[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>I really like UKI best but Ginger could never work at a field without real ring gates,

Yeah, the big UKI trials that I know of in your region are known for no ring gates, disc competitions right behind the agility ring, and ‘worker bacon’ being cooked next to it. Eeek!!! I think Bratty Paws has UKI events, either indoors in a/c (ahhhhhh :)) or outdoors in their big fenced ring? I don’t think they are close to you but might be fun to go – I think they also bring in good judges.

>>and USDAA is a fun challenge but limited opportunity.

Yes – fewer and fewer opportunities 🙁 I recently spent a few days in Fort White/High Springs and the local group there brings in great judges and has a fenced ring. Really nice USDAA group – I ran my adult dog a little and did a LOT of FEO with the baby dogs 🙂

>>Then AKC has a lot of opportunity, but not so much fun (for me).

Same here! And with Prism’s stride length and speed, you are going to want to be selective about judges and footing, to make sure he is not cramming himself into small spaces.

>>I would like to be competitive enough to be on the podium at local CUP/CLASSIC events in UKI and qualify for US OPEN Master Series and USDAA nationals. (Ginger got us qualified for USDAA nationals last year but only 1 Q run, though many were beautiful, and we got to finals in Biathelon-UKI_US OPEN and Q runs in all of our events) If we (PRISM) get good enough to go to a WTT or similar, that would be bonus.

Fun!!! I totally see all of this in your future. They are great goals and definitely things you can achieve!

>>Thank you for the reset cookie info. I tried to put it to use. It reminds me of the principle of REWARD THE EFFORT. This is a concept that I just really learned last year in an obedience course online. I wish I had learned it earlier-using various levels of praise/marker/reward/heaps of joy- as we attain progressive APPROXIMATION of the goal behavior.>>

It is amazing how much it helps the dogs – not only does it keep the rate of reinforcement pretty high overall, but it produces a positive conditioned response to being in the agility ring: because the ring is filled with reinforcement, there is very little frustration and their time in the ring is all happy-making 🙂 And a happy dog that is not frustrated, can go faster and process better – which leads to more reinforcement. It is a great cycle.

But if the dog gets told she is wrong a lot, reinforcement withheld, no reset cookies: we can get a negative conditioned response due to frustration – and that leads to stress issues or arousal issues, and that leads to more errors and then more stress/frustration. That is a bad cycle.

I gladly dole out effort cookies or toys to keep the positive conditioned response!

On the videos: lots of great work here!

First video – he is doing really well with the backside! One thing to remember on these backside slices (and also the circle wraps) is reward placement: drop the toy in on the landing side as you run past, so he doesn’t get caught up in chasing your motion and skip the backsides to get to you (like on the 2nd rep).
On other planning thing: when you change sides, even though it is in the same session, think of it as a different session and start off a little easier so that first rep is correct. You can line him up on the parallel line facing the entry wing so that first rep on the new side can be very successful, then make it harder after that.

One thing I saw from him on these videos (and see in my young dogs right now too) – tt is getting to the hot time of year and they really have no experience running sequences in heat, so keep sessions short (one or two reps, then a shade break, then back for a couple more when the tongue is smaller LOL!) as they build up heat tolerance.

2nd video – circle wraps are looking great! Great commitment from him, allowing you to drive through at a real run especially for the left wraps!
Turning right was harder – it might not be that it is actually harder to turn right, it might be more that it was a side change. So the is a chance to start off with an easy one, on an angle where he can see the wing pretty clearly. On the right turns (he was on your left) I think you might have been blocking the wing a bit when you started the rep, so he was considering the tunnel based on line and motion. Plus, the mechanics of verbal then release really help – the frontside oopsie at 1:40 was the only moment of verbal and running all at once. The successful reps were all verbal then running.

As with the backside slices, remember to drop the toy in behind you so he isn’t considering chasing your line. He was really great here with his wrap commitment and the toy placement will maintain that as we add more and more motion 🙂

We build on this with a game coming Monday! If you get another session on these, do it all on wings for now. These circle wraps are the hardest jumping effort, even on a low bar, and the dog PT vets tell us 3 or 4 of those on a bar, maximum, per session. So doing it on a wing allows us to train concepts without over-doing the jumping 🙂

Serp vortex: I think this was partially a concept question from him, and partially the mechanics –
What was happening here is that the verbal GO is not yet overriding the very powerful serp positional cue (you running past the landing side of the jump).

