Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi! It sounds like California is ROASTING!! EEK!!!!!
We have until the 15th here, but we can go over by a few days, no worries 🙂 I am planning some small space handling sessions for the teenagers 🙂 Stay tuned, I hope to have all those dates sorted out by the end of next week 🙂
TracyGood morning!
Looking at the teeter: she started off with a little question then got SUPER confident by the end. Yay!
>>Do we just continue to drop the height?
yes, very slowly. I would keep her at the same height for 3 or 4 sessions, then drop it the tiniest bit, so she barely notices the difference.
>>Anything I should be aware of as points where she would be more likely to have an issue?>>
If you slice the behavior thin enough, there should be no issues. But bear in mind, that I train the end position and other elements of this all very separately, using the bang game, the teeter between tables you mentioned from your weekly class, the elevator game, etc – it all builds together really nicely.
>>And I assume I don’t label it until the entire picture is in place.
It depends on what you plan your verbals to be. I use an obstacle name and an end position cue: so any time the dog runs up the teeter, I can name it “teeter”. Then when I am working the end position, like on a plank or the bang game, I use the target cue. Eventually it all melds together.
Looking at the decel video:
>>hmm, while standing in place doing it it didn’t really feel like she was deceling on the wraps much at all, looks much better on the video – LOL!
It is because she was not decelerating to set up the turn – but the turn still looked good. Here is what was happening:
After the first rep where she collected on each side, she went to v-setting her line – she was arcing out to then come back in for the wrap, so she could basically do it all in extension. Clever! That tells us she needs a higher bar to jump because the v-set is possible on the low bar but will not be possible on a full height bar in the future. If she was a small dog, we would LOVE the v-set to stay in extension, but alas it is not the best thing for a BC 🙂 What height is she jumping in Kim’s class? I would try these at 14-16″ inches at this point to see what she does. A little v-set is fine but we would like her to rock back into her rear more too.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
He is doing well turning the new direction, and the ‘flip’ verbal sounds nice and different from the other verbals.
You were helping him by stepping in past the tunnel, which is perfect for now. As he gets more comfortable with this cue, you can keep yourself on the other side of the tunnel 🙂
A suggestion about reward:
Because this builds to a layering element and NOT wrapping back to you, change your reward placement even on the wing:
Throw the reward the new direction as soon as he turns his head that way, rather than waiting for the wing commitment or wrapping back to you. He can run past the wing (not all wing cues need to be wraps :)). That will make it easier when you do eventually add a bar in to make it a full jump.One other suggestion:
When there is an error, give a reset cookie or tug, then try again. When he went around the tunnel at :09. it was a skill he didn’t know and by asking him “where is the tunnel” – he took it when you were stationary which is entirely different than when you were trying to move. So the reset cookie prevents frustration while also allowing you to set up the same question, rewarding the behavior he had trouble with on the previous rep.>> Also if you’re heading our way this fall (Oct14ish) let me know if there is a place/person to signup.>>
Suzie just posted the sign up info, it is here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdEISdSEqVpdfOPcXZ8cRFa3ENzX0gzPqzXtoIvflS48D2P_w/viewform?fbclid=IwAR1jTIQO_om1E1ktYdbuR0SSYazqnG92-b6P50fUS24sHS2xlwpngGQHvXAGreat job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHe did well here too, he is so fun!!! He was a little wide on the first wing for the first few reps, but then he was tightening the line up – but hitting the wing while he did that. Since we don’t want the wideness, and we don’t want him to hit the wing… split the difference LOL! Move the wing over a few feet so te line to the tunnel is more natural: not too wide, not too tight, all he has to do is come around the wing. Because this is exercise involves a LOT of handler motion, we need to make other elements easier for a puppy – so we can make the wrap line easier, as he learns to find the line as you run run run 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi! I hope Tulka is feeling better! Kotaulo is stepping in nicely 🙂 Great job with the stay rewards!!
