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Hi!
This went well! She had no wide turns here at all!
Really nice turn on the FC wrap at the beginning.
You were too soon on first spin – it wasn’t because you were looking at her, it was because you didn’t have the transition of acceleration, deceleration, then rotate. You were not really moving then you rotated, so she never got a commitment cue. The second spin was very nice!
When you added the sequences:
I think we are beginning to see how well she can turn! On the sequence with the FC wrap, you had a clearer transition so she committed and had a great turn.
On the first sequence with the spin, she didn’t take the jump. It was a transition issue more than a where-you-looked issue: you slammed on the brakes at 1:03 so she didn’t commit (you were facing her and moving back towards her when she landed from the previous jump). The last rep was clearer with acceleration then more decel before the rotation and she was lovely!So now I will bug you to add your directional verbals back in 🙂 There was a lot of “Beka!” and “tunnel” but remember to use your wrap verbals and verbals for the tunnel exit too 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi! August flew by!!
>>Been spending time working on his focus and reactivity. The boy want to meet every other dog in the world. No aggression at all, lots of tail wagging and play bowing, but he does loose the ability to think
That is pretty normal for an adolescent 🙂 Have you ever done any pattern games with him? Those are pretty magical for getting focus!
He is doing well with the threadle wraps! One suggestion is to NOT say “break”, as that almost always means “take the front of the jump” which is what he did a couple of times. You can release him with his name then the threadle verbal, or just the threadle verbal as he gets more experienced with it.
When he gets to the backside, he is doing a great job with the turn! So I think the verbal cue as the release rather than the ‘break’ cue will make all the difference.Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! The links worked, thanks! This looked great – this is exactly the type of challenge we are seeing a LOT of on course, so it is great that both dogs drove out to the weaves so well! Yes, you can get to the entry to help but the more they see this challenge, the less they will need you to get to the weave entry.
I think the only question from them was the same question from both dogs: decelerating and stopping early on the teeter. Ideally, they would drive all the way to the end even when you are behind them or peeling away, so feel free to put a target out there for them to help this. What I mean by that is a target taped to the end of the board (if they are both doing a 4on) so they are looking at it an driving to it, as you add the bigger challenges like moving away from it or not running past it. That will help maintain the speed to the end of the board while adding the other handling challenges to make the teeter completely independent.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
She did well with the lead outs here! You can make it clearer for her on 2 jumps by starting her on an angle at jump 1, so she is facing the backside wing and not the front of jump 2.
Your threadle and FFC were kind of a combo… if you want the FFC, you can have your feet pointing to the entry wing, but also use the hand closer to the wing. You had your feet pointing to the entry wing but your opposite hand. For the threadle, you would use the opposite hand but turn your feet to the exit line (more like what you did towards the end of the video, and it also is similar to the lead out push position you did here, except the push is between the uprights and the threadle is outside the wing). She is reading all of the cues very well, so the tweaks are just to clarify the different handling 🙂
Looking at the grids:
>>Also is the spacing still good at 6 of my feet?
The spacing is good and she is reading the grids well, but the height is a little high for her on the last jump – she is jumping inverted, meaning her head is up and she is lifting herself, rather than lowering her head and rounding herself, pushing from the rear. So, start her closer to the first jump so she can power in, with maybe a 12″ bar and the reward further away, to remind her to get her head back down. Then when she gets her head down, you can start to raise the bars again.
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I am glad you liked the setup 🙂 I like to work a lot of ‘this or that’ type of stuff without having to change setups LOL!!
He did well here! Looking at some of his questions:
On the frame-tunnel discrimination, you can try adding a verbal like “out” for instances when you want the tunnel, and maybe a bit of upper body rotation towards him when you want the frame, so he gets it right away.
For the line after the frame, he was much better when you were earlier with the cues. The timing of exit cues on the running a-frame should be no later than the apex of the frame: At :12 you did it when he was exiting, too late, 3 bonus points for the off course tunnel 🙂 You were m uch clearer at :50 and 1:05 but you can give more info than his name. His name is simply a “pay attention” cue and a right verbal there would be more specific (like at 2:07, when he was looking at you but not sure where to be exactly). You were very specific on the rep at 1:19 and 1:26 when you said “go tunnel” and he had no problem even with the layering there – early, repeated info. Yay!
