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Hi!
The moving target is going well, and it is accomplishing the goal of getting him striding out with his head down. His only question was about the release to it:
He had a little trouble holding his sit with the moving target so you can toss a cookie back to him to reward the stay when the toy is on the ground (at first) and moving before the relase (eventually :)) to help solidify the stay with the moving target. And you can add the next step of doing this on a jump!On the Minny pinny, he is doing well too and definitely turning really well! Yay! You can add in holding his collar and saying the verbal a few times, then let go – that will both tell him when to start and allow him a couple of heartbeats to process the verbal before he starts moving. That will help especially when you add in the turn-away moments.
Great job here!!!
TracyHi!
>>Shall I do both exercises and resubmit?
You can if you like, but we have new stuff coming tomorrow so you can also move forward and leave this for another time – he is doing well!!
>>On the ladder: I did stand him for a few reps and it was ugly. At one point you had said you thought he might benefit from a standing start, so I tried it. I’ll go back to the sit-start.>>
Yes, the stand start can be great for sequences. For the grids, the sit is a bit better for him because he is more balanced and can push off immediately from his rear. And, separately, definitely work on a square/balanced stand so he is more comfy in it and not acting like he is being murdered LOL!
>>I had so much trouble with the lap turn around the wing that I didn’t submit it. I think I will do some reps without a jump then try the jump again.>>
Sounds good! Definitely send video so we can sort out why he was struggling.
T
Hello and welcome!!!! I am excited to see more of JuJu!
>>I am telling myself to work at my own pace and not worry what others are doing:) Always a real struggle for me not to compare what I am doing to others. I am writing it down here so I can see it when I need it:)
TOTALLY relatable!!!! Work at your own pace, let the puppy grow up, and the results will be great. And get off of social media so you don’t see highly edited videos of puppies doing very advanced things hahahahaha
This is also why I will be posting videos of my new pup – I take it pretty slowly and I will probably fall behind LOL!
>> but she will be baby level and step 1 for any shaping.
Perfect! Everyone should be starting at step 1 regardless of age, and then you will be surprised at how easy it is to get to step 2 🙂
Have fun!
TracyHi! I am so excited about your pup!!!
>>. She’s a little sensitive when meeting new people but is either indifferent or likes other dogs which is new for me!
The resilience games will help with any sensitivity!
>> I might have to actually work more self control with her (we’ll see as she develops) but if so that will also be new for me LOL!
We slide in a lot of self control, without actually calling it self control LOL!!!
I am excited to see more of you and Lu!
Tracy
Hi! I think both Prytania and Annalise BOTH enjoyed the dock diving LOL!!!! Fun!
And if she is worried about the fake dog, no need to try to get her to go closer to it – she was like “This is weird, I am OUTTA HERE!” lol! Yes, it was weird to see a stuffed dog LOL!
>>The stuffed dog was there the day before and she paid no attention to it. Then she noticed it Sunday morning. Puppies are hilarious!>>
That is such a typical adolescent moment LOL!!!!
Very nice job with the rear cross progression! On the first video:
You and I both laughed the same exact laugh and say “good try” when she went directly to the toy on the first rear cross rep LOL!!! The toy was a little too visible outside the wing – you can place it just past the landing spot, tucked into the wing, so it helps her take the bar before going to it. This will help when you switch to the left turn rear crosses (I think she is ready to see that now!)Big light bulb moments on the 2nd video! Be sure to keep your feet pointing to the bar as apply the RC pressure – the first 2 reps had a little too much foot turn so she had to run a bit in front of you, and then the next two needed a little more pressure to cue the turn sooner.
3rd session – I think she has the idea now!! Yay! She seems ready for you to put a little more pressure on the line for these now: run forward more to the center of the bar, so you are showing the pressure sooner and so you also won’t be left as far behind as she drives past you 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHello and welcome! Pesto is adorable 🙂 And his sister is in a lot of the demo videos, so you will get a view of how these Pizzas play the games LOL!!
Have fun!
TracyHello! I am excited to see you here and that you have joined the crazy world of 2 puppies at the same time LOL!! It will be a blast! Reacher is adorable 🙂
TracyGood morning!
>>I have done some practices but haven’t gotten videos edited until tonight.
No need to edit them! Editing cuts out the important parts of what happens between the reps and during the reinforcement 🙂 so set a timer for a couple of minutes, do the session, then put it up in its entirety.
>>Caper had her vet appointment today and he gave her a clean bill of health. I suspect her behavior is a combination of her being an adolescent intact female and me being a bit down and her reading that.
That is great! Did they run a tick panel? We will keep watching her for behavioral feedback and make sure she continues to have a great time in life and sport 🙂
Looking at the angled grid – now that she has the idea that grids can be 3 jumps and not just 2 🙂 you can start using the moving target/dragging toy instead of the stationary target. She is a ‘hoppy’ girl when going to the stationary target, looking at you a little.
Here is a close up and more extreme example of the behavior the stationary targets create in most dogs LOL! And why I have gone to the moving targets:
I think the moving target will help make it even smoother for her – it is a challenging visual! And be sure to start her close to the first jump, maybe 6 inches away, so she takes off out of the sit. At :26 and :45 she was too far from the jump, is she had to put her front feet down again before takeoff for 1.
