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Good morning!
>> I’m never mastered the tight turn BC. I literally have to think about which way to turn, which hand to use and I can’t spit out a verbal while I’m thinking about it all. Here’s my feeble attempt. Sprite was a trouper! I run and grab toy toy. Fun!>>
This was not feeble at all! Lots of great work here! I have some mechanics ideas for you and no worries about the verbals for now until the mechanics feel more comfy. And Sprite totally thought it was a hoot LOL!
I think the main thing is to keep moving, keep moving, never stand still or take tiny steps in place on any of the starts and exits of the turns. Yes, you can decelerate into them but then move away immediately. The moments when you were standing still were when it probably felt a bit weird 🙂
A couple of ideas to help with that suggestion:
Also always do a turn and burn for the reward, meaning run away from the wrap or tight blind or tunnel exit so she so she doesn’t stop (she chases you for the reward) and you don’t get in the habit of little steps and stops (you did a great turn and burn at :29, for example!)
You can also bend your elbows when you run – straight locked elbows promote shorter steps and stopping and bent elbows will get you moving more with bigger steps. Your arms can swing at your sides – your connection is great so you TOTALLY can swing your arms around more.
When working the tight blinds, the staying-in-motion will really help (plan your running line to the next wing and run it without her a few times) – at :53, 1:00 and 1:07 you were stopping too much, so the turn and burn exits will really help keep you in motion. 1:54 was my favorite tight blind because you kept moving – that set up a lovely turn and a lovely running line!
Same with the spins and the figures-8 front crosses – stay in motion and connect back to her eyes rather than standing still – on all of them, move away like a turn and burn (even if there is no place to go, you can decelerate at the next wing :))
And to help you stay in motion: The FCs and the Spins both start the same way, with a FC and handler moving away. With the FC, you keep the connection on the new side as you continue to move away. With the spins, as you move away, you then do the BC to the original side. You are tending to stand still and do the spins, which is causing you to have to do them very fast and also causing you to remain in one spot (like at 2:02) So think of the spins differently, in terms of rhythm:
front… then… blind as you are moving away. Don’t worry about the timing or verbals for now, just keep moving 🙂 with bent elbows like you are being chased by a dog (because you are LOL!)And big happy dance for how well she ran the big diamonds around the outside at :44 and again at 1:41! She was fast and accurate, which is especially impressive after all of the tight turns. YAY!!! Loved it!!
Let me know what you think! The mechanics will help make the BCs and spins feel more comfortable and you’ll also be able to stay way ahead of her (and Gemma too!)
Great job 🙂
TracyGood morning!
Definitely keep working on getting that wicket t be a happier place, to get that 18″ measurement 🙂The tunnel exit game is looking good – the main thing that will answer all of her questions is:
more connection, less pointing 🙂When you point forward to the wing or try to get her attention with a hand – that breaks connection and she doesn’t know where to go, s she either slows down to ends up on the wrong side of you. Try to make very direct eye contact with her as you move up the line after the tunnel, whether it is the turn or the Go line and don’t point forward at all (this is MUCH easier to say than to do LOL!!!)
You can see her little questions (slowing down, looking at you) at :05 and :11 when she exits after a tunnel turn cue. And on the Go line after the tunnel, I think the connection will work better than dropping the hand in front of her (that causes her to stop and wait at :23,:33, :39, 1:19, 1:32 and 1:38).
You can see she was much faster at :48 where there was more connection and less pointing. At :55, there was not enough connection, though, so she didn’t know which side to be on.
And at 1:01 and 1:09, exiting the wing to the tunnel, connection was much clearer, you were moving, connected, and not pointing – so she was fast fast fast! Yay!And I think that connection versus pointing was why she didn’t love the racetrack – you were pointing ahead so she was not sure where to be, then you slowed down, so she slowed down. You can spread the wings out so you both run more, and try to just pump your arms and run, looking at her eyes the whole time (no pointing 🙂 )
So for your next session, the challenge is to run, pumping your arms, but not pointing, and trying to connect back to her eyes the whole time. It takes practice but it will make it easier for you both!
Great job 🙂 Let me know what you think!
TracyWelcome back, I hope you two had a great vacation!!!!
