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Good morning (or afternoon there? LOL!)
>> we are trying to combine a few things here. tell me what u think. So i am in an area where there are big smells. I have a remote reward .. his treats are in the container. As he seems to struggle as soon as I unclip the leash at trials … I am trying to unclip followed by games followed by take a jump and run back to reward on cue. Here is Sparky. >>
Yes, I agree, that moment when you take the leash off is super important! As you work on that, remember to balance the games out – yes, sometimes be super high energy but also work the games where you are low energy and NOT cuing engagement and teaching him to offer it, reflexively. The low energy games are actually more important because it teaches him to make the decisions in the moment and modulate his arousal/distractions – the cues and tricks are great but they won’t work all the time at a trial if he doesn’t know how to make the decision.
This was SUPER high energy which is great, and high energy will help him! You can create a sequence of run in, leash off, touch, then take off for the jump (more below on a better sequence idea for this).
Also, restart with the leash every single time. It is a pain to put it back on but the issue is with taking off the leash, so you have to have taking off the leash as part of the game. So after every reinforcement, put the leash back on, leave the area, come right back in, take the leash off, and so on.
For the low energy games where you teach him to offer – we have already been working on it and he is doing well, so insert those into these games:
– you can run in like you did here.
– Take the leash off
– Then stand still, in a crouched, game on engaged posture and let him offer looking at you.
– When he looks at you (looking at you is the opposite of sniffing!) then you can go wild with the hand touches, release to the jump, etc.
By skipping the offered engagement and going directly to the hand touches, you are making his engagement reliant on your energy level and whether or not he can respond to those cues in that situation. High energy is a management technique and it can be helpful – but in the places where you cannot be high energy, or if you have to look away for a heartbeat, he needs to understand how to moderate his own internal state.By inserting the offered engagement? You are building up the understanding of how to ignore distractions without you needing to rely on your high energy. And by letting him offer then doing the tricks/jump, you are reinforcing the offering as well which will increase it!
Also – speaking of high energy – how are the engaged chill/relaxation games going? There is a substantial amount of time spent outside the ring, waiting for your turn, and it is impossible to use high energy to maintain engagement the whole time. That is exhausting for you both! So the engaged chill (and take a breath) games really help, as do the pattern games.
Any luck getting him into a group class of some sort? This is an important step for him to bridge the gap between home training and trials.
>>A lot of people are saying to me I should have the reward in front of him in training – bec what i am doing is only teaching him to run backwards for the treat …
I don’t think they fully know what the training goals are and why. We are not teaching him to run forwards or backwards 🙂 We are teaching him to come to the start line with engagement and a happy feeling, not stressed and able to ignore scents when there are no visible reinforcements in your hands or on the course. If the reward is in your hand or ahead of him on course – yes, he will be great but then he won’t understand how to do that in trials.
>>i feel I’m on the right path… My only battle with him .. and its big .. is the leash off seems to be the permission to disengage and sniff!! that’s the behaviour I need to repair…>>
I agree, you are on the right path! Reframe how you are thinking about it a bit: it is not a battle, he is not naughty 🙂 He is struggling and stressed – so we can help him! Think of it as helping your teammate and not battling your teammate. I don’t know if he thinks the leash off as permission or a cue to sniff, it is probably more of a stress-related behavior that got built in because trials are stressful, especially when all the food is behind the dog. So by helping him understand how to earn the reinforcement that is behind him and outside the ring, and also teaching him how valuable it is to offer engagement when the leash comes off (rather than sniff) – and also how to relax in the environment – you will be able to help him and change his feeling on the start line.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>> Yes. i am leaning toward it’s a nothing since the exit from the jump isn’t any kind of a turn. Based on one of your explanations a bit ago of left and right being for what shape the exit from the jump is those don’t seem correct since the exit is a straight line with no turn right after the jump. I almost put jumps in those spots with the bumps in place specifically because of that question but opted to stick with the game setup.>>
You can go ahead and put bumps in for the visual to decide the verbals! I name the directionals based on what the dog needs to do before takeoff to create the turn – so the big dogs would get a left or right directional because they have to collect to create the L shaped turn (if the jump bar is facing the tunnel) and definitely if the jump bar is perpendicular to the tunnel.
> A goofy puppy is good! And what you might see as less drivey can also be interpreted as less aroused, which is GREAT because I much prefer the dogs come into these sports will less arousal, making it easier to modulate the arousal later on. Looking back at my puppy videos, CB and Elektra look almost sleepy LOL!! But, as 2 year olds now they are very fast AND centered in their arousal states. Beka will be very similar – it is LOVELY to trial dogs like this!
