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Good morning!
I see a big difference here: Her head is lower, she is definitely more extended and using her hind end with more power! I marked the striding of this session and compared it to the striding of the previous video in parentheses (wet grass and stationary toy):
Bounce (short bounce)
1 stride (1 stride)
Big 1 stride (2 strides)
Power bounce! (1 stride)
Bounce (bounce)And even the bouncing on the first and last rep here looked more powerful and forward than the more ‘dainty’ bounce on the first and last rep of the previous video. I like how she was able to do a one stride then a bigger one stride then a power bounce on reps 2, 3, and 4! Hooray!
So definitely keep the dragging toy going. And you can revisit this grid with that 3rd jump moving gradually further and further away, a little at a time, to help her stretch our her striding.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
On thing about the verbals – in order to keep us under 10,000 different verbals 🙂 we have to have a ‘roughly right’ approach to applying them. So for the left/ right versus wraps, visualize a jump bar there (the dog would be approaching the jump bar straight as they are heading to the wing: what type of collection does the dog need for a jump bar there, where does the dog need to look, and how immediately does the dog need to come back around the wing? Moderate collection, looking to the left/right, not needing to come back around the wing right away? Soft turn verbals – even if the dog comes back across the plane of the wing eventually. Massive collection, head turning a lot, needing to come back around the wing immediately? Wrap verbals. Agility has a lot of ‘grey area’ so I make the verbal decision based on how much collection and where the turn goes.
This goes for the tunnel exits too: if the dog needs to turn soooo tight that she would immediately come back out and cross the plane of the tunnel exit? Wrap. If it is an approximately L-shaped turn? Left or right. If it is a wider, gentle turn, needing very little collection? Just a name call is good.
And one more idea to add to it all 🙂 – make your verbals sound different, beyond being different words. This includes volume, pitch, length of word. Your wraps/ soft turns/tunnel cues are all very similar in pitch/length/style of delivery so that makes them harder to differentiate. The ‘forward’ verbals like Go and tunnels should be louder and longer: GOOOOO GOOOOOOO and TUNNEL TUNNNNNNELLLLL. The wraps should be very short and very quiet, almost whispered 🙂 And the soft turn verbals should be medium volume and medium length (which is why I make mine sound like questions, so I can’t yell them LOL!)
On the first video – I think the timing of the blinds is going much better! And I think the soft turn verbals are correct here – a wrap would be if she is going back to the tunnel like you did at 1:24. One thing to make the blinds even easier is to keep your wings (arms :)) in tight like you did at :57. When you were letting your arms come up and out (like at :29), it takes longer to get all the way around for the blinds. So keep your arms in tight to your body (elbows to ribs). But also keep your shoulder open to her to make connection: If you close your shoulder like at :43, she will not see the cue to the wing and just come to you.
Looking at the verbal for the middle jump (the one with the bump on it) – it becomes more dog-specific (and having a full height jump bar will change things too, eventually). For my little dogs and my 15” tall Elektra dog – no soft turn cue needed there as it asks for too much collection in a spot where they actually need to extend. That is what happened at 1:48 with Beka – a little too much collection (also because you were not moving a whole lot). You moved more at 2:05 and 2:38 and she got it!
Now, picture the middle jump having a 20” bar eventually… she will probably need the collection cue for the soft turns (my 20” jumping dog sure does) but it remains to be seen how see will move when she is jumping full height (my guess is she will power through lines and will need the collection cue there :))
2nd video: Her commitment looks really strong on these! I’d say she loves the race tracks LOL!