The Blind Crosses are looking good! Because of his speed and because of the quickness needed on the reconnection – keep your arms in really tight to your rib cage. Having your arms bent (I call them chicken wings haha)will allow you to rotate faster and show the new connection faster. If your arms float through the blinds (they were a bit floaty here, out away from your bodies) the reconnection is delayed so the timing is later, making the turn wider 🙂
You can see some chicken wing arms here:
The only other suggestion is that if you feel like you might end up too far ahead and have to send to the wing on the blinds, you can strategize to run deeper into the tunnel – the tight blinds work best when you can move into them the whole time, without having ti decel/set up a send then try to do the BC really fast 🙂
Great job with your connection on the exits of both the BCs and the wraps after it!! He seemed to always know where to go and that is GREAT when doing BCs!!
And as they get more and more comfy, you can start the BCs sooner 🙂 When he exits the tunnel and you are moving towards the wing, start the BC as soon as you see him look at the wing (he might be approx halfway between the wing and the tunnel) to see if you can get the BC finished in time to see him arriving at the wing. I think :22 was the best (earliest) timing here.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>I’m already feeling nervous- shocker I know.
Let’s normalize feeling nervous about running your young dog. I feel nervous about running my young dogs in Novice and I have been doing this for almost 25 years. LOL!
>> This is the first time I’ve entered him locally, and the drama/politics of agility here really gets into my head. I’m hoping I can shake it.
Well, you can observe it and see it but don’t embrace it or catastrophize. Stay out of any conversations about drama or politics. I highly recommend ear buds or a headset so people leave you alone, even if nothing is playing in them LOL!! Just smile at people all day, and tell yourself: no drama!
>>He is entered 2 days this weekend under Courtney. 1 Fast run and 2 Nov jumpers/standard.
Well, definitely FAST is great as FEO and then you can decide your approach to jumpers and standard. What is the facility like? I HIGHLY recommend you get your pattern games into a super happy place and also brush up on some tricks and remote reinforcement.
>.I need to plan further in April to utilize more from this class.
Yes please LOL
>>Her back was stiff but I didn’t know how ouchie she was. She had 12 trigger points when she saw Ken Bain Saturday and this was after she already had two massages.
Ouch! Poor girlie!!!
>>Oh! also, I am working on teaching bark on cue. I was able to get tiny woofs at the start jump too. They were more inspiratory woofs than expiratory but he felt confident enough to make sounds!>
A woof is a woof is a woof! YAY!!!!! Any vocalization as a trick is GREAT!!!!!
T
Good morning! The animals were feisty on the zig zag video LOL!
Zig zags are looking strong! The stays look great; that is really helpful for these.
The reps went better when you were facing her on the release (2nd rep and last rep) because you could be stationary and show her the lead changes, creating very strong responses from her. When you were facing forward and moving on the 1st and 3rd reps, things were more confusing and the handling wasn’t as clear, so she was less certain. If there is a handling blooper like at :55, you can reward her (she was correct there) before bringing her back to start so you don’t get any frustration behavior of her leaping up near you. You an add the 4th wing now, and lead all the way out to wing 4 to face her and handle the lead changes 🙂Find the jump went great! She was totally into it and found the jump each time. My only suggestions involve getting her to look forward more and at you less. 2 suggestions for that:
You can throw the toy sooner to help her keep looking forward. As soon as she exits the tunnel and looks at the jump, you can throw it to reinforce the choice to find the jump rather than skip it and the early throw will keep her looking ahead. You were throwing it when she was arriving between the uprights, so she was looking at you. And when you throw, add in a reward marker like “get it” so she knows to look ahead – the general markers like “yes” or “good” tend to encourage the dogs to look at us.
Also, you can add connection to her as she exits the tunnel by looking at her eyes more and looking ahead less. Adding more connection will indicate the line sooner (connection turns our shoulders to the line better, and not connecting often causes the dogs to look at us like she did here) and then you can also see the moment she looks at the jump to throw sooner.
