Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
That is awesome!!! Bringing the toy back to the hand is actually one of the hardest behaviors to get! At least the rain had the positive outcome of being able to train that. Fingers crossed that this new round of rain is SHORT and you are back to clear blue skies soon š
TracyGood morning!
The set point is going really well. And it as interesting to see how arousal changed the jumping form. The first rep with the stationary toy was fine, and the 2nd rep was more aroused – and was ass-over-teakettle where her hind end was disorganized (even though I think the toy was basically in the same place). So if you use a stationary toy, have it at least 15 feet from jump 2 so she can organize her landing.
The moving target went well on all reps except the 2nd to last rep (more arousal!) – she was set up closer, she was leaning forward, she moved before the releaseā¦ and was not as well-organized as the other reps. It was still pretty good, but mot as good as the 3rd rep and the last rep where she was set up perfectly and not leaning. You might already be doing this, but definitely add in throwing rewards back to help keep her upright in the stay (but if she leans, donāt fight with her because she probably doesnāt even know she is leaning and it will not be a problem when she is on a real course :))
So she is about 13.5 months with 2nd bar at 8ā¦. Do one more session like this at some point this week (no rush, she looks good, it is not a high priority) and then we can move the bar to 10 in the next week or two. Time is on your side here – the goal is to have full height jumping by maybe 18 months old or later than that, and I recommend starting agility trials at a lower height so there is less to process in that environment.
The tunnel exit games looked fun!! She is a speedy beast! Love it!
>>HOW DO YOU MAKE IT GO STRAIGHT?!? Was it the fence?>>
Ha! Good job with all of the GO rewards – that is the first step to getting the straight line exits. First part of the concept is to convince her to run as fast as she can STRAIGHT after a tunnel, and there was a lot of progress here with that!! Then we finesse it to picking up obstacles after the tunnel exit.
I donāt think it was the fence that was pulling her off the wing. You can try it in a new location but I donāt think that was the question he was having.
Being ahead worked great when you could send her to the wing and get ahead of her at the tunnel exit. Remember to connect a lot – that is when she did great. When you were a little softer in the connection, she curled into you.And to get her to drive to the wing without you being ahead: she just doesnāt know she is supposed to look for something that far ahead of you š and she doesnāt even really see the wing.
The first step to getting her to see the wing is to move it MILES closer (or KMs closer haha). Put it 2 meters away from the tunnel exit, with the side you want on a SUPER obvious line. And I donāt care if she wraps it, just have her go past it on the correct side and throw the reward.
If that goes well? Move it to 3 meters away. Then over the course of several sessionsā¦ 4 meters. And when you are at 4 or 5 meters away, you can add back the wrap verbals to get the turn on the wing (that will be easy for her).
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>Bloopers abound for you on this one.
Bloopers are the best part! But there were really not that many bloopers, it went really well! And you had great connection and a lot of reinforcement , with is critical.
>>First, he wants to move the instant I say a verbal. I tried to keep holding him and lowered the intensity of my verbals, but am not sure if this is working or if I should try something different. I donāt want to turn it into any tension between us, but heās pumped to go.>>
Part of what was happening was that the first reps were verbal and release simultaneously, so he was expecting that. But then a 1:01 and 1:10 and most of the reps after that, you repeated the verbal before the release and he seemed pumped up but happy! Note the wagging tail š and he was not flailing. So I donāt see any tension and I didnāt see him fail, so it is all good š
>>The next consistent thing I felt was that sometimes his wraps feel really smooth and sometimes I feel like Iām running up on him, and previously I felt like I was stopping short. LOL So Iām not sure how to find the sweet spot or perhaps thereās another aspect???
It is the magic sweet spot of decel that is missing a little š On the wraps, you were sometimes slamming the brakes which was leaving your dog-side leg behind you and you were slightly rotatedā¦ which pulled him off the win like at 1:14, 1:50 and 2;32 on the wraps, and also At 1:42 and 2:04 on the soft turns.
On the wraps, if you drive in a little more and decelerate and let him get past youā¦ then rotate and leaveā¦ you will see more commitment in those moments. Donāt worry about how tight it is, and donāt worry about getting to the next spot š because that is causing a bit of rushing. Part of this game is getting some distance on the dogs too!
On those soft turns, your dog side shoulder was way back, which was causing rotation and pulling him off (and pulling you away from the line. You were using a lot of extreme connection there and that is what was causing the shoulder to be too far back. You can watch his eyes rather than stare at his eyes, and allow your dog-side arm to follow his nose – that should be the right amount of connection for him. You had this at the every end and he looked great!
>>Third, turns were sometimes wide out of the tunnel. So in addition to fixing late verbals ;), let me know if my lines or amount of motion are off.>>āØ
What I saw on those moments was that you were running the lines with him, rather than cuing and leaving. That was making you late for the wraps on the straight line exits (which is why you ended up slamming on the brakes) and was also showing him a physical cue that didnāt match the verbal.For example, at :44 with the left verbal – the timing was good but the physical cue screamed GO GO GO as you accelerated to kind of meet him at the exit. The same happened at :55 and 2:01 – the right verbal was a little late, but the physical cue was all go go go (you were accelerating forward) so he went wide on the exit.