For the jump after the frame: at :21, the handling looked like a threadle cue (upper body and position relative to the jump) but not a threadle based on your response when he threadled. He read you correctly, so be sure to stay connected if something goes wrong.
At :38, you were further across the bar and it was clearer that it was a serpentine LOL! You were using the cross arm for the serp here: do you use the cross arm for the threadle too? That might make them look to much the same – maybe only use the cross arm for the threadle and no cross arm (dog side arm only) for the serp.The line after the serp looked great each time, and so did the flip moments on the balance reps after the tunnel! Those were really strong!
The other thing to consider here is to repeat the verals more: flip flip flip and weave weave weave, for example. If you get too quiet, he might miss the processing moment. It is not likely to be an issue here in a quiet training session, but more likely to happen at a noisy trial.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Kim is a really great judge! These courses also looked lovely. Your day 2 runs looked great too, I am impressed! Was that a backside early in the standard course? Yikes! LOL!And yes, she was nailing the skills, it was really cool to see them applied to these ‘real life’ situations! Loved your connection, and loved her focus on the lines. The future is so bright! You totally passed the final exam LOL!!!
>>We didn’t Q, but came so close!!!>>
The humbling thing about UKI is that the Q rate can be very low LOL! But the runs were beautiful and that is the most important thing 🙂
TracyHi!
Great job in class last night, both Cabo and Fizz were awesome!!!!These links are the same as the ones that started with the a-frame. Can you repost the links with the teeter through weave section?
Thanks 🙂
TracyHi!
>>I don’t really get why dog side arm should be back on a RC?
Because by pointing your arm forward, you are turning your shoulders and showing info that confuses the wraps. A soft/low dog side arm that is out of the way (back) on RCs is very helpful and avoids the pull/flick confusion.
>>I always struggle with the decel part of it as decel puts me even farther behind, it’s ok on a RC wrap like this but on more normal RCs it kills me. I am sure that is part of the reason why I don’t do it all the time.>>
Some RCs require the decel to set them (the ones here did) but then you can use directionals and independent lines to get ahead again further on course. Not all RCs require the decel, but these sure did.
>>Start as soon as she rounds the wing??
Yes, as soon as she rounds the wrap wing and looks at the correct line, start the blind.
>>even with a tighter turn at the wrap wouldn’t she likely come inside the next jump if I start it that early??
Nope! You showed her the line, you said jump, so she should commit. It is worth training and handling because otherwise, you will be late.
First video:
Both crosses looked really good here! If it feels better on the mirror image, might just be your side preference because this looked really good 🙂 and she read them really well.2nd video:
>>This felt awkward for whatever reason – maybe not trusting the wrap? She was really wide again turning right and that made the balance turn harder (and being a left turn made that harder for her).
It was just timing 🙂 You were late with the FC on the 1st, 2nd, 4th reps (a little better on the 3rd rep) so she is not quite getting the collection, and so she was waiting for info. You want to be decelerating as she is jumping the jump before the wrap, and fully rotated/facing the new direction before she takes off for the wrap. That will also make the balance rep timely (it was late here too :)) because when she comes around the wrap wing, you can be showing her the left turn (physical cues and left verbal) before she makes a takeoff decision. It will all tighten up with earlier cues.
3rd video: since we are starting to look at timing, try to rotate sooner on the tunnel entry to get a better turn on the exit – you should be fully rotated no later than 3 feet before she goes in (ideally sooner).
