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Good 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!
TracyGood morning!
Lots of great stuff here in these videos! And I remembering correctly that really quiet environments are actually harder for her? She did well!
Some thoughts for you:Instant Focus looked lovely! She is beginning to look to offer behavior immediately rather than assess the environment. Same as you added the leash off game: You didn’t lose her on that first rep – she was going towards the jump when the leash came off, offering interaction with the jump. Pretty cool! So, when taking the leash off and not wanting obstacle interaction, be about 10 feet from any obstacle so she doesn’t think it is an offering game on the obstacle.
Planning ahead – the next set of leash off games should have cookies in pockets rather than in your hands 🙂 Yay! But still be quick with the rewards like you were here.
2nd video – yes, a little mechanics blooper at the beginning but same as what happened on the first video: she was heading to the weaves, you didn’t lose her. I think she was offering some weave action. So if you do the leash off super near an obstacle, she is offering the obstacle. That is fine – just be further from the obstacles because we really don’t want her to offer the obstacles at this stage.
3rd video –
>> I didn’t give cookies after taking of the leash in this session,>>
For conditioning purposes, give a cookie every time for a while – either from your hand like you did on the earlier videos or directly as RR like you did on the first rep here. I think we are seeing some shifts in her conditioned responses, in a good way!!!
For the RR combo – mixing this into obstacle training and sequence training is great! Be sure tp do lots of reps where you have nothing in your pockets or hands, and no target plates on the ground (those are all tipoffs about availability of reinforcement which is fine for some training stuff but also we want her to be able to train/run without cues for reinforcement availability in the ring. Mix it all up – I do plenty of training with the reinforcement visible with me in the ring, and mix in sometimes having nothing and using the RR cue. That “mom has nothing” becomes a cue for the RR game, which the dogs find clarifying as well!
I think she did really well on all of this! And you were moving around a lot more in the volume dial stuff, and that worked well too!
A thought about structure of the handling training here (and classes/seminars too):
>> we also practiced and rewarded frequently for wraps –>>
Wraps are a skill that requires the dog to do something incredibly difficult (and having to slow way down to do it), with the handler not moving much – and also wraps are also a skill that we really don’t use that much on course… so I realize that a lot of instructors work the daylights out of wraps but I see no reason to with her, until after the ‘run as fast as possible’ is fully installed 🙂 We want her to run as fast as she can and enjoy feeling the wind in her hair – so for now, have all of your handling be run fast, take things in front of her, big go go go lines that are not technical, with you also hustling. Same with threadles 🙂 they don’t fit the wind-in-hair plan. Set up the handling training so she can BLAST through a sequence and not slow down. (Dogs her size don’t really need to turn tight, but that is a separate topic LOL!!)
And one of the other ways to get the wind-in-your-hair, joy-of-running-fast feeling from the dogs? Jump at a lower height (below shoulder height) until you have the speed you want in training and trials. I will be sure to discuss it more in the next set of games, as we are having this discussion on a lot of threads here. Jumping full height is hard, especially is the dog is jumping above her shoulder height – organizing jumping, watching handling, dealing with environment… eek! So we can take out one variable to make it easier to be successful with the stuff we can’t take out or control (environment!) – and dropping the jumping height in training and trialing will do that. All of my dogs begin their careers at lower height until I see the speed and focus I want: first in training, then in trialing. Then, when I love what I see in training at full height, I will mix in some full height jumping in trials and eventually get to full height in all runs. Totally great for confidence building for the dogs!!! And UKI has made it reinforcing to do that, because all points earned at any height count towards the titles 🙂 It might be the same for other venues too. Food for thought! If she is jumping 16 here, I would jump her 12 until you have the engagement you want! We want her to look at the 12″ bar and say to herself: that looks easy, giddy up!!!