First couple of reps she was looking at the tunnel a lot, partially a bit of patterning, partially you hadn’t quite decided what you wanted to do so you were not moving a lot. For the patterning and tunneling even when you rotated like at 1:13 and 1:21, I would revisit the wing/tunnel proofing game now that everything is outside AND more exciting 🙂
Picturing bars where the jump cups are: on the red wing on the right side of the screen, I would use a left verbal there to get her to the red wing on the other side of the screen and a wrap verbal to get her to the red/blunt jump with the bump (coming immediately back across the plane of the jump)She had a bit of a question at 1:32 – doing the soft right while accelerating into the bind was hard for her to read (we want the verbals and physical cues to match at this stage) so she was a bit wide – a decel and even a FC would work better for a tighter tunnel exit there.
Nice job getting the blinds in to change sides before the jump bump! She was hustling which makes it harder, but you got the connections to her and she was both able to pick up the new side AND get committed to the jump after it as you turned and left – this is VERY EXCITING!!! Super cool! It will be easier when bars come into the picture because you will have more time, and she will have an easier time applying jumping skills to all of this because she has a lot of understanding of the handling already. Hooray!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! I think these are some of the most engaged runs I’ve seen! Yay!
Yes… put the lotus ball on a rope or bring 2 in the ring with you: one for throwing, one for getting the first one back haha!
She is the calmest and happiest I’ve seen her on the start line. The pre-run video before gamblers looked good- she was pretty relaxed and pumped up!
Not asking for a sit definitely helps.
One thing I’d like to add is that when you have engagement at the line and it is a stressful spot (like the start area on run 3) you can just get a quick trick and run run run. 🙂 that way she won’t have time to even briefly disengage! She likes the running a whole lot, so responding to a trick cue then immediately running? I think that will continue to build engagement (and make it easier to add a stay back in because the stay will just be another “trick” 🙂My only other suggestion is to plan your courses better 🙂 some of your lines were a bit exotic haha! And we want to keep her moving – so keep choosing simple easy lines for now… and if something goes wrong, just get her back onto a simple fun line 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
Lots of good things on these runs!!
The main thing I see on all of them is that you really didn’t have to fight for engagement at the start line and release – she was offering engagement when you put her down and the leash came off. That’s HUGE!!!I also thought she was pretty darned fast on the releases into the course. That is also huge!!!
Super happy with both of those developments 🙂She showed us the next things to work on:
More Find My Face game on course, so if there is a little error or disconnect or lateness, she will still be engaged. I know you have played the game, but i don’t think you’ve had a lot of time to do it on course recently. That will really help!And, more reinforcement for running past people- that is a kryptonite for her, indeed! Running past the white gate lining one side of the ring was really hard, plus she also had a harder when the course turned towards the exit and reward (she was heading to the reward/exit). So keep playing the cookie kryptonite games with people, and also with your remote reinforcement work on course – set up short sequences heading away from the reinforcement. And, the further away from the reward station/exit gate she gets, the more you will be you cue going to it. That will help her love moving away from it, and not want to drive to it when you turn that direction.
Great job! How did today go?
TracyYikes! The Border Collie lunging at the end was scary! Poor Skipper!!
It was very clever of you to hand the leash off early -that gets rid of the leash runner guy with the bucket (what is up with buckets in PA trials? LOL!)
I think she was SUPER engaged when you put her down (win!), she immediately turned to you, no sniffing (win!) , she could do her tricks (win!!!). – but could not sit. To be honest, I think your sit cue is poisoned and just should be eliminated. She was engaged, she put herself in a stay, lined up, ready to go… then you said ‘sit’ and the pressure turned on and she checked out.
So… no more sit! You don’t need the word and you don’t need the position 🙂 If she is engaged, does her tricks? Just ask for a stay and lead out, releasing quickly! I am happy with everything that happened til you said ‘sit’. No more sit word or position, just use a stand stay 🙂 Maybe the sit will come back eventually? Or not. The sit is not important, the engagement is important 🙂She had some trouble running past the wall of people, so yo can start the run moving away from them to establish confidence then eventually swing back around to run past them.
The handling came off the rails a bit near the weaves, but I think that was more of a handling error (it was not that clear) and not an engagement issue.Let me know how tomorrow goes!! Remember: NO SIT!! 🙂 Stand stay and go go go 🙂
T
Hi!