She seemed great with finding the jump whether you were ahead and running, or parallel to it. Yay! So now you can add in being behind her – you were doing that a little at 6:28 but you can put yourself further behind if you run deeper to the tunnel entry so as she exits, you are parallel to her or maybe on little step ahead) and running up the line 🙂
And with all of these – you can add in your GO verbal as well, so she exits the tunnel and gets the big GO cue to take the jump as you run.Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>.I will give the treat and train a try this weekend when we are local. 🙂 We will see if that works.>>
Cool! Show it to her in a remot ereinforcement game at home first so she recognizes the TnT as part of remote reinforcement, particularly if it is not something she sees regularly.
>> She ran her first run of the weekend which was a premier standard course like she hardly had any ring stress. Rocked the course, her verbals, everything. Her second run, we ended up on the start line and she made eye contact and I TOTALLY missed the moment until we were leaving. WAAA!!! Giant tears of frustrations.>>
Great news on the first run – what was your order of festivities before the run? This is part of data collecting.
I am confused about the 2nd run – yay for the eye contact on the line, super YAY!!! But then you ran or didn’t run? I am confused LOL! Need.More.Coffee.>>Her next two runs as noise and activity picked up were less exciting.
Good to know. What were the order of festivities before the run on those: games? Food rewards? Where was she crated? More data collection. And this was Friday?
>>Saturday, I couldn’t get her to run at all and she literally stalled out on the last run of the day which she hasn’t done in a long, long time.
For data collection: what was the environment like? What was the order of festivities outside the ring, pre-run? Was she able to offer engagemen when the leash came off outside the ring? Inside the ring?
How many runs did she do on Saturday? She was 4 runs in on Friday.>> I was pretty down by the end of that day.
Totally relatable. It can be very emotional!!!
>>Came Sunday with a plan to try to get her super excited and asked a friend who she loves to help me out with a smorgasbord of treats. Played some delayed reward games and get the cookies.
Mmmmm smorgasbord, count me in LOL!!!! So delayed reinforcement get the cookies were two games that helped center the arousal (data collection) 🙂
>> My friend had treats in both hands so she got to choose which hand for a treat. It worked. She ran like a champ.
Fabulous! For the 2 hands game – was it more of a “hey, you get to choose your reinforcement from the charcuterie board” or was it more of a silly active game, almost like a pattern game… or both?
How many runs on Sunday?
>> Overall, she loves raw steak. However, I have had moments when even that didn’t get her up enough to overcome whatever trips her trigger. I have no idea if it is noise overload, which is possible since Saturday was by far the day with the most noise and energy. >>
Could be that the environment suppresses her arousal enough that she struggles to get into the optimal state, even when you have the magic steak available. The environment (Pavlov) wins that battle over the steak (which leans more into the operant/Skinner zone). Pavlov always wins, that bastard.
>>She also doesn’t love crowds (perhaps PTSD from showing indoors here) and it was pretty busy in front of the rings on Saturday.
Data collection: what was it like on Friday for the early runs? And for the 2 later rnus which your described as less exciting?
What was the area in front of the rings like on Sunday? How was her first Sunday run compared to her last Sunday run?
Have you ever tried having someone else hold your spot in the queue outside the ring while she is in a relaxing spot elsewhere, then you make a grand entrance at the last minute so she is not in the more challenging environment for long, and when she is, she is jogging through it with you to the start line?
>> We were in a covered rodeo arena, so somewhat limited space between the rings and the stands.
Crowded and mostly enclosed (data collection :))
>>Anyway, how do I go about finding that one thing that sends her over the top?
Do you mean, the magic reinforcement? The Busy Bee (this always makes me laugh because I am always looking for the magic toy aka Busy Bee too LOL! :))
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib0Xv86kyIk
To answer your question – there is probably no single thing that sends her over the top in terms of food or toys. You can look at see if there is something that makes her nuts in real life (like a broom or feather duster or fly swatter or something) because that can become closer to the one special thing. Does she do anything “naughty” in the house that makes you crazy? Well, that might be part of the answer LOL!! The answer probably won’t be found in food or toys because those won’t necessarily break through suppressive environments ( unless it is something like a ball or frisbee in the FEO runs)
For example, 2 of my most environmentally sensitive dogs will bark a lot at home. So, I put barking on cue and when I need to bring them out of an environmentally sensitive moment or bring them into a more challenging environment, I will cue the barking. It works 100000% of the time.
