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Hi!
>> The “off course” jump was never of much interest, good boy!
I agree, the left and right turn looked great, and it didn’t matter if he was out ahead of you with you moving faster, or parallel to you, etc. All good! Yay!
>> The Go was really hard without the preplaced reward. Harder for me to throw anything close to well than it was for him to Go!
We can shift some focus to the go to add more value to it – it is as useful as any of the other verbals! One thing to do is change the style of delivery. Bearing in mind that the dogs are most likely processing the tone/rhythm/pitch/volume as much as they are processing the actually word… the Go here sounded just like the left/right verbals in the style of delivery. To help that, make it louder and longer and more urgent-sounding. And, to help him learning it without a placed toy, 2 ideas for you:
-move the start wing so it is lined up to the other wings, so you don’t get stuck behind the jump as you move forward – that decelerates you a little, and that is opposite of what the physical cue for go would be. He isn’t ready to see the opposite yet, so you can just move up the line outside of the jumps for the go cue.
– watch his head on the first jump as you move up the line – if has not collected and he is looking straight, throw the reward. You don’t need to wait til he takes the 2nd jump if he meets criteria on the first jump (center of the bar, looking forward, relative extension).
Plus, with you outside the wing, you are able to be even straighter which will challenge the soft turns even more 🙂 Yay!
Let me know if that makes sense! The soft turns look fabulous so we can balance the go lines in more.
> One more question about soft turns vs. Go straight. Where do turns at like a 45 fall? Like a jump at a 45 off the dogwalk? Is the answer “it depends”?
Of course LOL!!! It totally depends on the dog – if the dog naturally will blast off on the straight line, then that very mild turn might just be a name call (or an obstacle name if it is obvious). If the dog naturally turns a bit? Nothing really needed, just let him do his thing. I have an example of that in one of the games coming on Monday – it is not a dog walk exit, but it is a line on a jumping course where I would just use the dog’s name on a very mild turn.
>>I’m thinking that if it’s a turn to jump with an off course tunnel straight ahead that’s going to be Right or Left? But is it still a Right or Left if there’s no off course obstacle ahead?
Well…. it depends LOL!! If the tunnel is straight, it is a GO TUNNEL. If the jump is a gentle arc and not a real left or right, I might just say jump if it is the only one out there (I only say “jump” on those soft arcs) or I might call the dog’s name. I only use the left or right if it is a true left or right, otherwise we dilute the verbal and it won’t be in place when we need it.
Have a fun weekend! Great job here!
TracyWait, Mardi Gras and Universal with the band?? Can we do the Zoom from Universal? I play an instrument, I can fit in with the band LOL!
And congrats on 12 weaves!!!! YAY!!
Hi!
>>Unedited full session with some HOT MESS moments.
I am a little disappointed, I watched the whole thing for the hot mess moments and there were no hot mess moments at all LOL!!!! OK, not disappointed at all, just kidding – very glad there is nothing I would consider a hot mess, and you might be too tough on yourself 🙂 Lots of good stuff here!
By contrast, the running a-frame session I just did with my 2 year old boy dog was a COMPLETE hot mess. It looked more like dock diving LOL!! No video sadly, otherwise I would post it for you to get a chuckle. It was such a hot mess session that I didn’t need to review the video to see what happened haha Thankfully my 2 girl youngsters were perfect and it is really unusual for the boy and I to have a hot mess session.
>>Maybe tried too much (for my brain) whereas I felt that I was not solid on my set up choices (once he even ran between my legs trying to keep up with me when I changed my mind, poor boy).>>
I think the full session might have gone on mentally too long for both of you. The first 5.5 minutes were really pretty precise and then things got a little looser – you had the line up oopsie at 5:40ish, then a circle cue at 6:30ish where you changed your mind. And at 6:22, he had what was likely “I am getting tired” moment from him when he went and stood away, looking at you – followed by him checking out at the very end. It is possible you were not mentally tired, but second-guessing yourself too much as the session went on.