I am sorry to hear about Katy! That is a bummer 🙁
Whistle sounds VERY fun!!! Doing both MaxPup 3 and CAMP is a lot of running (for you LOL!) you can do both if you feel like all that running 🙂 The other option is to sign up to audit CAMP and then if you think you can work both, you can bump up to working! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Yes, she was totally turned off by the wet grass LOL! She was making good striding choices but was a little “hoppy” because she didn’t like the wet LOL!!
Two ideas for you-
I think she was a little too close to the first jump on reps 1 and 2 – the setup a tiny but further from it on reps 3, 4, and 5 looked more comfortable for her.
Also, try the dragging toy now (I think the reward was stationary on these). You can attach the lotus ball to a line or something so it can be pulled along the ground – start with it where you had it here, then starting moving it, release her, and keep moving it til she gets to it 🙂 That can help her keep her head down and power forward more to drive the grid.Great job! Fingers crossed for dry weather ahead 🙂
TracyHi!
She looks so good there (the starfish is really hard and she really had np problems). YAY! Your feedback is very boring on this one, it is all about how well you and Fritzi did 🙂I was going to ask you if you had a verbal for those turn away moments after the tunnel, but you aded your “here’ verbal and it worked really well!
You had lovely connection and clear handling throughout this session – low hands, eye contact while remaining in motion, patience on the lines, and getting the verbals out. So nice!!! Fritzi is really blossoming!I was going to say you could start to flip her away sooner on the turn away moments… but then you started flipping her away sooner and she was great. LOL!! I guess you were reading my mind, in advance 🙂
>>There was a missed communication at 1:10 that was totally my fault. I gave her soft turn verbal (late) and she went to tunnel. I let her come around again with a wrap verbal and the tunnel threadle verbal that were more timely and she did great.>>
Yes – the soft turn verbal should mean the tunnel entry she took, and you handled the moment really well by keeping her in motion, changing the verbal to the wrap, and then rewarding the correct tunnel entry Click/treat to you! And then you nailed it on the last rep going the other direction!
>>My running isn’t the best here (I broke a couple ribs a month ago that are taking forever to heal and I’m limping from other old injuries….getting old is a bitch) but…. it seems I need to run better lines too as Fritzi gets more confident. >>
Holy WHAT, you’ve been doing all of this running with broken ribs?!?!?! Well done, that is impressive!
>>Signed up for the next maxpup 3 class with Fritzi yay ! Wondering if the line running would be helped by taking the Learn Your Dog camp class ? Was thinking of taking it with my 4 year old that you haven’t seen yet.>>
MaxPup 3 is going be a hoot, that is where we really get the youngsters running the real stuff 🙂 Yes, we will be working on line running. We will do lots of masters-level line running and cause work in CAMP too – are you thinking of Katy for camp? If my memory serves me, I got to meet her in the Verbals On The Run class 🙂
Fabulous job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>Ugh! I wrote a long post yesterday and apparently it didn’t stick? waaaaaaa!!!!Ugh! So annoying! What type of device are you using? On some of the mobile Apple devices, Apple sometimes bumps out any high content WordPress that also has a lot of YouTube links. You can start a new thread and the issue will go away until Apple fixes it in their next update. If it is on a different device, it might be an internet connection issue?
