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Hi there! I love obsessing on contact training stuff 🙂 So fun!
Looking at the finished version of the DW video first – I love that you can get him into the trial environment with stuff like hoops and low jumps, so he can confidently practice lots of things without worrying about full height jumping. He looked great!
For the contacts – he also seems confident on the DW and a-frame. Question – how did you originally teach him the 2o2o at the end? He is using your decel and body position as the cue here, and I would like to get him to do it completely without you in the picture so you can be anywhere (ahead, behind, sprinting past, moving away laterally, etc). So if you used a target, we can incorporate it as build up even more independence. And, he will be old enough for UKI standard classes soon – and you can bring a target into the ring for NFC runs to help transfer the behavior (as long as the target is not ON the contact, but if it is, I have ideas for that too LOL!)
Looking at the plank video – Oh wow, it is a plank paradise! I love it!!! He seems very confident on the hopping on and turning around. His best turns were when you were medium speed as you cued them, that is when he showed the best use of all four feet (like at :34). When you went really fast Iike at :07, he was not sing his back feet as well (pivoting on them and rather than stepping).
Running across the plank also looked super confident, and I think at this point the plank is to short so he is changing his striding (shortening or hopping). I like that he wants to lengthen his stride, so since you have several planks – can you do 2 long planks hooked together, with the first plank on the ground and the 2nd plank running up to a table. That way he can have more room to open up the striding. And you can start from the table and run him down the 2 planks to work on target independence too.
And yes, the running dog walk… I agree that you would have a different cue (I use “run”, I know, so creative hahaha). And I think it would be easy enough to teach him if it is something you wanted to work on at any point. Running contact work can become a bit all-consuming plus it requires a TON of reps on the full height obstacle, which is not something I really like to do! So it is also great to begin with a stop and work on all the other things and go back to the RDW if you wanted eventually.
Great job 🙂 Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! It was great seeing you this weekend! You and Dellin looked GREAT!!!!
And you did this first session BEFORE coffee? That’s crazy talk hahaha
She sent to the wing on the one step on the first reps (2 on each side) really nicely – she was a little wide coming around the wing because you were not really rotating (or you rotated late, lack of coffee and all haha) but when you rotated sooner she was perfectly tight on the wing.
Adding the tunnel before it went well too. She is sending a pretty long way away, which no real questions. Hooray! In fact, because you didn’t have to do much to get her to send, I bet you could do this while carrying your coffee too 🙂 Only one thing to change here – try not to do a ‘spin’ rotation as you send her to the tunnel, because it is a turn cue and there is no real turn on the tunnel exit here. At :21 you sent her in with a spin so she turned on exit (good girl) and then had to be sent back out to the wing. I don’t want her to learn to ignore spins if they are followed by sends away to a straight line 🙂 Compare here it line to :41, for example, when there was no spin – and she was nice and straight to the wing which makes the sending easier.
Thanks for the teeter info! You can change the mountain climber game to make it less bizarro for her since she gave it a giant paws down 🙂 You can lower the teeter (it looks lower here) and have it propped completely up (not moving yet) to a table, so she runs up to a table. Same concept, but a version that might be more happy-making for her (and she can run off for her frisbee).
With the teeter on 2 tables – She is asking a few questions, but that are easy to answer: you can put stuff under each end to soften the sound so she doesn’t hesitate to drive to the end. I put dog beds under each end to both soften the sound and also reduce the amount of tip (a 16” to 24” table is too big of a leap, as you mentioned).
One other thing is that you should always start on the end with the teeter touching the table – don’t let her pull down the high end to get on. She appears to be doing that because the frisbee is available, not because she is super sure that she likes it. It is not exactly coercion, but we want to make it easier and happier for the opting in. And pulling down the high end to get on changes her body use and weight shifts her to her front end while it is moving, which is going to feel a bit icky to her (it is a big unpredictable drop with no opportunity to balance before it) and slows her down as she interacts with the board. So only have her start on the end that is on a table to really build up the confidence.
Let me know what you think about the mountain climber with a lowered teeter! And great job on the one step send game. Hope you didn’t get too much heat today with those crazy temperatures!
