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Good morning! Really nice sessions here!!!! So many great things happening 🙂
I love how your videographer was helping – that is so useful!Looking at the videos:
Right wrap with wing: lovely! I love how she was able to wrap even when you were running. She was definitely pumped up 🙂 because she was wasn’t giving the toy back. We want her pumped up on training, so she can be pumped up like she would be at a trial.Well done to the left wraps too – especially the last rep where you ran forward with a lot of speed and she collected perfectly. Yay!
Right with jump – very nice too – don’t say ready 🙂 as it delays the info and that was when she dropped the bar. And since you mentioned that sometimes you don’t use the verbals and only use her name, I think the ready word here is replacing the name. So getting rid of “ready” will help you get the verbals out while running too.
On the redo of it – very nice – there was an earlier verbal (and no ‘ready’) and she kept the bar up. Since she had the error on the previous rep, you can reward that moment rather than continuing back to the start wing.
Left with jump – you were adding in extra “ready” here too 🙂 Since your videographer was helping, you can ask her to catch you if she hears you say ‘ready’.
And also it was perfect when you were not decelerating or matching the handling to the verbal (she had an oopsie off course on one of them!) – keep moving forward and saying the verbal, challenging her to collect without needing the handling to create it. That will help her isolate and process the verbal, rather than watching for handling.For your next sessions on this game, you can add challenge: Move the start wing further back, so you can have even more speed and ore room to just go forward without running out of room and decelerating.
Also, you can add in the balance GO reps on cue, so she takes both jumps straight, then has to listen for the wrap verbals so she doesn’t go on autopilot and assume everything is a wrap 🙂 To balance in the go reps, move that 2nd jump (the distraction jump) so it is about 6 feet away from the turn jump. That way she has more room to land and take off safely for the Go reps. And, since you will be adding more motion, the wraps will still be plenty challenging even with the distraction jump a little further away.
Game 3
This was hard for her! Slowing it down and helping a little showed her what you wanted for a rep on each and that is great! Then at :32, you didn’t help as much (you used the verbal but kept moving forward, rather than turning early) and she was GREAT!
I think she needs a few more reps or another session of the jogging – when you added running at :58 she took the distraction jump (it was too much change in motion). You dialed it back at 1:14 and after that so your motion was more of a fast jog, so she was able to process it nicely.When you added the wing wrap before it – try not to help as much with handling. You were really good, almost too good for the purposes of this exercise 🙂 I know, it is crazy to be asked to be a bad handler LOL! Look at 1:35 – you were really good with your decel and rotation, and I think that is creating the turn more than the verbal. So, to add challenge and to isolate the verbal, don’t decel or turn – keep facing forward until she makes a choice: wrap, or off course 🙂 You know (usually) if she is going to wrap if she slows down in front of the wing and turns her head – when she does that, you can turn and run and reward. That will help her understand that the verbal is a critical piece of info to listen for, and not just wait for the handling./ Let me know if that makes sense!
And try to keep it to one start wing then one wrap jump – when you did multiples in a row, you started adding “ready” before the turn cues, and that delays info so she was widening in her turns.
Great job here! I am really excited about what she is doing! Let me know what you think.
TracyHi again!
Really nice session of Game 3 here!
This game definitely made her think a bit and that is great! She still turned well but her first couple of reps had heavier landings, which is generally a sign that she was still thinking about it. Then she sorted it out really well!At :27 and :41 – you did Post turn handling and she still wrapped, didn’t take the distraction jump! That is great that she can process the verbal and not need your handling to help her. A post turn there can almost support the off course, but she processed the verbal and wrapped. VERY nice!
At 1:21 she pulled the rail and at 1:25 she moved the wing – you were a little late (as instructed LOL!) and added more countermotion – definitely show her that again, it was distracting and she needs to see the countermotion so she can sort out her jumping. You can start it by jogging through it then quickly move back up to running.
I am super happy with where she is, just in time for the new games on Monday.
