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Good morning!
This session went really well! Yes, there was not enough connection on the first rep but you still tossed the toy long, which supports your motion (for the times when we all forget to connect :)). The rest were perfect on the 10 foot distance: you looked at her, she looked ahead.
15 foot distance looked even better – she was FLYING and you were nicely connected. I think she is enjoying the running fast a WHOLE LOT 🙂
So now for the next sessions, 2 things to add:
– Right before she goes into the tunnel, say your GO cue, and keep saying it as you move up the line. That will name the behavior and give permission to go go go out of the tunnel and over the jump.
– Add more motion 🙂 She was perfect with your moving at this speed, so stay connected but also add running. And do what you did here: be ahead of her running, be parallel to her, be behind her, all while running. Keep that same toy placement.
We don’t need a lot of sessions of this because we are going to of course balance with turns on the tunnel exit and on the jump, so feel free to mix in a soft turn on the tunnel exit here and there by using your verbal before she enters.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Now She’s got it in terms of tuning away on the minny pinny! You can shorten the distance between the bumps by maybe 6 inches or so, so she can bounce a little more and doesn’t have to ‘reach’ as much especially during left turns.
For the next session, start like you did here. Then, on the easier side (right side) start to move your start position over ot the center of the setup, where the 3 wings meet – to start comparing the left versus right from the same side of you. This is a VERY gradual process, be sure to make it easier if she fails as we are working towards pure verbals and that is hard for dogs!
On the serps:
Glad to know the breeder sees the serpentine question as well hahahaha
Have the toy on the line a little closer to the jump on the one jump set up so she has more bend over the bar when working one jump. If she will hold the stay, you can add more motion before the release so you are moving the whole time.I am glad you angled the jump – and was surprised her first response was to run past it LOL! Hard to see what happened after that, hopefully you told her she was cute and didn’t play. After each correct rep, make a big deal of the play so if she skips the jump and gets the toy, you can just be casual, take the toy, and start over. When she went around it… it was not the setup, it was young dog border collie-ing: I GO FAST! You can even whip out a clicker for the next session and click the moment she organizes to take the jump and not run past it. After all, it is easier to run fast past it than it is to organize herself to take it.
So we will keep working the angled serp jump til it is easy for her: she was able to take the jump on the other reps but I don’t think any of it was easy for her. So stay here with this set up and over several sessions, we will angle the jump back to the original position. The zig zag games will help this too, because we end up using serp handling on those too.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I agree… this was great! She was fast, happy, accurate 🙂>>Should I be asking for some hands touches right when we enter the ring? That’s where she seems to disengage.
Maybe, maybe not, we will experiment 🙂 some dogs are all business and just want to go to the line. Some dogs need the engagement tricks. We will play around in coming weeks and see which works best. I have games for line ups coming tomorrow and a leash game. What I do suggest with her is to go all the way to the line on leash, then take it off when she is basically in the right spot.
I think part of it is that I feel pressure to >>rush the start and that might be stressing her too but the AKC trials do seem to rush people to get to the line and start>>
Totally understandable! It is your time, though – take your time, sing a song, smile at the leash runner 🙂 it only takes about 5 extra seconds and everyone can wait 🙂
T
Perfect! Keep me posted! Totally understandable that he wouldn’t want a big dog under him! I tend to make sure no big dogs approach me or my Littles when I’m holding them.
THi!
The stay element of the start line looks great here! I think he is confused about where to line up, exactly. Since we don’t want him between your feet, you can have him line up at your side with either a hand touch cue, or have him nose target your leg (you can put a piece of duct tape on your pants to start that behavior LOL!!
Start it with the cookie for a session, to basically say: yes, this is where I want you to be! But then fade the cookie in the next aession so he lines up and you can just move away.The tricks you did at the end were good – he likes to line up between your feet as a trick. And then you can release him forward without you needing to move away first.
