Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi! Nice work on these too!
The first session looked good, he seemed to have no trouble at all – I couldn’t see you on all the reps but when we did see you, it looks like you were moving forward and not using handling to help him. Yay!!! You can move to running on these, if you weren’t already running. His turn mechanics looked great!
I agree that if you say tictictictictic too fast, it starts to sounds like toctoctoctoc… mainly because in order to say it fast, you need to emphasize the consonant (t). To keep is sounding different, emphasize the vowels so it is longer: tIC tIC tIC or tOC tOC tOC (would sound like tAHk). Let me know if that makes sense:)
On the 2nd video, he did well too but having tue first bar that high made things too hard, too quickly. He couldn’t quite organize the turns like he did on the wing (and had some errors of wideness or taking the temptation jump :)), and also he had no landing room for the Go (that’s why he crashed, poor guy – trying to jump the taller bar and then going OMG THERE IS ANOTHER JUMP RIGHT HERE! both bars being low will prevent that).
Eventually the bar will go back up, but for now, let’s put him at 8 or 10 inches so he can organize his collection without having to multi-task the height of the bar too.
He did his best organizing when you were walking, so start with walking.He will let you know when he is ready for you to add more speed: you’ll see him slow down and weight shift before takeoff, so he lands ready to power out on the exit line. On these, he was still making the turn on landing. It might take him a few reps to get it, or a few sessions. Based on what he has done so far, I’m guessing you’ll be able to add speed in the first session 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Even with the high wind, you still got in a really good session! His wraps are looking good and so did the Go lines at the end – and he is processing the verbals better because he is not needing you to do the FC to create the turn. Super!!!!!
On the Go, did you have the toy out ahead in advance? If so, and you want an added challenge… leave the toy out there the whole time. That way he can get it for the Go when cued, or he can ignore it for the wrap when cued.
You can add more motion to this one, and you can also try Game 3 now too. Give him a day or two off from the wraps, though – we don’t want to overwork him on these because it is really hard, physically.Great job 🙂
TracyHi!
I think you did pretty much the correct next session – the only thing I would change is keeping the distraction jump super low – the power it is, the more tempting it is to just hop over 🙂
Good job just keeping him moving when your position sent him to the backside.
For the next session, one more thing to do on the wing: keep moving forward, slowly, til AFTER he wraps the wing. Yes, be late on the FCs 🙂 Your FCs were pretty timely here, so now we can take them out as helping create the wrap – we don’t want the handling helping him, we want to isolate the verbal.Do a warm up on the wing like that, maybe 2 reps on each side (plan your words in advance l) . If he is happy with that, replace the wing with a jump!
Let me know if the plan males sense 🙂 nice work here!
TracyGood morning!
>>. I’m not going to “help” him make the correct decision to Wrap by finishing my cross as soon as I see commitment to go forward? I don’t finish the cross until I see the head turn for the Wrap? The idea is for him to process the Verbal and respond to it even if my body isn’t clear?
Yes and yes 🙂
>>This is going to be really hard, I think. Doesn’t my body not turning on commitment to go forward to the wing cue continue going forward?
Yes, it is hard which is why we walk at first. We want the verbal to be powerful and override everything else. If handling is happening before/during the verbals, the dogs tend to not process or learn the verbals as well. But if we isolate the verbal by stripping out the handling in training, the dogs develop a stronger understanding of the verbal. Then we add back the handling for perfection in the run!
TracyHi!
One thing I do with the treat and train for the dogs that are kind of “meh” about it is to reward the dog for eating from it 🙂 So my Contraband doesn’t love it, but he has learned to drive to it, eat the cookie even if it takes a while to dispense… then I reward that with a frisbee or another cookie, which helps him reset. It helps keep his head in a good zone 🙂
TracyGood morning!
It was fun to see him, he seems mature for 13 months!!! And you are correct to think he is awesome, because he is indeed awesome 🙂Sorry about any confusion about which was the working spot! That countermotion game on the board really helps turn mechanics because the dogs learn to organize their feet in a small space 🙂 I use it for flyball box turns too 🙂
Moving slowly is hard for me too, I am naturally either stationary or running haha! But you’ll get used to the progression then it won’t feel as weird.
I am excited to see more of him!!! Where is he from (what are his lines)?
TracyGood morning!! I really liked this session. We were seeing behavior on the takeoff side, he was really collecting and thinking about making the turn.
It was interesting to see his mechanics, even at 4 inches – for most of the session, he couldn’t really multi-task the footwork AND the head turn. He could only do the footwork. But at the very end, he added the head turn: yes!!!Yes!!!! Definitely on the right track.3 things:
Your early countermotion rotations seem to be helping him which is good but also not good haha! When you were just moving forward – that was where I could see the steam coming out of his ears. So add motion to the moving forward without rotation (setting him up to process verbals when you are running hard and behind).The tall bar on the distraction jump was helpful but he is ready for a low bar on that jump now – the low bar is harder because it is soooo much easier to just hop over it 🙂
And yes – try it at 10″ on the turn jump. In terms of session structure, I’d start with a warm up: the first bar at 4, second bar at 12. Refresh his mechanics then move the first bar to 10, keeping bar 2 at 12.
If loses form at 10″, slow down your motion but keep moving forward, no rotation help 🙂
Have you tried the exit criteria game yet? I think he is ready for that and that game will help build the tight turns by teaching the dogs how to finish the turn (by not scoping obstacles that they see out ahead but are not on the turn line).
