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Good morning!
>>Well, except now when I get Dreamer out and Cas knows he’s missing some fun, he’ll bark and yap. >[
Can you give him a stuffed kong or something when you take them out? It will make it more happy-making for him 🙂
>>
So I definitely like recommendations about how to make picking him up more comfortable. >>At Home, you can sit on floor and have him jump into you lap and arms, then get a cookie, then put him down and throw a cookie. You can work up to him jumping into you lap or arms as you sit on the couch or stand (eventually).
And also, when you are on the ground, gentle reaching towards him, then cookie. And do it in slow movements, he doesn’t love fast movements towards him.>>On to training! I thought I’d see what he’d do over a couple of jumps like in the live, and he is just silly! I don’t have jump bumps so I just used bars on the ground>>
He is doing just fine 🙂 can you get some pool noodles for him to go over?
Also, a few things will help:
Have the MM a lot further away, at least 15 feet away, with you crouching by it. The MM being close with you standing (especially when you were facing him at the end) was what was producing the leapy form. Having it further, with you lower, will help him stride instead of leap.And, it was great that your hubby held him! Yay! Just ask him to keep the front feets 2 or 3 inches from the first bar – as he got further away, it was harder for Cas to find the form.
The barrel wraps look good and it is nice to see him transferring the concept to the great outdoors!!! Start him a little closer for now, just about an arm’s length away so it is really obvious for now.
And keep your feet together so he doesn’t try to line up between your feet LOL!
I think one or 2 more little sessions outdoors will be great then you can move into the other games as well.Great job here!
TracyHi!
>>Sometimes I can keep his tunnel commitment true to the tunnel, while giving him additional verbals, but I feel like if I start actively changing positions when he’s that far away, that I may pull him off. I’ll have to try it and of course, we’ll have to work to building up to that. Do you have any tips or easy ways to help train this skill?>>
I bet he is better at it than you realize! You don’t want to be too early… so place a leash or a light line on the ground 6 feet in front of the tunnel entry. Cue the tunnel very strongly from the previous obstacle, with a lot of connection. When his front feet hit that leash, switch to the exit verbal and start moving away. And, throw the reward to the exit line at the end of the tunnel. See how he does and keep me posted! When we are too early or disconnected, we see the dogs pulling off so I have found the leash on the ground to help me to be on time but not too early 🙂
Let me know how he does!
TracyHi!
>>Yes, that’s our huge challenge now, timing of cues. It’s a balance between commitment to the first thing before I can cue the 2nd thing, 3rd thing, etc.
Yes, he is in that transitional phase where you can start to push the timing and see what he will do 🙂 As you try to time things sooner and go to your next position sooner, add in more looking at the landing spots behind you for countermotion stuff – I have found the really helps the youngsters. And also early throws of the toy to help solidify the response to cues as you do them sooner and sooner.
This is a particularly hard sequence for timing and also for processing – lots of trained skills that have to override your physical position…. I freakin’ loved it! Yay!! Great first run. And the other two runs were super strong too!!!
Which brings up something to consider with the timing: since it is basically impossible to be perfect in timing all the things, you can prioritize the timing of the important, need-to-know cues and don’t worry as much about the less important cues where your physical location and/or motion will make them obvious.
For example:
The super important cues set up the layering and the turning away:
Push to 2 (:14, :51, 1:45)
Flip to tunnel 2-3 (:15, :52, 1:46)
Flip on tunnel exit (:23, 1:00, 1:54)I thought these were all well-timed here! Nice and early, and he responded really well!! No questions!
Lowest priorities: the left on the tunnel exit at 3, and the in in on 4 (both super obvious from your position) and also the backside at the end (I think you were using the same verbal for the backside push and the backside slice, but maybe I misheard? I think you have 2 different verbals?) The verbals wee a little late on these but he totally knew where to go, thanks to strong position and motion.
Medium priorities that require some verbal timing and attention to motion: the check check on 4 (:20) which is the wrap exit after the threadle, you can add in a little decel on the threadle in this context and switch to the wrap verbal sooner, so he gets a little tighter turn). The other medium priority spot was the left on jump 7 – it is hard to spit out the verbal on time in a tight space, but he was ready it really well! One earlier step into the line to cue the left turn as you are doing the switch will make it perfect.
Great job! Let me know if prioritizing makes sense, so hopefully you don’t feel that you are being too crazy. I thought you were very effective here on this rapid-fire sequence!!!
TracyHi!
>> I need to delay my tendency to get out of Dodge too quickly
It is hard to be patient 🙂 keep reminding yourself that he gets to go fast, all you need to do is navigate so you don’t need to rush 🙂
Tracy
This is Wind In Your Hair with the placed toy – the placed toy definitely has him driving ahead more with better head position and form over the jump. He might need to see you place it (like you did at 1:30 and after that) because that was when he was best able to find it on the line.
