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Good morning!
One thing you can do with her to get more excitement is to do tricks and chase-da-momma games before starting the sequences,so you can get her pumped up more. And, when running…. call her name a lot less 🙂 You are trying to get her pumped up by talking to her, but when you call her, she is not sure if she is supposed to go to the line or look at you. So try to run, and use obstacle names, directionals, and a little praise, but not her name unless you need her to turn or need her attention strongly on you.
Then, for the reward, rather than tossing so she stops, tie it to a leash or something longer so you can keep running and she can chase it. Does she like balls or frisbees?
One more idea to get her pumped up – I think dogs like variety versus doing the same sequence several times. So if she gets it right once on each side, move to the next one. That will keep things spicy! If there is something you want to change or do differently, you can go back to that sequence later.
Video 1 – on the FCs, you can start the decel and the timing for the wrap sooner (as she lands from the middle jump) so that you are rotating before she takes off for the wrap. rather than facing forward. She can turn on a dime, which is great! So you can cue it one step sooner by decelerating sooner, which should be perfect.
Video 2 – the blinds are looking good! I think at :17 is a pot where the name calls caused a blooper – you were calling her all the way through there and pulled her off the jump. Compare that to the first one, and also at :45, where you didn’t call her and it sounds like you said jump, and she was great! I think the obstacle names and jumps verbals are great for the lines, and the name calls are more useful for just the exit of the blind before you give the tunnel cue.
Video 3 – rear crosses are going well! Great job with your directionals here! And you consistently showed the left turn rear cross line. The right rear cross angle is harder, so you set it more clearly by decelerating at the pinwheel jump, letting her catch up and turn, then driving to the center of the bar of the RC jump. You were a tiny bit ahead on the line, which brings you to the outside of the RC jump, so the RCs were a little harder to show her.
Great job! Have fun practicing with your Viszla friend!
Tracy
Good morning!
The BCs aare going really well! On the right turns, she had an easy time with the line and commitment, and your timing on the blind was really good – look at :43m for example, where she was still a stride from takeoff and you had already completed the blind and you were on a great line to the tunnel. Yay!
She also found the line nicely to the right in the 2nd half of the sequence, she was pretty balanced here! Yes, I see what you mean about the human version of the side preference! You had a spin but you had a good line of motion to the end of the tunnel you wanted. On the next rep, watching it in slow motion, I think she was correct there too, to continue straight:
Timing of starting the blind was really good at 1:15. Connection was good (not as good as the other side, but good enough that she turned her head to you over the bar). As she was considering the turn, you turned your head forward again a 1:16 then closed your shoulder forward at 1:17 – so from her perspective behind you, it looked like a BC back to your right, so she changed her line back to the original end of the tunnel. Also, your line of motion was relatively straight to the center of the tunnel, even though you were trying to get her on your right – so that helped support the wrong line. She sees everything! Scrolling back to :43, your connection and line of motion were all towards the tunnel entry you wanted – so she definitely reads all the subtle cues 🙂Your connection was much better at 1:32 and 1:46, but your line of motion was also to the center of the tunnel at 1:32 and almost to the wrong end of the tune at 1:46, so be sure that your motion takes you towards the tunnel entry you want. I think what is happening is that as you make connection, it is drawing your footwork sideways down the line to the tunnel – try to make that connection as you run forward to the tunnel entry like you did when she was on your line and when you did the spin 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
He most definitely liked the turkey! It was very high value!
Because it took almost two minutes to get his engagement, I think we can do more before that leash even comes off.
As he exited the house and before you took him over to jump 1, do tricks or chase games to help get his focus on you, while he is still on leash. That will help to get rid of that initial burst of disengagement. And, in that first moment where you take off the leash, reward him right away for not leaving before you do anything else. Then do a couple more tricks and chase games before starting the sequence.
Once he got rolling on the sequences, he was much more engaged because running + turkey = great fun for him LOL!! So to get more engagement right away, you can do a trick, then run a few steps, and then reward him. At the start, you were bending over him and being stationary, so I think if we get you standing up and moving so he can chase you and the turkey, you’ll find he gets more engaged, more quickly. For the engagement, you can feed him from your hand (because it is about being near you). For the sequences, he really liked the ball being thrown far away. He did well on the sequences- it is all easier to connect and run when we have engagement 🙂 And I think adding the lotus ball on a toy will help even more, because it has chasing AND being near you, both of which are great 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHello and welcome, great to see you and the Golden Crew here!!!! Onwards to the WOO!!
