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Hi! I really loved this session, adding arousal is exactly what she needs! It took a couple of reps at the beginning to sort out the mechanics (for her) and the timing (for you) but then you and Maisy got into a really great rhythm. I especially liked how she was go around the wing then to the plank SUPER FAST but think about her organization and get into position so nicely. Yay!!!!!
She only had one error, on the 2nd to last rep. We’ll just chalk it up to fatigue, the rest of the session was great.
So on the next session, do maybe only 3 or 4 reps on each side total. And, keeping eveeything else the same, you can add the next step: instead of giving her a treat when she sits, you can release her to go over the bar. This will get even more flow to the game.
Great job! Let me know how the next session goes!!
TracyGood morning!
Looking at the zig zags:
I think she did well here! She was definitely working her body on it – not lacking confidence, but definitely working her body.One suggestion is that the reward can be further from jump 2 (like where you had it at 1:28) and you can be next to the reward, so your position supports the acceleration and extension (we don’t want her to ask if she should collect on the 2nd jump because you are standing still near it).
Otherwise, I would keep going with this progression. For now, keep the bars at 8″ and add motion: a little bit of you moving forward to the stationary reward, then add the moving target reward (so the reward and you are both moving :))Then, raising the bars is the last step – and when you raise the bars, go back to the reward and you both being stationary.
And you can do this twice a week, and definitely not every day. It is hard for the dogs!
Organizer sits with the wing: the sits are looking really good! When you are facing her, you can slow down the reward mechanics after the release so she can slice in front of you – you were moving fast on the first few reps so she was also trying to go fast, which resulted in going to the wrong side of the wing. When your hands were a little slower, the line was clearer and she looked strong!
Adding the wrap with you on the front side – this was harder for her indeed! Her sit was not quite as tight, and her butt would sometimes pop out on the release rather than propel her forward. But, the more she practiced it, the better she got: the last 2 reps were spot on!
So to add in more encouragement for forward propulsion and commitment, you can add a reward target at the outer edge of the wing, on the exit of the wrap (same side you will be on). This will help keep her head down and also help her be sure about committing without needing the verbal in this scenario. It can be a food bowl, or a toy – whatever is relatively easy to ignore because it will definitely add some excitement to the game (which is great because we want her to be excited AND still remember to organize her hind end).Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Front side wraps looked good from the dog perspective 🙂 Grumio is organizing well and wrapping nicely! He did best when you gave a clear release word (especially in the 2nd half the session when you had him turning to his left). My guess is that you were quiet on the first half because it felt weird to you 🙂 Yes, you were correct to tuck in on the wing on the takeoff side, next to the platform – you can add in a little decel as he is approaching the platform (as you would do when handling a course, decel before rotating). And that way you won’t hit the wing or end up past it.
Backsides – he is doing great on those too, he is organizing well to make the turn. I think the next step to make it feel less weird for you would be to keep you moving (slowly) the whole time – same as you would do in real life, as you mentioned. In our perfect handling world, you would be moving forward on the backside circle wraps as soon as his butt was past your line. So you can do the same here, as long as it is slooooow motion 🙂 Cue him to go to the backside and get on the plank and sit… while you are walking forward the whole time. It adds a counter motion element to the motion override but it is exactly what this skill needs: can he make the turn to the backside and organize his jumping booty, all while you move forward.
I think he is ready for that because his organization looks good and he is going to the reward target after the release. This includes the reps where you are facing him as he approaches (you are on the landing side) – as he is getting on and sitting, you can be slowly walking forward to the takeoff side and then release when you are past the wing.
If he has any questions about taking the jump with all the counter motion, we can change the placement of the reward target to the landing side.You will feel less trapped when we add more motion so it should feel a lot more natural to you too 🙂
Great job! Let me know how he does when you try this with more motion!
TracyGood morning!
Sounds like she has a busy weekend ahead 😆 and the slow motion videos add a definite Halloween flair lol!!Looking at the 2 jump zig zags and also the 3 jump reps: yes, she is landing a little close bit also she is very clean in the jumping form here. She is finding her balance and not touching anything as far as i could tell. So we can add challenge by raising the bars. I think if we shortened the distance she would still choose the same takeoff and landing spots, so we can ask her what she thinks about a bar that is 2 inches higher than it is now.
So on the next visit of the 2 jump zig zags, try the slightly higher bar and see what she says 🙂 also, bear in mind that many many fast dogs like her with zero jumping issues choose the same takeoff and landing spots on grids – and learn to transfer their power beautifully to coursework. So, no worries if she still chooses the same spots as long as she maintains her form.
Have fun! Let me know how she does!
TracyGood morning!
Good session here. She definitely seems stronger on the reps going from the blue jump to the pink jump (she is jumping right to left). Going pink to blue is a little harder, but she is doing well when you maintain the good lineup position (like at :12) versus when she is too close or too centered on the bar like at :16 where she landed on the bar a bit.