Timing of the FC wrap at :11 is improving! I think it would benefit her for you to be closer to the line (which might mean doing the BC on the landing of 3). You were partially turned as she was taking off for the wrap but then looking at your position for the next line: she is driving to your line/position and since it is far from 6, the turn is wide. So putting you closer to the jumps will totally help that so she can drive your line AND find the jumps. That is what you did on the 2nd rep and your timing for the wrap was better but more importantly – your position was better so she was tighter finding the lines. Yay! It will get easier as she gets more experienced but for now, position is really important to help with the turns and timing.Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Hope you had a relaxing camping experience! Sounds like the UKI trial was great – a wonderful first experience! YAY!!!! Great job setting that up for her <3
The decel video looked good - she is collecting appropriately here! We are not giving her much help other than decel, so I am very happy to see her setting up the turns 🙂 2 tiny details:
- I really liked what she was doing when you did the turn and burns on the wraps, so add chasing you for longer til she almost catches up, then throw the toy so she blasts past you. Dropping the toy was cuing her to stop, so she didn't have as much blast as she did when you were moving more - and I think the chasing and motion is part of the reward for her 🙂
- try not to step back when you are doing the FC and turn and burn exits, especially when she is on your right side. Keep your feet together as you decel (gonna feel weird LOL!) then move forward into the turn. You were taking a big step back and that adds motion in a direction we don't want (she dropped a bar on one of those big steps back).Overall, though, this is strong so you can resume your "real" handling games and not just doing decels 🙂
I have been gathering resilience info for you and 3 things stand out:
- first, she is in the phase of adolescent brain development where things that *we* think should be fine are not fine to *her*, based on the front cortex and amygdala communication (or, lack of communication). It explains why she struggles to process certain things, especially when they are different. So with that in mind, I suggest 2 things to build resilience that also provide a framework for earning reinforcement, recovery, and coping skills if something new/different happens. The goal is for her to be able to return to baseline is there is something different:
-- have you taught her the pattern game/coping mechanism that you taught Didi? I can grab some video of it in terms of how we are doing it recently, but it helps the dogs explore the environment, breathe... and also offer engagement with you with a specific framework for doing so. I have expanded how we use it a whole lot since we last looked at it
-- I think if you teach her some reinforcement procedures, away from any skills you want to train, then you will have more resilience as well as more reinforcement options if something changes. It can be something super simple like: cookie at your side (not heel position or anything formal, but more like a reset cookie) then a thrown toy - retrieve-ish (again, not a formal obedience retrieve) then reset to cookie at your side. Being able to loop this will provide a very useful framework to insert other behaviors eventually, but it needs to be its own happy little loop first. If cookies-toys are too hard, you can do cookie-cookie and toy-toy, eventually merging them together. It will seem super informal, done in a non-training setting, but it is actually incredibly useful for that resilience and return to baseline 🙂I also teach all of my dogs to bark on cue (as a trick, talking to me) as a resilience behavior - it has proven to be the fastest way to return to baseline (the goal of resilience!) for all of my dogs and all of the student dogs that I have convinced to do it LOL!!! So consider it as a fun, easy trick to add to the toolbox because it works amazingly well and you don't get more barking during "work" or life 🙂
Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Hope you had a break in the rain! It has been bad here!!
>> Keiko started out well, though she got twisted around at the end of the first run and made up her own ending. 😉 I”m really not sure what happened – perhaps I needed to go closer to the far jump? Did I do something strange with my hand that made her take the jump on the wrong side? I just treated it as though it was correct and she seemed quite happy.>>
It was good to treat it as correct, because she read you correctly LOL!! At :44, you turned your shoulders forward with a high arm, so she said “aha! I know that one, it is the threadle!” Good girlie! On the layering, she definitely likes when you move parallel to her on the other side of the tunnel, so moving forward more with your arm lower and more eye contact will help.
>>On the second run, her daddy came out to watch, and she wasn’t able to stay focused. Or perhaps I started moving laterally and signaled with my arm too soon? It felt to me like I was doing it the same way as before, but perhaps, with him watching, my timing was off for both of us? >>
She was totally looking to her left 🙂 when you were on her right. My guess is that is where The Daddy was watching LOL! So it was not a handling question, it was a “OMG DADDY” question LOL!!