Have fun 🙂
TracyHi there!
Wow, I cannot believe it took that long! Crazy! I figured you got busy with a trial and didn’t post it. I have a similar issue when my videos are high resolution and I load them at home with my poopy internet connection.
Opening line: – I really loved how you handled the opening – tight fast lines without having to waste energy on running you didn’t need to do and also setting up a great position for 7-8-9! It was gorgeous on the 2nd run too!
To chop off a tick of time, on the ‘come’ for the 7-8 tunnel discrim moment, try to do it more as a “cometunnel” so he can go right back out to the tunnel, rather than check in with you before being sent back out when you did more of a “come…. tunnel” at :22. You sent him back sooner at :44, and I think you can send him even sooner and really trust his understanding to get it super fast and smooth.
On the 2nd rep at 1:34 and on the next rep at 2:23, he remembered that the ‘come’ predicted the tunnel, so he sent himself to the tunnel – that is what the line should look like, ideally, so you will want to give him the release to the tunnel nice and early to create that.MIdcourse:
At :26, for the 10-11-12 line, I was going to say you were facing forward for too long, but that was where you forgot the course LOL!As you went through there the 2nd time: Turn sooner for the turn at 9, so he can adjust before takeoff and keep the bar up – you called and turned while he was jumping. I think the better timing will be seeing him exit the tunnel, tell him to jump and turn your shoulders to 10 so he can adjust before takeoff.
If my memory is correct, Enzo has really good threadle understanding – so you don’t need to rotate towards him at :49 for 10-11. You can turn forward and keep moving, using the upper body and verbal.On the 2nd and 3rd full runs in the middle here, you did a great job with your continued turning and earlier cues at 1:39, setting at really nice line 9-10-11!!!
To get a tighter line on the wrap at :13 at 1:45 – you were in great position, but he went wide because you faced the jump. Try facing him instead, so your feet are pointing more back to the tunnel- and see if he can commit with just a bit of a hand cue and maybe looking at landing, to get he best collection there. And, another thing that can help get better collection there is to drop your hand to the takeoff side of the bar and leave it there, with no motion to landing (left hand, in this case, because you are rotated). When the hand swung to landing at 2:33 and 2:58, he went wide even with you more rotated.
I liked the brake arm to get the soft turn 15-16 at :59! It was timely and he was collecting nicely! Keep the arm up as you continue through that turn, rather than release it an blast forward, because he tried to accelerate too and fell a bit. That will also help keep him in handler focus for the come tunnel 16-17. On the 2nd full run there, you added a bonus jump of doing 13 again, so he ended up on a different line. Bit then at 1:59 and 2:40 and 3:03, you did a great job holding the brake arm as you finished the turn on 15 and he was great there!
Then, when he commits to the tunnel 17, you can move up the line sooner to show the turn 18-19, and be more in the position for the wrap at the 20 backside.
Question – does he have a separate backside cue for a wrap or is push for both the wrap and the slice backside? If it is for both, adding another collection cue will help him know it is a wrap when you are behind him on a line, so he can jump super tight even as you move up the line.On the last rep, your line/motion and timing of the cues on the closing line were really strong!!! You were moving up the line more to show the turn at 18, and as he was over 19, you were already cueing the backside at 20, so he had a great line to it. Well done with those timely cues!!
Great job here! How did the trial weekend go?
Tracy
Good morning! You probably didn’t do any balance reps because he was not just reading the MM as a threadle – he was like “WE GO TO MM!” on some of the reps LOL! So now that he is better with the Threadles, adding the balance reps will be great. Have fun with the full course!
Tracy
Good morning!
>> What, what? Get him faster?
Heck yes! And I figure he is going to go faster no matter what we do, so we will embrace it 🙂 He reminds me of my dog Export in a lot of ways, not just the fuzzy good looks 🙂 but also the speed and drive!
>>Lol he’s so fun.
Totally agree, he is a blast!!!