>>Week 1 – Wind in the Hair
So, since we are outside now I decided to work this again so we could build up distance that we couldn’t do in the basement and as a bit of prep for doing the tunnel exits game next. No issues here >>Looked great! My only thoughts were little things like “heavier toy” (which you did), “throw a little sooner” (which you did) and you can also repeat the GO more than once so on the bigger distances and courses, the repeated verbal really supports her line.
This WIYH setup gets used for a bunch of things, so keep working the Go lines as you add in the rear crosses, backside wraps, and front side wraps 🙂
>>I have the tunnel exit game set up now and have a couple of questions:
– Should we do a few ‘go’ games with the tunnel too before playing it? I looked for a game that did this before the tunnel exit game but not seeing one (maybe max pup 1?) as I think she might need that practise as prep since she has never had a chance to blast out of a tunnel in the basement.>>Yes, definitely prep and refresh it since it is the first time outside – we did some in MaxPup 1 and this game makes it easy too, but you can totally do a bit of refreshing before adding more turns.
>>– Only have a 20′ tunnel in the yard right now, should we shorten it up, mostly for the go part to the wing? thinking it is going to be hard to help show her to go around the wing the times she goes straight out of the tunnel like you do with Elektra in the video.>>
If you can shorten it and prevent it from moving or possibly catching her toes, then OK – but I like tunnels to be stretched out and well-secured, so the other option is to have the Go wing really close to the exit of the long tunnel, and set yourself up to cheat a bit by getting ahead so you can connect and handle the line for the Go to the wing. You won’t need to cheat when she understands the Go exit more, but the cheating is a great start LOL!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!!
I’m sorry to hear about the bout of covid. I think we are all going to get it at some point – I had it in February. I got lucky (super mild case, just a stuffy nose). Sorry to hear about the fatigue!!!!!You can keep posting til May 18th, so hopefully that gives you time to recover more. Feel free to tweak these into things like tunnel or jump sends while you sit on the couch!
Keep me posted and feel better soon!
TracyHi!
>>So for the go I think I’m bending because I don’t feel like she’s going full throttle. I may be just used to heavier driven dogs like Ella. Maybe add more space so I can relax and run- also why I think I’m over connected. Or with that make it harder for her to commit?
Bending and not accelerating tells her to not go (extreme connection like that is a collectioncue)…. so yes, definitely add more space so she can run more, and you need to support it by running more too LOL! She only needs enough connection to know which side of you to be on so you can reduce connection in favor of more motion.
Do TONS of go reps with early thrown rewards so she turns on the burners and leaves you in the dust. Viszlas are generally faster on the flat than BCs, so you’ll feel her power kick in soon 🙂
THi!
>>Are you saying after I carry Posh into the ring and she gets distracted by something while on the way to start or set up in the ring, put her down, have her do a few tricks, get her engaged, then pick her back up and start again?
Or are you suggesting this for before we enter the ring?>>
Yes. And yes 🙂 be prepared for whenever it might happen. If it happens outside the ring and she is already in your arms? You can put her down, do some tricks or pattern games (for treats). If she is inside the ring, put her down and do some tricks – you won’t have treats but you might have a toy. Also, does she tug on her leash? That is very useful!
Tracy
I think it is more of a case study of men versus women! In my experience (going on almost 24 years now, LORDY!): women in agility do really well with deceleration. Men do not naturally do as well (and you’ll find that men fall more when running full out in agility, because they try to sprint and turn without decelerating into the turn). So, I tell men to stand up to create the decel, and that tends to help 🙂
T
Hi!
The zig zags are looking lovely! She is *almost* bouncing here and that is great, we want the bounce! So moving them closer might get the bounce – she is loking really confident with her lead changes in both directions! I think the next step in the progression for her is to move it all closer together – the end of the jump bump 31 can be touching wing #2, and the end of jump bump 2 and be touching wing 3.
Lap turns:
She did really well on these!! You were freestyling a little bit of the handling but that is great LOL!! It gets you to be quick on your feet and she was happy with it all!
Her only questions on the lap turns were when you cue hand was not extended enough (your elbow was too bent so your cue hand got a little too tucked into you and was not obvious enough) so she didn’t read it as a cue to come in towards you and ended up on the wrong side of the wing. She did best on the lap turns when you had your hand fully extended towards her, like at :20 – you had an extended hand aka “magic cookie hand” to attract her focus, and makes it really clear for her!
