because he is likely to catch up to you very quickly LOL!!
Also, you can do these in alternating sessions: for example, on Monday you can do the 2 jump tighter front sides. On Wednesday, you can do the slightly more open backsides. Then on Friday, back to the front sides, and so on.
Great job! Let me know how the next steps go!
TracyHi!
This was a fabulous session!
Your mechanics were spot on, from the line up to the reward to the next line up. She nailed it – great lead changes and weight shifts. When the wings were closer, she responded by being quicker without losing form – truly excellent!How close together did the wings end up? They looked to be 4 feet apart. If so, you can go down to 3 feet to really challenge her 🙂
Also, based on what she did here, she can definitely move to the next step, the 2 jump game. Have you had a chance to look at the moving target reward game? That will be useful for her as you add the jumps.
Great job! Let me know how the 2 jumps game goes 🙂
TracyOmg I love her!!!! And her wagging tail!
This was a good session! And I loved the look on her face when you wanted to take a break in the middle – she was in her good sit and didn’t want to leave LOL!!!I think this platform is a good solution – my only suggestion is to try it standing, or feeding her with your hands higher (up by the center of your chest). I suggest this because a higher head position for her will help tuck her hind end under even more. She was experimenting with where to put her feet (especially that right hind :)) and by the end she was doing a great job! A higher feeding position, so her chin is tilted upwards, should make it perfect 🥰
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Looking at the zig zags – the jump setup is really good (angle is good, distance between the jumps is good, but one of the bars was too high or now, both should be at 8″), and her striding is going to be GREAT! The only adjustment is to move you and the reward much further away – the reward was so close she had to land and stop all in one motion. So, using the stationary reward – you can the reward should be a minimum of 12 feet from the second jump so she can land in extension and power out to the reward.
If she is fine with that… go to the moving target reward 🙂 She likes that and it will add even more challenge here 🙂 You would lead out about 12 feet past the 2nd jump put the toy on the ground. For the first few reps, release her and don’t move the toy. If she is organized, you can release then start dragging the toy. If that is fine and dandy? Drag the toy *then* release 🙂
Head turning is looking strong! She is happy to make the bend but she really wants to watch the cookie 🙂 I think you noticed that and your hand got lower and lower during the session which was GREAT! That brought her head down and really helped the turning. Super! So you can do this on a wing with a low hand (or sitting in a chair so you don’t have to be bent over the whole time 🙂
>>getting organized plank – I have tried to get a “sit on the plank” however, she sees it as a contact board. I have started out reminding her that the sit is valuable on the plank. after that, every time she should go into a down just as if we were training our 2o2o. how important is it that she use a plank for the second step?>>
The organizer is really important, so we can do some problem solving to help her out. Does she sit then go into the down after a reward? If so, you can cue the sit (verbal and hand signal or anything else she needs to get the sit) then you can release and throw a reward, rather than feed in position. So basically, it would be get on the board, sit, release, reward. No stay on the board because she might then offer the contact behavior.
Also, we can find something that is nothing at all like her contact board. Looking back at your step 1 video from October 15, she did well with the smaller square platform. Can you make a slightly bigger version of that? Big enough to sit easily… but still square and different than the 2o2o plank. I think a different looking organizer and releasing instead of rewarding in position will help 🙂
Let me know what you think! Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
He is doing this really well and yes, I agree – he is pretty natural with the head turns. He had no trouble adding the wing to the game after doing the upright. So with that in mind, a couple of ideas for you for the next session:
When you send him to the wing, stay close and your other hand to flip him back around it to get the 2nd wrap in a row – that will really get him leading with his head and bending through his midsection, to be even tighter 🙂 You might have to slow him down the first time to do it but then when he has the idea, you will see him bending even more!
And separately- on the wing you used here, you can start further away from it, maybe 10 feet away, to send him. That way you can see the moment he turns his head on the ‘takeoff’ approach side of the wing, and then you can click that moment. He was making good head turns when he arrived at the wing, so now we can do some shaping to get him to do it on the approach side – which will result in even better turning and jumping skills.
Great job!! Let me know how the other games are going!