>>In reply… You said ..When you say his name on tight turns, is that for wraps. I use ‘check’ as a wrap cue. But I don’t always get the word out of my mouth. Lol. I use his name for like a hard turn towards me out of a tunnel or in a pinwheel or something.>>
One of the things we will focus on this summer is being able to get the right word out at the right time – this is best practiced by jogging through the sequence a few times without him, yelling the words 🙂
>>My instructor here in Utah also tells me I need need to stay in motion for him so that’s good to have more information about that. I try to but sometimes he’s so far ahead of me I feel like I need to slow down or almost stop in order to be where I need to be. So I definitely need to be aware of that.>>
We will look at that – it might be a strategy thing specific to medium and small dogs: we don’t always send and leave with them, because it might put us too far ahead. Sometimes we run the curve of the line for longer, so we can keep moving and stay ahead. Small/medium dog handling has some real differences from large dog handling!
>I do point too much. Sometimes my arms have minds of their own lol.
To teach my arms to behave, I ran with an open bottle of water in my hand for a while – that really helped me keep my arms from flinging around because I would spill water on my head LOL!
>>Thanks for the feedback! I will set this up again and make notes of your input. I am probably going to a friend’s house tomorrow who is also in this class and try the standard course.>>
I look forward to it! Have fun!
TracyGood morning! This is great that you got to do this in a new place! Different footing, different environment: perfect for helping develop her agility career!
Seq 1:
Note how she jumps towards you on the first jump then back out on that first rep – you said the release and didn’t say anything else. So, try to release and immediately tell her to go go go tunnel to smooth out that line. On the second rep, you led out less and ran more, which helped! And also, she knew the sequence (smartie) so it was easier. The rest looked great!Seq 2: she read the whoa cue perfectly for the tunnel exit on both reps here! Super! I notice she is relatively quiet as she is working here. At a trial, she might be, um, more talkative 🙂 so you can repeat the cue a few times to help her process is when she is in higher arousal.
On the 2nd rep – she dropped the bar on jump 1 at 1:09. That lead out and release was similar to the first rep – a slightly longer lead out and release while you were not moving fast and no go verbals, so she jumped in to you then back out, dropping the bar.
Seq 3: She had a few questions about the 4-5-6 pinwheel. The timing was late, with the first turn to tell her that she needed to turn over 4 beginning after she was already organizing for takeoff at 1:25 – that made the turn for 5 later too so she ticked the bar. Then you you decelerated over 6, so she looked at you and dropped the bar.
The next rep at 1:43 had a longer lead out but faster motion on the release, so she had a straight line over 1 and no questions. Yay!
The timing on the pinwheel was the same… but she knew the sequence (fast learner) so while she still had questions and looked at you over 6, she didn’t touch the bars.
So to get the timing on the first attempt, put the turn cues in the WOO 🙂 That window of opportunity for the turn at 4 begins when she exits tunnel 3 – look at her, use your right cues, and start turning your shoulders so she takes off for 4 already turning to her right. Then, as she is approaching 4, before liftoff, send to her 5 and turn to 6 (staying connected, of course 🙂 sends work better when we are connected!). Then as she approaches 5 – accelerate to the tunnel and start your go go go cue. That might feel wicked early but it will give her plenty of time to find the line and organize the jumping.Seq 4:
You were very quiet in the opening, and she had questions 🙂 I didn’t really hear a GO cue before the tunnel or cues while she was in the tunnel or exiting t get on the line 2-3-4, so she was looking at you over 3. For the turn 4-5, you can start the shoulder turn one stride sooner – when she lands from 3. And, as you mentioned, remember to add more connection and verbals to keep her on the line to 5. She ended up coming in and looking at you, because the info was very quiet and not enough connection.
Th wrap on jump 9 went well! I bet you can start it one heartbeat sooner in that WOO – you started the decel and verbal when she landed, so she processed it one stride later. That produced a good turn. I bet you can start it while she is lifting off/in the air over 8, which means when she lands she already knows it is happening – that will get a great turn and allow you to rotate and run the new direction even sooner 🙂Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>> . But outside I think I’ll just have to slow down and work on this engagement issue first.
Totally normal when moving a winter puppy to the great outdoors 🙂 All of my winter puppies had to learn engagement outdoors on a leash before I could do any fancy stuff 🙂
>> For the runaway, I actually had tried one of his favorite toys as a reward, but it was not enough. And maybe it would have been different if I had spent more time warming the thee brain as you suggest.