Also, the start setup might have contributed: by sending him around the inside of the wing and doing a FC so he was turning right, it is possible that he is correct in his response to the GO cue. Go means take the straight line you are looking at and when he exited the FC on the wing wrap here – the jump straight in front was the one he took. So it was actually a go as it was directly on the line and required no lead changes.

So, we can change the setup to teach the concept:
Send around the start wing the other way so there is no FC and so he exits looking straight at the Go jump – start him on your right so he is turning left on the start wing. And, for now, start very close to the start wing, right next (rather than sending and leaving) so you can use a bit of motion and position to teach him that the GO can mean running past things. By being close to the start wing, he won’t see you running fast through serp position for now and when he has that lightbulb moment about GO running past something, then we can start to move you over to the serp position again 🙂 That will make the serp a little harder but that challenge is much easier for him at this point.

Great job on these! Let me know way you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>Based on that info and this week’s Planning video, I think I might need fewer rights and lefts on course than I initially thought I would. I have a “Round” cue for gentle arcs toward the handler. nnie wants to be given specific instructions for every jump, so maybe I can use “Round” for the arcs and “Right/Left” for more of a 90 degree turn. I think she’ll get it eventually, but it may take a while.

I agree! I have a general “jump” cue for that – I am not sure if my dogs need it, or if I just struggle to keep my mouth closed LOL!! Either way, that cue like your Round cue can bridge the gap between a true left/right and a true GO. It probably won’t take her long at all!

>>AShe seems to be big on latent learning. After struggling with the threadles so much in the Fall, out of the blue I tried using “Close” last week and Annie was like “duh, threadle”.>>

OMG that is so funny! Good girl, Annie!!!

>>The tunnel exit tips make 100% perfect sense. I totally get it now .. I think. Right and left (and wrap) are jump cues in general, except for when we use them at a tunnel entrance. Then they mean turn at the tunnel exit.

There is a lot of discussion about this in the agility world, and I think you’ll hear a lot of different answers. I know plenty of people who have different directionals for jumps, tunnels, and running contacts. LORDY!!! That makes my brain hurt so much, that would mean adding another 10 or 12 verbals. I don’t think the dogs need that – my left/right, for example, means “take the thing and exit turned left/right”. I am relying on the previous commitment cue so they know which obstacle.
For example, with tunnels: They have already either heard a big TUNNEL cue or they see my sorry butt gasping for air and hustling towards a tunnel LOL!! So, they get on the line and then before they enter, I tell them how to exit. So far, I have seen zero questions from my dogs and from student dogs.

>>Hmmm .. this all now makes me wonder though how I will teach Annie to turn right and left at the end of her brand new *running* dogwalk(!!!). Are these directionals still jump cues when I use them for running contacts? When would I say the cue?

Running contacts are SO FUN!!! I use the same verbals on my RDW, for example – when the dog commits to the dog walk, I then tell them how to exit. So as they are getting on the up ramp, I am already giving the left/right cue to exit turned left or right. IF I want them to go straight, take a jump and turn left/right on the jump, the timing is different so it is relative to the jump: on the DW, I cue them to exit straight then as they are exiting (feet through the contact) I am moving to the left or right for the jump.

>>Soooo, do you have any plans to offer a RC course? I know there are probably other great online options, but Annie and I are AU girls now so we’d love to learn them from you!

We love having you here at AU!!!! I personally don’t teach a RDW course because there are many who teach it really well! We often have Jordan Biggs teach the RDW course (she is brilliant!) – now that it is spring, I can ask he when she wants to do teach it again!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
Holy wow, you had great sessions on all of these! Charm was an absolute rockstar on these! And your mechanics were very clear, and your verbals all sound very different which is really helpful 🙂

Video 1 and 2, serps – these went well! On the first video, you cranked up your speed on the 2nd rep and she was still great. You can stay a little closer to the serp jump on that rep, you pulled away from it a bit. On the 2nd video, it looks like you were super close to the jump the whole time and that rep was stunning! Yay!