For the engaged chill…when you are hanging out at home, what does he really enjoy? You have a Paws up trick and he seemed to like that – try that but don’t pet him as much, maybe just leave a hand on him or very soft slow petting. I like the Paws up because he is engaged and you don’t have to bend over (he is too big to carry but small enough that you’d have to bend over if he didn’t stand on you.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Great question!
I need to get my Papillons in more of the engaged chill videos 🙂 they are 8.5 and 11 inches tall, respectively, and I carry them for engaged chill moments. I have photos and probably videos from flyball of the Papillon doing engaged chill in a very non-chill environment 🙂
Does your Norfolk like bending held?
TracyHi!
I’ve found changing the jump angle to be the fastest route to success with the serps 🙂I think the minny pinny looked good! It isn’t really a jumping exercise at this stage, it is more of a brain game 🙂 and the coordination tells us how hard she has to think hahaha! Right turns? No problem, which is why we ate seeing better coordination and movement. Left turns? Ermagerd much harder, so she is not as fluent in her movement. No worries, though – it will percolate over time. Gemma has so much experience that you won’t see much difference on right or left sides, but Sprite is still learning all the things. For now, I would change anything other than revisit it here and there. She’s doing a great job!
TracyGood morning!
Big congrats on a successful trial weekend! Especially in bad weather – it sound slike you made excellent adjustments!!!>> but … during the run in a small part where I was deliberately stationary as he ran towards me.. he put his nose down and sniffed. This taught me a lesson in running him … if I had run further into the obstacle and we were chasing each other – he would not have put his nose down .. so note to self on this one
Yes! Good lesson about staying in motion. Never plan to stand still unless the dog you are running is a complete freight train who ignores handling LOL! Sparky pays attention so he might have thought the standing still meant something went wrong.
>>.. then 4th run we started but abt 3 obstacles in he started sniffing .. so I guess he’d had enough …
He was likely physically and mentally exhausted.
>>but honestly yesterday was abt 80 percent improvement so I’m feeling happy …what exercise should I be looking at next…
80% improvement is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!
I have a bunch of new info ocming tomorrow. So, for today? Give him a complete day off. No training. That is actually the BEST thing after a big weekend, so he can rest up and not be tired for the next steps.
>> what do u think abt caring a dog in as the start line procedure?
It works beautifully for dogs that like it! I carry my Papillon to the start line in agility and into the ring in flyball. My other dogs are just a little too big to be carried. We build up to any of it working because the dog understands and loves the routine. I mean, you can carry him in and if he wants to sniff or leave after you set him down… the carrying will not prevent that 🙂
Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>> He enjoys calm pets WHEN it is calm pet time. He doesn’t enjoy it as much in the context of a working session and at times finds it annoying/slightly aversive.
Yes! The engaged chill is more of a behavior that the dog gets to choose – we help a little by looking at what they naturally prefer and what they dislike, then we install it into the chill behavior.
MANY BCs find the petting and kisses on the head to be annoying/aversive. I mean, I can relate: if I am in a state of readiness to run a course and someone wants a hug? Yeah… no. LOL!! My BC/Croatian mix is like that too – loves being petted at home but in a work situation his engaged chill is more standing next to me (I admit to kissing him on the head sometimes to annoy him because he response is entertaining: MOM YOU ARE EMBARRASSING ME. But he is 9 years old so it is just silliness :)) My terrier/BC mix also prefers an engaged chill where there is eye contact sometimes and we are together, but she wants to be able to stand still next to me, and sometimes hop up to lick my hand. Totally different than the whippet mixes who want to be touched all the time. I have video coming of each. And it is all discovered through relaxed experiments at home and during training.
>>Sometimes that’s next to me or between my legs but if there’s something stimulating in front of us, like I’m watching another dog run, I’ll ask him to lie down facing me so he can more easily relax and chin rest on my shin or shoe.>>
Perfect! And his responses will give us a very clear indication of how he feels in each moment.
Very cool tree planting ceremony!!! Looks like your 87 degree weather has gone away! Good boy Ripley being the king of CHILL especially with the little Beagley dog being interested in his treats LOL! This is great – not as exciting as a big agility trial, but a lot more people and dogs in a small space. He was perfection!