I think a longer break between the 2 sessions can help – neither element of this video was too long, but both together with a just a short reset break might have ended up being too long.
On the video: The session was actually in 2 parts:
2 minutes and 30 seconds, approx, of the wraps verus soft turns, then about 4 minutes of the backsides.
Looking at part one, soft turn versus wrap: Really nice! He was highly successful and your verbals sounded completely different – easy to process! Yes, add more of your motion – I like a wrap wing as the start point because it is an easy start for humans and dogs, and allows us to control the amount of motion pretty easily.
The other thing I liked was how the session was precise but also relaxed and unrushed. You were precise in your cues and spent plenty of time playing too. Loved it!
The 2nd session (backsides) started at approx 3:30 after he got a little break and you reset the jump. He probably needed a warm up on an easier angle for the first rep, more like where you started at 3:47 on the 2nd rep – basically saying “this is a backside session now” because he was coming off a soft turn/wrap session and he is still young 🙂 After the 2nd rep, he was really successful.
Nice job building in good motion forward!>>I was very happy when I remembered to use the v.c. “FOCUS” which we have for looking toward the target line. If there are choices, he will “sprinkler head” between them until I release him (once there is enough of a pause on it).>>
I think this was really good because it helped you set him up for a whole lot of success. It is a great way to start it and will help also when you add in front side balance (see below). Eventually, we fade it because you will both be moving so he will have to find it on his own, but it definitely helps him here.
>.I had confusion on the exit line on the backsides, because I needed a real world example. Once I got that in my head, for the backsides, I felt like I moved in better lines.>>
Yes! Your motion forward at 4:39ish would be for a circle wrap not a push, so after that rep you were really good about ‘sliding’ across the bar on the landing side like what you did at 5:12 and 5:36. He was great on all of them – nice placement of reinforcement!
>>. I dropped his toy poorly several times (hitting the wing on the soft turn! And sending him off line on a push) and being in his way.>>
Ha! Dogs are very forgiving of that, he was happy because you got the reward out to him 🙂
>.Trying to say “GET IT” for toy release instead of “YES”. I think I did it once. He still snagged the toy in my hand once, but I did not cue him “MINE” before I took it.>>
Yes, I noticed that you were much cleaner with all of that! The rare “yes!” will not be a problem like it would be if you used it all the time 🙂
The circle wraps at the end looked really good! For those, start further back and run faster, which will challenge him to make the turn as you go flying past him 🙂
>>Training plan (next): increase motion running toward the jump (for BACKSIDE SLICE) which I did not really do, but you had recommended.
WHY: I think I need more space in front of the set up to get motion toward the jump before we are on top of the jump. Next session goal-bigger space. Or are you thinking something else is going on in my head??? Besides self doubt.>>I think you are correct to want to add more motion and speed for the next sessions! There is nothing wrong with anything going on in your head 🙂 Here are some planning ideas:
For the wrap versus soft turn setup, adding the start wing 10 or 15 feet away from the 2 jump setup will add more speed for both of you. Just start walking forward and see how he does – his success rate will tell you how quickly you can go to jogging then running.
For the backsides:
Before adding a lot more motion or distance or another obstacle, I want to add the balance reps. In order to do the balance reps, he needs to be able to go to the backside even when he is lined up facing the front side of the jump as you move forward. He was very close to that here – not quite fully facing the center of the bar, but not facing the backside wing either.So I would give him one more short session of this same backside setup, starting with a quick reminder with an easy line up with you maybe 10 feet away from the jump, then move him over so he is facing the center of the bar. When he can go to the backside a couple of times even after the line up has him facing the front side and you are moving, then we go to step 3:
Line him up facing the center of the bar, holding him and give a front side cue (your choice, can be a wrap verbal or a soft turn verbal, whichever you think is stronger) – then let go and move forward towards the exit wing. The session then becomes about the lineup facing the center of the bar and the verbal telling him if it is the front or back of the jump you want (only do one type of front in that session, it becomes too hard if it is backside versus a variety of front sides in the early sessions :)) If you have a 5 foot bar, it will be a little easier (it is hard to tell if these are 4 or 5 foot bars).
