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Good morning!
>>I find that I have become terrible at the mechanics of them and while I see what your suggesting, I’ve been finding it difficult to get my mechanics and timing down. Thus why I wish I had a better verbal understanding with him so my me hanics were not so important.>>
Totally relatable!!!! His verbal understanding is coming along nicely. When I was hashing out the rear cross lines with my young dogs, I put a leash on the ground next to the diagonal, so all had to do was stay connected and run next to the leash – it really helped pattern me 🙂 while the dogs got good into to support the verbals.
Teeter tours are great – sounds like Angie’s voice LOL! His mountain climbing looks great – he drove to the end no matter what you did there – run past, cross, sharp decel, etc. Behold the power of squeeze cheese LOL!!!! Good boy. And he was realy driving on the last couple, nice weight shift at the top! My only suggestion is to use a target that is out past the end of the boardso his little front feet go right to the edge of the board – as you know, the closer to the end of the board they get, the faster it drops 🙂 I am sure there are fancy target attachments you can buy – but I also used duct tape and a spoon that was slightly bent so that he didn’t really have to bend down lower than the edge of the board to get it.
I think you can add the tiniest bit of movement of the board now – super duper miniscule movement, to be sure that he loves loves loves this games.
Love The Slam might as well be re-titled as StrykR’s Dream Come True LOL! “All I need to do is smack that thing around to get the MM to trigger?!?!?! Best life ever!!” He was great, both on the grass and on the pavers, the noise and movement don’t seem to bother him at all. Perfect!!! You can definitely move into backing up onto the teeter board now (advanced level).
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>> You worked on some individual parts of the course to make sure the dogs had the skill before running the entire course. Can we do that with these courses before we do the first run for the video?
Yes! If you think there is a place that will be really hard, work that skill first. Be sure to not tire them out before running the full course. When Iset full courses to run, I might work the skills on the first day then run it on the 2nd day.
>>I am not sure my dogs have that skill so can I test that before we run the whole course or would you rather see the video of the entire course before we go back and fix things?
It depends on how successful I think the dog will be: 90% chance of success or better? Run the whole thing. Less than 90% chance? Break it down 🙂
>> It sounds like this might be OK since you are suggesting we try the dog walk before we run the course.>>
Yes, it is totally ok – I suggested showing them the DW because it will potentially involve trees in the way, and we don’t want the dogs to ask questions when they are 4 feet in the air!
>>The “stress” stopping is different. He starts out moving and then gets slower and then he stops usually in front of a jump. There is a strong correlation between stopping and a judge moving towards him. If I keep moving he just stands and watches me, sometimes he sniffs the bar or yawns. >>
Sounds like it is worry about the stranger moving towards him in that environment – yes, totally different than when there is handler error on course. You can isolate that concern and work on it behaviorally – pattern games with someone walking towards you, for example.
Have fun with the course!
TracyGood morning!
It is great to see you here 🙂 We can also look at some of the jumping questions you brought up last night, if you want! Agility jumping is so complicated and highly individualized.
>>She was hot, sorry for the gaps between reps.
It has been SO HOT!! This morning it was so hot and humid that the handles to my doors were soaking wet when I let the dogs out. But yet, they still run around with the ball like she did LOL!!
Seq 1 – very nice! She had good form, good focus on the lines and your cues were timely. Your connection was perfect, and low arms really showed the connection nicely 🙂
Following up on your question about talking over the bars… we will look at when you are talking and if there are any issues. You said Go as she was descending from 2 at :09 here – no problem, well-timed.
You said “tunnel!” over 2 at :44 – well-timed, no problem. (That TUNNEL! over a bar is hard for a lot of dogs and she did really well!Super excellent job getting the turn on the tunnel exit in sequence 2 – nice timing of the physical and verbal cues for the right! And I love how you made it sound different: rrrright! She turned perfectly, never considered going straight. My only suggestion is to talk to her while she is in the tunnel so she knows where to drive to when she exits: you got quiet after the right cues and were pretty far away, so you can see her turn really well at 1:53 (and at 2:27 on seq 3) but bleed off speed til she sees you, then she goes fast again. If you call her (probably her name a couple of times) she won’t need to bleed off the speed to find you.
On the rest of sequence 3 – On the first time through, she did well with the turns on the pinwheel! You can play around with sending and leaving rather than turning with her there, to show more acceleration to the tunnel and then out of the tunnel too, since straight exits of tunnels are challenging for her – you were at the same pace throughout, so she exited the last tunnel moving a little to her right. An acceleration to match the GO verbals will help her rocket out straight.
You added a bit more send to the pinwheel and then took off for the ending line with more urgency of verbals and acceleration – yes! You can exaggerate that even more and say one more GO when she exits (or jump cue, whichever is more “forward” for her) – get loud and keep repeating it, paired with the ball thrown out ahead, and she will look more and more straight out of tunnels on that cue.