If you do one more session, play this one again with more of the countermotion so she can sort that out.Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
The wraps are going well! She was lovely, wrapping nice and tight, even with you deliberately being wild, late, etc. And the post turn looked just as good as the FCs!!! Very nice! And I didn’t see her touch any bars or wigs – she was very organized in her jumping 🙂 YAY!!For the GO on this setup, we want to mark Go on the first jump (same as we mark the wrap on it) so you can throw the toy as soon as you see her going straight over jump 1. The head turn is harder to prevent in this setup mainly because she is jumping into a wall. She wasn’t really driving to the placed toy, so I think that throwing early will help – think of it as a reward for jump 1, not for jump2 🙂
Onwards to game 3:
Good morning! I am at a trialing, running 4 dogs with the 3 babies virtually back to back to back. Lordy!!!
yes, he did well with a whole bunch of drills! You worked him at a super high rate of reinforcement and that really helped 🙂 Yay! We don’t need to over-do the drills, I like a day or two off in between them to let latent learning work the magic 🙂
Since you mentioned the deceleration and rotation – yes, ideally we would handle to support the verbal but for this training, think of it differently: keep moving forward until he makes a decision to wrap – you will see that decision in the form of him decelerating and turning his head. His decision is your permission to decel and rotate and run away with the reward, as that helps mark the behavior and make for a really fun reward 🙂
The reps in the beginning while you were walking looking really good!
From the rep at :14 (walk) to :29, that was a gigantic leap in challenge, too gigantic: you went from one wing wrap and walking up the line to starting in a different spot and running to the wing wrap then running into the setup. Too many variables changed so he had an error. Trial not to make such big leaps LOL!!! The rep after that was much better and a good next step – you were moving faster but started in the same position and didn’t sprint into it.He did have a little trouble when you dialed it back (he was looking a little straighter on the next rep) but he was successful and the decel helped him – so try to keep facing forward until after he makes the decision. You can add the low bar in now! And also visit game 3 – maybe give him today off (he has done a LOT of wraps lately and then try it again in a day or two.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I think it is the dogs who teach us about the little details of the foundations – the more we learn from them, the better we get at putting in all the pieces!
And since he is only 13 months old, I think you were 100% correct to have done very little sequencing!!! All of the foundation work will come together very quickly, so it is better to let him physically and mentally mature. I like for my bigger boy pups to sequence closer to 15-16 months and older. They are more ready and the results are soooo much more fun for all of us. It is hard to see dogs the same age running courses – but long term success is found in how well the dogs understand their jobs, and how well we take care of their bodies. You are doing all the right things!And I love Lisa Frick’s barrel work, she is brilliant!
Have a great day 🙂
TracyGood morning!
Excellent point about seeing things differently in real life versus on the video – that is why I ask everyone to reward just about anything, except taking the distraction jump when there is a wrap cue 🙂 Seeing it in real time with a fast dog is hard!! I learned that lesson with my now-9-year-old dog: when he was young, I thought he was turning wide or falling or something during the session so didn’t reward as much as I should have. When I looked at the video, he was STUNNING and I should have given him a steak dinner and a few frisbees for each rep LOL!! Oops! He forgave me but I learned to reward all the things within the criteria – and if the video shows something I don’t like, we make a plan for the next session.
Looking at the video –
On the first rep, you were blocking the wing entirely so the only thing visible was the jump. He wrapped the jump beautifully 🙂 I think by the time he saw the wing there, he was past it. So it was an oops of handler line, not of dog decision. Compare that to the next reps where he could see the wing and he was lovely! You had the wing visible for the rest of the video and he was really quite excellent.Since you are coming from BCs which turn differently than he does, your eye will re-train to what to look for with him: watch the area in front of the wing as he arrives. Is he slowing down a bit? If he turning his head? That will translate to collection on a bar. And it did when you added the bar in like at 1:04 and 1:13. I am seeing proper mechanics from him on the left turns now, and the right turns are still percolating (more on that below).
Go on was easy for him! Yay! And he was a superstar to come right back to the wrap after 2 solid Go reps.
His left wraps are looking easier for him than his right wraps – he is bendier to the left and tends to jump straighter to the right, plus he had the error of go versus check on the 2nd to last rep. It is possible that he is just a lefty 🙂 and it is possible that there is stuff close by on the right turns, so he doesn’t want to turn hard into it. So try giving him more space to turn right and see if that helps. And if he is definitely a lefty, no problem, that is normal: you can add speed and challenge to the left turns ore quickly, and keep your speed for the right turns to a lower level as he gets comfy with the mechanics to the more challenging side.
