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Good morning!
She did well with the find the jump game! It all hinges on the info she gets from your motion & connection. On the first rep, you were moving near the jump and connected so she got it easily. On the 2nd rep (1:03) you were further from the jump and not connected to her (looking ahead and moving your arm to throw the toy) when she exited the tunnel so she came to you. 3rd (1:24) and 4th reps (last rep) were both connected with good line of motion and she got it easily. Super! So as you keep expanding the distance and changing your position, keep that connection and stay in motion like you did here.
The zig zag reps went really well – her stay looks great which allowed you to get to the 3rd wing, which in turn allowed you to show the cues very clearly. Since it went so well, you can revisit it and move the wings closer by about 6 inches or so, to see if she can do the lead changes even faster 🙂
Looking at the minny pinny game:
>Did we do it correctly?>
Yes, but you are kind of starting at one of the hardest points of the game 🙂 You can start with the easier turning towards you and then work up to turning away. This might have happened before you filmed the session though.
Her right turns away from you were very smooth and easy! For the left turns, she turned right towards you first then left – the girl is a definite righty 🙂 You can help with the left turns away from you by setting her up on an easier line through moving over o she sees the bars really easily while turning left (rather than starting without seeing the bars and having to turn left to find them). You can also place a toy or food bowl as a visual aid between bars 1 and 2 to help get it started then after a couple of left turn away reps, you can move the visual aid to between 2 and 3, then take it out entirely when she is more comfortable with left turns away from you.
Sends & Serps went well! She is coming in towards the serp line really nicely! You were using your opposite arm which is great – just make it more obvious, really reaching across your body to show it to her. That way when you are both really running, she can see it easily 🙂 And great job with the front cross! You are connected and clear, and she seemed to have zero questions.
Set point – looking great!
Good advice from your videographer (high Donna!) to start closer to the bump: that set up better form into the set point. I think her form also looked better when the bump in the original position (a little further from the jump) because the distance was a tiny bit too short when you also added the moving target.
Speaking of the moving target: that was lovely! She maintained her form and added some more power, even with the distraction of motion and the toy. Super!! You are ready to move on to the ladder grid.
Great job on these!
Tracy
Good morning!
>What kind of object should we be using? >
Any object that is pretty meaningless to the grand scheme of life and dog sports is perfect. Maybe a big wooden spoon from the kitchen? I personally do this with balls all the time, because the ball is something likely to elicit an open mouth grab and I am not throwing it in this indoor session at the beginning of training. I start with just getting the dog to grab it then pick it up if it is rolling, then stationary. I can’t find a video of those beginning stages but eventually they are shaped to bring it to an object such as my hand 🙂 or to put it in a bowl:
>This was an old tug I got years ago when people demanded dogs had to tug to do agility.>
Ha! I remember those times. I am glad we have moved past that!
>but I think I was clicking for nose touches. >
From the camera angle, I did see some grabs but also possibly there were nose touches mixed in. One suggestion is to NOT look at her – just look at the object so you can see if her mouth opens or not.
>She’s very frustrated and I’d like to avoid that route.>
It is possible that going from the object in your hand (50 seconds, approx) to on the ground was too big of a criteria leap for a pup 🙂 You can do a full session with it in your hand, then come back another time, start where you left off then split the behavior into having your hand holding it but lower to the ground. Then depending on her rate of success, you can let go of it.
You can also try it with you in a chair or standing: when you were low to the ground, that elicited a down behavior which is a bit incompatible with retrieving. So you can raise yourself up, or you can put the object on a low table (like a Klimb or cato board) for her to pick up. Taking the down behavior out might help a lot!
The other thing that I have found helps is to toss the object, rather than just leave it ‘dead’ 🙂 A short toss almost always gets us an open-mouth grab to click! She might like that a lot too.
So, there is no single way to get it – keep experimenting with narrow slices of behavior and let her success rate (90% or better for the criteria of the moment) tell you when to make it harder or how to make it harder.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
The stays are going well!!
I think with the barrel, toy, and the bowl on the ground, he was not sure if he should offer a sit or something with the barrel/bowl/toy. Asking him to sit was very helpful and clarified things for him.He was holding the sit really well especially as you were moving away – for now, no need to praise the sit though, that was causing him to come towards you. You can be quiet for now while he is in the stay, the release (the catch of a cookie was really good, or release forward for the toy) then praise. We can add in a bit more quiet praise during the stay soon!
