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Hi!
I think his obstacle commitment is going generally well, unless there were issues that were not in the video? We can always get more with young dogs, especially small dogs.>> I know I’m not supposed to drop treats on the ground anymore but I was thinking about playing the lazy game some more?
Nope – no more treat dropping. No more lazy game for him 🙂 It has served its purpose and how we move onto into different use of reinforcement and other handling things.
>>What should I be doing? Is it my connection with him that’s bad?>>
Definitely more connection will help, especially on the exit of crosses. Also, you were doing plenty of thrown lotus ball and toy on the videos above – keep doing that a LOT!! And, mixing in a ton of Go GO Go lines will super help too!
Commitment is like coffee which needs to brew, or a fine wine that needs to develop – we keep up the connection and tossed toys, and he will develop great commitment 🙂
Tracy
Good morning! It is fun to get into the bigger sequences!! And great job staying engaged with the toy and lotus ball throwing and high energy interaction.
First video, Straight lines 4 ways on 2 jumps:
FC wraps:
More connection on the cross exit to tighten it up – you are turning and running away without looking at him very much, so he is drifting wide trying to figure out what you want. Stick closer to the line of the wing and make a big connection (with your dog side arm back) so he can see the new one immediately.RCs:
RC is late at 1:01, try to run more directly to the center of the bar. You were running an L shape to your line: towards the wrap wing then over to the RC wing. Try to run a diagonal line towards the center of the bar.Backside looked good!
Mix in a zillion more straight line GO GO GO moments because we want him to do a LOT of extension. So after every turn rep or two, do a straight line.
2nd video, adding the tunnel – yes definitely you want more connection here. Try to run these without pointing your arms to support the line at all, because your high arms actually turn your shoulders & block connection, which pulls him off the line – on the FC and RC reps, you had the high arms going and he had a lot of questions. On the backside rep, though… you didn’t use your arms to do much other than run and it was GREAT! He saw connection better and had lovely lines.
As with the first video: do lots and lots of straight line reps! There has been none so far on these 2 videos.The 3rd video had a Go rep and a wrap rep – the Go rep was really good, do LOTS more of these pleeeeze LOL!!! We want him on the lines more than we want him doing crosses at this point, to get massive commitment.
On the FC rep here, I think you were a little early decelerating for now (starting as he was lifting for the jump after the tunnel) – keep driving him forward until after he lands from the first jump after the tunnel, then decel and start the wrap cues. Doing more go reps will make the timing easier because he won’t be slowing down to expect a turn.Nice work here!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! She is doing great! I am super happy with this all! SO FUN!
Great job with your connection – she was nailing it because you were soooooo connected. Super! It might be easier to connect if you bring your wings in, meaning, run with your arms tighter to you and not fully extended back. You did this more at about 1:40-1:50 and it looked easier for you to keep up with your pocket rocket 🙂 Also, wings in tighter to you will help get your connections clearer after the blind – at 3:13 and 4:08, for example, you were finishing the blind with your arms out and she had trouble reading the connection change. Keeping your arms in tight to you will allow you to do the blind quicker and make a very clear connection to her eyes 🙂
About those verbals… you might need to run (literally run) the sequence before you bring her out to spot check the verbals. If you walk it, you won’t get the same feeling of full on terror that you probably get while running her LOL! And that added speed for you is what makes all the wrong verbals come out. LOL! So blast around it a few times so you can work on the correct verbals and timing them nice and early.
Also, spread this out now – you both need more room to work the skills, so you both get used to doing this on 20 foot distances or so 🙂
Also:
One thing I would like you to do now is, at the FF Home Base, bring her out playing and not with the cookie toss pattern game. She is relaxed here, she is engaged – so we can now shift to the things that will be useful in the trial environment, fo example, when you can’t come into the ring with cookies tosses. It is a good time to start preparing her for that! You can still to the pattern games in new environments, or at FF when the environment is harder if more people or dogs are there.Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
The camera position really helps! The answer is in the mechanics. I think you can slow this particular sequence down and do the crosses as single crosses for now rather than double, to get the mechanics firmly embedded. That will help all crosses, which is more helpful than doing this one particular sequence (and then we can go back to double later on).Overall – your timing is looking good, so keep that timing 🙂 She was getting a decent amount of them correctly especially by the later part of the video because you had more emphasize on connection and less emphasis on dog side arm as part of the connection. And, she kept going fast because you kept rewarding her, which is great: as we work out human mechanics, we want her to be fast and happy 🙂
The easiest place to see the mechanics is when you are running away from camera: Good timing on starting the cross at :24 but then look at :25 – yes, you had your toy across the body, but your dog side arm also came forward with it – blocking connection.