On the start wing, I think you were using the wrap verbals – that start wing line is more of a left/right turn, so those will be more useful verbals as you get to the week 4 game with serp versus Go, and then we have one more variation coming in week 5 where we need the wrap cue.

Video 3: Awesome! The backside versus front looked great, such distinct verbals and you were great about just running forward. Of course, you can use body language on a real course but for training, having her respond to verbals when the body language looks pretty much the same is great for solidifying the verbals.

Video 4 – she likes the backsides!! After a couple of amazing backside reps, she got the front, no problem. But then 2 bloopers, maybe trying to anticipate – she was leaning away from you as you set her up. She was clearly thinking that it was going to be a backside and not really listening for the verbal LOL! After the 2 bloopers, you set her up to NOT lean away from you and she was able to get the front side again. Nice job helping her a little there – perfect example of how to see the 2 failures and bring her back to success. YAY!

Backside circle wraps – I agree, she likes these LOL And she is doing a really strong job of making the turn: it is the hardest turn in dog agility (which is why we try to save their bodies by not doing a zillion reps on a jump). And this is a SUPER useful verbal with a fast dog like Charm – it allows you to keep running and she can get the correct turn without you needing to be way ahead of her. On the first video – she needed a moment to think it over, perhaps that is why she took the toy on a victory lap LOL!!! But then in the last video, with the jump, she nailed it. Fabulous!

The week 5 games include more of the circle wraps, so they can go on the back burner for this weekend. If you have training time, I think the next good one to tackle with her will be week 4 serps part 2, with the serp versus GO. Everything is looking great!!!!

Well done 🙂
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
Finally, a streak of nice weather!!!! We are getting it here too 🙂

One of the cool things about this video is that if I played it with no sound, I would not have been able to tell the cue based on your body – and that is the point of this game, that Gramm processes the verbal and doesn’t need the body language. He did great! Of course, when you are running a course for real, we would use body language too but this game strengthens the verbals. Backsides looked easy for him and he was GREAT with his wraps!! And the Go is looking good too. It was a really terrific session!!!!
The only thing I can bug you about 🙂 is to throw the toy closer to the landing side of the jump on the backsides, and not near you. You were doing a FC or bringing him back to you to throw, but you can think of the backsides as setting up for backside serps or German turns (backside serp-blind with that werap exit) so you will want to be passing the takeoff side, with him taking the jump behind you.

I have more coming on this concept on Monday 🙂 So no need to do more of it or raise the bar yet (more on that coming Monday too). If you have time and good weather, maybe try the serp versus GO game, that will be challenging!

Great job 🙂
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>I didn’t do so well with not saying “yes”

This is SO HARD, right? I am pretty good with my young dogs but looking at the videos with my 9 year old dog, I am all “YAY!” Hahaha! Good thing he has me figured out. Poor dog LOL!

The Fast Lines game is looking really good! The wraps are getting pretty independent – look at :13 when she went way away from you and did her wrap as you ran away! Nice!
Your timing was really solid with the go, wrap and soft turn cues. Excellent!!!

Left and right soft turns also looked good and yes, you were focusing on making it sound different – it totally showed!

You can run away more on the left and right lines, decelerate less to support less – run like your pants are on fire LOL!! You might have run out of room a bit, so that might need to wait for a bigger space.

When she discovered the joys of running the bigger faster lines, she had some bloopers like at 1:10 (soft turned when it should have been a wrap – she had gone into “FIND THE LINE WHEEEE!” mode and you were not helping with handling)- it took her a few reps to get back to criteria, and she did, good girl!She had another couple of failures at 2:19 and 2:39 but she fixed them faster. I think what was happening was she was scooping for lines because running fast and jumping jumps is SO FUN! So, you can shift the reinforcement on this game for the wraps back to rewarding from your hands – when she is correct with the wrap, you can be running away and she can drive to the toy in your hand. That can help keep the balance of driving back to you on the tight turns versus going wider to find the jumps.

Since the soft turns look really good and they tip her into arousal pretty quickly: you can do more wraps that soft turns for now, and short session of maybe 3 or 4 reps then she takes a break. After a couple of minutes, she can do another 3 or 4 reps. That will help keep her from going into scope-mode while you gradually add more motion. Let me know if that makes sense.