I didn’t see any of the early takeoffs you mentioned here, she did a good job with her jumping effort!!! It might be that you didn’t get miles ahead but this is a good setup for sorting that out. Do you have clips of the takeoff questions you mentioned? And you can also add getting more ahead on the ending of these sequences – send to that last tunnel more and accelerate more to get further ahead, but keeping the same connection and verbals you had here.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>rewarding after the handling challenge each time instead of heading back to the first jump out of the tunnel.>>
No worries about that, it is ALWAYS good to reward sooner with a young dog 🙂 It was a really strong session!!!!
I think this is looking really good, and the jump heights have come up a little more – it adds challenge but he seems perfectly fine with that. Yay! He is showing excellent commitment and understanding of the cues, so now we can look at the tiny details of where he is looking and timing.
Looking at each of the 4 cues:
For the GO lines – he is driving ahead really well! For these, you can have a placed reward out there, 15 feet past the jump, for those, so he doesn’t look back at you at all. You can leave a manner minder out there if you want, or a toy. I prefer to leave it out there the entire time (the whole session) at this stage – and then the GO reward is triggered by your marker when you see him driving straight. That can help solidify the “stay in extension, look forward even when I am behind you and there is nothing else out there” 🙂 If it is only out there for the Go lines, it becomes more of a lure and not as much of a reward, if that makes sense. You can throw the toy like you added when he was coming out of the tunnel, but I think he would still want to watch you throw it no matter how early you threw it 🙂 so the placed reward will help keep him looking straight.
Wraps – also looking good! He is really organizing himself nicely!! Little details to consider here:
At :09, starting on the jump after the tunnel, I think you said “go” on that first jump then the dig cue, so he got it but but was a little late on the response because he was looking forward and had to switch gears.He is getting into high level skill work now, because he is ready for the commitment cues to be sooner and he is executing them really independently: looking at the wrap at :41 coming out of the tunnel, you started the verbal and decel as he was in the air which is really good timing especially for a youngster… but he was looking at you over the bar which means either he needs it at liftoff, or he needs more connection (you were looking a bit forward), or both 🙂
He committed really independently and turned beautifully, so you can totally try starting the cues sooner and looking at him a bit more. You were earlier at 1:18, it looks/sounds like you were more connected and definitely started before liftoff to the jump after the tunnel – he barked at you but then went and executed a gorgeous wrap. It is a little hard to see but I don’t think he looked at you on that one, or if he did, it was a vey small look.RCs – these are probably the hardest cues here, and the least ‘natural’ for the dogs 🙂 On the rep with the 2 jumps at :18, you start with a Go cue so he was looking straight for a while there too, then turned his head just before takeoff.
When you added the tunnel at :49, this is a typical scenario where you will probably be using the RC for him. As he was exiting the tunnel and heading to the next jump, you turned and faced straight, which kept you pretty laterally away from the RC line (:50). At :51, you are starting the cue as he is over the bar but you were really far to his left, so he is looking at you, gave you a little verbal feedback LOL and then did the RC on the center of the bar of the RC jump (which means the RC was a little late).
When you did the full sequence at 1:25, you ended up a little ahead as he was approaching the jump after the tunnel, so you said ‘go go go’ but also decelerated laterally, so he totally looked at you 🙂 Like the previous RC rep, he did go do the RC on the center of the bar, but we can smooth out his questions. There are two ways to smooth it out and keep him looking forward:
When you send him to the tunnel, you can then drive more into the RC by heading to the wing of the jump after the tunnel more directly, so when he is exiting the tunnel and approaching it, you are at the wing and facing the center of the bar of the RC jump. You might have to decel a little there to set the line and let him catch up – but as soon as he is approaching the jump, you can accelerate up the line to the center of the bar of the RC jump. He will pass you and read the RC sooner.
The other option is to set the RC line up by running closer to the tunnel then running up the line, staying in motion – so you are passing the wing of the jump after the tunnel very close to it, and facing the center of the bar of the RC jump the whole time. That cues the RC on the red jump before he even takes the white jump 🙂
And you can use your right verbals on both of these.
Backside push – nice timing of the push cue at :24 and at :58 out of the tunnel, he was seeing/hearing the cues over the first jump so he got to the backside nicely! A little bark there on the first rep with 2 jumps, but I think that was more of a “this is stimulating!” bark than anything else 🙂 And on the full sequence, you did the same timing of liftoff for the white jump to start the push cues: perfect! And being consistent like that is SO helpful for him!!!!
He does bark sometimes on transitions or when there is pressure on the line – for now, I am thinking it is just excitement/stimulation and not frustration, because I don’t see any other frustration behaviors, he is successful, and your reinforcement is very consistent and fun 🙂
So overall, I am loving the high level of the timing here and how he is responding to the cues! Little adjustments (plus experience) will get him looking forward at the lines more perfectly.