>>Is it time for me to get a running start (like from a tunnel or wing wrap) so that I can work the verbal cues with real speed? I like the tunnel since I am concerned for slipping on the turf and the wing-wrap is extra turning I could avoid.>>
Not on the backsides, not yet 🙂 That is coming soon, March 7 to be exact LOL! We want to work these harder challenges with semi-speed for now because the dogs will be more successful. If we add real speed too soon, then the dog fails more or we end up handling more to help, neither of which helps strengthen the verbals.
>>My prior training (with GINGER) had a lot of foundation exercises, once I learned how important they are (my first agility dog), but there is a zone between foundation and real trial experience. I think this exciting stage of developing speed during this phase is going to be missing link. WOOHOO!>>
Right! I agree that with our earlier generations of dogs there was a big gap between foundation and running courses in the trial ring. So we have learned to add speed gradually, add arousal gradually – and the next step in the program is to take it all onto the course and then into the trial ring. The high rate of success that comes from being obsessively systematic 🙂 has really helped the dogs be success at trials too!!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! I could see enough to know that the good dog trainer totally showed up 🙂
This session went really well! She looked pretty perfect with the turns. One other thing to note was how well she held her stays as you were moving and then properly released on the verbal cue. YAY!!!In the reps where I could see you – I think the next session can have less handling help. Add a start win before the setup, so you and Promise are both moving forward – and you juts basically stay forward facing til she makes a decision to wrap or do the soft turn. You can reward early with these – if she exits the soft turn looking at the jump, you can toss the toy for the jump, no need to wait til she takes it because it is so much harder with less help from you 🙂 And same concept with the wraps – you can reward as soon as you see her turn her head back towards you for the wraps, before you even do the cross to turn.
Great job here! Let me know how the next session goes with the unhelpful handling 🙂
TracyGood morning!
The sheep seemed feisty in this video LOL!
>>Wanted to let you know how much the Monday zoom helped, I finally got to watch it last night 🙂
Great! It is good to know that they are helpful even when you can’t be there live!
On the video – she is doing really well with the backside slices! And she was looking at the bar more, which leads to clean jumping more too. I notice she definitely watches the toy a lot – like at 1:16 when you had the toy up near your shoulder and moved it, she stopped moving forward and looked at the toy. With that in mind, as you work these games, you can have the toy in your hand and have it move normally, quite visibly… it becomes a good challenge for her to learn to look forward to the obstacle to earn the reward, and not at the reward 🙂 That is helpful for training and I think it is also helpful for trials too because she will look at you less when you are running and at the obstacles more. She will look at you peripherally, which is great, but she doesn’t need to turn her head to see you directly or get distracted by your motion.
I am glad that you added motion, she was definitely ready for that challenge because she was very successful when you had no motion or very little motion. She did really well with motion too and also with the balance reps! Yay!
As you add the challenge of the balance rep (front side verbal) versus the backside verbal, 2 things to keep in mind:Emphasize the clean start on those, so she is hearing the verbal before you both start moving. that is when she processes it the best! The start was not as clean at 4:06 where she had the error – you had the motion and the verbal happened simultaneously and that made it too hard for now.
And when you do start moving, try to keep your motion less helpful 🙂 by basically just walking straight forward to the bar, giving her enough room to get to the soft turn on the front side and also to move away from you the backside. You’ll probably end up moving forward on the side of the bar closer to the exit wing, so she has a clear line for both (center of the bar for bigger dogs makes it harder for them to get to the front side of the bar for the soft turns.
She also did well on the wraps! Definitely ready for the wing game with the distraction jump.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! I think she is doing fine! On some of the reps, she was a bit too close to come in fast and organize for a tight turn. But when she was further back, she is totally organizing to turn nice and tight (like at :19, great example!)