Tracy
Whoa a jacket! I have never seen you in a jacket! LOL!
She did really well here! The sits were well organized but the tiniest bit sideways turning towards you. You can keep her straighter with a reward target out front of her so she doesn’t look at your hands as much (like a Manners Minder or empty bowl).
Adding the challenges also looked good: She did well coming in with more speed as long as you didn’t move to fast yet 🙂 And when you add the wing wrap before it, try to eb sure that the line to the organizer is straight so she doesn’t get on it from the side.
At this stage, you can drop the clicker and just use praise/releases, so you can delay a tiny bit more to be sure she is fully in the sit and not moving her feet anymore. That will help her be even more snappy with it!
Also, she is ready for the next step, seeing this in front of the wing 🙂
Gerat job! Let me know how it goes with the wing added 🙂
TracyGood morning!
The zig zag flatwork looked great – the 5 foot distance definitely got him thinking, so keep working that distance til you see the same quickness we saw him do at the 6 foot distance (cantering/galloping rather than trotting). Then… you can move it to 4 feet then 3 feet 🙂 The quicker he gets himself making these changes, the easier the slice jumping will be.
But in terms of progression – as soon as you see him cantering more in the 5 foot distance (probably in the next session), you can go to the 2 jump zig zag game and getting the flatwork down to 4 feet then 3 feet can be something you do later on down the road.
Looking at the leading with the head video:
Both sides looked really good, and when you did the sends and single wraps, we can see him approaching the upright with his head turned to drive into the wrap, especially on the right turns. Yay!
>> This time I thought he looked more comfortable turning to his left and less comfortable turning to the right…the opposite of last time
I think this had to do with how quicky you got your cue hand out of the way: on the left turns, you cued and the hand was not in his way. On the right turns, he had to wait til you moved your hand which was in a more “in your face” position LOL! So that is probably what you felt in the moment: that slight hesitation so he wouldn’t run into your hand 🙂
>>Should I move this to a wing?
Yes, you can definitely move this to a wing. And get the organizers going to the wing too, so we can meld the organization for the turn with the head turn at the wing.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>> I know it’s not recommended doing both on the same day, but I figured this would be the one time I could get away with it since there is no actual jumping involved,>>
In these early stages, the stuff without actual jumping can be done on the same day, with rest days in between because there is a definite hind end workout happening 🙂 The hunting weekend provides excellent rest breaks LOL!
Excellent work on the zig zag flatwork! Nothing to change in terms of how you were facing him or lining him up, that all looked great. You can cue the in-and-out faster for him, more like what you did at :39 – giving the 2nd cue shortly after he released to start moving. The later part of the session where the wings were 6 feet apart had the earlier cues and that looked good – the quicker he can make the lead changes, the better!
He is a big dude, so I also recommend you play with this flatwork game with the wings 4 feet apart and even 3 feet apart, for quickness and for getting him used to shifting like that in smaller spaces. And he will probably see 4 foot bars on jumps at trials or in training, so we want him to be comfy with that short distance.
When he returns from his weekend adventures, you can definitely start the 2 jump zig zag games 🙂
Great job with the platform!
>> my ahah moment was when I took half a step back giving him a bit more room to get on the platform.>>
yes, that totally helped him! Yay!
I notice that he loses his form a tiny bit when he reaches up for the 2nd or 3rd cookie – you can see his right leg slide off the side towards the end of this clip LOL!! My guess is that he was thinking “COOKIE!” in that moment and forgetting to hold himself tight in the sit. So you can add more time between each cookie, and deliver justa tiny bit lower so his chin is high but he is not leaning upwards to get it. You can also deliver one cookie then release, so he can get that fabulous first sit into his muscle memory.