So, say the left or right verbal but also let him see the matching physical cue of you peeling away to the wing instead of running straight. Otherwise, he will have to choose one (verbal or motion) and motion will win :). You might end up decelerating at the wing after the tunnel, but that is great and help build up the patience of decel without rushing.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Ugh, more snow!!! The music was actually hilarious in your video with the sad dog noises LOL!
>>For the live class this week, are the setups small enough that I could do them down in the basement like I did the first week?>>
Yes – I will have small space games ready because several folks are still wrestling with winter, like you are.
T
Hi!
I totally understand the part about getting dizzy LOL!!!He did well with the tunnel game hereā¦ so now letās get you running! Heeling for cookies was good and he was not looking away from you to the tunnel at all. Soā¦ now put the tunnel entries on the ground so that he canāt get into the tunnel, and add in you jogging so that he gets used to more motion without going into the tunnel š
Great job on all of these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
He was finding the uprights/barrel really well after the tunnel here! He is really getting so good with his commitment!
You used the tunnel and wrap verbals, so now you can add the directionals – after you cue the tunnel and before he goes in, tell him if you want him to go or if you want a left or right turn. He should see and hear it before he enters, so he is turned when he exits. You did use his name on the second video, which will get him to orient to you on a wider line (he was perfect with that) so now you can emphasize the GO and also the higher left/right turns.Nice work!
TracyGood morning! His commitment is looking good on the smiley face videos here!
Looking at the videos:
Because this is a great training ground for the verbals and his commitment is really strong, you can shorten up the sequences so you can focus on the verbals – I think the wrap verbals got a little interchanged, and you threw in some Go verbals instead of the soft turn around verbals. So, doing 4 or 5 obstacles in a row will help you maintain the verbals, then you can walk the next sequence and get those verbals et before you run him.When I was getting the verbals on my young dogs, I found that I screwed up a lot when the sequences got longer or if I didnāt walk them a few times before trying them with the dog š
He did have one blooper moment where he took the tunnel instead of wrapping the wing (1:03). You might have been a tiny bit late on the FC, but also he saw the tunnel clearly and got sucked in LOL! So more of the wing-tunnel discrimination game will help that.
You really emphasized the connection on the next rep there and that totally helped him š NICE!
On the repeated tunnels at the end of the first video, it is basically the same as the double whammy tunnel game where you can say tunnel for when he has the direct line into the tunnel, then it becomes a threadle tunnel entry when you pick him up on the exit and he turns away from you to get back in it.
The other thing you can do at this stage is tuck the toy in your pocket so yo d onāt have to switch hands. Things are happening really fast with him so you can save time by having empty hands š
There were a couple of things he didnāt know yet (like finding you on the other side of the tunnel when you started on the entry side of the tunnel or turning away from you on the wing), but no worries, we will be adding those soon.
Great job!
TracyGood morning! I am glad he is feeling better, poor little guy!!!
Looking at the video:
>>Weāve been working a bit off and on on the set point jumps. >>
Off and on is the perfect way to work this skill – he doesnāt need a lot of work on this, he is doing really well!
>>Over the past few sessions (before his upset) he became āstuckā and wouldnāt release over the jump.
We will definitely keep an eye on that – we saw it once in the previous video on the last rep. There are a lot of reasons why they donāt release such as they are stressed about something, or they think it is a proofing trick and expect cookies at the stay, or they are tired, or something hurts, or he is confused, or maybe it was just the beginning of his GI upset. There is no way to know so adding the MM to it as smart, and making the release reinforcing was great!
And I didnāt see any of that tay question in this video. His stay is looking so good!!! Good job with the set up cookie!! You were getting the toy down to the ground just as you released, so it was there as he was moving (and he was expecting it to be there) – that is a good compromise to support the stay but still get the targeted jumping form we want. It is possible that dropping the toy on the ground before the release is too hard, so I like what you did here.
It was hard to see all the movement in the jumping form from this angle but I think he looked good! – speedy, powerful, and consistent (he wasnāt trying to find a way to get comfy, he was already comfy :))
Remind me what the distance/height was here so we can plan for the future š
The pill bug game is definitely awkward at first LOL! Yo can wait a tiny but longer after he gets the treat before you start moving – when you moved too early, it was hard to keep connection. When you moved a little later (like at 1:50 and 2:42ish), it looked easier to connect and less awkward feeling . And if you left way too early, he ended up finding you on the other side of the tunnel LOL!!