Since he is really jazzed up by toys – you can bring them into the picture by playing before the session, then stuffing it in your pocket or putting it off to the side so it is visible – and rewarding with food. That can introduce toys in a way that maintains his accuracy while he gets more jazzed up. Then you can hold the toy the whole time, and still reward with food. And eventually, you can reward with all toy without losing the accuracy of the behaviors.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyI loved your happy dance LOL!!! And it was appropriate – that was a great session! I think a couple of things happened:
You were feeling more comfy with the strange mechanics 🙂 And did really well! And she has more experience now and is liking the game and the better connection (plus some latent learning kicking in, perhaps!) so she was pretty perfect.She definitely liked it when you were connected like this and went faster (Ike after :26, where you dug in a little more). She does not seem to be looking at the distraction jump at all… so now do all of the same connection, arm back, quiet verbals… and go faster 🙂 Ideally we work you up to a run, but that might take a few sessions. At this stage, alternate days so she doesn’t see this every day – I want the latent learning to help us out and usually a day off in between this game helps the dogs a lot.
Great job!! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Thanks for sending this – I think of we can sort out what she needs for the first rep, things will be very smooth afterwards!!!I see what you mean about the first rep – she didn’t even look at the wing LOL! Same with the first slow job rep – didn’t look at the wing. I don’t think setting her up behind you will help, because she is not considering the wing at all – and seeing motion sooner might send her to the distraction jump sooner LOLO! !
So try this tweak to the start of the game:
Get her really really high with tugging.
Bring her to 2 or 3 feet away from the wing, hold her collar.
While you are holding her collar, start you wrap cue
Then just let go and see what she does (she should wrap!)That is designed to help her get it right when she is stimulated… and get it right on the first attempt which is what needs to happen at trials 🙂 From what you tell me, she has had trouble producing trained behaviors in the trial ring in that first moment (and, at trials, in the only moment since we can’t run the course twice LOL!) and this might be the key to success at trials!
Same when you add motion: get her really excited, start 10 feet away, hold her collar, start the verbal, then let go and start moving slowly up the line.
Let me know if that still doesn’t help her! If she has an error on that all-important first rep, we can break things down differently. I think our goal is going to be helping know how to get it right the first time!
When she bends out around the wing when you are moving, no worries. It is just a reflection of how hard this game is! She is still looking at the off course jump, wanting to go big in extension, but processing the wrap cue and getting it right. YAY!
Let me know if the suggestions help!!! Have fun 🙂
TracyGood morning!
Holy cow 90 degrees! That is really hot! The baby pool is perfect 🙂
The mechanics of NOT handling are pretty hard in this game, we are all so used to handling! You did a good job of just moving forward. To add challenge even more for her (she is ready, she is doing REALLY well!!) you can move forward longer (til you see her take off) and a little faster now too!
My only suggestion is to tweak the setup a little: Move the red start wing to be in line with the green wing of the jump you want her wrapping, so you can move up a line directly to the wing and not to the bar at all. You had it center of the bar, which caused your line of motion to be more towards the center of the bar too, which was causing her to ask some questions. You can see at about 1:50 when you are coming towards the camera that it puts your line to the center of the bar, so she has to shape her turn around you and sometimes gets you a backside Ike at 1:14 or a question about a rear cross at 2:07 (she jumped straight and turned her head left, because center of the bar pressure might also be rear cross pressure). But she did process the verbal there and turned right! So having you move straight up the line to thr wing and not the bar will be more realistic to what she sees on course and will help smooth her line out too.
:50 had NO handling help (you stopped moving and just faced forward) and she dropped the bar but she sorted it out BRILLIANTLY at 1:23 (I really liked what she did there, also with no handling help, good girl Katy!!!). The good news is that she seems to have processed that she dropped the bar, that it was perhaps not correct, and she changed to a better behavior (more collection in front of the bar) so that she wouldn’t touch it. Yay!
The last rep was my favorite: she had the same nice collection that she had in many of the other reps here, but we got a great view of her now turning her head to make the turn, and not looking at the distraction jump at all! Yay!
Since she is going so well, you can add more of your speed to challenge her to process the verbals as you are going faster. I believe that moving the start wing over to a better line will take out the accidental backside and rear cross questions.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I am sorry to hear about Flurry but very glad that the vets think it is not too bad. Fingers crossed for the fastest possible recovery – she needs to have some happy, healthy times ahead!This was a really interesting session with Skye. When I watch the different pieces, it looks like he has a good idea of what to do *before* the jump but not *after* the jump. So he is organizing himself for a collection before the jump – but when he lands, he hesitates as if asking “what’s next” rather than driving around the wing back to you. He did this on the lower bar and also on the higher bar (he didn’t drop the higher bar because he changed his hind end us, but not necessarily in the direction we want – he was more extended).