Planks with wing:
When you are facing him and on the ‘landing’ side of the wing, rewarding him across your body as if he was doing a serpentine if great, then you can toss the treat back to the starting point for the next rep. What you did on the 2nd video (the right side) was more efficient: you rewarded for going all the way around the wing as a wrap, which also conveniently set him up for the next rep 🙂 He needed a moment to get organized on that first rep of the right side: the treat is stimulating and he forgot the organization on that first rep, but then recovered it and was brilliant on the rest of the reps. Super!I think that throwing the reward all the way back around the wing the best way to do it when you are facing him – but on the next session, you can change your position so that you are on the ‘takeoff’ side of the wing (same side as the plank, as if you are cuing a front side wrap). When you move to there, the reward definitely gets placed for coming all the way around the wing – almost identical to how you were tossing it in the right side plank video here.
Based on his progress here, my guess is that he will only need one session of you on the ‘takeoff’ side of the wing, then you can add the full jump to this. That will probably happen early to middle of next week, based on his busy training and hunting schedule 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I hope that you test negative for the icky you-know-what, or at least have an incredibly mild case like I did if you end up testing positive,It took her a moment at the beginning to realize she needed to get all 4 feet on the plank, but then she was really quite organized! Yay Changste! You were helping her with body position (facing her) and stopping with her when you added the wnig wrap before it. That is all fine, and she got the concept. On the next session, you can still give her your verbal cues but try not to face her to get the sit. If that works, you can move the plank to the “To The Wing” game to add in the wing wraps.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
This was a super interesting session to watch!!! I would have tried the same things you did (overlapping the wings, loosening angles, switching to a less-exciting reward). What I notice is that when he is trying to process this challenging set up with a moving or exciting reward, he either can’t get it done with the bounce and good form (he is pretty high over bar 2 on the reps when he bounces), or he adds a stride to try to get the good form (head lower, more power). But his front and hind were not working together on that plan LOL! When you were using food from hand, he was bouncing but his head was up so he was pulling upwards with the front more than he was pushing from the rear. And one some of the reps, he had really good form when he added the stride.
So I think he was just trying to sort out the processing. We can help him: try a 4 inch bar, wings entirely overlapped , and the dragging grown up non-floofy toy 🙂 Start with the angles maybe only an inch or two tighter than your starting point here, and leave them there for an entire session of 6 reps or so – since he is processing a lot, moving them a lot makes it even harder.
I bet that plus latent learning from today will smooth things out 🙂
Super nice session with the wing & plank! His sits looked pretty snappy/fast and organized, and it looked like he was having a good time too 🙂 Yay! He added a lot of speed when you added the wing, but I didn’t see any change in his form – he was still very organized. SUPER! And I liked the threadle wrap application when you were on the wrong side by accident 🙂 So…. onwards to the jump! Add the jump bar here for the wraps (you might need to move the plank a couple of inches further from the bar) and also you can start the slices with the organizer.
Great job! Let me know what you think, and what happens with the next session of zig zags 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
>>Ugh I suffer from a bit of rush and trouble organizing too lol! I won’t ever use the actual word left and right again. When I’m having to think about a lot of other things my brain defaults to the side my dog is on which is WRONG!!! I am working on this and getting better.>>
I feel that pain! You will sort it out when you are more used to running her.
>>What I starting doing a few days before I started this class is the Susan salo set point exercise for a bend. So very similar to moving target except there is the facilitator jump. I am also doing jump bumps on each side of the pinwheel jump to help her find a better takeoff. Separate exercise. I will have to fade the jump bumps. What’s my plan on that??? No clue yet.>>
All good! You canfade the bumps by going to weave poles to replace them, then little pieces of PVC to fade them even more.
>>Here is our novice jumpers title run! I was not rushed and did a rear exactly like you were talking about. We had no bars and it was a huge circle!!>>
YEAH!!!! Great job, especially on that pinwheel. I think for now the “no rushing” is a good mantra to let her get settled into her speed. As she gets more experienced, you can add back more aggressive handling.
>>Jumping mechanics I think Is very neglected.
True! There are some good jumping programs out there but they are mainly grids like Susan Salo and Linda Mecklenburg do. These games come at the jumping skills from a conditioning angle.
>>Also, I was wondering if I should do a strengthening program with her. Also a big weakness of mine, only because I don’t really know what to do. Any suggestions on a good person that has a good detailed plan?>>
Dr. Leslie Eide is my favorite 🙂 Tell her that Hot Sauce sent you 🙂
https://www.thetotalcanine.com/
Tracy
Good morning!