She had a big day yesterday, so do some easy stuff today. Take a breath is a good one, maybe some pattern games because they are easy and we want her responses to be pretty reflexive! I like to alternate training days to let the dog mentally rest and cement the learning.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>Today toy stayed out and we struggled more. More looking around and slower to engage. Most people looking at the runs wouldn’t see the problem, but I’m betting it will be obvious to you when I post tomorrow.>>
Well, it is good that most people didn’t see any issue because so many people are the FIRST to point out any little issue LOL!!! #FunnyNotFunny
I am guessing it is partially the change in environment (running order) as well as the day two tiredness. Mental fatigue is a REAL THING. A flyball teammate has a really lovely young dog that is almost ready to start. In a midday warm-up yesterday, he was sniffing near the box and then on the full practice run, he went over and started sniffing around the other team’s dogs. He had been really perfect for a day and a half but as you know – flyball tournaments are intense! My teammate wanted to put him in again for the last race of the weekend and I had to convince her not to, thankfully with the support of our local flyball big name trainer. Brain tired youngster! There is some science behind it by anecdotally – I know that we humans get brain tired and so do dogs. A full day of intense focus followed by a day of harder environment might have made it harder for Lanna. But overall – a TON of successes for her!!!
>> She did the obvious stuff: stayed, kept bars up, and did a nice approximation of agility; but her jumping was worse and she ran past a jump on run 2 that I can guarantee was a I can’t think about collection vs mom’s handling is subpar.
Yeah, sounds like young dog tired brain stuff indeed. To dial down challenge when the internal or external environment might dial up challenges, you can run her at a lower height on the days where she will NOT be first in the running order. She will develop the mental stamina, no worries. Sometimes with the baby dogs on day 2 I just do a full run of only tunnels LOL!
>>2 of 3 runs the dog before her couldn’t be caught and the third was one of the fastest in our area.
OMG that makes things challenging!
>> On the positives you will see Teresa on multiple videos and she is choosing to disengage.
I noticed Teresa on your videos! It was great to see Lanna abasically ignore her (sorry, Teresa, not sorry hahaha)
>>She held her stays, was able to tug with a loose sheltie in the ring, and didn’t completely implode when the loose Aussie charged the gaiting near us then I ran out of cookies because it took forever to catch the dog (this is why fixing this is important to me).>>
OY! That all certainly interrupts the routine. In those moments – I leave the start area, and do a brief re-start of the routine. If that means asking for more cookies from people nearby and causing a little delay as I bring the youngster back into focus? Yep! It sucks that there was a delay because two dogs were struggling, but we don’t want that to bubble over to your dog’s time in the ring. I put a big smile on my face and don’t rush back to the line 🙂
>>For pattern game I am cuing first cookie by standing or verbal, rest is uncued.
Perfection!!!! Her engagement seemed to be happening so fast that it was hard to tell – that is great!
>> I bought licky mats to try, she isn’t a huge fan of the snuffle mat.
Same with my crew – but they like the licky mats so far!
>>Pip was a horrendous demand barker from the day I got him from the shelter (and demand biter). I got rid of the biting, but never the barking, let’s just say I am suffering from PTSD.>>
Ha! Yes, I totally understand the PTSD 🙂
>>Jen Pinder April 9
Jumpers Workshop Beth/Diane April 16
Monica Bush May 6
Wags UKI May 7
Lucky Dog UKI May 22-23
Kerry Smith May 27 (Teresa’s)>>OK great!! and the next 2 seminars will have multiple runs so you can install the bigger pieces of the toolbox as she comes into the ring. And because she loses some jumping organization when the distractions are higher, you can consider jumping her at 10 or 12 in the higher distraction situations so that she doesn’t have to devote much brain energy to jump height.
In your spare moments this week, keep working the offered engagement when the leash comes off, with food/toy in your pocket (empty hand) and you can also start to stuff the food/toys into pockets when you are playing the other games. It is OK for her to know they are there, but they won’t be visible. And you can have a 2nd toy and treats at a reward station. And I think the other thing on tap was going to be playing with 2 balls and see how that went 🙂
Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Remote reinforcement looked fabulous! The leash on didn’t bother her at all and it is great practice to just have it in the picture. She did well on all of this – the only thing I can think of to add at home is:
You can also be walking away as long for something if she has a trick she can do while you are both moving, rather than in front of you – picturing the two of you moving to the line and you ask her to spin at your side or something while you both move.Instant focus was also great – that was a REALLY hard environment and it took her a heartbeat… but she got to work! YESSSS! That is why we do instant focus – to shorten the environmental assessment time in favor of quick offerings of trained behavior. SUPER!