He did his best when you were walking forward (not trying to help with handling) because he could process the cue better without the speed.
And I think he likes the ball better than the treats here 🙂
So a couple of ideas:
Leaving the bar at 10 or 12 (is there a way to lock it in so he can work his mechanics without dropping it?), do walking forward for both the GO and the wraps, using the ball as the reward: thrown ahead as you did for the Go, and when he gets back to you for the wrap, throw it past you.That purpose of that would be to get him driving back around the wing (high value toy!) without asking what the next obstacle of cue would be. We are trying to create driving around the wing back to you as a default behavior – which in turn will create a good head turn and better weight shift.
The other thing you can do is skip to game 3 for a bit, because that games specifically teaches the exit of the wrap. Using a wing, you can get him driving back around the wing and then we can go back to game 2 and see what he says. I think he has what we want before the jump, now we add in what we want when he lands. Let me know if that makes sense!!! Nice work here!
TracyGood morning!
So in theory, if you don’t say get it, then he will ignore it on the wraps. That is definitely a game you can try to test the theory! The toy out ahead is like a delicious off course tunnel LOL! Give him a day off from the wraps and then maybe tomorrow try it with the toy out ahead 🙂
TracyHi! I love how she is able to take the concepts into class and nail them. Yay!!!! So fun! It is going to be so fun watching her grow up!!
And yes, I love my daily Zillow emails lol!!!
T
That’s really interesting about the new iPad! The new ipads, Macs, etc have no trouble with the site loading. My older ipads struggle (my android phone and PC are perfectly fine with it LOL). And I think because the issue is relatively limited, the WordPress people are in no rush to fix it. Sigh.
She did well on the extensions!!! You can also mix in throwing a reward back to her while she is in the stay and you take off running 🙂
I like the pre-placed toy sometimes, especially to jumpstart the behavior. But you’ll also want to either throw it (as she is looking at and moving towards the jump) and, eventually, it can be pre-placed the whole time – some reps are extensions and some are the decel wraps where you are at the wing and she should ignore the placed toy. That’s really hard, and something to try on the flat first.
My only suggestion on the extensions is to start her as far back as possible now, so she can work on organizing her approach and jumping effort – she did well here, and starting her further back will add speed (which changes the picture).
Great job! Let me know what you think 🙂
TracyThe little guy is showing terrific tunnel commitment, he was happy to do both the regular sends and threadles, so we can now really get into the details of the handling.
So if I am reading it correctly, you don’t want to use the opposite arm/cross arm with him, you want to use the dog-side arm. Great! I think what was happening here was you were using the opposite arm (same as the old cross arm threadle) but in an extended position out away from your body. That might be why it felt weird – you want the other arm.
So looking at the double whammy game where the pups do a regular send then a threadle:
If he starts on your right to regular non-threadle send to the tunnel (you are between him and the tunnel), then when he exits the tunnel and is between you and to do a threadle into the same hole he just went into: that would be your left arm extended back, not your right arm.So basically the dog side arm sends him to the tunnel (forward regular sending) and the dog side arm is also the threadle arm (but extended back like strike a pose and maybe swinging it back a little :))
Let me know if that makes sense! If not, I can get a video for it – it makes sense in my mind but I’m not sure I’m writing in a way that makes sense 🙂
TracyThe little guy is showing terrific tunnel commitment, he was happy to do both the regular sends and threadles, so we can now really get into the details of the handling.
So if I am reading it correctly, you don’t want to use the opposite arm/cross arm with him, you want to use the dog-side arm. Great! I think what was happening here was you were using the opposite arm (same as the old cross arm threadle) but in an extended position out away from your body. That might be why it felt weird – you want the other arm.
So looking at the double whammy game where the pups do a regular send then a threadle:
If he starts on your right to regular non-threadle send to the tunnel (you are between him and the tunnel), then when he exits the tunnel and is between you and to do a threadle into the same hole he just went into: that would be your left arm extended back, not your right arm.So basically the dog side arm sends him to the tunnel (forward regular sending) and the dog side arm is also the threadle arm (but extended back like strike a pose and maybe swinging it back a little :))
Let me know if that makes sense! If not, I can get a video for it – it makes sense in my mind but I’m not sure I’m writing in a way that makes sense 🙂
Tracy