>>I shared that when we got to our home turf for classes on Wed she was super comfortable, pattern games -shmatern games, let’s start tugging (tugging! she jumped up to grab the fluffy leash handle!) so that was really good data for me of what comfortable looks like.>>
Awesome!! TUGGING!!! Love it 🙂
I>> wanted to ask if you want the Pattern Games and the Volume Dial separated by a total break – like put her away between. I know that if she wasn’t getting comfy then I wouldn’t continue and if it has been a few minutes then yes we’d take a break. But if she is comfortable quickly then may I move into Volume Dial aka Cued behaviors in the same session?>>
The wind up to the ring doesn’t need all of the games, and some of the games are specific to what happens in the ring or at the end (rather than trying to get all of the games going before the run). We practice them a lot outside the ring at this stage but you don’t need to try to get them all in – here are a few ideas on where they each might go:
Thinking of it as the windup to going into the ring: if she is engaged with the pattern games, you can go right into the volume dial as you get closer to your turn un the ring. If she is struggling, you can move her away to see if she can find a comfortable spot and then try the volume dial games.>>I also asked about other games — over the last week / the trial in Utah I’d been showing video of PG VD and RR and you gave me a clear 1, 2, 3 order to those, but there’s also Engaged Chill, Leash Off/ Offered Engagement, and Find My Face, and Zipp’s version of FMF is to give 1 pull on the leash (like ringing a bell to be brought tea by her servant).>>
In the context of the wind up to going into the ring: The 1-2-3 order is the way I would start getting the dog ready to run. The engaged chill can go between the pattern game and the volume dial, as those as all outside the ring games to help prep for the run. Volume dial happens within a minute or so of the run, because it is not an arousal state that can be maintained for a long time. And if it looks like you are about to go in, and your do your volume dial – then there is a delay! Then you can go back to the engaged chill or the pattern game, then back to the volume dial, for example. The leash off/offered engagement is for the line in the ring, so it does not need to be practiced in the wind up to the run (it is taught separately and used in the ‘this is what happens in front of the jump’ moment. Find My Face is a fun warm up/volume dial game if you pivot fast, but it is also mainly a separate game to help the dogs understand how to remain engaged when connection breaks. The Remote Reinforcement is also not something that needs to be used in the wind up to the run – it is a concept to be trained so she knows where the reward is and how to earn it, and I do show the reward station to the dog so she knows where it it… but the main outside the ring stuff before your run doesn’t require it. I suggested doing it at the Utah trial because it was a good opportunity to work it in a new environment even if you didn’t run the courses.
>>My understanding is that when arriving at a class / trial: Pattern Games is priority. Once she’s comfy then I can do some “temperature checks” with Find My Face and Leash Off / Offered Engagement, or should I do some Volume Dial things to bring her up and THEN do FMF etc? Followed by more VD closer to our turn in the ring including a Reinforcement Station check in?>>
Think of it like this:
Pattern games are basically the “let’s check it out and let you settle in”. Then, before a run, the volume dial tricks get her ‘up’. Those are the various tricks – off leash offered engagement is not necessarily a trick, and FMF can be a trick if you do it fast. But the off leash offered engagement is really later in the procedure, when you are at the line.> know we don’t want a fixed ritual / routine, but I want to be sure I understand your suggestion of the 3 games in Step By Step fashion, and my take that Find My Face and Leash Off are both CUED behaviors, so they come after pattern games, but they are not energy rising games like spins, pop, “ready” etc.
FMF (in the calmer non-trick state :)) and the off Leah offered engagement are not particularly pre-run prep games for when you outside the ring and are getting run to run, they are part of the run after the get ready part: off leash offered engagement is cued by context (in front of the jump) and the leash coming off 🙂 And Find My Face is cued by a disconnection on course 🙂 But I do sometimes use fast pivots as part of the volume dial game.
>>the other thing I mentioned is that her stays seem broken now with the silly walk lead outs (in class), but she holds them with an All Business lead out. My thought is to work on strengthening the stay in an easier environment but keep investing in silly walk, vs switching to all business.>>
Yes, totally 🙂 Strengthen the Monty Python lead outs with lots of reinforcement, then you can choose the all business or silly lead outs baed on how well she does after you release the stay.
Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
OMG so windy there!!!!