Lap turns – As you found it, the lap turns work best when you hold your hand position til she is 2 inches away – when you did that she was perfect!
>>Do you think her barking is excitement or a bit of frustration with me not getting information to her as quickly and clearly as she needs?
I think the barking during the lap turn element was probably a bit of frustration because the game is really challenging and her speed had to be controlled – a lot of dogs will vocalize when things are really challenging. I don’t think it was because you were being frustrating on most of the reps, I think it was because the game is hard 🙂
I think the barking on the tandem turns were definitely more of a frustration issue because of lack of clarity (more below on that :))
Looking at the tandem turns:
>>The allure of the tunnel was hard for her even though it was a long way off
I don’t think it was the tunnel… I think you were late so she was mirroring the info back to you in the wideness (or tightness) of the turn. For example at 1;10 and 1:13, she was pretty wide but tat was because you started the turn away element after she was past the wing.
And at 1:17, she was well past you and the wing before you did the turn element so she read it as soon as it happened… but it was really late 🙂 So she was correct to stay on the line towards the tunnel, but I don’t think it was the tunnel distracting her that was causing her to do a bit wide. She barked and came back and jumped up – all of that is frustration behavior. The food is a nice reward but she still knew the cues were late and it was hard to figure out what to do, which is why she was frustrated even though you were tossing treats. And there were some reps where she accurately read you cue (1:55 for example) and didn’t get rewarded… that where things can easily slip into frustration because she offered a response that reflected the cue, and was in effect told she was incorrect.
Then at 1:25, you changed the cue to one hand AND you were late (the cue actually did look like a send to the tunnel) so off she went to the tunnel. And she had some other wideness after that even when you broke it down to one wing, because of the timing issue.
So to help her see it sooner and be able to respond:
– decelerate into it, so the change in motion gives her a heads up that something big is coming.
– use your hand cue to slowly turn her away, rather than doing a fast flip away. When you were using your hands slowly, the cue was clearer. When you were doing fast flips, the turn hand was unclear as to whether she should drive out to the tunnel or turn away to the wing. So slowing the cue down will allow you to do the turn hand motion *then* indicate the wing, rather than trying to do them both at the same time.The mission transition game is going well! You were doing a good job of showing the elements separately (fast, slow, rotate).
>>When I first tried the exercise with her on my left she turned the wrong way the first two times. Then I did one without the wing and she was correct and then Keith shifted the wing over and that made a huge difference.>>
Yes – the wing position made that right turn look like a left turn because you had to push to the center of the bar to get her back on the line to the jump, which looked like a rear cross. Moving the wing to a more centered position totally helped!
The next step here is to now start rotating sooner for the FC, so you are finished with the FC before she takes off.
>>when I get together with the others, but this seemed like it would be an easy low key exercise and I think it was too much for her little self.>>
Don’t be fooled by the relatively simple setup 🙂 Anything that involves mechanics (the zig zags are all striding mechanics, as re the grids, the turn aways, the decelerations) are mentally challenging and physically challenging…. So the dog’s brain and body needs to be fresh to do them 🙂 And so does the handler’s brain!
Something like a smiley face or racetracks to the tunnel require a lot less thought and physical skill from the dogs, so that is a good one to end on rather than the complex zig zag 🙂
And also, it requires a lot of mechanics from you: The first couple of reps where you were at the 2nd wing went well because your cues were clear.
At :15 when you were at the 3rd wing, you said OK but didn’t really step to the first bar so she came directly to you (correctly) and then you told her she as wrong by pulling the toy away and marking her as wrong. I think you did pull out a cookie as you were walking back… but it is still a communication that *she* was wrong when in fact it was you.
Your arm and step was more obvious at :26 so she got it.At :35 – you were a little late and disconnected, so she hit the middle wing trying to read the line. Good girl! She finds this game harder when you are out at wing 3, so for now don’t go out there – stat wing 2 and after a couple of successful reps, take one step back rather than go all the wya to the next wing.
The you switched sides, bear in mind that you were now cuing the right turns and that is harder for her. On the first rep you were at wing 3 and had big obvious cues at :39 so she got it. Then you moved back to past wing 3 (which is a significant increase in distance) and the cues were not as obvious (upper body swung but feet did not, so with the added distance she didn’t read it as a go-into-the-gap cue). And like at :15, you communicated that the error was hers but it was yours 🙂 Same at :49 and 1:00 (she got it at :58 when you were much closer).
So if she does not end up in the gap that you wanted, reward her like she was correct (because she was, as the video shows :)) rather than all the toy away. And if you are not sure why she is not reading the cues, stop the session and watch the video because it will give you ideas of what to change for the next rep.
>>I think it was too much for her little self.
Actually…. Yes it was hard but it was not too much. What went wrong here was that she needs you to break it down a bit more (especially if this was the first time seeing it with bars) and live & die by the 2 failure rule. Remember that the 2 failure rule is the total for the session – so if you get 2 failures, the next reps all must be very successful. You were tending towards getting one success then making it harder again, which set up more failures. So if you see a question, go back to where ti was easier (like the 2nd wing instead of the 3rd) and move away one step at a time over the course of multiple sessions.
And in terms of it being too much, yes one detail was probably too much: asking for the right turns at the very end of all the sessions. So be sure that you end on the left turns which seem easier for her.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