Serp versus go – really nice session! – on the next session, send her around the outside of the wing so she exits further form the serp jump – you were sending her on the FC side so she exited towards you. Sending her around the outside adds more distance for the go, and more challenge for the serps because she is further and sees the go jump more clearly.
Yes, you are pulling away a bit on the serps and perhaps that was helping (which is fine for the first session) so for the next session – your lower body should be identical for both the go and the serps. Your upper body can be ‘closed’ forward for the GO and opened up to her (serp arm back) for the serps. And if she is fine with that, then you can just run forward and yell the verbal with no physical help and see how she does 🙂

Game 3 wraps:

>>I think I may not have been helping her enough in the beginning, but I did add in a better arm cue after a few wraps,

Tis is also going well, it is perhaps the hardest game we have played so far. Yes – the first couple of reps where she successfully turned away had foot/motion cues. She was fine with that 🙂 but adding the hand cue like you did at :46 will make it a lot easier to fade the foot/motion. You were late with it at :46 (the help happened as she was already jumping) but then 1:01 was earlier and that timing really helped!

She had an accidental backside at 1:13, I think it was a combo of pressure on her line so she might have been guessing that it was a backside cue, plus sometimes the dogs freelance and offer something else if we do the same thing a lot (even if it is getting rewarded) – the line you were working at 1:56 and 1:59 was perfect, and she did a GREAT job turning away with minimal handling help! YES!!! So for the next session – start with the hand helping to set up success and then see how quickly you can fade it

Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Have a great time at the trial! I bet there will be good places to use the verbals 🙂 Enjoy your weekend!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Good session here! It took you on a bit of a detour into Go territory but that is great, as it helps him work on being away from you and driving forward when you are behind and maybe not moving as fast as possible.
He did figure it out with the handling help and it was appropriate to help him like that – he was better on your left side (in the 2nd part of the video) than on your right (first part of the video). That might be a side preference, or that he learned the concept, and also the wing was better on his line on your left side than it was on your right.
One thing for the next session:
You can reward criteria on the go jump by throwing the toy towards the wrap wing – he was meeting criteria on the go jump (jumping straight, center of the bar, looking forward) even if he didn’t seem entirely convinced 🙂 and even if he didn’t get to the wing after it fully – the criteria on the Go is relevant to that jump and he did it fully within rewardable parameters, so you can isolate that element and reward. When he got it, the wrap was easy and looked great!

For the next session, start same as you ended here but reward that very first go with a thrown reward to help wake up that skill. I think the soft turns on the wing will be easy for him, so adding more value to the Go is perfect!

On the wrap away session:

>>played a few rounds of chase the ball

I definitely need more coffee because I totally read that as “cheese ball” was wanted to know how I could play cheese ball too hahaha

>>he really hadn’t recovered from all the thinking from the Fast Lines session. >>

That fast lines game really shifts the processing responsibilities to the dogs, plus they are doing a lot of running; I can see why he would be brain tired!

Since ‘flip’ means “away from me”, you can change sides more often with a lot of help early on. Spending too much time on one side establishes a turn to that direction, which often means the first rep on the other side if a failure. You can basically change sides every rep, with the helping body language, to help him understand that it is not left or right, but it is away. And the balance reps would then be ‘towards’. If the verbals mean left or right, we would stay on the same side but change the handler’s position. Since his mean towards and away, we change his position on which side of you his is on very regularly so he gets a lot of practice turning away and not left or right. Let me know if that makes sense 🙂

One other suggestion: the handling help was mainly foot rotation (cutting across the rear cross line). You did have some handling help with your hands like at :57 and 1:05 – at this stage, you can emphasize the hand more and the feet less because the hand is easier to fade than the motion/feet. That way you can keep your feet running straight as possible and a little hand flip helps him.. then no hand flip at all! And that little hand flip can be used as part of the handling on course, especially in a gamble!

>>He worked hard and got a well deserved snow romp after all of this training. He is sound asleep in his Dad’s lap right now!>>

Awww good boy! Sounds like he had a full, fun day 🙂 Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Great plan!!

>> Trying to think how to throw food reward beyond jump 2, outside.

Giant chunks of string cheese? Or those round crunchy cheese snacks (the name is escaping my brain at the moment LOL!