>> We also have some rented practice time in a novel place. So: leash off with cookies visible and pattern games that bring up her heart rate in a good way before we start weaves? Magic cardboard as well I image but just once?
Fun times today!!!! The very first moment can be instant focus. Then yes – pattern games outside the ring. And have a reward station set up the whole time, even if you don’t use it the whole time. Just have it there and use it sometimes: you can sometimes do a bit of remote reinforcement and sometimes run with cookies in your hands to reward in the ring. And each an every time, bring her to the start area on leash and take the leash off again so you can pair sooooo many cookies with the engagement after the leash comes off.
If your goal is to do weaves – pattern games won’t put her in the right state unless she is very distracted by the environment. Volume dial games should do that, if the environment is not distracting. Bring her heart rate way up LOL!! But is she struggles with the environment – yes to pattern games first. Then when you have her engagement, do a bit of volume dial tricks and have a really high rate of reinforcement session on the weaves.Great job! Let me know how it goes today!
TracyGood morning! Sparky was awesome here! Lots of real world distractions and he was perfect.
The cookies can be in your pocket now (I think they were on a few of the reps anyway). I don’t have any other feedback other than telling you how great the session was 😁 In the next session, you can wait one more heartbeat before reaching for the pocket to help prolong the engagement. I LOVED the barking dogs in the background, what a fabulous distraction even if the person taking the video was telling them to be quiet LOL!!!
What do you have coming up in terms of classes or practice runs? We can start planning more fun! Looking forward to the line up games – great job here!
TracyGood morning! This looked really good!
I think the timing and correct words can be challenging for everyone, especially as the spot evolves and we add MORE words 🙂
One thing that helps with correct and timely verbals is to do walk throughs several times without the dog. Then when can run it correctly without the dog… then we add the dog 🙂 that helps us sort all the verbals and timing out really well.
The Bluetooth mic is awesome!!! So clear!!!Lots of good work on the videos here, his commitment is lovely and you were really strong with the verbals and timing!
On the Go reps – when using the toy, you can throw sooner, as soon as he is in the tunnel. The TnT totally helped as a good focal point when you added it and he gets a MASSIVE GOLD STAR for ignoring it on the left turn tunnel exits, Yay!!
As you work the GO exits, be more connected – yo can exaggerate the eye contact with your dog-side arm back. I think part of his question on some of the exits was that he could not see the connection so he looked at you. Even when you were way ahead at :41, there was not a lot of connection so he was unsure of where to be – the added eye contact will help that.He is doing a great job with the turns on the tunnel exit!!! You can keep saying the verbals earlier, but you can also make them sound different. The GO can be loud and urgent and the left/right verbals can be softer and calmer.
He was a little wide on the very first left at :14 but then pretty perfect on the rest! He did take the extra wing on the way to the tunnel a couple of times (like at :29) but that was where the physical cue sent him, so he was a good boy on that.
Rights also looked good!!! Super nice!
On the racetracks around the wings in both directions (:25 and :55) add more connection with your dog-side arm back, try not to look forward ot point forward. That connection break is causing him to look at you (he isn’t sure which side of you to be on) so you are getting a little bit of a zigzag.
And the very end, he had a little question on that last go but I think it was that there was not enough acceleration or urgency (you were tired :)) so definitely add that to make the go sound very different to help propel him onto the line.
Great job here!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Lots of good stuff here! How did today go?
Yes, starters standard can take a lifetime LOL! Having her do action tricks that early was probably too early, too soon before the run? It is hard to know but that is something (how early to start the tricks) that will reveal itself in the next few weeks too
On question from this video and the other 2 videos because it was a little hard to see: was she offering the engagement in the pattern moments (like the hand to hand cookies, or the up and down moments) or were you cuing it? That will help us plan for what is next.
The other thing I can think of it that sometimes it is a lot of layers of criteria to get the engagement you want and the stay and the first jump… so you can totally mix in tunnel starts! She likes tunnels 🙂 so if you can walk in and she offers engagement when the leash comes off, you can totally just send her into a tunnel and run run run. It is a nice balance to the control of a start line stay.