She was a little distracted on the last run too, looking around – not sure if she was pooped out with the humidity, or looking for the dad, or wanted more motion…. but one thing you can do it to up the value of the reinforcement. On a simple line where you are running and there are not many challenges, you use the lotus ball. But on the big layering, or when The Daddy is there, or when it is hot/humid (humidity really is hard for the dogs)… you can bring out the frisbee 🙂 and reward a lot. That can balance out doing the same things a few times, or when there are distractions or not a lot of motion. (or all of the above).
If you get a break in the rain, try it with the frisbee 🙂
>>How long do we have left for posting and feedback?
Til September 17th! Plenty of time for more fun 🙂 She will like the games from the live class last night 🙂
Nice work here!
TracyGood morning!
Looks like he is feeling better and I am glad the chiro helped!
>> And I was thinking the same as you about just starting the Doxy for Ronin anyway, but hubs doesn’t agree exactly and he did improve with chiro work. So I have an appt. soon for lyme re-test and also going to do full X-rays of joints too just to be sure.
A lot of vets offer the doxy cycle now because it can help the dog when diagnosis is challenging… and TBD is challenging to diagnose! If there is a tick issue, it might not be Lyme. So I think the fuller test is a C6 to check for more. Hopefully it is nothing!
Lots of good work on these videos! Yay!!
Video 1:
More connection needed on the landing and takeoff of the 2nd jump.
On the landing side (first rep), he ran past it because you kept him on your right and should have already done the blind to your left. The right side with your shoulder closed forward caused him to run past. When you revisited this at 1:08, you opened your shoulder to serp him in and that totally helped! But it delayed the blind so he had to slow down when he landed. So instead of serp-then-blind, you can just do the blind like you did at 1:25 and 1:37 so he drives right in. Those were great!When you worked on the cross on takeoff side of 2:
On the 2nd rep, I think the tunnel is not quite far enough past the line for him to see the jump, so he needed more room which you gave him on the next rep so he found it nicely 🙂About the line back to the tunnel: yes, he had connection questions 🙂 the tunnel verbal is not enough when the connection doesn’t indicate which side of the tunnel (he could see the other side past the jump)
At the end of the rep at :48, you were running hard and started looking forward as you passed the jump – he no longer had side info, so he stopped to sniff (lack of info is stressful!) If you freeze the video at :50 you can see your back is to him, your arm is out, you are saying tunnel… and he is sniffing because he doesn’t know which tunnel entry you want. When you reconnect at :51, he drives to the tunnel. Connection is powerful!
Note the difference at 1:33 on the same line: you were much more connected so he found the line, no sniffing. 🙂2nd video: rear crosses
Yes, very clear rear crosses here! And it was good to see that you clearly cued the wrap to the right at :49 – the handling contrast was clear so he had no trouble. And doing a blind after the tunnel then the rear set it all up nicely!
You added a FC on the landing side of the jump after the tunnel at 1:12, I think the blinds you did there were better because they kept you both hustling up the line.
Video 3: FFCs looked good! Definitely add them into sequences so he can see them in context now. He had no trouble reading them and also read the lead out pushes well! It helps that he has a great stay 🙂
With him sitting close to the camera, I get a good view of his movement: he is doing “rolled” sits, meaning he is rolling his hind end under him, which pops his legs out to the side. You can see it at :29 and :45, especially with his right hind. Usually the dogs give us a tight sit, feet/knees/legs aligned, unless something is up like a bit of soreness or core strengthening needed. Definitely something to ask a soft tissue vet person about! In these videos, he is extending nicely with his front but not his rear, so have them take a look to make sure he is feeling good and just needs some conditioning 🙂
Video 4: Aha! Sequences! Perfect! Even with the added distance and longer stay, he read them really well. And good timing from you, no early twitching lol!
You had a disconnect at 1:34 so he took the front of the jump (which is actually correct, it should be the front of 3 not the back after the throwback, he must’ve been reading the maps LOL!)