Because she has such lovely commitment to the wings, you can make things easier by sending her to the other wing from further away, so you don’t really have to back up into the lap turns – the send will allow you to basically be waiting for her in the right spot, with the magic cookie hand extended to her nose 🙂Tandem turns – she is responding to these turn aways so nicely!!!
I think the main thing to remember on the tandem turns is that you are facing forward the whole time until after you turn her away – you were backing up int the lap turn for part of it and I think that was messing you up. You had great forward-facing tandem turns at :07 and then again at :58 and 1:03. Those were lovely!Great job! Let me know what you think1
TracyHi!
>>Aka sea star or bat star>>
I need to research my various sea creatures 🙂 We don’t see many of them here in the Blue ridge Mountains and it is possible I am naming these games after creatures that don’t exist LOL!
Good work on these! There are two details that will help smooth out the lines where he had questions.
>> We noticed Ronan had a much higher accuracy rate doing the threadle with me than with Mike. I took some snapshots of the videos and it seems that Mike is either a step further out or a step further back than I am when Ronan comes out of the tunnel. Feet are usually pointing forward and we are both moving forward towards the wing… In that first rep or 2
Looking at all the reps – Ronan definitely did better for both of you with a more obvious outside arm that got his focus then turned him away. At first, Mike’s hands were not as clear but then he got MUCH clearer at :33 and :42!!! So keep going with the super clear outside arm, that really helps.
>> I also think the huge holee roller was distracting! What do you think??
Only when he didn’t read the turn away on Mike’s first rep, otherwise he was great about following the cues.
The other thing I see with the turn aways/threadles was that Karena had decel happening as she was using the outside arm to set up the threadle/turn away, and Mike did not. Mike, you were tending to run fast then stop while trying to turn hm away, and so Ronan didn’t see the turn away cue as well – the decel really prepares him for it. Karena, you were doing a deceleration naturally, which got his focus on your more so he read the turn away better. Mike – try decelerating as you say in in and show the outside arm, then keep decelerating as you turn him away. Let me know what you think!
The other thing he had trouble with was the left/right ‘race track’ moments for both of you. It was a connection issue. At 1:16 (for Karena) and 2:16 (for Mike) you both had your arms pretty high and ahead of him, pointing forward to the wing. He was behind you, so from his perspective, he saw your back turning away from the line and lateral motion away from it (so he didn’t go to the wing).
Compare that to 1:28 (Karena) and 2:24 (Mike) where you both kept your arms back longer and used more eye contact, and Ronan was perfect.
So as he exits the tunnel, be sure your arm is back pointing down to his nose, and let him get past you before you point it forward.Great job! Let me know how the in in goes with the decel added in!
Tracy
Hi! Thanks for the update!!
Run 1 – either my computer is losing its mind, or there is no sound on this video LOL! He di really well here – I notice the biggest differences when you have an oopsie or you are talkin to the instructor. The little dude stays engaged and gets right back to work with very little effort from you. YESSSS!
>>He didn’t have much activity before his start so he was a bit more distracted to start and ran over to his reward station which reminded me I forgot his clam.
This was good to see, as it helps us know how much the tricks and games help him get his head in the right place before each run. Note the difference n the next lead outwhen you were sillywith the cartoon game 🙂 – total focus!
>>I did try the cartoon lead out and my instructor tried to tell me he skipped the tire but I just kept going.
I think he probably needs more understanding of the tire in general. Do you have one you can borrow to clicker training him to go through it? and in class, you can try putting big jump wings between the frame and the tire to guide his eyes to the center of the tire to help him find it.
2nd run: Having more warm up time makes a big difference: I love love love the engagement he offered when the leash came off! The miss on th jump after the tunnel at :30 was a connection oopsie (he only saw your back and you were moving laterally) but I love how he handled the resets. And this course in general was quite complicated as you mentioned but he did really well! You can use reset cookeis – likle for htbackside after the tunnel, that is a handling error, so a reset cookie before sneindg him back in will help him stay in the game.
And BRILLIANT reinforcement for the tire! That was smart to reward it rather than continue.
>>It felt like the best run so I was curious to see the video but I stopped it 4 secs into the start.>
GAH! Of course the best run doesn’t make it onto the video LOL!
>>For this run I did probably step 4 instead of 3 as it was 17 obstacles and he added the tire on his own at the end and actually took it. I just kept running to his reward and came back to leash him.>>
So basically a full course without obvious reinforcement? SUPER!
>> I did cartoon lead out walking backwards facing him and was able to get in front of tire so he took it this time. >>
Yay!! Well done!