I think large chunks of delish meat and a brain warm up then a short session will do the trick. He loves his Zukes… indoors when the environment is not drawing his attention. So outdoors, for now? Go for the good stuff! And the brain warm up will be very helpful – there is a ton of science addressing states of arousal (google Yorkers-Dodson law if you want to geek out a bit) and the simplest thing to do is get him spun up a bit with tricks and high value food, then do a short session and be done before arousal changes.
>> Might mean I need to slow down in class a bit but in the end I really want an engaged dog that enjoys the sport, so taking this time now to ensure he’s feeling good about our sessions is important.
I don’t think you will need to slow down, because you will be able work the class games, using them as the framework to teach engagement. The key is that the actual handling stuff doesn’t have to be perfect – it just has to be fun and relatively clear 🙂 And we want both of you to feel great at the end of the session, and wanting to do more 🙂
Keep me posted!
TracyGood morning!
Kim Collins is great! And I haven’t had a chance to look at the Dogs4Motion website but it comes HIGHLY recommended as the best one by one of the pickiest trainers I know 🙂 I got a peek at AnnaLee Sanders website last night, and it is just spectacular! And, Anna doesn’t use a Border Collie in her demos – which is really nice because not every dog moves like a Border Collie 🙂
Anna has posture work, and I am confident that Dogs4Motion will have posture work (in the tight sit and in a stand) because it is the industry standard now (although it might have a different name with them). I will also dig up videos of Hot Sauce’s posture work – I have videos from before/after her patella surgery, but nothing recent because I am too lay to video during any conditioning stuff LOL!!
With the jump grid stuff, I have found the dragging toy to be really helpful with getting organization when the dog is at top speed (she is doing this sometimes, but not all the time, thus the swimming). Does she do cavalettis? We can add a dragging toy to cavalettis as a first step (literally haha) to getting foot organization when she sees speed out ahead. We can add that in to Kim’s jump grid work after Sprite has mastered those challenges at normal speed LOL! And I have a new organization game for tight turns that I will video when I get home this week (if Air Canada stops cancelling flights) – I don’t have my dogs with me but we did the game yesterday with some young dogs and it was really cool to see them process it so quickly.
And yes, with the bar crashing – it is an error of organization when you suddenly go fast. My Voodoo used to do that too, when he was an adolescent. It is more common than you might realize, because the go is organizing ALL the things and also t tying to go fast, and sometimes things don’t turn out that well 🙂 I see it happen especially on the jump before a tunnel, and a jump after a tunnel. That is where she is doing it too, for the most part.
So for now, let’s keep the bars low and no need for you to run really fast or have transitions to high speed. Keeping things super smooth for now really helps the youngsters, as we teach them the skills they need to organize while we sprint. You have looked “inside” at hips and stuff, so any side preference, strength or weakness is pretty normal (at 17 months old, 2 of my dogs were incredibly weak turning to their right) just like us humans 🙂 Chiro said she was good to go, so the only other thing to add at the moment is trigger point massage as a regular part of her routine (recommended for all dogs).
It is interesting that you mention figure skating! There are a couple of handler mechanics that I think are similar to figure skating, such as arm placement when trying to rotate fast. And, like figure skaters, the dogs need to know how to organize their bodies to lift off properly – sometimes she does, but when she is chasing your motion, she sometimes does not. So we will have you be ultra connected and moving medium-fast on sequences, as she is learning the organization – then it will all come together.
If she gets into jumping trouble on a sequence like she did here, you can immediately lower the bars and also keep up the rewards. I am definitely in the minority in agility in that I don’t feel the need to stop and tell the dog that they dropped the bar LOL! I mean… they know. And by the time I process that the bar has dropped, the stopping (neg punishment) is really unrelated to whatever decision caused it. And Sprite is a good girl and if she knew how to organize at speed, she would totally do it every time. That jumping effort where she splats the bar doesn’t feel good, but if you also tell her she was wrong, we risk more of an unpleasant emotion being built in. And if one bar drops, try not to stop suddenly as that will pull the next bar (like at :18). For baby dogs, I keep going and maybe reward a tunnel – then adjust the sequence for the next rep. She is not being wild or anything, so staying in motion and rewarding something else will keep her feeling good about it even when the jumping is hard. The 2-failure rule is in place here too – 2 jumping failures in a session? Dial it back, and we will do more teaching 🙂
Wingin’ it looked fabulous! I am loving her commitment! I don’t think you did too much for her here, but yes, protect that gorgeous new grass haha!