You can also add the toy to this game – let’s get him doing his stays even when he is more pumped up and a bit wilder 🙂 Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
Getting him pumped up with the toy here was super fun! He definitely liked it!! It was hard to se if he was tugging with it on all the reps- if he was, yay! If he was not – you can throw the toy.Yay for the line on the ground!! He had no trouble staying committed when the line was halfway around the barrel. Keep moving the line, inch by inch (because now it is going to get really challenging). When you didn’t move the line and tried to do the FC sooner, you didn’t really do it sooner – you still did the FC as he arrived at the line 🙂 So keep inching that line towards the starting spot. It will mean you do a number of reps on the same side, which is perfectly good to do. Then you can move the line to the other side. The line is basically a jump bar replacer at this stage, so it provides a great visual for you both.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
Lap turns: going really well! He turns both directions nicely.
Your arm position is really strong – just add in stepping back with your dog-side leg as he arrives at your hand. That will help draw him toward yo more than turn him away. Without the leg step, it was harder to get the turn.
The timing of starting the turn was spot on (just as he was arriving at your hand) so the leg stepping back will make it even smoother: leg steps back and your arm draws him toward you, then you turn him away, then the leg steps forward again.Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
The resilience pattern game is going great! The slower responses are indications of how challenging the environment is: it takes more brain power to process the distraction so his responses are not as quick. No worries! Still totally rewardable. And he will get faster and faster with practice.
You caught yourself waiting too long on one rep LOL – no need to wait for eye contact. I am sure you will get a lot of eye contact as a bonus in easier environments, but it is not a mandatory part of the criteria in harder environments. The more important elements are looking towards you (and not at distractions) o you can even click the moment he sniffed your knee when the bowl was on the ground 🙂
Since he did so well here, you can take this game into different environments – and reward him for looking towards you. Start with easy places and see how it goes – and bring great treats because that helps too!
Nice work!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Whew! Perfect!! Get It! Will be my dead toy marker, love it. Less words for me the better LOL!>
You can eventually change to a separate dead toy marker if you want to or if she seems confused. I have never seen dogs get confused though, unless the ‘get it’ is only ever used with something like a ball throw or frisbee throw. That is not the case with Sunnie. And less words is better because then our brains have a good chance of using them correctly and that helps the dogs truly learn them 🙂
The parallel path game is going great! It is hilarious how much value we can build for a potholder LOL! But it is a good way to think about how to build value for eventual agility obstacles when she is older. Shaping for the win!
You can add more and more distance to this game of course so you might need to take it on the road when you run out of space in her training room. That will be a good way to refresh the value in new places (start closer in a new place and see how much she ‘remembers’ the pot holder).
In the home space you can add starting right next to her but walking slowly, so she can drive ahead of you. That will set us up for the rear crosses!
The giant crate wing wraps looked great! She has a ton of value for this too – I think you will both have fun with Turn And Burn! The pop up crate might be too big for that, so you can use something a little smaller for that game.
Great job here! Have fun!
Tracy
Hello! These games are off to a great start!
Backing up: We can make it more independent by changing the placement of your reinforcement. I think you had the cookie in your hand the whole time, so it looks like he was following the cookie more than thinking about backing up 🙂
When you are working it on the flat – put one cookie down just underneath you, then when he backs up, you can toss the next treat – no cookies delivered from hands, and your hands don’t assist in moving him backwards.
When adding the mat: start with him having all 4 feet on it then lure his front feet off with a cookie in your hand. Then freeze your hand (don’t move it back towards him) so he can offer stepping back with his front feet: then toss the treat to him.
The turn and burn around the barrel is also going well. This is a fat moving game but also needs a lot of precision:
Be sure you are starting close to the barrel (close enough to touch it, no distance added yet) with him lined up at your side before each send. If you were too far and just tried to send (like at :22 and :58), things went sideways because the cue was not as clear and he is new to this game.
So after a reward, you can tug him close to the barrel before getting the toy back, then line up, then send. Go for the precision of the line up and send with connection, because those are really good reps like at 1:22! When you didn’t have that, he got frustrated and started leaping and grabbing.
>Ziv loved this although coupe of times he had trouble going from toy reward back to work->
If those were the moments where he was leaping, I don’t think it was a toy transition question – it was more of a send lacking clarity question. The prevision lineup will help smooth that out.
For the next step of the game, add the line on the ground that moves closer to the start point after each successful rep or two, so you can cue yourself to do the FC earlier and earlier. Without the line, you will default to the same timing and we want to get the FC happening sooner and sooner.
Nice work here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
Keep me posted on how his belly feels after class. Charley Bears treats are very visible and don’t roll, so maybe they won’t upset his belly? I break them in half so the pups don’t take too long to chew them.
The parallel path game went great! He is very good at hitting his prop and was focusing forward to it – he didn’t look at you until after he hit it. The distance away from you didn’t seem to matter. And he was happy to do it on both sides of you, no weaknesses on either side. SUPER!!!
So 3 next steps for this:
– You can add more of your motion, getting further ahead and moving a bit faster: can he still find the prop and ignore the increased excitement of more motion?