>>There was a long stretch the instructor said he did well following me as it was the blue jumps in the middle all the way to the white jump near the woods past the tunnel and AFrame. I didn’t stop anywhere or retry but didn’t seem like he had any issues. It took 2 mins since I accidentally started the recording during his reward session. He was fine with the Sheltie coming out when I was leashing him so he was better than last week.>>
So overall, he was a rockstar. I am excited to hear it!!!!
>>After his 1st run, they had the inside open so took him inside. I practiced disconnect on tunnel and he found my face, not middle. The channel weaves were open so he ran thru those and hopped on a table. Between runs, he was checking out the chairs which had his rewards and someone else’s treats. They had watered the ground so it was a tight area to navigate to start his run.>>
This is all good! He is already doing well staying engaged when there is an error or stop in the action, so the Find My Face will furthre solidify that. And the channel weaves are great for solidifying his weaves too.
>>On jump sequences he runs in toward me frequently but he’s better about going back out and taking it.
I think the next step will be increasing connection to help him stay on his line more. Less arm to show the line, and more eye contact. I know it sounds weird and counterintuitive, but works really well!
>>He seems to do better on lead outs if I face him and walk backwards. Opposite of how we were trained to walk away.>>
It is further proof that different dogs need different things 🙂 If it works for him, and he is happy and fast, and it is easy enough for you to do… let’s do it!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyYou’re doing a great job! And brilliant to practice with the Borders, because everything happens so much faster with them 🙂
Tracy
Hi! All of this looks great!
On the ‘find the jump’ –
She did really well here! Very confidently finding the jump and FAST FAST FAST. YAY!!!Now… for your next session, you need to move more. Start with jogging then build up to run run run! Add in more motion as you move up the line close to the jump – you can be way ahead, laterally away from her, and also run closer to the tunnel so she drives ahead.
For the reinforcement:
Remember to use your ‘get it’ marker before you throw the reward (rather than ‘yes’, which I don’t think indicates a thrown reinforcement) so she knows where to look. And, you can throw a bit sooner so she doesn’t look back at you: I think when she is a full stride before the jump, the reward can already be moving so it is landing before she takes off.The rear cross session looked great too, I am glad you tackled it!
For the Go reps – bend over less, run more 🙂 Yes to being connected but don’t be a helicopter mom (no hovering LOL!!) Hovering/over-connecting adds rotation and also puts pressure in towards the bar which can get confused with rear crosses. So yes, have your arm back and look for her eyes, but stand up and run 🙂 You can connect less – a more casual connection and not as much very direct eye contact.Rear crosses looked fabulous!
Start closer to the start wing on the RCs so you don’t have to wait as long – waiting is hard LOL!! I was very happy with all the RCs to the right but will bug you about one thing: at 1:20, I think you said GO RIGHT GO RIGHT… don’t mix verbals LOL! Go means straight, right means turn right… “Go Right” is confusing. It was probably just a verbal twitch because you didn’t want to wait at the wing with the beast coming at you 🙂
Left turn RCs – she is reading these really well too! The first two were a little delayed getting on the RC diagonal pressure, I think you were mainly too far from the start wing by a step or two – you can wait at the wing (which is admittedly SO HARD) or you can add more distance between the wing and the jump 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! I love that you are posting!! Hopefully it is easier to not have to edit, and just slap the whole video online 🙂
The barn videos are looking really good!!! That nose bop bounce looks great, SO FUN! I like how you are starting with a bit of pattern games then into the bop bouncing 🙂 She did super well ignoring the toy station and her agility looks marvelous. 2 suggestions for the next barn time especially with Aunt Shelly 🙂
You can do flyball-style recalls (but using agility scenarios :)) past the people waiting area (that people waiting area is a true kryptonite for her!) – send her into the tunnel in this scenario then run and let her chase you past the crowd, then eventually through the crowd with the toy obvious at first, then hidden later on 🙂 I think directly tackling that Kryptonite is something she is ready for.
Also – tjhe sniffing is greatly reduced and her pattern games look good here and in the Find My Face game, so we can up the ante: will she eat a cookie out of the dirt? I think tossing the cookie into the dirt for the pattern game can help her lift her nose from the scent on the ground in this situations, which is a good skill to have!
Find My Face – very nice start with the pattern game and pivots! She did really well!
When you added the jumps, she also did well – at 1:44 and after it, she was correct to not take the jumps because you had stopped moving and you turned. She did well finding you! If you want her to take jumps in the next ssssion, keep moving past them (but not a big deal if she doesn’t take them because there is no real cue for them – we are trying to teach her to save yer butt haha)>>. I did notice a bit of angry Smurf when I added jumps
The barking was an indication of frustration, so reward sooner – the instant she makes the decision to stay engaged and even kinda sorta finds your face? Reward for now 🙂 Don’t do another pivot away at this stage 🙂
Remote reinforcement videos:
>>I do think the picture of leaving stash on leash without visible toy has some negative feelings and/or just some stuff I don’t want built in.