Also, these 2 same dogs love to grab my shoes at home as I am walking arond (yes, the shoe is on my foot). It is TOTALLY annoying but also incredibly useful – so it is on cue for both of those dogs, and used in environments that might suppress them (admittedly, the youngest dog does it without a cue when she is feeling great so I just let her do it LOL!!)
One of those dogs is my Export, who was the most noise-sensitive dog that I have ever met. Terrified of noises!!! So the breakthroughs were due to the barking on cue and also the shoe grab trick in challenging environments, and lots of counterconditioning.
>> but that is what she needs to get beyond herself and run. When she runs she is AMAZING and I love running with my amazing dog.>>
Yes, she is amazing and that is why we are still working to crack the code!
One thing to add is looking at the data collection and, when you can predict what the environment might be, pull different tools from the toolbox. The pattern games are HUGELY helpful for environment issues, so I would definitely play pattern games separately from pre-run prep – first in easy environments, when it is not that crowded ringside. Then later on, do it again when it is crowded and the environment is a lot harder. You will know you are on the right track if she can, in the crazy environment, whip her engagement back to you so fast that you barely have time to get the next cookie ready. That is indicative of being in a more optimal state, so type/value of reinforcement and what tricks/games you do outside the ring become less important because Pavlov is victorious against the environment, so Skinner doesn’t have to be (Skinner/operant conditioning is much weaker than Pavlov/classical conditioning/internal states).I’ve got some video coming of this in the next package to really underline the importance of well-understood pattern games, as well as an additional pattern game.
She has a longer history of the lower arousal state, so it will take longer to get the offered engagement where you want it with the pattern games than, say, a puppy 🙂
So I guess the start to finding the one thing that sends her over the top is just going to be a simple pattern game 🙂 If she can do that in the hrder environments, I bet the rest will be much easier!
Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>You may need to put down your beverage before watching the video.
Ha! I’ve got my coffee well-protected 🙂
Thank you for the update! He looked great in the video! The points total doesn’t matter because he gets a zillion points for his focus here 🙂
>>He was comfortable at the mock trial since we train here. I did do pattern game upon arriving and tricks before his turn. He was able to do engaged chill while waiting to run since they ran tall to small so he went 3rd from last out of 20 dogs. He did well waiting inside for his 2nd run and did not want a chew but would lick his Kong widget with cheese on it until a dog came by. He was quite happy when I left the pockets on the table outside but left easily and enjoyed his reward station at the end.>>
This is all good news! Yay! Sounds like he was terrific.
>> did jog out, took off his leash, forgot to reward, and headed to the start. We ended up at the same start line, just different routes.>>
It looked like you were feeling a little rushed or maybe stressed – very trial-like 🙂 BUT (and this is a VERY GOOD BUT) – did you notice that he was offering engagement before you even took the leash off? And then again when you took it off? He was a little distracted when you threw the leash but then he was right back to focus. Something to remember then is to NOT throw the leash at this point. So even though it was not totally according to plan because of the start area blooper, I still score it a big win! Did you have food in your hands? Or in your pockets? Just curious so we can plan.
At :18, he exited the tunnel and you had stopped – did you reward him? If so – great! He was terrific. If not – that is a moment in training to reward, because he will lose focus if there is a stop where you ignore him (talking to the judge there). In a trial and something goes wrong? Keep running 🙂
A handling style to consider, a little outside the context of this class but I figured I’d throw it out there LOL – he has big questions when you are running and your arm is pointing forward to the obstacle ahead of you both, especially when he is slightly ahead or slightly behind you (like at :42-:44). The pointing blocks connection (especially for small dogs) and also turns your shoulders away from the line. You might want to consider a small-dog handling style, which is more like running with no arms pointing at all, just running with your arms pumping (with some low arms for sending, etc) so you have connection. It looks like this, with a dog that is almost the same size:
>. except my attempt to blind from tunnel to AFrame ended up on my left and not taking it. >>
That was a handling blooper (we all have bloopers LOL!) and he handled it like a pro: staying engaged and getting right back on the frame, without barking at you as far as I could tell.