So keep starting her pretty far back and rewarding this – and don’t wait for a visual that looks like the little Shelties turning 🙂 What was the jump height here? I think you can add another 2 inches – the sooner we give her enough height challenge, the sooner she will sort out her body. Show her the slightly higher height on some straight line set points first, then add in this wrap game.
She is doing a great job of landing knowing she is turning and setting up to do so. If she gets in closer to take off, she is going to have to slow waaaay down and that defeats the purpose of teaching her how to turn herself. She is turning her head, adjusting her stride, moving to the turn side of the bar… yay! And her jump arc on a wrap is not going to be centered – those lovely centered photos are from only certain types of dogs with specific structure coming in with less motion.
And most of us to not have dogs like that 🙂 I have 4 dogs running agility at the moment and their movement in and out of the wraps all look totally different, but they are doing what they need to given their individual structural differences in order to set up a fast, safe turn.The 2 bigs and the 2 mediums are basically the same shoulder height but radically different structures. As long as they hit the criteria for the wrap turn, I let them do what they need to do with their bodies (fascinating to see in slow motion!) and they are confident, happy and super fast 🙂
My guess is Sprite is similar in height to Contraband but built more like Hot Sauce and Voodoo, so she is going to workout how to NASCAR it like Hot Sauce does (Voodoo worked out his own gymnastic style – had to watch it in slow motion because it is astounding – he is 9 years old and still 100% physically sound!) What I mean by that is, she is going to sort out how to use her body to go really fast and tight, and it will look totally nothing like other dogs 🙂 But Hot Sauce is currently the fastest dog in my crew of dogs – she looks wider and the turns are less pretty-looking but they are safe on her body and super fast. My other medium dog, Elektra, has more of the picture-perfect looking wraps but she is a radically different structure than Hot Sauce even though she is basically the same height. And, even with better looking wraps – she is not as fast through the turn than the dogs who look less perfect.
I did an experiment over the summer of “helping” Hot Sauce turn tight with handling and got some GORGEOUS looking turns. And separately, giving her the info and letting her decide how to do it, with me just getting out of her way. Not nearly as pretty looking (but still safe for her body). I compared the two and of course she was dramatically faster when I just let her do what she had worked out. So we train the criteria and the verbals and the commitment to fluency… then get outta the way to let the dogs do the rest 🙂
Let me know if that makes sense! I think somewhere along the way we want the dogs to look like a certain way over the bars, but that visual we have came from very specific dogs. Most dogs do not fit into that mold, so we help them sort their own body out. Learning to see what each dog looks like when they are nailing the wrap is the hardest part of us humans!
TracySo far, the hardest part for all of us with these games is to NOT be a good handler LOL!!! You will want to be a bad handler and be late on the cues 🙂 Have fun!
TracyGood morning!
I think you did a great job paying attention to your motion – you were being careful to be moving AND not be helpful with handling. He really never looked at the distraction jump. He only had one tiny question early on – he wanted to go left when yo said right, but my guess is that was because there had just been a good amount of left turn reinforcement : )Each time I wrote a note to suggest something: add more motion! Move the wing further back! You did it. And he was great! So my only suggestion now is to move the game to 2 jumps, because then you can add the challenge of the GO reps.
My only other suggestion is to use your ‘get it’ marker for the reward throws rather than the yes – that will help when you get to the combo games, where he will also be wrapping back to you for the reward from your hand (which is a different marker).
Great job here – fingers crossed that you are NOT snowed in!!!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
Total gold star for the training and another gold star for the team name. Love it! Sounds like a blast!Yes, defaulting to the backside is normal at this stage because even though you didn’t do a zillion reps, the start position has some pressure on the line so dogs think that it is either a backside pressure or a rear cross pressure. You were right to start close and break it down to help him understand that both options (front and back) are a possibility and that the verbal cue is what will tell him, not just position. It can be a real brain bender especially for dogs that are relatively inexperienced.
I agree that he was figuring it out at the end! Yay! On your next session, do a couple of short reminder reps without motion… and when he says “oh yeah, I remember!” Then you can start adding the motion of just walking forward.