This is good news about the focus on you at the line! And yes, it is reasonable to make it harder but sounds like the environment did that for you (by changing the running order) and plus she might be mentally fatigued (engagement is definitely tiring :))
When is your next trial/seminar?
Totally understandable about the barking on cue. Was Pip taught the bark as a trick, or does he like to bark? I have not seen the non-stop barking in dogs who have been taught it as a trick, but it is possible that Pip is the first I’ve met LOL!
Keep me posted about how today went!
TracyGood morning!
The jumping form question for now is more a matter of finding the sweet spot of distance for her. Many dogs will stride these grids that way she does and have most excellent jump form on full height jumps course. If she is fast, her mechanics are good and her form is good, then the exactness of foot placement is not a concern 🙂
On the serp versus tunnel versus threadle game:
She did really well! Those threadles were especially fabulous! You can start adding a little motion for those too.
Speaking on motion: When doing the serps versus tunnels, maybe add motion after a couple of successful reps of stationary serps rather than after a couple of tunnel reps to build the value of the potential of motion on a serp even when a tunnel is right there. I think the errors came when there was a moving serp right after tunnel cues. So you can dial up the focus on the serp motion by building it off the stationary serps, and if that goes well we can alternate moving tunnel and serp reps in future sessions. You can also release her sooner on the moving serps so that you don’t end up stopping (because there is a tunnel in your way LOL) – we don’t want her to build that into the cue, so you can release just after you pass the first wing, rather than all the way at the 2nd wing.One other thing to note – I think you were using your get it marker for reward from hand, but I think you have a strike for that? We need a database of everyone’s markers LOL!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
The rear crosses are coming along nicely! All of your GO lines looked great, and also the right turn rear crosses looked great. I agree, the left turns were harder – either because the right is her better side, or she had just gotten all that reinforcement to the right (or both :)) So for the next session – start with the left and see what happens. Do one do where she is in your right side for the Go (which rewards to her left side) then do a rear cross turning her to her left.My only other suggestion is to use your reward markers for the tossed toy rather than a “yes” because we don’t want her looking for a reinforcement on a yes marker.
And I am glad you are having fun with these – that is great considering that I know that rear crosses are totally your favorite thing hahahaha
Serp versus tunnel also looked good – that extra heartbeat seemed to totally help. Next time – be close enough to the serp jump to touch it so that she makes the second turn to the tunnel. Start with one or two without motion, than add motion by assuming the position, then moving, then releasing 🙂
Regarding the grids and toys: It is pretty common for young dogs to be pouncy for the toy, so. I am not concerned – as long as the toy is either slowly dragged or stationary miles away, the pounce won’t be anywhere near the jump (I have not seen a pounce on a dragging toy yet, in two sports LOL)
And because grids are all about mechanics – if something is not working for her, change it up 🙂 You can teach her the spider contraption separately from a jump, especially a spread with another jump past it. That is a lot of visual processing for a baby dog. And you can work the very straight line up on one jump. Starting half the distance away from the jump is the Salo recommendation but I have found that the very close engages the hind end sooner than the halfway distance, when we obsess on video after video, and also disallows disorganization of the front feet. Yes, I like to obsess LOL!!!
Nice work here! Have a great herding day!!
TracyHi! I have a whole bunch LOL
It might be the Aerobie Dogobie, those are great.
I also get cheap fabric frisbees from Tractor Supply because they get destroyed pretty quickly.
THi!
>>Toys and food are allowed. So just do normal start line entrance without any action tricks? And do the tricks before we enter. >>
Definitely play around with pattern games and action tricks outside the ring, while waiting. Any time you see him get distracted, do a few reps of the pattern game.
Then when it is your turn, jog to the line (no tricks) with , take the leash off and see if he offers engagement. If he is able to do it: cookie time
If he is not, ask for a couple of action tricks. You’ve got plenty of time on the start line so don’t feel pressured to start until he is ready.>> For the run, should I keep the reward in pocket or hands?
Since he already knows you have the treats, do whatever is easier 🙂 then at the end, run to reward at your reward station.
Keep me posted!
Tracy