>>He actually got the gamble (4 out of 10 dogs in novice). He’s never been able to do that when we practice gamble in class but this line was less distance than class.>>
He was on fire! It was cool to see 🙂
>>She called it elephant handling
Meaning your arm was too high? Handling an elephant instead of an Eskie?
>>He then went the other way on the course as the pink ribbon for the gamble line was flapping in the breeze and caught his attention as he loves lure coursing.>>
Aha! Something to add to the list of distractions for pattern games and volume dial games – maybe tie a plastic bag to something so it flaps around?
And since he loves lure coursing… have you ever considered putting a plastic bag on a leash and dragging it around as a reward? We have done that with other dogs that love lure coursing and it has turned into a fabulous non-food reward!!
How did you feel about how things went? I think he looked fabulous. So the next question is… what is coming up that is at your training facility, and also not at your training facility? We can plan to take these skills on the road 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyUgh! Bummer!!!! Well, you can keep practicing this indoors, at home, and even in the rain 🙂 Fingers crossed for Thursday (tomorrow!)
T
Good morning!
>> (I’m bummed that I’m not finding time to keep up on other people’s threads too, might save you some repeating yourself-eek)>>
No worries! The dogs are all so completely different that following other threads might be interesting but not necessarily helpful.
>>I also need to work on leash off while holding her, I haven’t done that yet.
Yes – that is a good one: Scoop her up to enter the ring, the last cookie gets delivered when she is up in your arms(. Then you take leash of, put her down, and wait to deliver more cookies for offered engagement. Lather, rinse, repeat 🙂 to build that conditioned response.
>>Wraps – OMG thank you! I see so much “blah” lack of enthusiasm on wraps (from most of the dogs I’ve trained), which leads to looking around for something better to do and all the things we don’t want.>>
Yep! And I probably train wraps a little differently than a lot of traditional training approaches – I don’t really care how tight the turn is or the collection, I just turn it into a super fun chase game. And – voila – the dogs sort out how to collect because they want that chase game a whole lot. So I have nice tight wraps and happy dogs – but it is all built off of the dogs loving the chase games and driving on the easy lines. I 1000000% do not encourage multiple wraps where the dogs slow down, at all, ever.
>> AND YET my instructor has multiple wraps on every course in class,
Many wraps on course is a training trend, same with all of those threadle wraps and dog walk in the middle of the ring with 85 tunnels under it 🙂 Yes, super fancy stuff but the dog needs to love driving lines before we go to that – and I think another trend is skipping the “go fast, take what you see in front of you” stage of training to get right into the wraps, backsides, threadles, etc.
>>Every week I tell myself I need to work on wraps at home more, running away rewarding to power them up. But my goals are to get a Q in Nov JWW – LOL!
I would put wraps lower on the priority list. Rank the skills – fast lines in extension are always higher than tight wraps, so make sure you’ve got the fast lines and confidence where you want it, then you can throw in a wrap or two.
I personally “sandwich” wraps for my dogs: super fast line, a turn, then back to a super fast line.
>>other instructor sees a wrap start as a “good thing” to get some “momentum going” as compared to a lead-out start.>>
Well… depends on the dog. Some dogs – yes, totally agree. Some dogs get frantic and knock that bar on a wrap start. Some dogs don’t like wraps and that makes it less fun. Some dogs do a LOT better on a short lead out because they can chase the line immediately without collection. It totally depends on the dog.
>>so perhaps for now I run a modified course to have straighter lines for motivation, Tracy says so?
Sure! You can blame me for anything you want to do that might not be what they want to do. LOL!!! I am a big fan of “go fast, chase da momma for rewards”. No need to work tight crazy stuff until she can do that.
And, be sure that all classes and seminars are level-appropriate. I run my youngsters in “young dog” seminars because those seem to be the only seminars that work on big lines with very few “fancy” moments (and even then, there are skills presented that a young dog doesn’t need to know, like backside threadle wraps, layering multiple jumps, etc). So while I believe 2 of the youngsters can handle masters-level competition courses, I never train them in Masters-level seminars or classes because the currently fashionable training trend there is to throw in all the hard turning and layering stuff.