His chill between reps while working is good too – I love when a dog can just stand and let us have a moment to sort out our sh*t for the next rep. I want the dog to understand that the withdrawal of my attention is NOT a punishment and that he should also not turn his attention to the environment (unless cued to do so). I loved when he was in the down, that kind of made me think of what waiting for a trial run would be like: he is warmed up and you are running through your handling plan in your mind.
Does he have the opportunity to chill like this before his turn at his in-person class? You can be as far from the ring as needed but I think he can see this in more of an agility context too.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! This went really well!
You had lots of moments of great connection out of the tunnel, lots of consistently lovely connection like at :09 and :13 and also really nice after the front crosses, like at :32! I think the hardest connections were the very first ones on each new mini course – you would look ahead of her on the first tunnel exit, then you were perfect for the rest. So try not to look ahead on that first one, to get them all as perfect as possible.One added challenge because she is so small… try to run these with your hands in your back pockets and not pointing at the line 🙂 Just use your eyes, motion, and verbals. Hands/pointing tends to block connection with the small dogs, so practicing with your hands out of the picture really solidifies the connection.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Pattern game:
>>I did this at the run thru today and it worked really well. I was wondering at what point and how often?
I like to do this shortly after I arrive (and before I need to get ready to run) then again as I approach the ring for the run. You’ll find that he will engage really quickly so you just need a few cookies )4 or 5 cookies). And as part of our pre-run-routine-building, you can transition away from the pattern game and into other games when he is happy to offer engagement. So in a nutshell – he will let you know how long to do it. If he can engage really easily? You can leave the session or do other stuff. If he struggles? Move further away and try it – but still keep the session short, maybe less than 10 cookies.
>>In class, he’s in the crate while the other three dogs run and I take him out for his turn. We usually have 3 runs. I was thinking I would take him out earlier when the dog before him is running to play before each run. Or leave him out after his run while the next dog runs as he often goes first.>>
Can you ask the instructor to not have him go first as much? Mix up the order more? I bring human snacks as bribes hahaha
Say he is running 4th: take him out while the first dog runs a bit, get engagement. Then let him chill out in the crate while dogs 2 and 3 run, then take him out for his run.
Try that for the Monday class (changing the running order) so you can practice before he runs. And if he does run first – do his run, let him cool down, let him have a rest, then come back and do some pattern games while dog #4 is running.
>>Today, he did two runs at indoor Run Thru set up for AKC novice. These went really well. I practiced the mechanics with leash this week so much better for me too. >>
HOORAY!! You have certainly been practicing the skills really well, so I am super happy you are already seeing results (and we haven’t even gotten to the good stuff yet!!!)
>>Although, I forgot to zoom out on the first video so you can’t see his ring entry, but it worked well and he was focused with no running off. For the second run, I did remember so it’s very similar.>>
No.Running.Off. HUGE!!!! Happy dance!
>>We did the engaged chill in the back room, especially after I had done the pattern by the ring. The first pattern I started by the ring on the far side from the start with a low key dog/ handler. He did really well and would briefly glance at the ring but returned back quickly. We disturbed the dogs crated under cover in the corner but they did not affect him. He was breathing hard when we went back to the room so he enjoyed his massage. He was still able to respond. We hung near the entrance on lineup and did pattern. Disturbed another dog in crate and he checked out the dog briefly and came back. I played the pattern closer to the ring near start end and he was fine here. He was more distracted by the noisy terrier and loud handler who used to be in his training class so moved a little farther back. He was perfectly fine with the dogs running on practice area in back room. I took his fit bone to chill out in the back room so he was good with it. I took him outside between the runs so he can sniff, walk, and chill out. Outside here he did enjoy his massage on leash and even snuggled up between my legs. The temp was only 61 and lots of wind so he was happy.>>
Omg this sounds like a delightful day! Did you also build in rest time so he could have a good snooze in his crate (or in the car)? Sleep is known to help cement skills and reset the brain 🙂
Run 1 video: REALLY good run!!! He was so fast!