That also happened at :10 and :18 but it is not as easy to see because you are running towards the camera and we can’t see what she sees.On the double at :32, you can see the dog side arm trying to indicate the side change, so she didn’t get it as compared to :50 when you emphasized connection more
At 1:42, the toy was in the dog side arm and it was pulling forward, which breaks connection on the new side so she stayed out on the line.
Ouch about running into the wing!!! Good job rewarding her as you went down too!
So what to do? Bear in mind that when the dog-side arm comes to your side and then forward of your body line, it changes the cue and she will produce a different behavior. So:
Do only a single cross and you can take out the other two wings. If she begins on your left – the toy is in your left to start, and as you rotate through the cross, FC or BC, place the left arm across your belly and the toy on the opposite hip (right hip) – and lock the elbow of your right arm back and extended away from your body. The right arm is now the dog side arm, and we need it out of the way for the cross exits: lock it back, fully extended to her as if you are pointing your fingers at her nose. And don’t move it 🙂 It is the moving forward of that arm that buggers the cross.Start slow, be late on the cues (she will still read it if you are late), emphasize the mechanics… then we will get you faster and faster. The double crosses are not terribly important but nailing the mechanics of cross exits will make a world of difference in all of the other crosses.
Let me know if that makes sense! That one tweak of locking the dog side arm all the way back should make a big difference!
Tracy
Hi!
I figured she would be fine with this game when she jumped on the board sideways right at the beginning LOL! Good job with this session, taking it real slow and easy so it was all about strolling up the board and eating delicious treats. You can see her confidence growing each time up the board. Great job not rushing her or anything – to build true teeter confidence, it takes as long as it takes. You can add in the cookie toss to start it. She will lead the way with adding speed. Separately, keep working on turning around on an elevated plank, so she builds confidence there too!Nice work!
TracyHi!
The countermotion is looking really good! The one jump stuff looked great, and the ‘relaxed’ 2 jump stuff also looks great. You can add more running into it in order to leave sooner, as you mentioned: send to the first wing, run away, then add a deceleration as he is exiting the first wing, so you can then turn and send as he is just barely arriving at your leg. And you can try for 3 or o4 wraps in a row, which is going to get both of you running and being really quick. You start to too this towards the end: try to do this without a toy in your hand, because you were transferring the toy from hand to hand and it was actually delaying the verbal & physical cues. Sure, it was only delaying them by a heartbeat but he was going REAL FAST so you don’t have any extra time 🙂
>> Watching it back and knowing him, I could be leaving earlier on the wraps but just ended up distracted by which verbal, which wing, etc.>>
Yes, that is part of the joy and pain of this game: it all happens so fast that it will help get the verbals on auto-pilot so you don’t need to think about them. You were spitting them out really well!
The hose break looked so fun! And the race tracks looked super fun 🙂
>> Was there a “Verbals” exercise somewhere in our content (I saw Levy working on something that I don’t remember seeing in what I’ve looked through so far).
That is from this week’s games in CAMP – I think you are in CAMP too? If not, I will bring the game over to here, I was thinking that the MaxPuppers should do it too 🙂
Great job! Stay cool!
TracyHi!
I was going to suggest some of that felt stuff the horse people use in their arenas, but I think you covered it with “textile binder” 🙂 That would be perfect!T
Hi!
Wow, that ice cream cone has come in really handy, he has learned a zillion good skills from it!
>> I have tended to not run full speed with him as previously a lot of motion from me would kind of make his brains explode.>>
I think a good summer goal is to teach him to let you run without him losing his brains 🙂 You did a great job here with real running and he had a ton of success!
On the first video:
First 2 sequences looked great! Perfect!Seq 3 had some challenges on on the 4-5-6 line… try to open your shoulder back to him more. What I mean by that is to have your dog side arm pointing back to his nose the whole way through from the tunnel exit at #3 to the tunnel entry at #7. Freeze it at :32 and :46, you will see your eyes are on him but you shoulder is closed forward, hand at your side, which blocks some of the connection (and contributed to the bar coming down at :46). That draws him a little too much into handler focus so when you accelerated to 6 with your shoulder a little closed forward, he didn’t take the jump.
Compare it to the sequence at 1:00 as he exits the tunnel: note how your left shoulder is back to him and not pointed forward, so he was perfect on his jumping at 4-5 and at 1:03, your shoulder was open to him and your eyes were on him and he took 6. YAY!
WOW, sequence 4 looks SO MUCH BETTER!!! I am 100% happy with all of it except we can convince him to be tighter on the wrap. That is a dog training thing, because you cannot be earlier with your cues, you were very timely 🙂 He needs to learn how fun collection is, so for now make the 9 jump into just a wing. So you can change the 3-4 line to bring him to the middle jump (which is kind of the mirror image of the 3rd sequence) since #4 is now just a wing. Then you work your transition on the wing to wrap so he learns how much fun it is to wrap and chase 🙂 When he is loving that, we can add back the bar.