Looking at the threadle wraps:
He did well reading the differences between the physical cues for the wraps and the threadles! So now, add motion for both so he doesn’t think the threadle is a stationary cue: Use the same exactly speed for both of them (walking for now) so he can process the differences in the verbal, hands, and line of motion.Speaking of the verbal 🙂
Your verbals are sounding pretty much the same, so now is a good time to differentiate them. You don’t need to change the exact words, but you can change the length and pitch. The in in verbal can be longer and slower, which will lower the pitch. The front side wrap can remain the same as it was here, so both of them will then sound entirely different.Nice work! Onwards to the next video:
TracyGood morning!
Maisy seems to be in absolute heaven with all of these distance handling games and layering games! She looked great here. A couple of small details:
Remember to give your switch cue before she enters the tunnel and give it again before she exits, so she can turn before she exits the tunnel and doesn’t need to look at y y when she exits, You were a bit to quiet at :26, but you were were earlier at :40 & :51 – she will get used to the early cues and not look at you at all when she has more practice with these.
And, keep your hands lower so that the cue stays clear – your hands started off pretty low but then you were starting to get high so she was looking up more and more.
>>Clearly not my handling because Sass and co struggled with the jump behind the tunnel>>
Did you try Sassy turning to her left (mirroring the sequence)? That might be her easier side, to teach the skill. Also, because Sassy is so small, very low hands will really help 🙂
One more detail: After the switch away, keep moving after so she sees you moving in the layering, and also so she keeps the bar up behind the tunnel (stopping and throwing was causing her to ask questions, so that bar behind the tunnel came down a few times.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
This went well! She had no wide turns here at all!
Really nice turn on the FC wrap at the beginning.
You were too soon on first spin – it wasn’t because you were looking at her, it was because you didn’t have the transition of acceleration, deceleration, then rotate. You were not really moving then you rotated, so she never got a commitment cue. The second spin was very nice!
When you added the sequences:
I think we are beginning to see how well she can turn! On the sequence with the FC wrap, you had a clearer transition so she committed and had a great turn.
On the first sequence with the spin, she didn’t take the jump. It was a transition issue more than a where-you-looked issue: you slammed on the brakes at 1:03 so she didn’t commit (you were facing her and moving back towards her when she landed from the previous jump). The last rep was clearer with acceleration then more decel before the rotation and she was lovely!So now I will bug you to add your directional verbals back in 🙂 There was a lot of “Beka!” and “tunnel” but remember to use your wrap verbals and verbals for the tunnel exit too 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi! August flew by!!
>>Been spending time working on his focus and reactivity. The boy want to meet every other dog in the world. No aggression at all, lots of tail wagging and play bowing, but he does loose the ability to think
That is pretty normal for an adolescent 🙂 Have you ever done any pattern games with him? Those are pretty magical for getting focus!
He is doing well with the threadle wraps! One suggestion is to NOT say “break”, as that almost always means “take the front of the jump” which is what he did a couple of times. You can release him with his name then the threadle verbal, or just the threadle verbal as he gets more experienced with it.
When he gets to the backside, he is doing a great job with the turn! So I think the verbal cue as the release rather than the ‘break’ cue will make all the difference.Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! The links worked, thanks! This looked great – this is exactly the type of challenge we are seeing a LOT of on course, so it is great that both dogs drove out to the weaves so well! Yes, you can get to the entry to help but the more they see this challenge, the less they will need you to get to the weave entry.
I think the only question from them was the same question from both dogs: decelerating and stopping early on the teeter. Ideally, they would drive all the way to the end even when you are behind them or peeling away, so feel free to put a target out there for them to help this. What I mean by that is a target taped to the end of the board (if they are both doing a 4on) so they are looking at it an driving to it, as you add the bigger challenges like moving away from it or not running past it. That will help maintain the speed to the end of the board while adding the other handling challenges to make the teeter completely independent.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
She did well with the lead outs here! You can make it clearer for her on 2 jumps by starting her on an angle at jump 1, so she is facing the backside wing and not the front of jump 2.