Great job! Let me know what you think! And if you want to, you can do the mirror image next time so he is turning the other direction on these.
TracyGood morning!
>>Good suggestion about being dogless. That’s how I figured out what to say. I use Chaz as trial dog when I’m not sure, so she doesn’t shut down. I almost put tape with letters…I think I might do that
Smart to ask Chaz to do it first! We want to be fully prepared for the youngsters, so we can get it right the first time and do fewer reps overall – my youngsters get annoyed with me when I mess it up LOL!!!!
Have fun!
TracyI think this is looking a lot better! Try to keep all the rewards in the bowl for now, partially to keep him moving back more and more (you can wait longer to let him get front feet on now too) and partially to keep his head a little lower (he watches your hands when you are delivering from your hands, which lifts his head too high for ease of hind end use – if you keep your hands a little lower and just drop the rewards in the bowl, his head will be in more of a neutral position and the bowl will allow for a good focal point.
Nice work!
TracyYes, a reset cookie is OK to keep your elf on Team Chill 🙂 and also, remember the 2-failure rule so that she can be very successful – if she fails twice (in a row or in the session), make it easier by dialing back the challenge so that you can set her up to get it right.
Hi! Thank you for the reminder! Here are some videos of the spin, also known as the reverse spin -it is designed to get more collection. It is basically a front cross on a jump followed by a blind cross on the flat:
Here are a couple of explanation videos:
Here is what is looks like when it is more of a wrap on the jump, similar to the turn in Sequence 3 (this is what I am doing at jump 3 on sequence 3):
It won’t muddy it at all – the arm positions are very different, as are the verbals and and motion that go with them 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
>>not sure if it’s possible to make 2 more fluid for her of if the collection is good and she’s being safe>>
The opening looks good! I think the threadle opening works well for her and easily get you to the blind 6-7-8 (that looked great on all 4 reps! Really brilliant!!) She was jumping 1-2-3 really well, just the right amount of collection, and totally safe.
One thing to note on the tunnels: Don’t be quiet when she is approaching tunnels, especially tunnel 8 – tell her to go take that jump with some verbals and motion.
On the first rep, you decelerated at :18 and got quiet before the tunnel so she pulled off the jump. Stay in motion there both to get the jump after the tunnel and to carry on if something went wrong – you stopped and didn’t reward and she went to barking at you. Eventually you sent her to the reward (15 seconds later) which rewards the barking more than anything else). You kept moving a lot better on the 2nd rep, which helped her pick up the line to 9 and that allowed you to get the BC 10-11.
On the 3rd and 4th reps, you had strong motion and clearer verbals for 9, which allowed you to get the BC even better 10-11! Yay! The best verbals were on the 3rd rep, so keep being loud and often with the verbals 🙂
To help with the line to the backside, as she is landing from 10, she needs a turn cue for 11 – so you can add a left verbal and start turning sooner which will also get you up the line faster for the 14 backside.
>> I tried to push on the first one but backside slices are super hard for her>>
Does she hit the bar or the wing? I have some things coming that can help this – the first one is sequence 2 from last night, which helps to get the dogs looking at the jump bar on the backside slices like 14.
On the first rep, you wanted to push to the slice, which can totally work! Looks like you used an outside arm for 13 but might be better to use that outside arm on the push to 14, plus really direct eye contact to propel her out to it. If she doesn’t get it, no worries: Keep going there too and fix it on the next rep with more drive and connection to the backside. Carrying on without marking anything as an error is great to get the speed and flow of the course and making sure she doesn’t get frustrated.
The threadle there is probably a better line than he push to the backside (threadle slice, not the threadle wrap) but hard to get from the position coming from the previous section – after the push on 12, you can add a turn cue on 13 (a name call will probably be all she needs) and then when she is turning towards you at 13, you can add the threadle cue for 14 (just before she takes off for 13) (reward that too when she didn’t know what you wanted, reward in the moment)
You got it as the threadle wrap at 3:22 but I think the slice there would be faster and easier for you both! Let me know what is happening on the slices and we will sort out how to help her.
On the ending line – it looks like the last tunnel was set slightly offset, so the entry was not a ‘go’ but more of an ‘out’ which is why she ended up in the other end of it at 3:26, because that was the entry on her go line, good girl! Good job carrying on, she was correct 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>first, I think I understand the break arm but have never used it. How do I train it?