Standard course -very nice opening, both times! What a great lead out & stay!! Then a bit of teeter dock diving on the first rep – he thought it was a dog walk, possibly. He probably needs more experience on high speed into teeters, so feel free to use a target to help him out. 2nd rep was gorgeous!
The line across the back from the tunnel to the tunnel to the DW looked great – he definitely has some teeter/DW confusion here on the first rep, note how he stopped and flattened at the top of the DW up ramp, waiting to see if it drops. He was fine with it on the other reps when he knew it was the DW. Nice backside after the DW! At 2:25 your arm was a bit too high there, it was lower and more subtle on the others and worked most smoothly. It was back to perfect at 2:39.
That 9-10-11-12 to the tunnel discrimination is a doozy! And he is jumping 10, start giving him a turn cue for 11 (a left verbal and a brake arm) then when you see collection, go to your tunnel threadle cue.
On the tunnel threadle cue, you were rotating away from him, which hides the threadle arm a bit – you can try showing it more as you rotate away, to see if that helps him turn sooner. Some dogs do well with the earlier rotation away, some dogs do better when our upper body rotates towards them – but the threadle arm can be more visible on both.
At 1:06 you started the cues as he was taking jump 10 and he got it perfectly 🙂 YAY! Then you were too early at 2:30 and he pulled off 11. So I think the ideal timing is starting it as he is in the air over 10, which is what you did at 2:41 and he nailed it. Super!
Because the tunnel threadle is a rear cross on the tunnel entry, a go verbal will help keep him straight and you will probably also have to take a step or 2 towards 13 to help set the line, followed by a right turn cue for 13 to the aframe. You gave him the go at 2:44 but he was already in the tunnel and you were pulling away, so try adding the go verbal when he is still 2 meters away from the tunnel entry, and run a few more steps towards 13 to set the line before pulling away. You can still layer, but support the path to 13 by running parallel to his line until he is looking at 13.
You set that line after the a-frame up REALLY nicely at 1:39 including the layer, so now you can add in doing it off the rear cross on the tunnel entry. NICE Threadle on the jump before the poles at 1:43!!! The layering really helped you get there. And that weave entry is the reason we have the weave game added in Package 2 – almost every dog has missed it.
He was a little wide on the wrap at 19 at 1:55 and at 3:30 – you can begin the cue earlier, as he is lifting off for 18. You start it after he landed from 18, so he didn’t quite have time to process it and adjust.
Great job here! It think those little tweaks will smooth it all out. Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
It is easy to describe your upcoming journey with him because he reminds me SO MUCH of my adventures with my dear departed dog, Export. Things were a wild ride early on, then we became a team and had a decade of running together. Dreamer is very much like a next-generation Export. That is one of the reasons I think Dreamer is such a cool dog 🙂
The threadle games are going well – he sometimes skips the threadle and grabs the toy, which is hilarious! Were you saying the threadle word? It was hard to hear – I think you were saying “Push”? If you were saying your threadle word – perfect! Your an repeat the word a bunch of times, no need to say it just once. If you were not saying it: add on 🙂 It should be a different word than any other existing cue.
I think you can add the 2nd wing to the jump now, and we will get you moving soon too! Nice work!!!
TracyHi!
There is a lot of great stuff here! And 9pm to midnight? You are my hero!I think I got al the videos, but they might not be in the right order:
The unsuccessful blind video, the blind on the jump with the off course tunnel: That is a connection question from him, and if we get stronger connection, he will read the blind. When you make the blind, bring your hands tight to your sides (wings in!) and look him in the eyes very directly as your finish the blind on the new side. That will get him to pick up the side change has you move forward. You were trying to reconnect with just a hand, and dogs don’t really read that as a side change cue on the blind (especially not with a tunnel right there 🙂 )
Video 3- serp w/ no weaves video: when you handled that line of jumps near the tunnel as a serp to a rear cross – nice! Just give the come verbal as he is over the jump after the teeter, so that he turns more tightly.
He was very close to getting the weave entry!!!! I think he just needs to see that a couple of times and he will get the weave entry there (you can play that weave game with the wing to help him out too!)
Got the DW video – very nice!!! Great job on the backside push to blind after the tunnel. That set a lovely line to the dog walk!! There was a little bonus jump in there (it was tight and he needed a stronger turn cue) but the rest looked great!
Layer jump before the DW video: this looked great until the layering. Your running line was spot on! As you pass the layer jump and say your walk it cue, you can re-connect to he knows to be on your left side. You were disconnected (looking forward) during the layering, so he guessed and come into you over the jump.