– You can go all the way to the cookie reward with him and don’t start moving til he is ready. When he starts moving, he will be next to you: will he drive ahead to the prop? This will set us up well for the rear crosses!
– Take the parallel path game like you did it here to a bigger location so you can add more room and distance!
The countermotion also went well. You will get a snappier drive to the prop if you don’t loop him back to the send after tossing the reward. Instead, you can call him to you, do a bit of ready dance, then send him. That gives him a clearer start indication so he will move even faster to it, and that will let you start moving the other direction even sooner.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Definitely a wise choice to get this game in before the rains come!! And the session went SUPER well!! Fun!
>also noted the arm back connection parts in the demo video…. And I still noticed I need much improvement there. I was trying!>
Most of your connection here was really lovely with your eyes on her eyes and your arms down while you moved. For example:
– dog-on-right from the wing to the tunnel at the strait of each rep was consistently connected and with a low arm. And so was dog-on-left from the wing to the tunnel when you switched sides. Nice!!! She had no questions.– the exits of the blinds at :22, :29, :44 and :52 were lovely and connected. You can see the lovely connection more easily on the other side: 1:01, 1:08 & 117. In other words: every single one. Happy dance! She was able to turn nice and tight on those with no questions.
– you were good about staying connected when she exited the tunnel to go to the wing, but I think the rep at 1:16 was the best connection from the tunnel exit to the wing. On that one, your arm was back to her and she could very easily see the connection. Your arm was a bit more perpendicular to your shoulder on the other reps (a right angle in your armpit 🙂 ) which makes it harder to see your connection.
– the race tracks were almost perfect: low arms and lots of eyes and verbals delivered to her. Lovely!
So let’s compare all of that great work to the little blooper moments. She is too young to keep commitment going if the connection shifts the cues, so she had a couple of questions:
At :45 she didn’t go to the wing after the blind. In the video you mentioned it was because you said yay, but it looks like it was mainly because you pointed with an arm and that turned your shoulder away from the line, so she followed your shoulder turn. Compare to the next rep where you were more connected to her eyes (not pointing :)) and she found the wing with bo problem, at all 🙂
She had a similar small question at 1:37 on the race track – it was the only time you pointed ahead of her and it turned your shoulders, so she looked at you to see what you wanted (then went and took the correct wing).
I grabbed screenshots of those subtle details so you can see how the line of your shoulder changes. The link is here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LEisBDxsDUxnPe56IybeHbbPPKrlY0BD5I2cLS4cdyw/edit?usp=sharing
For now, you can keep working on getting perfect connection 🙂 but thankfully, she won’t need you to be perfect as she gets more experience. None of us humans cane be perfect which is why we reward the dogs sooooo much for finding the lines 🙂
Great job here!!
TracyGood morning!
I hope your internet is back. I hate it when my internet goes out!!!
The jumping foundation grid looks good, I am super happy with 99.9% of it. He seemed to have no issue at all with the angled jumps and his form is looked balanced and powerful. So what is the .1% we can tweak? 2 minor details:
– Always aim for the tuck sit where his front feet stay stationary and his brings his back end in towards them to sit (instead of the rollback sit) The tuck sit like at 1:21 and 2:04 were great, for example – really lovely put off into the jump!
The sit at :59 was more of a rollback sit and you can see his positioned was not as ready for power – fortunately on that rep you rewarded him, so all of his jumping work was done from the tuck sit.– the other tiny detail is while his form over 1 and 2 is spot on, he is diving with a low head over 3 because the toy is really low. It is a good choice and your timing is good, but the profile of it (low to the ground) is too low. So I suggest a toy change. Do you have something like a jumbo sized hollee roller:
https://www.chewy.com/jw-pet-hol-ee-roller-dog-toy/dp/38460?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=19996370614&utm_content=&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=19996373038&gbraid=0AAAAADmQ2V3XKpEzG4YuFH23i3NvYsd35&gclid=Cj0KCQiA7rDMBhCjARIsAGDBuECwKK-V-xid1_Mx5WMcTeV1TGmzhRFmKgRif4Uz-cL8tcuZ7UY_jWoaApwlEALw_wcBThe large might be good too but the Jumbo for sure would work.
The proofing game went great! Serps were no problem at all, and he balanced to the tunnel really well to. Your arms and verbals looked really different on those, which made it clearer for him.
Adding movement to the serp looked strong – nice arm position all the way through without pairing the release with arm motion. And good rewards thrown back for the stay – you are the absolute BEST about getting stay rewards in!!! Truly, you are so good with mixing in stay rewards and it shows with how good his stay is!
I was proud of him for getting the threadle right away even after a bunch of serp and tunnel reps! You set him up well for success – the only tiny blooper was when there was a toy on the ground behind you LOL!