It is really natural for most dogs, so we can just do i tand they respond. Take a look at this and let me know what you think:
>Second, your sesame street thought about jumps (O, C, L) makes sense but that about those jumps that are not clear, for example on skill set 4, on jump 4 rather than going to 5, what if I had been going to the unnumbered pin wheel jump. I need a decell over 4.but it is more of a C turn than an L turn.>>
For the in-between moments, it depends on the dog – I try to give them as much as needed but not too much because too much will dilute the cue. So if the C is the wrap verbal, and the turn is not a very clear wrap? I will use more of the L turn verbals. If the turn is soft but not really the L shape? I will just use a jump cue. So if you were going to the backside of the pinwheel jump like a traditional AKC 270, I would use a left verbal then my backside verbal – it is still not a wrap. If it was the front side of that pinwheel jump, for most dogs it would be a left then maybe a threadle verbal. For some dogs who do not collect well, it would potentially be the wrap verbal.
>>Finally on a pinwheel, what is the verbal?
Depends on the stride length of the dog – for bigger striding dogs or dogs that I need to get collection before takeoff on that middle jump, I would consider the left or right L shape verbals. For smaller striding dogs or dogs that don’t need collection? I just say “jump”.
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
The video link is not working, I think it is the link to your youtube page and not the link to the video, so youtube won’t let me in. Can you repost it?>>Working on magnetic fingers and practicing talking to him not the obstsacles…except HEY…what happens when I am behind him (or should I always plan my path to be IN FRONT of him?)
When you are behind, you connect to his eyes but connecting to the back of his head 🙂 No need for magnet fingers when you are behind 🙂
>>(or should I always plan my path to be IN FRONT of him?)>>
Well, we are going to TRY to always be in front of him but he is fast with a giant stride – so I expect you’ll get behind on some lines too, so we will work on rear crosses as well and handling from behind 🙂
Tracy
Hello!
Yes, your internet started out misbehaving but then it got much better LOL! This sequence looked GREAT! I could hear a distinct difference in your verbals and could see a difference in your lines – and she nailed it! YESSSSS! Well done, member of Team Fake Chill! And she was great with that flip because we have trained it in other contexts and just tossed it in here 🙂
You and Promise were great last night, so much brilliance!!!
>>Also, friendly reminder for the GO proofing exercise for knocking the bars.
Take a look at his: basically, we proof it by adding the distractions (like the GO verbal) and reward heavily for not touching the bar:
Have fun!
TracyHi!
>>He’s on his 6th week of being therapeutic with Zoloft. I’m really liking what I’m seeing from him. He seems much happier also. >>
This is great! Yay! We want him to be happy 🙂 I am beginning to see it in your working sessions too, which is also great. So now we are going to take things to the next level in terms of the dog training aspect of it (the handling is MUCH easier when the dog training pieces are in place). And by dog training, I mean getting that relentless resilience and fight to work and the “want to” to be in the ring. With that in mind:
Yes, he did well here but I want to shift your focus in these sessions to get even more success! There were SO MANY triggers/distractions here: thunder, fireworks, pool, 3 dogs barking (including one growling/crate rushing), people, heat (he was HOT, note the little stagger at 2:52), all sorts of obstacles and such at the base of the tree… that the challenges you were going for on course were just too much and he failed way more than I want him too. I counted 19 failures where you communicated that it was a failure by marking or stopping in 5.5 minutes, not including jumps he went past or off course tunnels. Plus, he didn’t want the reinforcement you had available in the ring (which can be a stress response to the distractions and to the failures).
So since the distraction/trigger level was so high, higher than usual – dial back the challenges on the course. Short lead out, simple lines, fast lines, no tight turns or backsidey threadles or anything. Bearing in mind the 2 failure rule is in place for course work, you need to dial back the challenges in order to balance his needs with the distractions so you can get TONS of success in with almost zero failure.
That will bring him to a higher level of work – yes, we are framing it in terms of operant conditioning (reinforcement, success, failure) but the operant conditioning gives us the framework to change how he feels in the environment and with those triggers. And when he is very happy with far fewer distractions/triggers, then you can add back the harder handling (but that 2 failure rule is a lifetime rule!) Assess the environment before you make decisions about what you want to run. If the environment is challenging? Dial back the handling/couse wok challenges to pactically guarantee success. Looking at the line from the a-frame, for example: between the existing distractions and the visual distraction of all the stuff that is there, a challenging threadle to a challenging weave entry was too much and he failed a whole lot. He stayed with you generally, but that doesn’t do anything to help the underlying state of happy, relaxed focus we are trying to get. So in this case, you can do the a-frame to the front of the jump and skip the weaves, because that was all too hard. And the 2 failure rule provides a safety net if we miss the difficulties in the environment. If the dog fails twice… dial it back or stop asking for it so you can get success on the next rep and and on all the other reps.
You’re already doing a lovely job with these, and I think your handling will be really perfect when he is managing the distractions better! I think this should be the main focus this summer: happy-making getting him on these lines and the big “lemme at it!” attitude, no matter what the distractions or stresses. Setting up the session for that and the 2 failure rule will be your go-to guidelines 🙂 Let me know what you think!
Tracy