Great job on these!! Hope you got some sleep today LOL!
Tracy
Hi!
I am glad you like the line classes, they are so fun!!! And I appreciate the live participants being willing to jump in and try crazy things 🙂On the backside jump – yes it is a German turn (push to the backside then that wrap blind cross exit). And no, I don’t give it an additional verbal, I just use my backside slice verbal.
She is doing well with her German turn here! Nice timing of the backside verbals and ice suppler with connection! As she is approaching the backside jump, you can use a smaller shoulder turn to help her commit to it – you can face the jump with your upper body while your feet carry you through to the blind. I think she is ready for you to be further away from the entry wing – as you mentioned, you are pretty far to the right. So for the next session, try to have your running line go to the center of the bar on the backside as you send her, and your upper body sends her to the backside wing.Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I have 2 separate verbals for the push to a backside:
– “Back” is when the dog enters on one wing and exits on the other wing, like a slice
– “digdigdig” is when the dog enters on one wing and exits on the same wing, like this wrap here. It doesn’t have to be a blind cross exit.And yes, I train it and then do that either/or handling to show the difference. What are your current front side verbals? We can use something that is different from those 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
>> I went out and tried just the portion with the lateral move and she did pull off at first. Once I gave an “over” verbal while I moved laterally, she was fine.
Perfect! If we get quiet and pull away laterally, the dogs often follow us. But if your upper body (connection and verbal and shoulders) support the line, then our feet can pull away while the dog stays on the line.
>>You’ll notice in the first go around I was slow in my handling on jump 8, and she cut in front of me. Fixed that the next time around!
Yes, that adjustment on the 2nd and 3rd reps looked great! You moved forward sooner, so you were able to get the blind – and I think she liked that, because she really drove out of it with a ton of speed 🙂
>>Is there anything I should do to make her approach to the back of that jump a bit tighter? She does swing in a rather large arc. Could be she is still thinking of going down the line to the first jump? Should I be saying more to the left wing of the jump so I can move aroudn to the back faster?>>
Well, yes and no 🙂 When I watch where she is on the bar at 7, she is in the right spot – turning and facing the correct line. Any tighter there would end up being a bit slower and setting a harder line to the backside circle. She needs to have enough room and momentum to ‘square up’ for the circle on the 8 jump, so we don’t want her to be tighter coming into it because then she won’t be able to set her jumping up as well.
The one thing I do recommend, though, is a different backside verbal for this wrap versus for a slice (I think you have the same verbal and physical cues tells her the difference). The different verbals will get her to power through more because she has the turn info sooner – she is drifting a tiny bit before setting up the turn, waiting to see more of the physical cue to know if it is a slice or a wrap. If you give her a different verbal, she will know way back at jump 7 and then she can drive right into it.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think 🙂
TracyMy little Hot Sauce dog is a bit worried on start lines at trials if there is a ring gate swinging around behind her, so I plenty of training where I run her off the start in case I use that at trials. I have also taught her to run around behind me so I can do a start without a stay and also maybe have a tiny lead out LOL!
Good morning!
A little acclimation walk is a beautiful thing! Bearing in mind that a dog’s brain is basically a giant olfactory bulb – they are a walking nose and need some time to sniff the world 🙂
I think all dogs should have daily quality time just getting to roam and sniff – on leash, as youngsters, then eventually off leash. There are some studies about how sniffing is just great for their physical and mental health.At trial sites – true, you can’t have a good sniffy walk inside the ring but you can do sniffy walking around the site, and there are a ton of other games to play. And by the time he trials, the agility will have so much value that you won’t need a sniffy walk 🙂 I bring young dogs into their trial careers using NFC/FEO runs, which means a toy in the ring so it feels very comfortable for them 🙂
On the video: His commitment looks really good here, I think it surprised you on the first rep LOL!! The other reps were quicker on the blinds and connections, and he seemed to read them perfectly each time. The little dude really likes the blinds!!
Try to either leave the toy in one hand or stick it in a pocket as you do the blinds – you were switching it from hand to hand which delays the info. That might be why you felt a little frantic and not fully connected? The timing and clarity gets especially important now because he is moving fast and needs to see the new connections ASAP 🙂 The toy can live in your pocket during the sequence and then you can take it out to reward as you run – it is not a ‘precision’ reward (meaning, we don’t have to get the toy to land in a certain spot at a certain time) so you can start running and praising and take it out for him to chase.
And great job with the running rewards – a little sweaty, sure, but he was running hard for the entire session. I think his only questions where when he exited the tunnel and you want the first wing but your dog side arm was pointing a little ahead. He slowed down a little on those because that arm high & forward blocks connection. Remember to have your arm back and down, fingers to his nose, when he is behind you so he can see the connection.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