So toss the treat, let him get it and finish chewing, then start to run š
Also, because there is a lot of running and the weather is heating up: do only 2 or 3 reps, then give him a break – he got real hot at the end (these pups have not really been alive long enough to experience the heat of spring and summer :))
I think you can add in the blind cross an inside turns on one tunnel, and add the 2nd tunnel if you have one!
Great job!
TracyHi!
This is going well too! The stay is looking really good – she was distracted on the 2nd rep but still pulled off a good jumping effort!
>>We ended up with 8ā³ to 10ā³ with 6ā² spread.>>
The 6 foot spread looked good! And I think 10″ on the 2nd bar is good too. But 8″ on the first bar was too high. Because she has to power in off her rear, the 8″ was a titch too tall and she strugled a little – you can see it at :22 for example,if you play the video in slow motion: she lifts her front feet over the bar btu then has to rock back and use her spine when ideally she would push from the rear. So leave jump 1 at 4″ for now and let’s see how she does. That first jump never needs to go up in height, it is all about the 2nd jump š
>.PS Forgot on the last 3 to start with the toy 10ā³ away.>>
Having the toy start further away definitely helped her, so definitely keep starting it 10 feet away or more especially since her stay looked so strong!
Nice work!
TracyHi!
>>Since you mentioned balancing out some GO!s with the Wraps, I set up your āGO!ā Exercise. That was illuminating.
This is from the discrimination class…. Changtse said it was tooooo hard for now with driving ahead of you! She could do it when you were ahead and throwing the ball early, but to really get the GO polished up so she drives ahead – try it without the tunnel distraction and with you starting really close to the wrap wing – throwing the toy past jump 1 at the moment you see her starting to look ahead. Then you will be able to build it up to more jumps eventually – and at some point the tunnel can get added back in.
Nice job!
TracyHi!
This is going really well! Your timing was realy good – nice job waiting for her to turn her head. It looks like you were looking downard to her, which is great – it allows you to connect and opens up your peripheral vision so you don’t run into things! Changste was great!>>Perhaps,I should just run a straight line 1st while maintaining connection with Changtse and Toy in outside hand.>>
The pill bug game with one tunnel is really awkward š But now that you have it going so well, you can move to the 2 tunnel advanced version (and also add the blind cross to the one tunnel version) – I think both of those will feel less awkward š
Great job!
Tracy>>Sorry rookie mistake. I changed it.
No worries! Youtube constantly changes settings anyway, which makes it harder to make the videos unlisted.
>>Great glad we can still do something.
I will have an indoor plan prepared, because it looks like you are getting more snow š
T
This one looks great too! Her commitment looks lovely, and I agree – she was listening to verbals and following the physical cues. GOOD GIRL!!!!!
You had strong connection throughout, with especially great connection after the tunnel on the GO exits!! That is hard to do and you nailed it, so she was able to get to the wing really easily!
>>I got too far up on the jump after the tunnel.>>
Yes, but you kind of had to in order to show her the turn on the tunnel exits. Without moving away to the jump, you would have been saying the turn verbal for the tunnel exit but running straight like a Go, which would have been confusing. By being at the wing, you were showing decel and that is great for a tight turn. She committed really nicely and then allowed you to leave the wrap early to get a tight, fast turn. Yay!
And the smaller spaces will not give you a lot of running room, so you can totally spread these out so there is more running involved š In the meantime, enjoy being able to get ahead of her so easily because when she grows up, she is going to be SO FAST on course!!!!
Great job š
TracyHi!
This is looking fabulous!! She is doing a great job of finishing her wing wrap regardless of your position and finding the jump. This setup was a little spicy because the tunnel was RIGHT THERE especially in the second part of the session – it was on her line. So you can see some steam coming out of her ears when you sent her away to do the wrap, but she was super great about doing it. YAY!So now you can ramp up the speed and get more running going for you both. When you are in a bigger space like this, or when the snow melts at home, here are some ideas:
– spread out the wing and jump for even more distance
– start your GO verbal earlier, as soon as she is finishing the wing wrap
– run harder past he jump (which will cue her to run more too) but also maintain connection to her eyes (and point your dog-side hand back to her nose when you are aheadWith more speed and more distance, you can totally place the toy out on the line past the jump so you don’t have to throw it.
Great job!
TracyHi!
Thanks for the info, I was going off of the numbers above:
>>First reps: 5 feet apart, both bars 6ā³
Changed to 6 feet apart, both bars at 6ā³>>Try 5.5 feet and see if that is the sweet spot for her.
>>Changed 2nd bar to 10ā³
If you think the bars should be lower than 6ā³, Iāll switch to my wing jumps or bumps.I think the first bar should be lower, so maybe a bump to act as the step-in point. and then warm up on 6″ for bar 2 for a rep or 2, then go to 8 for the rest and see how she does. I don’t think 8 will be hard at all, I am looking for the push off over 1 š She is still young enough that even though she appears really coordinated, she is actually still developing her movement style so we can find the sweet spot and then everything else is easy š
Keep me posted!
Tracy