>>My words will be port and star (left and right are just spin cues).

Port and star! Brilliant! Love those verbals!

>>I will be at QS this weekend, sans rv.😔 just a little longer! 16 Mar. I’ll have it for a seminar and uki trial down at Windi’s end of Mar! See you at QS!>>

OMG it has been a long time for the RV but I am glad it is almost ready!! See you soon!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Good questions!

>>Not sure what to say there to send her for the turn on the wing ? I can say go, go as she comes off the wing but wouldn’t a verbal soft turn, or worse a verbal wrap, cue her to come in toward me ? Go,go seems to accelerate her commitment on the line she leaves the wing on as predicted by my use of soft turn verbal to get the turn on the wing. I see in the instructions that you say to use a physical cue for the wing. Just want to clarify….>>

Each dog is a little different but for the combo game, I generally use the following verbals:

When I want the dog to turn on the wing and come in for the serp jump, I will send to the wing with a soft turn verbal and say it a couple of times to get the serp jump line. Stay tuned for how we use the wrap verbal there on next week’s get :))

When I want to layer and do the Go line, I just do a little “ready ready” moment then step to the wing, or start from a stay and use “break!” which is a ‘go forward’ cue. Then as she is arriving at the wing and beginning to turn her head, you can be saying GO Go GOOOO to help her stay out on the line and NOT serp.

Let me know if that makes sense!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>I said it would never happen, but you’ve finally convinced me that I need Left and Right verbals.

Awesome! It can only help to have them 🙂

>> I’ve found that sometimes I’m not sure if I really need a left/right cue or not.

They are a relatively collected turn – not as tight as a wrap, but still plenty of collection. So you don’t need them if the turn is a relatively open arc.

>>For example in the course map in the google doc link below, for the squares course would you say ‘Right’ for jump 3 and ‘Left’ for jump 4? Or do you think verbals wouldn’t be needed there? Most likely I would blind between 3 and 4. If it looked like it would be too hard for me to get around the far wing of 4, then I don’t know what I would do. Maybe I would try to change sides after 4.>

Of course it depends on the exact setup of the course and the individual dog but I would say probably not on 3, and only maybe on 4. 3 is a gentle arc so a right might be too much turn. 4 is probably a good place for a left to set up the weave entry.

If you look at square 6 to square 7 on that setup, you could use a left for square 7 if you wanted to go back to round 4/square 6.

Today>> in class I used left/right cues for the first time for rear crosses. Big confusion. Annie turned toward me even though I was putting a lot of pressure on her line. I think she understands that left and right are turn cues, but she probably thinks they both mean turn toward the handler. Should I stop using left/right in classes until we are perfect on the games in the VOTR course?>>

I agree, she probably thinks that left/right only mean towards da momma! So before adding them into rear crosses, check out the independent wrap verbals game I posted on Monday, and the Minny Pinny Part 2 – both of those help her understand that she can turn away on verbals too! And use them in class in situations where you can correctly name the behavior – in other words, if you think the handling supports it for now – use the verbals. If not, don’t use them til they’ve been introduced in the games.

>>She might have done it because she saw where I was when she entered the tunnel, but I’m still considering it a success because I gave the correct cue at the correct time.>

TOTALLY a success!!!! YAY!!!

>>I’m wondering though, what would you do differently if instead of a wrap at the tunnel exit, we wanted the dog to wrap a jump that was straight ahead after the tunnel exit? If I give my wrap cue 3 ft before the tunnel, then I want Annie to not take the jump, right? If I say Go 3 ft before the tunnel, then I want her to take the next jump in extension. How do I cue her to go straight out of the tunnel and wrap the next jump?>>

Great question! You are correct – it is the timing. The cue that happens 3 feet or so before the tunnel entry is for the tunnel exit only, and has nothing to do with what you want her to do on the next jump.
If you say GO 3 feet before the entry, you are only cuing the tunnel exit (straight). If you want straight on the next jump: keep saying Go 🙂 GO GO GO GO GOOOOOO! LOL! If you want her to wrap the next jump, the info changes depending on her needs:
– if she is VERY forward, you might not need to say go for the tunnel exit – you can switch to the wrap cue for the jump when she exits.
– if she needs more forward support, you can say Go before the tunnel to get her to exit straight, or jump. then switch to the wrap cue as she is exiting so it applies to the jump after the tunnel. If you give the wrap cue before t he tunnel, as you said: she should not take the jump.