She is doing well with the dragging toy, so definitely keep doing that 🙂
And, flatten the angle more now – you can flatten it by another 20 degrees or so, so the angle is at about halfway between the 90 degrees and completely flat 180 degrees.Great job! Let me know how it goes with the flatter angle.
TracyAwesome, thank you! It is for a webinar next week for Behavior Vets, about the brain and dog sports. It is such a great example of how you made an adjustment to help her process… and she was immediately successful (and you were rewarded with a title, so you had a happy brain too LOL!!!)
One of these days I want to hear all the science stuff about breast milk! What a cool and super important field to be in. I’m so glad this position has opened up, I bet you are amazing with people and babies!!!Tracy
Good morning!
The Straight grids look good! That is a good distance for her (6 feet was the distance on the last rep, I think)
She is doing well finding the line on the zig zags too. Now the she understands the framework, we can tweak 2 things that will help her maintain the form as the zig zags get harder:
The first thing is to use a reward target that she will look at. On the zig zags, she was looking up at your hands and on the straight grid, even with the MM, she was looking at you. So what will be more enticing to look at? Maybe a food bowl with a bit of cream cheese in it? Or a big ball? Getting her head down will be great for form, because when her head is up to look at you, she isn’t powering from her rear. If there is no stationary food or toy reward target that will get her head down, we can go to the moving target with a toy 🙂
The other adjustment is to the line up position. She was facing the center of the bar (perpendicular) on the zig zags here, so now you can move her start position over so she is sitting next to the wing and parallel to the bar. That will really get some zig zagging happening as we tighten the setup.
As soon as we sort out a reward target that she will focus on, you can start to tight up the angles bit by bit.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Really nice session here! I think on the first rep, she had a question about your motion heading to the hoop, so you were smart to move the hoop out of the picture.
The next few reps were great with you walking, she is really good at isolating her hind end! Yay!At :59 you added more speed and it took her longer to process the sit – but she did!! I’d reward her for that, even if it was not as snappy as when you were walking. Processing a precision behavior through the excitement of motion is hard, so it is normal to see a delay – but still rewardable.
She did well on the next rep on your right with you not quite as fast and staying a little closer.
She had a question on the left side reps after that, but not on the right side reps -very interesting!!!So for whatever reason, she is able to process through motion better when she is on your right than when she is on your left. Good to know! So when she is working these skills, you can keep your motion higher and add challenge sooner when she is on your right. But when she is on your left, keep your motion slower and add challenge only after she has been successful on your right side first.
Most dogs have a side preference, and I find it super useful when they tell us about it! It helps us structure the training better for them. Thanks for letting us know, Raven!!!! And you can still reward her even if she is not as fast in responding on the harder side.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I completely agree: fine tuning arousal levels is definitely a high class problem compared to trying to convince a dog to play at all.
The leash on/off stuff is great! I think the end of run will eventually involve something with a high energy movement to complete the stress cycle – like doing the down then being released to tug on your leash or something similar. And playing the games as tricks mixed in during sessions – fabulous! Just another fun thing, like a trick or running through a tunnel 🙂
He rushed the first rep but then he was very strong on the rest! Rushing that first rep is classic young dog behavior, akin to splatting the first bar on a course because they have a case of the GO FASTS lol!!
Since that is a useful bit of info, we can isolate the arousal of the first rep and teach him not to rush even when he has big feelings happening 🙂 one way to do that is stimulate him with a big tug game, then have him do the zig zags with lower bars and a stationary toy.
Since it is really only effective for the first rep, the next session can begin the same way if he struggled, or you can add more stimulation (10 tunnels in a row haha) to the stationary toy, or keep the stimulation level the same and begin moving the toy.
I think the next step after a other session or two of the 2 jumps would be the 3 jumps setup, mainly because with the moving target, he will see more motion from you. Then when he is happy with that, the 2 jump backsides will be easy because he already has a history of success with the motion (there’s a ton of handler motion on the backside setup).
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning –
I’m so sorry to hear it and I completely understand. It is just the worst. And yes, fuck cancer. Ugh 😞This was a really good session – she’s quick of foot so I had to watch it in slow motion!
Yes, I think jumping towards the wall was causing her to add strides because she took the strides out when the toy was in play.
The other thing that was good with the toy versus the food in your hand in the first couple of reps was that the toy lowered her head which immediately brought better hind end organization.
Compare the first rep going right to left on the screen (left to right for her) with food, and also the rep at :10, with the rep at :17 going right to left on the screen with the low toy:
The food reps were more “hoppity” because she was trying to look up. The toy rep at :17 and after it was lovely form with a ton of power. Yay! And she didn’t lose her head over the moving toy – that’s GREAT!!So yes, on the next session, move the setup more to the center and begin with the toy as the moving reward target.
If that goes well, you can flatten the angles a little more 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