Sprite did well here! Great job with the turn aways/tandem turns at the beginning – deceleration on these really helps her lock onto the hand cue to turn away (like at :24 and :53) – you were moving too fast on the first 2 reps on each side. While the cues were technically correct, the acceleration through them propelled her long past the wing. The deceleration as she was arriving at you helped set up the tight turns.The transition on these is similar to the transition on those tight FC wraps: accelerate, decelerate when she is exiting the tunnel and getting closer to you, then turn her away.
On the bigger starfish reps at the end – she did well here with her commitments!! On the tunnel exit where you needed the soft turn to her right, you can call her sooner – you were giving the verbal right as her head got into the tunnel, and ideally she will be hearing it while she is still a full stride away from the entry.
She did well finding the single wing after the turn away and the tunnel entry too! Lots of independent commitment happening there, YAY!!!
>>I’m still trying to figure out the tunnel discrimination one. Gemma couldn’t do it and she’s pretty good with that cue usually.
The tunnel discrimination on this game is HARD!! Try a wrap cue on the wing before it and a deceleration? And send some video so we can figure it out 🙂
Great job!!
TracyGood morning!
Yes, this went really well!!! She did well with all of the soft turns and was getting better and better with the Go go go after you added more connection and more repeated verbals (and early toy throws).
When trying to get her to the wing after the Go tunnel exit, use a big connection to her on the tunnel exit (you were looking straight at :30 and :46) so she knows where to be) – you got there faster at :59 and 1:34 but more connection will help when you can’t get as far ahead.
You had the connection going at 1:55 when she exited the tunnel sooner and it worked well! You also had it at 2:23 but you stopped moving too soon, so she didn’t get a chance to finish committing. You had great connection oand motion on the rep after that and she got it nicely!
You can still move laterally away from the tunnel sooner, I think. She is showing great tunnel commitment, so you can already be moving away to the soft turn wing when she is just past the halfway point between the wing and the tunnel, while staying connected and saying the verbal.
Speaking of verbals…
>>My verbals, especially left (OMG!), were a mess today >>
Yes, there were a lot of right cues on left turns LOL!!! When adding all of these words with a new pup, do a 1:1 ratio of run it without the dog (with the correct verbals) then run it with the dog (with correct verbals). The errors happen when we run it with the dog each time and don’t practice the verbals.
She is very very responsive to the blinds you did at the end at 3:16 and 3:31. But, do them a lot sooner 🙂 You started them after she reached the wing and ideally the blind would be finished by them. So, when you see her approx halfway between the tunnel and the wing, start the blind – it provides her a picture of what the timing will be and also challenges her to maintain commitment. And keeping your arms in tight to your ribs will help you be really quick with the connection on the new side of the blind, which really helps keep it nice and tight too.
>>For a while the trucks and construction vehicles were moving around in the hydro yard next door and she was quite distracted by that – I held her collar for her setups then.
I could hear it in the background a little! She worked through it nicely.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Thanks for all the videos!!
For the most part, I love love love what she was doing on course: wicked fast, good jumping, strong commitment, and resilient to fixes – she got right back on the line without any further questions. 🙂Her arousal needle has moved to the “hot” side a bit – that helps her course work but has hurt the start line a bit. Two ideas for you:
– on the first run, it looks like you tapped her to get her engagement because she was looking away. In that moment, just wait for a second or two or three longer, so she can offer engagement, and then you can reward. That can help center her.
– for working the stays: rather than reset the stay position if she breaks, you can reset the process! Bring her back leash goes back on. Take a breath, leash comes off, cue the stay again. And you can play with what works better: leash off, get engagement and then cue the stay? Or, get engagement, get the sit, leash off. She will let you know what works best 🙂 My youngsters all prefer the leash-engage-stay order of festivities. If they break in practice or at a trial, I reset the entire procedure not just the stay.
Resetting the procedure helps the dogs understand each step being linked to the other steps… and also resetting the entire process provides a pretty massive response cost to a dog that wants to go go go! Starting over, on leash, is the LAST thing they want but it is the prize they win by breaking the stay LOL!! Plus, that response cost is always available at the start line because the leash is always involved 🙂
Everything else is looking SO GOOD that we are really getting close to what you want in the ring!!!