If he goes “I have no idea what any of this is” then you can repeat this session 🙂 Doing front versus back on JUST verbals can be super challenging and it is fine if it takes us several sessions 🙂 He is doing really well!
Great job here and keep me posted about the trial!!
TracyGood morning!
I agree – training with a frizz or a tennis ball for the tenny-lovers presents additional challenges because the friz or tenny likely have that “go run run run” conditioned response that has nothing to do with jumps or turns LOL!! So if he can process the cue and the skill with a friz in the environment? Heck yes!!!!
>> I have a really hard time moving through all of these drills because it’s more “training” than “handling” to me. I wonder if setting a target obstacle or cone to make it to would prevent me from being static?>>
It is indeed training 🙂 and that is why you have to remind yourself to move because we are training the dogs to process while the handler moves. Any type of target that helps you is great as long as it is not something that he considers as part of offering behavior.
I think getting the handlers to do this while also moving but moving slowly and forward and not towards the backside wing… it is pretty darned hard for the humans to process 🙂 My guess is that this is related to the issue that we have all run into – not being able to properly spit out the directionals while running a course. We can either do the directionals – or run the course. Both? Yeah, no. Ha! So these foundation games have proven to be challenging in terms of handler motion AND verbal. I think that by getting all of this rehearsal in for the humans, we will all get much better with the verbals while running courses too (I have certainly improved thanks to filming the demos with all the motion!)
>>Should I vary the front side per session or just stick with L and R versus go?>>
For now, let’s just stick with one version of front for all the sessions. It is mental calculus for the dogs and I have other games coming for fast-moving processing of different front side cues.
T
Hi! Really nice work here!!!
She is doing MUCH better when you are not helping with physical cues for each verbal (when you are just moving forward). It was harder to collect when you were moving forward FAST, but she sorted it out when you dialed back the motion. You can probably split the difference of how much you dial it back – the running hard forward with the wrap verbal at :20 was perhaps too much motion, but at :22 you dialed the motion waaay back. Because it was just one error, you can dial it back less for the next rep. If she still has a question, you can then go back to walking.
You did have a few moments of handling that supported the verbal even if it was slightly late handling: and she was AMAZING on those. Ideally on a course there is handling that helps, not just us running forward like crazy people LOL!) and she is going to ROCK it!!!
She had 2 toy-grab errors at :40 and 1:16. Interestingly, they were both in moments of full disconnection from you. She finds disconnection distracting! So, yes, the obvious answer is “don’t disconnect” but because we are dog trainers, we are going to teach her that motion towards the jump and a verbal means take the jump (not come to momma or grab the toy). So yes – do some reps without connection. You can do it was a toy in your pocket at first (yes, delayed reinforcement, but that is fine because the toy is a big distraction). And then do it with the toy in your hand. You are doing a really nice job with your “strike” cue so I think teaching her to process the verbal and motion even if you are disconnected will really help all of this!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I totally feel the pain about managing my motion! Having to literally write down the mechanics for all of the games here has helped me manage myself better 🙂>> Do you use your Left and Right for all your soft turns – ie. straight(ish) tunnels and running dogwalk or do you have a different verbal for those?
I use left/right for ALL of my soft turns, regardless of obstacle. The left/right verbals mean “take the obstacle and exit on the 90 degree angle”. I know people who have different sets of verbals for jumps and tunnels and the running contacts… my dogs tell me that they don’t need 3 different sets and that they understand one set and its applications (THANK YOU, DOGS!!!) I guess my emphasis on “take the thing and exit turned this way” is what gets the behavior to the stage where I have not needed 3 sets of cues.
>>Or maybe the better question is: Is that what you use them for primarily and do you also/ever use them over a jump, like in a Gamble?
I use them any time I need that particular turn and a gamble is a good place for it LOL! For example, I ran USDAA 2 weekends ago and one of the gambles was very clever: it required a GO out of the tunnel to get on the line (tunnel was under the dog walk) but the handler had to tuck in next to the DW before the dog exited the tunnel so the last physical cue the dog saw before entering the tunnel was the handler decelerating and getting behind the tunnel entry – which is the exact opposite of what the dog needed to do when he exited the tunnel: after the tunnel the dog had a GO to a jump then a threadle then back out to a tunnel.