Your threadle and FFC were kind of a combo… if you want the FFC, you can have your feet pointing to the entry wing, but also use the hand closer to the wing. You had your feet pointing to the entry wing but your opposite hand. For the threadle, you would use the opposite hand but turn your feet to the exit line (more like what you did towards the end of the video, and it also is similar to the lead out push position you did here, except the push is between the uprights and the threadle is outside the wing). She is reading all of the cues very well, so the tweaks are just to clarify the different handling 🙂
Looking at the grids:
>>Also is the spacing still good at 6 of my feet?
The spacing is good and she is reading the grids well, but the height is a little high for her on the last jump – she is jumping inverted, meaning her head is up and she is lifting herself, rather than lowering her head and rounding herself, pushing from the rear. So, start her closer to the first jump so she can power in, with maybe a 12″ bar and the reward further away, to remind her to get her head back down. Then when she gets her head down, you can start to raise the bars again.
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I am glad you liked the setup 🙂 I like to work a lot of ‘this or that’ type of stuff without having to change setups LOL!!
He did well here! Looking at some of his questions:
On the frame-tunnel discrimination, you can try adding a verbal like “out” for instances when you want the tunnel, and maybe a bit of upper body rotation towards him when you want the frame, so he gets it right away.
For the line after the frame, he was much better when you were earlier with the cues. The timing of exit cues on the running a-frame should be no later than the apex of the frame: At :12 you did it when he was exiting, too late, 3 bonus points for the off course tunnel 🙂 You were m uch clearer at :50 and 1:05 but you can give more info than his name. His name is simply a “pay attention” cue and a right verbal there would be more specific (like at 2:07, when he was looking at you but not sure where to be exactly). You were very specific on the rep at 1:19 and 1:26 when you said “go tunnel” and he had no problem even with the layering there – early, repeated info. Yay!
For the jump after the frame: at :21, the handling looked like a threadle cue (upper body and position relative to the jump) but not a threadle based on your response when he threadled. He read you correctly, so be sure to stay connected if something goes wrong.
At :38, you were further across the bar and it was clearer that it was a serpentine LOL! You were using the cross arm for the serp here: do you use the cross arm for the threadle too? That might make them look to much the same – maybe only use the cross arm for the threadle and no cross arm (dog side arm only) for the serp.The line after the serp looked great each time, and so did the flip moments on the balance reps after the tunnel! Those were really strong!
The other thing to consider here is to repeat the verals more: flip flip flip and weave weave weave, for example. If you get too quiet, he might miss the processing moment. It is not likely to be an issue here in a quiet training session, but more likely to happen at a noisy trial.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Kim is a really great judge! These courses also looked lovely. Your day 2 runs looked great too, I am impressed! Was that a backside early in the standard course? Yikes! LOL!And yes, she was nailing the skills, it was really cool to see them applied to these ‘real life’ situations! Loved your connection, and loved her focus on the lines. The future is so bright! You totally passed the final exam LOL!!!
>>We didn’t Q, but came so close!!!>>
The humbling thing about UKI is that the Q rate can be very low LOL! But the runs were beautiful and that is the most important thing 🙂
TracyHi!
Great job in class last night, both Cabo and Fizz were awesome!!!!These links are the same as the ones that started with the a-frame. Can you repost the links with the teeter through weave section?
Thanks 🙂
TracyHi!
>>I don’t really get why dog side arm should be back on a RC?
Because by pointing your arm forward, you are turning your shoulders and showing info that confuses the wraps. A soft/low dog side arm that is out of the way (back) on RCs is very helpful and avoids the pull/flick confusion.
>>I always struggle with the decel part of it as decel puts me even farther behind, it’s ok on a RC wrap like this but on more normal RCs it kills me. I am sure that is part of the reason why I don’t do it all the time.>>
Some RCs require the decel to set them (the ones here did) but then you can use directionals and independent lines to get ahead again further on course. Not all RCs require the decel, but these sure did.
>>Start as soon as she rounds the wing??
Yes, as soon as she rounds the wrap wing and looks at the correct line, start the blind.
>>even with a tighter turn at the wrap wouldn’t she likely come inside the next jump if I start it that early??
Nope! You showed her the line, you said jump, so she should commit. It is worth training and handling because otherwise, you will be late.