>>We skipped weaves/tire and dragged the clam on leash.
Loved your energy with the clam-on-a-leash! He seemed happy to chase it,. You can let him grab it more as part of the play. Was there a cookie in it?
>>Near the back jumps he took off for the tunnel instead of weaves so I called sooner 2nd run.
Perfect, off course obstacles are fine LOL!
Run 2 video: also super!!!!
Good tricks at the start! He was really good about the harness coming off. Good cookies for attention! Good job letting him settle into the stay, he was a little uncomfortable with the environment but he didn’t leave, he just needed to be in a spot where he could look up at you. You went with it and he was great.
SUPER lovely work here, you made the ring a really fun place to be. YES!!!
For class on Monday, one thing to add is taking off your treat pockets for your run. You can still have cookies in the clam and your pants pockets (I stuff treats in my bra sometimes too, hopefully that is not TMI haha) or hand some to your instructor for refills during your turn. The treat pockets can then start to become your remote reinforcement setup – leave them on a table outside the ring, he can know where they are. He gets rewarded during his training session and then at the end of a sequence, give your remote reinforcement word and run to the treat pockets. Let me know if that makes sense!
Great job here 🙂
TracyGood morning!
>>Engagement is hard for her everywhere. LOL
I guess I expect her to bring the toy back to me but I should know by know that it magically isn’t going to happen. >>Truth! Engagement is sweaty work in the puppy stage, and that will pay off when she is an adult 🙂
>>I feel like she’s not loving the collar grabs either so I’ll put more value into those too.
Make the collar holds part of the fun. Definitely don’t move her around by the collar as that can lead to more avoidance when you reach for her, or ;seeking reniforcement elsewhere when you let go. So, incorporate the collar hold as prt of the start routine:
line up with cookie as lure into position. feed the cookie.
Slip a finger under her collar then immediately send into the game. Boom! Collar touching will predict GAME ON and she will like it a lot more as the value transfers. 🙂For the set points – she is doing well! Can she hold a stay while the toy is already moving a little? That can get her move focused downward, which will add power and propulsion as we start building up more jumping skills.
For the WIYH:
She is finding the jump nicely!! Rather than a ‘yes’ marker (which promotes looking at us, and we want her looking forward on this game) you can now switch to your ‘get it’ marker to tell her to look forward for the reward.
She definitely likes the thrown toy! The cookie trade for the toy is not all that exciting, she definitely did a ‘no thanks’ when you said “cookie?” LOL! So, instead of that, add in going to her and playing like you did at 1:42 or have a 2nd toy and run and reward her for coming to you after the thrown reinforcement.Smiley face – she does love the tunnel and she also likes the wings so let’s look at engagement, as that seemed o be harder for her here. I think you are using the collar hold as a way to engage and move her from place to place, and avoid her skedaddling away 🙂
Let’s do less moving her by the collar and more engagement when you make the transitions in and out of the ‘work’. That can really build up the engagement so that she sticks with you during those in-between moments. So, bring her into the space, playing with the toy. Ask for the toy back and as soon as she outs it, take off rnning with the toy as a reward for the out. Wheee! Then you canadd in getting a behavior after the out, something fun like a spin or hand touch then tug tug tug. You can do this all the way from the tunnel exit to the wing. And you can also add in cookeis the same way: tug as tunnel reward, then a trick for an exciting moving cookie in your hand (not tossed away from you – I want her to follow your hand with the treat) Then feed the treat, ask for another fun little behavior, then have her chase your hand for the treat, and so on as you move back to the wing. Then the line up: cookie lure into position, feed the cookie, gentle hand on collar, then start.It will be sweaty for sure and you’ll do fewer wing/tunnel reps but that is all good! The engagement between the wing and tunnel reps is more important with baby dogs.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>So basically it comes down to an error in planning and a massive one.
Yes, but not a tragic one LOL! It is all recoverable. More like: oops! My bad. Won’t do that again.
>> And when I train alone I always use reset cookies- which is why it seemed mind blowing today that she left.