Clever, clever judge.
I never train gambles with Voodoo (lazy momma!) so all I had were my verbals. I used a big GO GO GO verbal before he entered the tunnel, then when he exited heading straight, I used the right verbal then a threadle verbal then a go… boom! Good boy nailed the gamble. It would have been much easier if I could have been running alongside but it was a great test of the verbals.
>>Also, in all the videos your Left and Right is to the side that you are on, when you cue Right you are on the dog’s Right side and vice versa. Are your left and rights not relative to you and later on in the training you add in training for when they are a turn away from you?
The left and right turns are not relative to me – but that is MUCH harder. We start stripping out the handling help in the easier version where the dog is turning towards us. Then we start the harder in the serp games and then add more in the next 2 weeks. Surprisingly, only my youngest (and most feral) dog had an easy time when I added the concept that left or right could also mean turn away.
>> By the way…I was smart enough to print out the Field Guide this time and it’s great!
Awesome! I wanted to help make it easier to remember all the things 🙂
THi!
I agree, these are looking great!>> Should I repeat my verbal cue? I’ve always just said left or right once for my soft turns. I also need to remember to say them
Say them early, say them often. Dogs have a LOT to process and one quiet “left!” may not do the trick 🙂 Plus, it might sound too much like other cues if is not not repeated he might end up missing that one cue and having to hear it again. Left and right in isolation sound pretty much alike and only one repetition doesn’t give you the opportunity to use rhythm, inflection, volume, to help him differentiate.
Hi Slider! Loved his cameo appearance! And Skye was a good boy with the added distraction.
>>Now, should I add the bar locked in?
>>If he goes straight two times, what should my plan be?Yes, I think adding the bar is the definite next session. Start with the cone wrap (because it is fun 🙂 ) and with you walking forward and see how he does – his success rate will guide you as to how much more motion you can add. It is easy to know what to do when he gets it right 🙂 If he gets it wrong once – switch sides and see if he can do it on the other side. If he gets it wrong twice, you can either dial back your motion (as long as you keep moving) or you can move the distraction jump further away. And you can do very few balance reps of the GO line – get a really strong left/right going before you add that in.
Nice work here! Let me know how he does when you add the bar!!
TracyHi!
>> I finally got (most) of my fittings and pipe to make jump wings! I only had the fittings to make half wings, but at least they were good enough to try multiple jumps outside in grass! >>Yes! The wing and jumps you built look great, and this space worked perfectly for the sessions. She was perfect in her focus with a whole lot going on outside around her! Nice!
That first session with the wing and the jump looked really good, glowing eyes and all LOL!! I think the toy was a better reinforcement for her – easier for her glowing eyes to see so she looked at you less. Really strong session!
2nd video, exit line game:
Interesting that she was so mad about something and barking at you in the beginning! The setup is visually challenging so she might have been a little stimulated by the challenge. No worries – you worked through it nicely! It was hard to see what she was doing but you added more motion and that helped her take the wing. And more motion helped her then go to the jump after the right turn. So definitely keep moving – you don’t need to help her with arms or rotating, but moving forward will give her permission to also move forward to start each rep.
The dig digs were perfect! You can add more motion to those, by jogging forward and see what she does 🙂
To help her sort out the soft turns even more: You can throw sooner on the right turns – my guess is that the soft turns are new enough for her that she has some questions, which is why she was looking at you a bit. But she got better and better through the session, and that will help with the bars. So as she is rounding the wing and looking to her right, you can be throwing the toy (probably a better visual for her than a food reinforcement and will also help get her to look at you less).On the 3rd video:
There are a lot of different behaviors on this little 2 jump setup, so we can isolate and reward them all!
I think you should use a toy for any thrown reinforcement, and cookies for resets, line ups, and trading for the toy. She does much better with the toys out on the line than with cookies being thrown.