>much as I tried, apparently I can’t help myself on the threadles to keep my arm back and not cue the tunnel with it.>
It is a small detail. But yes, you can keep reminding yourself to keep that arm locked back 🙂 You don’t move the serp arm or shoulder at all because you are rewarding from the other hand, so I know you can convince your threadle arm to stay locked back too 🙂
Excellent work here!!
Tracy
Hi!
The wrapping is going really well – she is doing a great job ignoring the bowl to go around the cone. Yay! Easy peasy! She seemed to be looking at the cone and not at the bowl, so you can add a ‘look’ cue to this: when you point your hand, you can also say “look” (or any verbal you want to use :)) to add in the cue to look at the cone.
Since this is going so well, you can leave it and check out the turn and burn game that was posted on Monday! She looks ready for that! And it is fun 🙂
She was so cute giving hugs and kisses at the beginning of the 2 toy video 🙂 She did really well going back and forth to the different toys. Yes, this means she is definitely able to do Turn and Burn because the toy is the ideal reward for that 🙂
The toy race video was HILARIOUS! It was like she knew you were trying to cheat to win, so she didn’t want to go get the cookie you tossed hahahahah! Love it! She still easily got to the toy first with excellent speed and forward focus. Good girl! She is moving really really fast here, so you will want to save this game for floors where she can really grip. The wood is a bit slippery, so you can play this on a rug or you can take it outside to grass or dirt.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
Backing up is off to a great start! Click/treat for you for keeping your hands really low – that kept her head in a good position so you were able to get her backing up really well already! You were also quick with your rewards, and that really helped. Super!!!Keep going with this method and you can throw the treats further and further back to get more steps. And you can also play with the advanced level, where you are using a target: she starts with all four feet on it and at first you only lure her front feet off (then let her offer stepping them back on). Then you can get all 4 feet off and see if she can step her back feet on. This is often the easiest way to add more and more distance, because she will be looking for a “destination”.
Nice work!
Tracy
Hi!
>I’ve modified our AM routine a bit to minimize Ripley’s frustration since we had some build-up leakage this weekend at the UKI Festival. So, Vibe gets his kibble in his giggle ball while I train Ripley, then Ripley gets his pickle with peanut butter/squeeze cheese while I train Vibe starting with toys.>
Perfect! Balancing things when bringing a new pup in to the house takes a bit of choreography, but it sounds like the new routine is going well.
>I went ahead and did the full 360 style this AM to start with something more arousing to also work on tug play. >
It was a true turn and burn session! Super fun and super high energy! His commitment is looking good and he is happy to finish his wrap with you taking off for the FC relatively early. Yay!
You can alternate energy too: big energy during the rewarding and tugging, but you can also teach him to drive hard to the barrel independently of you by asking for a bit of a lineup: Get him to lineup a your side (cookie lure is fine), gently hold his collar, start your verbal… then let go and let him explode to the barrel. That will teach some amazing explosive fun out of the ‘quiet’ moments like stays. And it will prevent him from sending himself to the barrel without you LOL which we were seeing a bit of at 1:02 🙂
Because this is super high energy, try for fewer reps/shorter sessions with breaks: I’d say by the 1:32 mark here, he was tired and at 1:52 you were asking if he was ready and he was not sure if he was LOL! 😂😝 He will continue to work and play because he is that kind of dude, but the body language there looked like a break would be good to relax for a bit, then come back and do a few more high energy reps later.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi! So fun to get to the training center and have all that space!! He is looking fabulous!
Look at him tugging so nicely on the pill bug game, even after he ate a treat! YAY!!! That is a huge thing!!!
The pill bug game is going great. It is great to see you running again! The pot turn reps and blinds all looked great. I loved the addition of the other tunnel, where you did the blind and sent him through it. Super fun! And your connection was gorgeous! If you get back to the ring rental again, you can keep going with this and all the other variations you can think of (without hauling tunnels around too much haha)
The zig zags are going well – his stay looks strong (nice job rewarding) and he is easily able to change his leads. I think the lead changes will go better if you take the TnT out of the picture for now 🙂 He was a little locked onto it so he would get the first lead change, then he seemed to think it was all about finding a line to the TnT LOL!!! So rather than worry about that here, take the TnT out of the reward and reward from hand, to get him following the cues that you show him. That will allow you to show him all the variations on the lines without him trying to get to the TnT 🙂
He is doing a great job with all the motion in the jumping grid! Yay! He maintained his form even with the dragging toy, then with you running. Super! You can angle these jumps a bit – the change of visuals might be challenging in a good way! And to prep for what is next in jumping, keep the first 2 bars low and the 3rd bar can be higher.
Great job here!
Tracy