Great job!!! I’m looking forward to see the next sessions!
TracyHello and welcome! He looks fabulous! And he is only 13 months old – exciting times ahead for sure!!
Looking at the videos:The first video looks good – he was strong with his wraps both directions, and had good body mechanicsto bend aroind the wing. Only one oopsie when you turned too fast towards the end of the video, but then he committed nicely after that.
On the 2nd video (more distance) and also you were faster, he was still amazing (and he was more stimulated – tugging harder, taking longer to release) – but totally working his body on the turns. Yay!! You progressed through this quickly.
3rd video – this one had the wing and both jumps in – did you get to do the wing to wing and 2 jumps by themselves? This wing to jumps setup was definitely more challenging for him (and he was squeaky, letting us know that it was hard lol)
He lost a bit of form on the wraps, probably because of the difficulty of the challenge – he was coming back around the wing, but he was definitely looking at the distraction jump and not setting up the turn before the jump as wellcas he did on the wing.
You can show him the 2 jumps on their own, so there is a little less motion coming in, to give him a chance to sort out his mechanics. Based on how well he did on the wing wraps, I’m confident he will sort it out in a couple of reps on the jump, then you can go back to adding the wing in before it.He did well on the go lines! He was surprised on the first one, I think, but then did well after that. Good job throwing the toy there, to help him keep looking straight.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyYay! The links worked nicely!!!
These games should really help you get him turning nicely. I see what you mean by him wanting to just be in full extension!!!
I want to start from the beginning and be super systematic to get him loving to collect. When you have a moment, can you grab a video of what his wing wraps are like, without the jump behind the wing? I just want to see what he knows about wing wraps in general: just send him around a wing without you moving.
On videos here, I think there was too much speed and stimulation (plus he brings his own speed and stimulationto the game), so let’s dial it back to get the behavior going:
Start really close so you don’t get locked into having to be far away in order to get him to turn. Start with him next to you at the wing, and just use your verbal and maybe one tiny step – no big motion needed as that sends him wide.
Also, move the setup away from the weaves – it looks like he was really excited by them and was wanting to go wide to weave.
You can also try a lower value reward for now – treats if he likes them, or a boring toy (if there a boring toy in his world LOL!)
And, when you send him to wrap, try to barely move – be forward facing for now, and don’t try to handle or swing your shoulders or anything – we are going to get him turning tight without you having to be perfect in your handling.
Which verbals were you using? I could hear you saying something but I couldn’t hear exactly what they were.
You are off to a good start here!!! I’m excited for the next steps – let me know what you think.
TracyHi! Having it on the ground gives her a strong focal point, so definitely add your motion to that so she gets used to driving to it even with you running. Remind me: do you have a manners minder? We can use that too! Placement of reinforcement plus ramped connection will really smooth out the jumping up. She is really young so we can proceed slowly to help her understand her lines.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I think she did well here! She was nice and tight on the wing and jumps! She made strong adjustments around the wing and really can’t he tighter. Yay!!Yes, she was stimulated when you added the other wing, but I didn’t see much of the jumping up. Yes, lots of noise though LOL! She might have been doing that because it was too much to do all of those levels in one day and she was brain-tired. Or, it might have been that you were not moving enough to be clear. Your arm back was good, so keep the water bottle going and just use food so you don’t need 3 arms. And you can move a bit more too, I think that will help.
Definitely try it again when she is a bit more rested and see how it goes – try it at the beginning of a session, rather than the end, and let me know how it goes!
TracyHi!
This is a really important game for him!! I’m glad he is figuring it out.
He just needs to see this setup for several sessions as you oh-so-gradually add motion. This is the one game where you don’t need balance reps for now (you added the soft turn and a rear cross, but resist those for a few more sessions): we don’t want him to think about turning or not turning, we just want to get the turning super conditioned so it is second nature.You were jogging on these, and he did well. Yay! So next session, build to running and keep doing the countermotion exit that you had here. You’ll know when he is ready for more when he gets the first rep correct 🙂
When you can run, keep the setup but change your exit line: instead of the countermotion, you can do a more normal FC back towards the camera here. 🙂 start that one walking then work up to running. No rush to get the jump involved yet, we can do a lot on the wing.
This is a great camera angle to see him jumping up at you and barking 🙂 2 examples (:42 and :58) show your hand low but close to your side – he drifted wide behind you and barked/jumped. I think he finds it disconnected. So, try your hand further back, fingers towards his nose, and make a much more direct eye contact as you move up the line. Let’s see if that helps him drive smoothly to the wing rather than to your hand or back.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I really liked this session! High success in all ways: he got all the wraps correctly, he got all the go reps correctly, you were able to add more motion, and most importantly… he was really working on his mechanics to make the wraps!!!! And his hind end stayed below his shoulders the whole time: HUZZAH!!!so for the next session, warm up with this setup and then add a wing before it (with you not moving too fast).
About the jumping up at your right hand on the left turns – I think he finds the arm send disconnecting and maybe frustrating, so he jumps up and barks. On the right wraps, you didn’t really use your left hand, and he didn’t jump up and bark. Aha!
So when you add the wing wrap before the 2 jump setup, try it with your dog-side arm locked back and not pointing forward. Let your motion, connection and verbal indicate the line and see how he does 🙂
Nice work!
Tracy