On most of the reps, you were doing good commitment and collection cues, rotating when she was close to the jump wing and committing – the resulted in nice turns! You were starting to get really comfortable at 1:05 and you rotated just as she was passing you… perfect! She maintained her commitment AND had a stunning wrap. The earlier cue really gave her more time to shift her body.The race tracks at the end were great, she seemed to have a HUGE smile on her face. And great job with her verbals throughout, but the directionals and the LSMs 🙂
This gives me an ideas as we work to teach her to organize herself for jumping: on the sequences that have a turn or something that might be a hard jumping effort, we can take a 2-pronged approach:
– show her the skill at high speed with a wing replacing the turn jump, so she can get sorted out with reading motion before we ask for a jumping effort.
– then add a bar and jump: since that is a big variable change, we then dial back your motion into a more smooth, slower speed.
We work it as 2 separate tracks that eventually merge so you can go fast as she is jumping!>> Also, I’m probably going to try 4 on the teeter. Should I have her back up to 4 on?>>
Yes, you can totally have her back up to 4 on – starting with just 2on2off will get things rolling, then with reward placement you will quickly be able to get her to back up to 4on.
>>I looked at the one jump concept. I’m not sure I have a rear cross wrap and we haven’t done much backside sends. I might just try with the jumps first.>>
For the jumps here, it is a good opportunity to first work things with a wing on the wraps and backside pushes! She can ‘see’ the cues and organize for a wing, then when she is happy with that, we add the jump back in. There is also a jump before and after the tunnel here, so keep the motion smooth and not that fast for now with bars at 12, and we will gradually ramp the speed back up then raise the bars again.
Great job 🙂 Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! I am so sorry to hear you ended up so sick! You ran so well at the live class! I am glad you are feeling well enough to do a little training – no rush, we have all summer to get the games in.
These were good choices of games – gives him a brain workout while you don’t have to run. You’ve already been working on his body awareness, and it shows! The plank game looked great, he as a fast and happy to go running back and forth across it. Even when the angle of entry was a little offset, he still used his rear and core to balance and had no trouble being coordinated.
He turned around really well too! The only thing I might suggest differently on the turning around is to make him do it slowly 🙂 Going fast, he was able to work his front and his hind end just kind of followed along without moving all that independently. So now, have him follow your hand slowly, so he has to work each back foot independently as well 🙂
Next step for this game? Raise the plank a little 🙂 What do you have that you can put under it, to lift it a bit while keeping it stable – Cato planks would work nicely if you have them, or yoga bricks or anything like that.
Mountain climber: As soon as he realized there was food at the top, it was GAME ON! Ha! When he stopped at :36, maybe it was because he thought he didn’t have permission to move?
Good job moving the chair in tighter at :54 so the teeter wouldn’t rattle or bounce – I am not sure if it was bothering him, but he definitely started going faster when the teeter was more stable.
Then he was getting a little nutty, trying to turn around, losing balance, jumping off, then running back up it. I am glad he was so confident! And he was happy to let you add more movement, so he was faster. NICE!
So, since he liked this 🙂 you can add more motion – I like to send the dog around a wing the up the teeter (just be sure he has a straight angle of entry to the teeter). And you can also add running past it too. And since he is fast and confident enough to turn around and jump up… try a shmear of cream cheese or squeeze cheese so that he stays there licking it, so you can go back and help him get off the board LOL!The only other thing to suggest for now on this game is to play it on both the Clip N Go teeters and a MAX200 type teeter, if you can find one in your adventures – they feel very different to young dogs, so I like to play this game on both before we start moving the board.
Great job on these! I hope you continue to relax and feel better this weekend!!!!
Tracy
Hi!