The engagement game looked pretty fabulous too 🙂 I tried playing it at half speed to make it look more normal but that only kinda worked LOL!!!
What is coming up on Lanna’s training and trialing calendar?
TracyHowdy! This session looked really good, bummer about the session that was not on video!!!!
You can try dragging the leash/toy to get engagement when he is hot? He probably grabs it right away when he is not hot, but dragging it like lure coursing might help when he is hot 🙂The Cartoon lead out looks fun 🙂 One thing to add, to build the tension (in a good way) before the release: look at him more, a little sideways glance of “do ya wanna….?” And slow down your movement: tight muscles, tip toe walk and slow inhales like breathing in through a straw can really be enticing and get a lot of engagement 🙂
Find My Face looked much better here, even with him already being hot! You can do this near a jump (really close to it) and reward him for taking the jump – stay just connected enough to see what he is doing. I really want to get working on more front-side-of-jump commitment in training and trials, and this game will help 🙂 Just have your treats already cut up so you can be quick with the rewards (I am also guilty of just ripping pieces of cheese off and it delays the reward).
Great job!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! I am glad you like the 2o2o class!!!
This session looked really good! She is GREAT at finding the backside on your left side, very smooth and confident! She is not as sure about it when she is on your right side. I don’t think it is anything you are doing, I just think she is better turning to her right than too her left (she has shown us this in other contexts too, if I am remembering correctly :)) So when she is on your left, you can a more distance on the backside but to help build up her skills on your right – don’t add any distance yet til she is as smooth on your right as she is on your left.
When working backsides without the bar, you would still reward her for coming in as if the bar was there (it is easier to get the pups to the backside without the bar because taking the front of the bar has a lot of value and can be distracting :)) You had racetracks going here with her going around the 2 wings, so you can still have her come in as if the bar is there during the backside session. And then, in a different setup, you can cue the racetracks so she still gets lots of value on the bar for the backside.Great job here! Have fun at the trial this weekend!
TracyGood morning!
This session looks lovely!>>We tried hard to be early with the directional before he enters the tunnel. Pretty hard to get it in! I>>
Yes, your tunnel verbals can be sooner and I think you are going to need more (and heavier) tunnel bags as he continues to get more powerful 🙂
You can make your life easier for earlier tunnel verbals by adding more distance between the wings and tunnel – the tunnel verbal can start as soon as he turns around the wing, and then draw a line in the sand so you can anticipate the timing and change to the exit verbal.
He read the threadle part really well, and there was a hesitation after it on the first rep. It looked like you were surprised at :10 – then scrambled to keep going LOL!! Watch his head: when you see he has turned his head to the threadle, assume that he has committed and keep moving through and start the next verbal. You were more prepared for his brilliance at :30 and that looked lovely! Remember to stay connected after the threadle, maintaining eye contact, so he can drive ahead to the next line without looking at you.
One thing that you have added which is GREAT is that little bit of deceleration going into the turn away moments for the in in: you can see it really clearly at :45: you are taking big strides, then you go to smaller steps as you start the verbal, then the turn away cue. Note how well he reads it!!!!
And you had GREAT connection there – you can really see your connection on the lines that are closer to the camera – click/treat for you because connection is so critical.
Karena – your reps were excellent too! The only thing to add is more connection to his eyes after the in in turn away cue. You were looking forward, so he looked at you for a heartbeat. If you maintain eye contact after that turn away (and start the verbal for the next line as soon as you see his head turn away for the threadle jump) you will see him read the line of your shoulders and stay out on his line.
A dog training thing you can do to help this, because he had that little question after the threadle for both of you: after the in in threadle, throw the reward straight ahead immediately (don’t worry about the next wing) so he gets into the habit of driving out of the turn aways and out of the habit of checking in :))
Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