>>The other thought I have is that Zippie LOVES a rear-cross turn back on your path when the option presents itself – she reads it really well and seems to enjoy taking the leadership role vs me being on top of her. Thoughts?>>
If she likes it, and you can race her out of it, then go for it! I don’t think any dog likes us being on top of hem – don’t hover! Always move!
Let me know what you think!
TracyHello!
These are looking good!
For the serps, I think a change in your setup will help her sort it out better:
On the first part of the session, the reward target is too far from the jump to get the second turn for the serp, making it a little too easy for her LOL! So have the reward target very close to the pink wing so she can land and turn away a bit then take one little stride to it. She is not having to read a serp there, she is reading a post turn as you pull away from the jump.(Same at :54 when you went back to that side) On the other side starting at :17 I think your position of the MM was better so it was harder – a true serp! And that is why she was running past it more (because you were closer to the jump and not pulling away from it). So having the MM where it was there is great, and yes, you can turn your shoulders more – belly button pointing to the jump bump 🙂 and don’t ad to much motion yet.
But also she needs experience serping even as you add motion, so you can angle the jump a little: leave the start wing and the MM in the same place, and your line of motion is the same, but turn the jump so that as she comes around the start wing, she sees the bump more (the wing closer to the MM can be moved closer to the camera when she is on your left).FCs looked great on both sides! And great job with your verbals!!!!
The zig zags looked good here, having the wings angled and closer were pretty easy for her! She has fast feets!!! Well done! So now that she can do them that close, you can ‘flatten’ the wings so the are basically the same as the send’n’ serp setup but without the jump bump. Go back to a 1.5 meter distance when you flatten the wings, as that might be a bit harder for her.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Look at him being a superstar with the horses in the field right next to him! Yay! I think this went really well! His striding in the angled grid was even better than the straight grid! My only suggestion is that when you point at the MM, point with the dog-side arm so you are facing forward and don’t rotate towards him to point with the opposite arm (that slows dogs down). But yes…. onwards to the dragged toy! He was great with this setup so now we can add some spice and see how it goes (I am sure he will be perfect :))Great job!
TracyGood morning! Lots of good work here! Fingers crossed for the snow to melt ASAP!!!
The zig zag is going really well – nice stay rewards! You have good aim LOL!
The game on 2 wings looked great. As you add more distance, you can use your feet more on the push element especially on the first rep of it. I think that was the hardest part for her – finding the push on the middle wing when you were facing each other with you on wing 3. Part of it is timing: At 1:23, 1:52 and 2:07 you said the release THEN did the physical push so she didn’t see it – the decision was already made to come straight to you based on the release. Good reset cookies in those moments! And good job moving closer and making it a little easier. At 1:40 and 2:35, you actually started the push movement before the release and that totally helped her! So you can step to the push line (and use your arm) and THEN release – the physical cue can be in position for a second or two before the release, and you can also do the physical cue but rather than release, you can toss a reward back for the stay so she doesn’t pair any motion into the release or start to anticipate.Minny pinny – the left/right turns are looking really good, she is definitely happy to turn away from you! I think the hardest parts here were the starts. Have her lined up next to you for these, and I encourage collar holding so you can start the verbal THEN let her go to offer the behavior. And tons of cookies in that moment will help: come to side, get a cookie. I gently take your collar, you get another cookie 🙂 She was starting herself and guessing a bit, and the cleaner line ups will help that especially as we add challenge where it won’t be just turning away:
since she can turn away from the harder positions, work pn sending her the other direction as well, from the same position! For example, on the last rep, she did a left turn away from you (from you left side). While still on your left from that same spot, you can add in the right turn cue so she will go to the other side and turn towards you.Moving serp looked good on one jump – I think you were smart to warm her up with the serp on one jump! The MM was a good choice for the reward target. Sending around the barrel adds a WHOLE new dimension of speed! Fun! Do you have a 3rd wing or can you borrow one? I don’t want her to keep touching the barrel and moving it out of the way in her haste to get back up the line. So a wing or a harder barrel or something that won’t move as easily as the laundry barrel should be better for that.