>>I think it’s mostly the floof lol! Her feet look pretty good to me and I can’t even see them most of the time😂.>>
OK good, as long as you see see her line up under the floof LOL!! Or you can wet her down to de-floof her LOL!
>> One thing I noticed when reviewing videos of her bars was that she actually hits it with chest sometimes too, not just her back feet. It’s like she is taking off too late for it and treating it more like her wrap collection. Backside slices can be the same bar issue depending on the angle of her approach!
If she is hitting it with her chest, then her hind end is not organized for liftoff 🙂 She might be getting in too close or not sure of how to choose her takeoff spot, because her booty is not involved yet LOL! And so she is trying to do it all with front end and it is not working out well yet.
>>Here is a short video I did two weeks back to look at her jumping form on the pinwheel. let me know what you think about the takeoff.>>
I think that she is definitely pulling from the front 🙂 Part of it is probably a distraction issue – verbals (sometimes right when it should be left LOL!) and motion and distance all happening, so she is struggling to override the chase impulse while she gets organized. So for now, when you are handling a course: take out your motion and don’t run as fast to help her be successful. Go in closer to the pinwheels, even if it means you rear cross later in the course (better ato have a rear cross than a dropped bar, as she learns this).
And, separately from course work, work the jumping distractions game here a lot with the very low bar an angled sends, presenting all the distractions: verbals, acceleration, distance, etc.The organizers and zig zags will help build the skill too!
Looking at the ground bars – is she supposed to take off further bar, using the ground bar almost as a double jump? If so, that is exactly what she did. The other thing here is that you were closer, using fewer verbals, less speed, less distance. So I am not sure if that is what helped her, or the ground bar, or both. So if the ground bar is going well, add back the other challenges (speed, distance, verbals over the bar, etc). Also, what is the plan to fade the ground bar? Every aid needs a plan to fade it 🙂
Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
He is just like my Contraband on the zig zags – he has ALL the power but needs a reason to use it LOL! Stinkers, indeed. Ha! Moving target for the win! And yes, he was leaning in to do it which I LOVE for him, because he is fired up with out losing form. Just about all of these reps were fabulous! So when you see him leaning in, release! The 2 errors here were when you didn’t release on the leaning in moment:
at 1:02, he was totally GAME ON! and leaning in, then you paused… so he sniffed the wing at 1:03 which is probably a displacement behavior of “oh dang, maybe I am not supposed to lean in?” then he was disorganized when you did release.
The other oopsie was a broken stay at 1:28 when he was leaning in and you said “ready” so he anticipated the release.
So take the leaning in as a sign that he is about to be very organized because he is one of those dogs that can lean in, be super excited… and stay organized (that is a rare and WONDERFUL thing :)) If he was being scattered or disorganized, I would advise against the leaning in, but he is the opposite: fired up and ready to power through things when he is leaning in.
He did well with the wing organizer here! Nice hind end use! Yes, his head was a little up coming around the wing so you can start to release faster as you were doing, and either have a Manners Minder instead of the bowl (that will be mentally challenging for him!) or, move the bowl to the ‘landing’ side (other side of the wing) so he releases and moves forward to it. Then we can gradually start to move it back around the wing to where it is now. You can warm him up like that in the next session, and after 2 or 3 reps you can go to adding the rest of the jump and a low bar. The bar will also help him look forward more.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
She is doing really well with her sits here – smacking her bum down like an exclamation point LOL! Yes, she had her butt hanging off a few of them but she was adjusting when that happened. She also did really well coming in from various angles – note how she came in from a hard angle on the very last but got all of her toesies lined up nicely! Yay!
Yes, she is solid with the zig zags on the flat, she seemed to have no questions about the lead changes even at the 4 foot distance. Perfect!
So for both of these games: move to the next step, she is ready 🙂
You can bring the sits to the longer plank, in preparation for putting them on a wing (and revisit the smaller platform as a conditioning game/tight sit reminder every few days)You can move to the 2 jump zig zags!
Great job here!!! Fingers crossed for continued good training weather!
Tracy