Let me know if that makes sense!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
For real, time has been flying! I don’t know where February went!! Looks like you have good weather, though, finally!

This session was almost perfect 🙂 Yay! Her lines and turns were really strong throughout! Just 2 little details:
for your handling line, stay closer to the jump so you can reach out and touch the exit wing with a bent arm. On the first part (coming towards the camera) I think you were pulling away a little. On the second part (moving away from the camera) it looks like you had a much better line!
By running that line so close to the wing, you can add more challenges – you can start a little more to the center of the bar to send her to the start wing, so you are basically past the exit of the jump when she finishes coming around the wing. That will be hard: will she make the soft turn, or just run by it and chase you? And getting way ahead will lead you into the Part 2 game that I posted on Monday.

And that challenges the send to the start wing – that was really her only question on this session, as you were sending on the last rep. I watched the clip a couple of times to figure out what was different: on all of the successful sends to the start wing, your dog side leg stepped forward to the start wing at some point before your shoulders turned to run. On the rep where she didn’t take it (:46) your dog side leg never came forward, so she was following the line of your shoulders as they turned and she did the last on the backside instead of the wing. The other bloopers were just getting her lined up again and then at the very end (:55) you TOTALLY had a great dog-side leg step and she nailed it.

So as you add more distance on the sending, really emphasize the dog side leg step and no need to turn and run til you see her heading to the wing and not the backside.

Great job here! Her serps look great and I think the Part 2 game will be very useful for independent stuff in the future!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>’m not pulling her up, I’m hanging on for dear life.🤣 Jk. Sort of. She is jumping up as we prepare to start.>>

I figured she was rearing up on her back feet LOL!

>>I have started using softer, repeated cue for wraps and single down out verbal for soft turns. Typically have used a loud repeated verbal for GO! Backsides and threadles- repeated cue at moderate level voice.>>

I think the soft turn verbal should have a repeated element as well. Maybe it doesn’t need the urgency of the wrap or the go, but repeating it will help be sure she processes it and doesn’t miss it (there is a lot happening during a run!)

>>I’m not used to using go on a single jump when I will follow it with a turn. Thoughts? Do you think it would be helpful to have bigger spacing for this setup?>>

A bigger space might help but also you can say the Go sooner, and in this case, just once to suggest the straight line over the one jump. Part of it is training us humans to spit the verbals out nice and fast 🙂

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Things are noisy in your yard! Are they building a starbucks? LOL!

>>We will need to stay at level 1 a little longer. This is his first time ever wrapping away from me.

Leevl 1 takes a long time to work through – Hot Sauce and CB are still at Level 1. I have no idea why Elektra figured it out so quickly and retained it (but I am not sad about it).

He did best on the reps where you had the verbal and motion starting before the hand motion, and you were able to get the hand to just a little flick on a lot of those. Yay!
His biggest question was about whether it was a backside or not – on those, you were either too in his way on the bar (blocking the front side) or you stepping to the backside – and that pressure on the line will get him to ping off to the backside.
So, let him have a visual of at least 2/3rds of the bar, you will be basically facing the exit wing of a normal turn-towards-me wrap, so taking the front side if very easy (because the challenge is not frnot versus back, it is which way on the front). And obsess on moving forward, slowly (this is HARD) because we all want to help with our motion by accident 🙂

Since he was totally getting the idea of turning away here for the next session: switch back and forth more rather than do one side multiple times in a row. I want him thinking, “it could be either one, I’d better listen” rather than “it must be left because we’ve just done 10 of them” LOL!! So, line up facing the exit wing and throw in some normal post turns to hte left, for example, with some turn aways to the right (and vice versa) rather than post turn and turn away all to the same direction. That can really cement the idea that the verbals could mean either direction 🙂

>>Notice how he is getting better at his set ups after a failed attempt. 🙂

Yes! This was great! Keep giving the reset cookies – he got a couple at the beginning then you stopped. They are especially important on these games which are sooo hard.