Great job on these! Let me know what you think.
TracyThis is moving target on one jump – he did a great job with the stay and keeping his head down to run to the toy – perfect! Try to face forward and walk forward – you were facing him and backing up.
You can definitely add the moving target to the set point now: lead out past jump 2 by about 10 feet, put the toy on the ground, start dragging it and release (walking forward). He is ready for this!
T
This is more set point rep – he is definitely sorting out the striding, very nice! I think he can be a tiny bit closer to the first jump here so he doesn’t have to reach as much to get into the jumps (reaching is pulling from the front, and ideally he will just liftoff from his rear). It looks like he was about a foot away, which is a little far – the sweet spot might be about 6 inches away from the first bump And remember to face forward as if heading to another obstacle, instead of facing him.
T
Hi –
This is the set point, with him set up nice and close to jump 1. He was more organized on these, really pushing in off his hind end! Yay! He definitely liked the toy better than the treat, you got more power for sure. Just be sure to not face him as you release him – be connected and looking at him, but face forward more: facing him is a collection cue and we don’t want him to slow down on these. You can try adding the moving target now, to get even more power.T
Hi –
This is the wing-tunnel smiley faces – looking great! He has lovely commitment to the wing and tunnel! And your connection and verbals were really strong here too. You had a little more distance so he could open up and run, which I think he really liked 🙂 And since I mentioned the length of session above – this was 2.5 minutes and perfect! Short sequences and a short session length, so you had his total focus and he didn’t get mentally tired.T
This is the wing-tunnel discrimination game. He is definitely figuring this one out, it is a hard challenge!
He does MUCH better with the verbals on the reps where you hold his collar, say the verbal, then let go – he is very accurate on those (like at :40 and 2:35)! When you say the verbal and let go all at the same time, he tends to have errors especially if it his the first time when you are switching to the other verbal. So, definitely hold the collar , say the verbal 3 or 4 times, then let go.
Also, set a timer for these sessions – it is hard for it to feel like a long session for us humans because we are not running, but there were almost 35 reps here – and his brain fried after about 2.5 minutes. You will see in the last couple of minutes that his failure rate actually went way up, and that was due to the repetition and mental fatigue. So, do a 1 or 2 minute session, take a break, and then either do something else or another short session of this.
T
Hi – This is smiley face with wraps and soft turns. He is doing really well with his wraps and soft turns!! Commitment and connection look good!
Keep the sequences shorter, though – there were 14 in a row here on the first run and by the end, he was looking around a little and slowing down, because too many in a row will stretch the focus time of a youngster. So, stick to between 3 and maybe 6 in a row before the reward, and we will ping-pong our way up to longer and longer sequences as he matures.
At :51, he came off the line of the soft left turns. Your shoulder/arm closed forward to the wing while he was still behind you, which changed connection and looked a little like a blind cross starting – so he started to do a blind. Keeping your fingers pointed back to his nose when he is behind you (and looking at him as you deliver the verbal) will help him stay on the line for these soft turns.T
This is WIYH with the thrown toy – he is doing a terrific job of finding his line on these! No trouble at all, and he is happy to drive way ahead of you. Super!!
It looks like the toy in the previous video was placed out past the jump and his form over the bump was better for the placed toy than for the thrown toy here – he was a little “hoppy” for the thrown toy LOL! So you can use the placed toy on this game to help him maintain his good form, or have someone else throw it if there are other people around when you train 🙂
THi!
This is Wind In Your Hair – looking good! Nice timing of the GO verbal on both sides! It looks like he drove ahead really nicely here too, with the placed toy. You can keep adding more and more distance to this setup so he gets used to driving further and further ahead 🙂T
Hi!
>.You said above, “I think you were waiting for him to exit before starting the physical and verbal cues, but you can start the cues (the convergence, the arm, the verbal) before he goes in then repeat them as he is exiting – those will help get him to turn away.” What you’re saying is that I start to show him the start of my motion, aka what I expect from him (like a switch off arm) just prior to him entering the tunnel?>>
Yes! Ideally he sees and hears it when he is about 4 or 5 feet before the tunnel entry: at that point, he should be fully committed and now needs to know how to exit. If he enters with out hearing or seeing the exit cues, he is likely to exit straight and a little towards you. So showing it to him before he enters should prepare him to turn away on the exit (without pushing him off the tunnel entirely).
>Also, when doing the #6 Combo 1, when you do the push to the backside and then enter the tunnel (2 to 3), that considered a “switch” but is it also a “switch” at 4 to 5?
I definitely consider the 2-3 line (jump to tunnel) a switch because it is the u-turn for me and the dog, with the layering. I don’t use switch for 4-5, because there is no u-turn where we both turn, I am just pushing into his line and saying ‘jump’ is probably all he needs.
Let me know if that makes sense!
Tracy