Yes, it might have some icky emotions paired with it so you can totally keep the sessions where she has to leave the stash SUPER rewarding and short in distance and duration. Your plan on lots of rewards for tiny pieces is great. Remind me – will she tug on a leash? Or, a leash that she thinks is a toy? Yes, she would still have to learn to ignore it but it is a good bridge to get from outside the ring to the start line.
I would take 2 separate approaches for this:
– there is a lot of physical and mental energy that goes into this game, so do one rep of it (leaving the stash, doing the tricks, running back to it) and then give her a break. You can work with the puppy in between 🙂 Then Lanna can do another rep. The rest in between will help solidfy the behavior and keep it strong for the whole session. On the first video, you lost her at about the 3 minute mark because she was a little mentally tired at that point. On the 2nd video, I would have stopped after 1:03 ish where she got her reward, then give her a break 🙂 That also helps her rehearse it as one complete sequence of events, with a finish to it.
– The backing-up-nose-bop looked great! She seems to really love it! Use it as part of this, but also work on moving away from the stash with just moving, no high energy tricks, just walking to a start line. Start with just one or two steps of just moving, then you can gradually extend the duration. The reason for this is that you can move from the rin entry to the line without relying on the tricks the whole way, saving the tricks for when you arrive at the line – it will be a nice balance for her!
I noticed at the end of the 2nd video here was the cartoony lead out… she seemed to really like it! YAY!!!! It will either help get her attention if there are distractions – or if she turns out to be more of an ‘all business’ girl, the cartoon games are great to raising her level of stimulation to ‘proof’ focus.
>>Her kryptonite (if I ever get to that part of the homework) is really fast dog running and barking so I can’t walk her in off leash (at least currently).>>
You can control the environment by having a gate between her and the running dog – and she can be dragging the leash, etc, but no access to chase the dog. Also, pattern games are probably the best first step when you tackle that Kryptonite. And I have personally found flyball classes and practices to be PERFECT for this 🙂 I really wish this country was smaller, it would be SO FUN to be close enough to do agiltiy and flyball together!!!
>.Monica Bush seminar Friday and WAG UKI Sun.>>
Fabulous! I hear lovely things about Monica’s seminars. And UKI allows for a zillion NFC opportunities! You can start with level 1 (just like home) and see how level 2 goes (empty hands) and then if that goes well and there are easy runs – a level 3 in and out!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I agree, this went well! And I didn’t see much difference between the runs where the toys were obvious, versus the runs where it looked more “for real”. Excellent!Looking at the videos: I also agree that carrying in her in is helpful – you can also work on putting her down and letting her offer engagement, and then asking for some tricks, especially for when there are distractions.
1st run – very nice! Yes to the little glance at the ring crew on the way to the teeter, I can see it too but she was otherwise fully engaged and did a great job!
2nd run – a handling idea to help her see all the jumps on her line: when you are ahead here at :17 (and on the previous video after the first tunnel) – keep your arm back for more connection (so you can see her eyes and she can see your eyes a bit) to help support her line. When your arm was high and parallel to your shoulders like it was there, it changes the line of your shoulders, breaking connection and pulled her off the jump.
In this run, with DP in your pocket, you can whip it out at the end to reward in the ring before she jumps in your arms.
3rd run –
>>. Going to the line and popping off Posh’s leash, I noticed Posh kept turning to look at Sharon.There was also some type of alarm barking happening that I am sure she heard, which could have been distracting. I don’t think it was Posh barking, right?
If you see her being caught by a distraction, take an extra moment to keep her leash on, ask for a trick or two, get her engagement – then pick her up and restart the sequence that brings you to the line and into the run. It only takes a few seconds but can make a big difference!
>> I don’t believe Posh as ever seen someone Sign, let alone the leash runner. But it went well, even with NO treats or a toy. >>
Excellent! I score it a win in a new situation!
last run – yes, she was looking at the judge at first but the funky dance really changed things!
>>But I decided give it a go, whisper singing early and funky dance. It kept her attention on me and it worked. Go figure?
Oh yeah! Totally worked! FUN!!!!! And she looked solid in the stay too, then focused on the run. SUPER!!!!
Great job here! I agree, she is making real progress and also you are using the tools that help her. SO FUN!!!!
Tracy