She likely felt the shift in the umbrella rate, and the ‘work’ is not yet reinforcing enough that she wanted to do long stretches of it. That is normal!
>> So I did all the things she has never seen before and she doesn’t have the history.
And while you were a little nervous. OOPS! LOL!!! I’ve totally done that. The dogs forgive us.
>>Oh and she’s almost 7 months now 😂. She’s so fricken small tho I can see where 5 months comes into mind.
7 months, 5 months… still super young. Not even a teenager yet LOL!! I think she is GREAT. Let’s take a moment to talk about what went well. Can I just say that your stays looked amazing!
T
Good morning!
>.I tried hard, but I still don’t think it’s an optimal body position.
You were really good! I am happy with this!!!
She was very strong on these – for now, stay in smooth, steady motion like you did and only gradually add more running.
As you are working the serps with the placed bowl reward, keep her between you and the jump for the ‘bowl’ so that she doesn’t go behind you when you are still connected to the front of you (she went behind you on a couple of reps, like at :12 and :16 versus staying between you and the jump like at :40 and :46, which were correct).
When we add more speed, we are going to angle the jump to face her more so it is easier to take and harder to run past. It looks like this, sneak peek from the next MaxPup:
The tunnel has replaced the wing here and the jump after the tunnel is the serp jump.
>>Of course, I twisted my back again.
Eek!! Try using the outside arm then, and see if that is easier on your back than the fully extended dog side arm.
>> I was also getting threadle on both sides and had to really narrow the gap to avoid that. What am I doing to cue that? I showed the one on the right and then what I’d cue if I wanted the gap. This exercise will take awhile for us.
How many threadles did you get, and when did they happen in the session? I only saw one, at 1:02 – later in the session, lots of repetition, so she might have been a bit bored and offering other behavior. Or it could have been residual from the previous rep where she had just done a FC.
If the threadles were happening later in the session or after the FCs… for now, take out the FCs (they looked great) and also do shorter sessions of the serps so you are done before she starts thinking about other dance moves.
If the threadles were scattered throughout, no rhyme or reason… then we change the setup to make threadles a lot less likely 🙂 Angling the jump totally helps, so she will see the front of the jump bump as she exits the wing. You can also push the start wing off the parallel line and have it more on the serp side of the jump so as she exits the wing, it is nearly impossible to threadle and very easy to see the front side of the serp jump.
Let me know what you think! This is going well!
TracyGood morning!
>>I truly feel like my WordPress site should do what I’m thinking regardless of what buttons I actually hit.>>
Well, WordPress… they change things, then we get it all working the way we want it, then they change things again (in the name of “Updates”) so nothing works right. LOL! the joys of technology 🙂
>>So I’m getting the verbals out pretty early before he enters the tunnel most of the time, but watching the video I can see I should definitely be repeating them as he exits instead of just being silent to confirm the cue I want him to respond to on the exit side.
Yes! In general I think your timing was solid! Some of the left/right were a little later than would be perfect but all were before he entered the tunnel – the best ones were when he was a solid stride before the tunnel. And the others were when he was half-stride before the tunnel – all good, no complaints here and I think he responded really well!!
For the repeating – Yes, you can say left/right a few more times and try to extend them so they are not as loud or sharp as the GO verbal. They will ideally be medium volume and a little longer. It is very easy to type this out and a LOT harder to do when running, so it is ok to slow your motion and turn to the next line as you deliver the verbal left/right as that will both help how the verbal sounds AND show him the handling to support the turn. It is no different than supporting the GO with acceleration forward, which you did really nicely!
I think he was pretty balanced in his turns – he was straight and fast with the GO reps (and you helped with strong physical cues and connection) and he turned left/right every single time without looking straight. The left/right will continue to add more power when you have some place to go – the smaller set up doesn’t allow for a lot of running to the wing, so he was not fully in chase-the-handling speed but that is fine because this was more about timing. You can skip the wing after the left/right on the tunnels and run away so he can chase you and the toy 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