Great job! Let me know how the next session goes!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>I had very poor impulse control yesterday and didn’t wait for your second round of feedback so I could have improved this reinforcement/exit line.

You can alternate games, so if one video is in the queue for feedback you can work a different game that has feedback on it already. That way each session can really build up faster without repeating things that can be changed up 🙂 and also it allows for more time for the skills to cement!

>>His initial wrap to start the sequences was fairly wide so I’d like your thoughts on that.>>

Part of it was a criteria thing – the placement of the wing was just over enough that he had to turn really tight to find the line. So more verbals will help (you were tending to say the dig only once maybe twice, and then took off with no connection for a few steps so I think he was not really hearing the verbal and drifting to find which side he needed to be on – he turned immediately when you reconnected! So to help him, I think that you can start with holding his collar, saying dig dig dig a few times, then letting go before turning and running up the line with a little more connection. So even with a lot of speed, he should eb able to turn tighter on that wing.

>>I also kept forgetting about that second jump after the wrap. I finally got it>>

Yes, that was a good rep at :52 when he found the exit line and you rewarded for that – it is a critical piece and you can do that from the start wing to the first jump as well.

On the soft turns… I still think he is correct LOL! The line he would need to run from the wing to the jump on the right verbal is pretty extended, not really that 90-degree right turn that he did at 1:05 – but I think 1:05 is the correct criteria for a right verbal. The tree looked to be in the way for placing the jump, so you might need to change your setup a little -walk that perfect 90 degree exit line and put the jump right on it (which also provides a great distraction jump for the wraps :))

>>Towards the end, there were some scary world noises that he didn’t like but he kept working and picked it up after he realized it was an engine backfire and that they weren’t hunting red border collies.

That was pretty loud and he did a great job of working through it!!!

>> I did much better with my reset cookie here. Click treat.>>

YAY!!! And I am sure that contributed to him being able to work through the noise too!

Nice work! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
>>I feel so behind!!! Trying to do small amounts of several of the things to get feedback before moving on.>>

I think you are right on track and doing well!

Fast lines –
A couple of general ideas for you here to help answer her questions:
– don’t start as close to the start wing for now, she is not quite ready to drive that far ahead of you yet in this game. Try starting one step away from it, one step closer to the jump – that can make just enough difference 🙂

– organize your verbals a little differently. On some reps, you were giving the wrap verbals the whole time, and on others you were giving the verbal for the turn wing too early (I know – early! Usually we are all late LOL!) so she thought it was for the jump, not the wing. So, use a quiet wrap cue on the start wing, then give her one GO for the jump (because we always want her to take the jump straight towards turn wing here.

Then, based on her feedback: give the turn cue as you see her lifting off (then repeat it a few times).

At ::39 and :59 (soft right) – she didn’t commit because she was hearing the right verbal about 2 strides from the bar, so she turned on the jump. At 1:02, you did it as she was over the bar and she got it, even though the wing was closer – I liked the timing on that one!

Same with the wraps at :46 and :50: your check check was too early, it was a solid stride before takeoff for the jump so she turned on the jump. You were too early at :52 as well but you ran more, so she got the wing but I think giving her a go for the jump and then when she is lifting off, a turn cue for the wing will be the ideal timing of the verbals. Adding that little “GO!” element will also help on bigger courses, to propel her out on the lines when she is ahead!

Backside wraps

>>Definitely need to work slower on the backside wraps– or move the jump further away?>>

Slower, and on a slightly more angled approach will help. Starting her on more of an angle so she can access the wing without running across you will help her see it, more like what you did at 1:32. And the motion you used at 1:35 is spot on for the level of difficulty of this game 🙂 So for the next session, start on even more of an angle so she can see the whole wing, but use the motion you had here on the last rep, that was great!

The backside slices look good! You can add a bit more motion now, jogging up the line. And if she is fine with that, you can go to step 3 which is front side cue versus backside cue. I would start that step 3 session with a front side cue, so she realizes that the front side is ‘in play’ and does not get herself into a backside vortex 🙂
When you start her, try to convince her to keep all 4 feet on the ground – try not to lift her up by the collar (or let herself stand up) as it changes her weight shift to her forehand when she starts moving and can mess up the balance for turns.

Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Author]

Posts