On the lead out push at 1:49, you were rotated the wrong way: have your feet facing the next jump and upper body opened up back to him, like a serp. The body position for the LOP is the same as the forced threadle that you did at 2;18, except the LOP is more center of the bar versus the threadle is at the wing (where you were). He read the threadle perfectly!!Video 5:
>> Tried another toy option for reward, but still no excitement. Back to the treatball!
That’s pretty normal at this stage, no worries. Have you tried a treat hugger? I think he might like that one too!
You can also see him rolling into his sit starting at :18 – he loses his hind end when he lands from jumping up, then rolls back after sitting at :21ish. Could be any number of reasons, but it is something the sports vet folks are on the lookout for. 🙂
Going past the tunnel is indeed weird at first. The wing wraps to the tunnel looked good! And yes, he was a little sticky going past the tunnel, but probably because it was a new concept. He sped up as soon as he knew there was a wing back there (you can totally run into it more, rather than sending, that’ll feel less awkward for now) You can build the love more by tucking the MM in at the wing behind the tunnel, so he can get his treats out there without you 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Congrats on your PACH2!!
The wraps to the tunnel looked great!
On the first rep going past the tunnel, she totally thought you were NUTS haha!!!
You switched sides for the next rep and she found it much easier to go past the tunnel – was it because it was easier for her on your left? Or because she had seen the concept? Not sure, but I think the reps on your left were overall easier for her. She got faster and faster passing the tunnel on your right, but she was still asking a few questions there.
So, keep working it on the right side and she will continue to get comfy with it 🙂
She was also great about finding the tunnel entry, even on those slightly angled backside approaches! Yay!!!
Great job!
TracyHi!
This was a good session! The wraps directly back to the tunnel were super easy for her.The first time going past the tunnel was definitely harder 🙂 I don’t think she was looking at the tunnel, but it was hard to pass it and when you closed your shoulders forward a little, she was not sure where to be.
When you went past the tunnel the 2nd time, you kept your connection open more and you called her name more – both of those really helped clarify the line for her. It is Harder to keep connection because she is so small! I’ve found that sometimes it is easier to stay connected by dipping our dog-side shoulder down towards the dog because it helps us see the dog, and helps the dog see us 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think 🙂
TracyHi!
>>Lead outs- while I whole heartedly agree I don’t want to fight and I’d love
To let her offer, I will have to think on alternatives to help her. I’m planning to do competition obedience and chata is either too young or just isn’t that dog that can distinguish the difference so When I started to allow the offering, her stays and fronts and all the things we play in obedience got very unclear in that setting.>>She is too young – currently full on adolescent and does not know how to distinguish. On;y ask for things you know she will be highly likely to be successful with. And if she is not successful? Ask for something else, or stop asking. Otherwise it gets into a stressful situation. I think the context and cues can be clarified so she understands stays & fronts in obedience versus agility starts.
>> We are working foundations stuff but that also causes her stress. To help her , we worked on a Klimb to get her sit with out the offering of all the things including lurching. She needed a high platform for success.>>
So use a high, small platform for sit in obedience. And a mat or something and use the down in agility.
>>So if I “ask” for it, I need it- not to sound like I’m being a hard ass on a young pup.
Well, that is where the stress is. You asked for it, she said she can’t… you don’t need it when you can change the question and ask for something that she CAN do. And if you think she might answer “I can’t” when you ask for something – don’t ask for it! Otherwise, yes, you are being a bit of a hard ass on a young pup LOL!!
>>A lower platform will put her in a down again.
I think a down is a fine position for her at the agility start line. She feels comfy in it, she has been asking to do it, you can easily use a mat or something… not sure why it has to be a sit in agility?
>> I love the challenge and will find a way. Unfortunately I think life and timing of when I have access to actually train and get video done is causing me more trouble because I don’t have the time to stop and deal with and given situation which makes for bad dog training. I will own that for sure.>>
I know you love the challenge 🙂 so now the challenge is to listen to her: she is asking for a down on the start line so why not try that? Wouldn’t it be a nice efficient problem-solver if she did a down in agility then you didn’t have to worry about the agility sit versus the obedience sit? Then it becomes fun for all!
T