Yes, she did really well here! Lots to love about this session! (Also as you noted, the back door is closed – maybe it is a bigger distraction than you give it credit for!)Strange about the left turns – always include those so I can see what she is doing and either try to help or at least say “what the heck??” LOL! The left turns look really good, she definitely has the commitment here we are looking for. And good tugging in between too!! Nice! I think that she was a little wide on the left turns on the pinwheel jump for a couple of reasons – you were a little late turning, and she is probably looking at something out there (looking at what? Dunno… puppies LOL!!!) . You can also spread. The jumps out a little, because they are relatively close so she would need to collect more on those left turns than she did on the right turns. The right turns had a smoother line than the left turns did based on the setup – just a tiny difference, but enough for her 🙂
She was fabulous here and when you went faster, she said “LOOK MA I GOT FASTERS IN ME TOO!” Eek! That is exciting! So now, spread the setup out a bit and start adding the verbals, timing, and crosses.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
Her commitment looks really strong here, which totally helps you be able to do all of these crosses and such. Nice!!!! She only had one question on these, about the send (and it was the same handler oopsie, see below).>> (Forty lashes to me?)
No definitely not haha! Your connection to her made up for any errant toy throws LOL!
FC wraps:
Young dogs are like mirrors, they are great reflections of what they see 🙂 On the sends to the middle jump, remember to step to the jump, she definitely reads your feet (and have a low arm and connection as you do it!
Compare :17, where she got the jump really nicely, :34 where your feet were turning away to the next jump – so she didn’t take that middle jump. You can keep going when that happens, or reward and restart – it is human error so no need to stop and not reward. On the rep after it, you stepped to the middle jump so she took it 🙂On the wing wraps, your timing of starting the verbal was great! Yay! You can also start your decel into the rotation at that same time (when she was landing from the middle jump). You were moving quickly forward to the wrap wing and rotating when you got there, which works with a very low bar because she can turn on a dime, but will end up wide when the bars go up. So when you start your left or right verbal for the wrap, when she lands, you can also decelerate and then as she is passing you and committing to the jump, you can rotate for the FC.
Fluffy blinds:
These are going well too! Like the wraps, your timing of starting your jump verbal here is great! So now, you can begin the blind right as you say jump (keep moving forward through it as you change sides). You were saying jump at exactly the correct time when she landed from the jump after the tunnel, then saying it again when she was halfway between the 2 jumps and then starting the blind – which ended up making the blind late and she adjusted when she landed at 1:02, 1:36 and 2:06, 2:31The wraps after the blinds looks great! Keep making those earlier and earlier, more of a send and go right after she gets to the correct side after the blind.
BC to tunnel:
The blinds were earlier here, because it was the best way to get the new end of the tunnel. Nice! At 2:49, you were able to start the blind shortly after she landed from the middle jump, so she was able to make the turn before takeoff there. Nice!!!
It was not quite as smooth on the next rep because you were turning your feet away on the send to the middle jump (look at your toes at 3:21, you were sideways- stepping instead of forward stepping) so she had a question and the extra moment to support it made you a little later for the blind. So that step forward to the send jump was clearer at 3:55 so she had no questions, sent really well, and that made the blind cross nice and timely 🙂RC: I think she was a little hot here, which made it hard for her to accelerate – it will be even easier when she is fresh 🙂 On both the RC here, you were doing a bit of a pull to the post turn wing when she was close to takeoff, you did the RC. She did get the RCs but had a question about that – she looked at you before turning to the new direction. You can try setting the RC diagonal sooner: decelerate at the jump before the RC jump til she just about catches up to you to set the RC. Then, drive the RC by running to the center of the bar of the RC jump. When she passes you and is nearing the bar, you can cut in behind her to seal the deal 🙂 This will smooth out her question and also put you ahead again after the RCs 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
On the mountain climber game, I am glad he is very confident! So fun to see him driving up the board! What was the reward you were using at the end? Ideally, you can place the reward there in advance so he doesn’t look at you or wait for your hand. A little smear of cream cheese will work nicely! Then you can face the leash, because it was tightening and that can throw off his balance. When fading the leash, it the smear of cream cheese at the end, put him in a stay, and call him up the board so that you are facing him and at the end before he is 🙂Looking at all the handling – I think a lot of questions will be answered if we plan to help him be more engaged! The handling itself is going well – he has lots of skills and understanding. The errors are not really handling errors, they ar mostly engagement questions.So if we structure the reinforcement and sessions differently, it will be easier to work on the handling and he will be more focused and engaged. Here are some ideas for ya!