She did really well on your right side! She had one error when you switched sides at :52.You were pretty far ahead on that one and not as far ahead on the other early reps on your left, and then worked back up to where you could be way ahead. Or she was heading to where all the reinforcement previously was and needed a moment to process the new side. No worries, though, she was great after that! Yay!
Work more lining up on this one too – like with the minny pinny, she didn’t really move into a line up position easily. You can do the hand touch and line up then reward once or twice with a cookie, so she gets more value for the line up spot and doesn’t avoid it or try to start without you 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Really great session here!
She was able to do her serps in motion even after some tunneling. Super happy with that!!!! The next step is to add more speed in the sends’n’serps game, then add more speed to this one too 🙂>.Better overall? Am I wander too far from the jump?
You were really strong!!! I thought your position was perfect when you were stationary and moving away a bit too much in motion: when you are moving, head towards the edge of the tunnel bag on the entry of the tunnel. Or, you can think about moving to the feet on the wing.
>> She is still a bit unsure that “look look” is a release cue.
Yes, she was questioning LOL!! But that is not a big concern – when the threadle goes into the flow of a course, she will recognize it as a release off of a stopped contact, for example. She was great with them and also never messed up the difference between a threadle or a serp. Your handling and position was really clear, too!
>On occasion she dropped a bar at 8 in. I still rewarded as she got the cue right, but that’s not ideal. What do you suggest in that case?>>
I couldn’t see which reps had the dropped bar. My guess is that it was due to reward mechanics (saying strike at the decision point as she was over the bar, rather than after fully landing) – the reward mechanics are hard because there is very little room on this setup, so you can either lock in the bar or use a bump, just to solidify the skills without worrying about rehearsal of pulling the rail.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! This is a great update with Fever! It sounds like he did really well in a high octane environment (surrounded by an abnormally high level of arousal in the humans and the dogs at NAC :)) Interesting about the pressure in the cookie-taking – it sounds like he was in a great state of arousal and it also sounds like the pattern games were magic for him! Huzzah!
>>He was definitely less snappy but did offer eye contact. He was readily doing all of his tricks for cheese but wasn’t feeling a ton of tug. >>
This is great – I am not concerned about the tugging because that is not nearly as important as the engagement and eating! YAY!!!
And yay for the dock games too, I bet he was happy to get to play.
What is next on his calendar in terms of training or trials, so we can plan some things 🙂
Poor Callie! Was she ouchie before NAC or did it happen at NAC? I am glad she is feeling better!
Keep me posted!
TracyGood morning! I think he did well here!! I am happy with all the reps and really loved his little twitch of excitement before the relesae on the last one 🙂
>> he would have done just as well without I think.
Yes, but he was not sad about having it 🙂 You can throw it back to him from the longer lead out and you can also release him forward to it sooner – no need to ask for as much duration yet.
>>do u see in the second clip he puts his nose down to have a little sniff of the grass .. and this is an area he knows so well but it is public. At a trial he will get up and follow the scent
Yes- no worries. It might have been a bit of leftover behavior from the past, or that you were not as connected as you left him as you were on the first rep, or he needed a couple more tricks before you set him up, or he was smelling the odor of the fod ball. He fixed himself and lifted his head without help, which is a big win!!!
>>So my line up routine is to walk in saying ‘break break break’ when I’m walking and when I stop he sits automatically .. then break is my release word?
So break is an engagement word and the release word? I am confused LOL!!! You can walk in saying something like ‘ready ready’ or something silly but save break for the actual release.
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> It looks a little too much like obedience – which is not a bad thing, except I think he will need more ‘volume dial’ so yes, the spins and twirls and tricks can really help! It is something to experiment with and see which tools are best.
>> I can train with a trainer on Thursday
Perfect!!! You can take these games to new places – particularly the pattern games, the volume dial and the leash off engagement game, as wel as some remote reinforcement.
>>I have a big agility event on Saturday – if the grounds dry out. I’ll make sure to get video this time.
Yay! We can set goals for Saturday. I think a good goal is to see if you can simply get offered engagement when you take the leash off – then take off and run 🙂 No need for long stays yet like you did here, we can add those easily when we have engagement. And we can also check and see how he does with he various tricks and pattern games with that environment, to assess which tools work best at the moment. Let me know what you think!
Tracy