First video:
Both crosses looked really good here! If it feels better on the mirror image, might just be your side preference because this looked really good 🙂 and she read them really well.2nd video:
>>This felt awkward for whatever reason – maybe not trusting the wrap? She was really wide again turning right and that made the balance turn harder (and being a left turn made that harder for her).
It was just timing 🙂 You were late with the FC on the 1st, 2nd, 4th reps (a little better on the 3rd rep) so she is not quite getting the collection, and so she was waiting for info. You want to be decelerating as she is jumping the jump before the wrap, and fully rotated/facing the new direction before she takes off for the wrap. That will also make the balance rep timely (it was late here too :)) because when she comes around the wrap wing, you can be showing her the left turn (physical cues and left verbal) before she makes a takeoff decision. It will all tighten up with earlier cues.
3rd video: since we are starting to look at timing, try to rotate sooner on the tunnel entry to get a better turn on the exit – you should be fully rotated no later than 3 feet before she goes in (ideally sooner).
Timing of the FC wrap at :11 is improving! I think it would benefit her for you to be closer to the line (which might mean doing the BC on the landing of 3). You were partially turned as she was taking off for the wrap but then looking at your position for the next line: she is driving to your line/position and since it is far from 6, the turn is wide. So putting you closer to the jumps will totally help that so she can drive your line AND find the jumps. That is what you did on the 2nd rep and your timing for the wrap was better but more importantly – your position was better so she was tighter finding the lines. Yay! It will get easier as she gets more experienced but for now, position is really important to help with the turns and timing.Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Hope you had a relaxing camping experience! Sounds like the UKI trial was great – a wonderful first experience! YAY!!!! Great job setting that up for her <3
The decel video looked good - she is collecting appropriately here! We are not giving her much help other than decel, so I am very happy to see her setting up the turns 🙂 2 tiny details:
- I really liked what she was doing when you did the turn and burns on the wraps, so add chasing you for longer til she almost catches up, then throw the toy so she blasts past you. Dropping the toy was cuing her to stop, so she didn't have as much blast as she did when you were moving more - and I think the chasing and motion is part of the reward for her 🙂
- try not to step back when you are doing the FC and turn and burn exits, especially when she is on your right side. Keep your feet together as you decel (gonna feel weird LOL!) then move forward into the turn. You were taking a big step back and that adds motion in a direction we don't want (she dropped a bar on one of those big steps back).Overall, though, this is strong so you can resume your "real" handling games and not just doing decels 🙂
I have been gathering resilience info for you and 3 things stand out:
- first, she is in the phase of adolescent brain development where things that *we* think should be fine are not fine to *her*, based on the front cortex and amygdala communication (or, lack of communication). It explains why she struggles to process certain things, especially when they are different. So with that in mind, I suggest 2 things to build resilience that also provide a framework for earning reinforcement, recovery, and coping skills if something new/different happens. The goal is for her to be able to return to baseline is there is something different:
-- have you taught her the pattern game/coping mechanism that you taught Didi? I can grab some video of it in terms of how we are doing it recently, but it helps the dogs explore the environment, breathe... and also offer engagement with you with a specific framework for doing so. I have expanded how we use it a whole lot since we last looked at it
-- I think if you teach her some reinforcement procedures, away from any skills you want to train, then you will have more resilience as well as more reinforcement options if something changes. It can be something super simple like: cookie at your side (not heel position or anything formal, but more like a reset cookie) then a thrown toy - retrieve-ish (again, not a formal obedience retrieve) then reset to cookie at your side. Being able to loop this will provide a very useful framework to insert other behaviors eventually, but it needs to be its own happy little loop first. If cookies-toys are too hard, you can do cookie-cookie and toy-toy, eventually merging them together. It will seem super informal, done in a non-training setting, but it is actually incredibly useful for that resilience and return to baseline 🙂I also teach all of my dogs to bark on cue (as a trick, talking to me) as a resilience behavior - it has proven to be the fastest way to return to baseline (the goal of resilience!) for all of my dogs and all of the student dogs that I have convinced to do it LOL!!! So consider it as a fun, easy trick to add to the toolbox because it works amazingly well and you don't get more barking during "work" or life 🙂
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