Wraps and blinds – rather than think about the handling cues, which are going fine, we can look at the focus and engagement! It will all be much easier if you can get more engagement.
First up – what are you using for reinforcement in the lotus ball? When working outside, use the most aiming food rewards ever, because the environment is soooooo challenging. Regular dog treats won’t cut it for a lot of puppies… try meatballs or something insane! And reward any speed to drive ot lines in short bursts, so that he gets used to working that skill – then when he is able to run the speed circles and not sniff, then add in the handling. He did a little jump/tunnel stuff but then had trouble with the environment. So when you see that happening, rather than say no and interrupt and keep going, try to shorten the sequence and just get speed loops going, throwing the rewards a lot more to get him very very engaged.
Also – will he play with toys outside? Throwing treats even in the lotus ball will create pools of scent, which he has to then ignore. A toy or a ball might be a better reward in that environment.
He did get going and do the sequences nicely but he was definitely struggling with the environment. So, do lots and lots of speed circle reps for high value rewards, before throwing in a turn here and there. He is a great turning dog so I am not worried about his turns at all! It is perfectly fine to focus on the speed lines in the great outdoors with crazy high value rewards – then it will be easy to add the turns 🙂
On the blind cross reps – the other thing I think would be fun to add is, instead of dropping the lotus ball when you want to reward, either throw it long and far. Or attaché it to a toy so you can drag it and he can chase it. Dropping it kind of promotes stopping! So he might be preparing to stop a lot, plus the food on the ground adds more food scent.
Looking at the runaway – same question as above… what rewards are you suing? And the next question is – what did you do to mentally warm him up before you brought him to the jump and took the leash off? Super high level rewards, that are super frequent, following lots of tricks, will help. I think you are too invested in running the sequence, so you miss opportunities to reward 🙂 Since the outdoor environment is challenging, bring him in with high value rewards, do some tricks on leash. If he can do tricks, take off the leash, ask for MORE tricks (reward each one). When he can’t take his eyes off of you? Do a sequence and reward while he is still working, before he gets distracted. That might be 3 or 4 obstacles, and that is great! When he runs off, the only thing you can do is call him back like you did here, regroup, start over, get him engaged, and try again.
I think we can also use a ping pong approach to getting longer and longer sequences – he often starts off really fast then gets slower as the sequence goes on. So, reward after ever couple of obstacles – 4 obstacles, then 2 obstacle,s then 5 obstacles, then 3 obstacles, then 6 obstacles, then 4, and so on.
With that in mind, on the blind cross video, he was really speedy at the start so you can reward that! Then on the next rep, do just 2 obstacles for a wild and crazy reward. Then next rep? 6 obstacles or something. These were all pretty long for a baby dog, so he was powering down a bit which made the handling hard especially on the pinwheel jump.
And, one other things to consider – he was pretty much done by about 1:40 here, so you can do 30 second sessions and be done. His tongue got pretty long, so he is going to generally slow himself down when he gets hot. This is pretty normal for young dogs, to do super short, high energy sessions and be done while they are still pumped up and running. So set a 30 second timer and be finished when the timer goes off. And if he wants to do more? Cool! But be done anyway LOL!! You will be able to extend those sessions, but for now we want him to be wanting more and going faster, rather than dialing it back.
Nice work! Let me know what you think of the engagement ideas!
TracyHi!
Interesting about the glasses! I always wear sunglasses when I train, because the sun is hard on my eyes and my eye doctor basically told me to never go outside without sunglasses, based on the potential eye damage he was seeing. Eek! Select did fine with the glasses, I don’t notice them until I read your note.
He did well here on his threadles! I think the MM kept his energy high, so it was fine to have a slightly longer session. And most of it was brain training, and easy on the body 🙂I like how you started off easy peasy then built it up to the a-frame! Smart training!
Did you do any ‘this or that’ training with the MM there, where sometimes you cue the front of the jump ,and sometimes the threadle? We don’t want the MM to be a threadle-only use 🙂 Thankfully, he does not think it of that way yet, but adding in some on-purpose sends to the front will keep him honest LOL!Nice work here! It is a good skill to work back into the courses too!
Tracy