For the stays:
Mix in a ton of rewards for the stays, by throwing the toy back to her as you move away. And cookies for lining up 🙂 She did really well with her stays overall – a couple of errors of early releasing to the placed reward past jump 2 and a couple of errors when you came back to her and said wait – she anticipated and thought it was the release.
And on some of the reps, you don’t need a stay at all – how does she feel about you holding her collar? As you are solidifying the stay behaviors, you can also do a lot of reps for the verbals where you start by holding her collar so you can move forward but don’t need a stay. I also give a ton of cookies for collar holding – line up the dog (cookie), gently take collar (another cookie :)) then start the verbal cue, then let go.For driving forward – have the reward (toy) ready to throw ideally in the opposite hand from whichever side she is on. And, you can throw sooner: as soon as she is approaching the first jump, throw the reward. So if you say “go”, you can throw the reward out past jump 2 as she is heading to jump 1 rather than waiting for to take jump 2. That will help her drive ahead and not look back at you, while you are moving forward as well.
I prefer the early throws over the toy placed on the line, because the lure of the reward out ahead gets the behavior but then there is confusion from her when it is not there. The early throw will help her keep moving forward and make a nice transition from the placed lure to having no lure out there – and be sure to be moving while you are doing this so she learns that she can drive forward and not watch your motion.
And if something goes wrong, you can totally whip out a reset cookie and line her up at your side – think of it as a “thanks in advance for not biting me” cookie 🙂 I would rather have potentially too many cookies going to her (no such thing LOL!) than too much rehearsal of dog teeth on flesh.
If my memory is correct, she likes balls, right? You can totally use a ball for the GO reps, I think she will like that a lot! Or you can use a ball for any behavior that needs a thrown reinforcement – I use a ball a LOT with my 3 year old dog because she LOVES it so much and it is easy to throw.
You did bring the toy out later in the session, I think she does better anticipating where to look with the toy as reinforcement. So on any of turns – when you see her heading to jump 1, throw the toy to the landing spot of the direction to help her drive ahead of you without wanting to watch you.
And of course be moving forward on all the reps – yes, it feels like you will need 3 or 4 arms LOL! but it will really help her look forward and respond to the various cues.
I am not worried about the bars right now at all – when she was looking the correct direction, she did a great job organizing her body to be clean on the bars! So we can focus on teaching her how to NOT look at you and drive forward, and then she will take care of keeping the bars up.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHellooooo!
This is looking good!Keep reminding yourself to start at the first wing of the serp jump and not near the start wing – you caught yourself getting closer to the start wing, good job playing with him as you re-positioned him near the serp jump 🙂 You can also move the start wing further away, so you can get further past the serp jump now! I think he is ready for that. Try to be all the way past the jump as he exits the start wing 🙂
>> At one point mama stops walking to help and we almost had a little collision. He saved me. No more helping.
Failure is desirable over a collision LOL! Don’t get run over by red dog coming in hot!
And keep working the clean start line up – you flung him into it at 1:00, and that was the error and oops moment. I don’t know if the oops moment deflated him – maybe? Or he might have also been bored and tired – this game is all running for the dogs here and very repetitive. I don’t think he likes repetition all that much, so you can get maybe 2 good ones on each side, then take a break and come back to it later with new challenges (I think he will like more speed as the new challenge :))
>>I did note to add the lefts and rights in repetition but I think the sound wasn’t as good and unique as when I was saying them alone. By gosh I’ll get it someday.
I thought you were good! But yes – making the verbals sound different while running is HARD!
The backside work looked good especially with frizz! You had a lot of motion and he had no real trouble. On the front side balances – be sure to also move forward and don’t be stationary because we don’t want motion versus lack of motion to be the tipoff for front versus backside. And since this backside versus front side is a brain-bender especially because the motion is not going to help him – just use one front side (soft turn or Go, not both) so all he needs to multi-task is whether he should do the backside or the front -not back versus front versus which type of front if it changes a lot. We will get to that further on down the road 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