Tracy
Hi Jill and Levy!
I think he is sorting out the lazy game very nicely 🙂 With his impressive speed, we will need him to be very independent and this helps a lot. I think the hardest part was finding the treats in the grass as you mentioned 🙂 I use big pieces of white cheese, which are easy to find.
If he misses a jump, just keep walking forward til he finds the next one – and if it is the last one, you can reset and start a new loop around 🙂 He only really had that question at the beginning, then he was pretty perfect. Then he got going faster and faster – so the next time you play, throw the treats sooner. Ideally, you throw the treat as he is looking at the jump and before he arrives at it or before he looks back at you. That is easy to say and hard to do because he is very quick – so you can start now to spread the jumps out. That will give you more room (especially moving the middle jump out) which gives you more time for tossing treats before he looks at you, and expands his commitment skills too. You can still use some motion while the jumps get further and further apart.
One step sends are going really well! His overall commitment looked fabulous – even as you were sorting out which cue he needed, he was still looking to commit to a line and that is so PERFECT 🙂
On that very first rep, you rolled your shoulders away from the wing too soon, before he really got moving, so he came with you. Compare that to the 2nd rep, where you ‘held’ the send (continued pointing to the wing) until he was well on his way, and he was perfect.
The rest of the session also went well. He is FAST!!!! You had some verbal kerfluffles like at :28 but you were correct to just keep going. On that left turn (and also one that same left turn at :38) – remember to use the left verbal before he enters the tunnel. He will probably need to hear you start saying the left verbal when he is about 6 feet in front of the tunnel entry.At :32 and :46, he had a similar question on the send like at the very beginning – in this case, I think it was more that you were pointing forward and looking forward, which slightly turns your shoulders to the tunnel (which is where he went :)) Compare to the next rep at :35 and :52 where you looked at him more, and he was perfect. So when you are sending from a standstill, use less pointing forward and more connection to his eyes as you step to the wing. That should help him find the wing without momentum.
My only other suggestion is to start running with a small toy in your hand – just scrunch it up – so you can reward quickly. That will keep him looking forward (because the reward will come sooner and he won’t see you reach into your pocket) and also, it will begin teaching him to ignore a toy in your hand and look at his lines 🙂
Great job here! I am very excited about how good he is looking!
TracyHello and welcome back! I can’t believe she is coming up on one year old… time flies!!
I think she really likes the lazy game 🙂 Great job to you for getting the rewards in nice and early, before she looked up at you. She was terrific about driving around the jumps!
Since she did so well, you can build on this game 2 ways:– using the jumps as you have them here, start her further away from the first jump (a pink jump) so she drives into the pinwheel and to the blue middle jump, without you going past the first pink jump. Start maybe 4 meters from the first jump and jog towards it, and see how she does!
– the other option here is to gradually move the blue middle jump further and further away, so she is finding it at bigger and bigger distances (using a little handling to help her is perfectly acceptable when the blue jump is for away).
Great job!!!! Let me know how she does with the next steps 🙂
TracyGood morning!
It was great seeing you and Ronin in person this weekend! You both did a great job and I was super proud of how well he was able to run fast, listen to cues, and ignore distractions. YAY RONIN!!!!
And yes, it was a bit toasty yesterday (today too!) so the plank game is perfect for indoor training! He was great – total confidence! When you tossed the treat a bit further from the plank, he was able to pick up more speed driving back to it, which translated to more speed driving across it too- so keep tossing it pretty far 🙂And he was perfectly happy to revisit turning around on the plank, no problems there either. And I agree – he didn’t mind that you were quiet.
Time to add a bit of height! If you have 2 Cato boards or anything low and solid/stable like that, you can put one under each end of the plank and repeat the game with an elevated plank. All we need is a couple of inches of height, nothing too tall.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>Question about the teeter training. What’s to keep the dog from leaping off the end? Sprite was just spayed and I definitely don’t want that.
I do a couple of things to prevent the leaping off – mainly, the reward is placed at the top of the plank before the dog is asked to go up it. And for any dog that might consider leaping off or lack if spoon-attaching possibility, , I use a sticky lickable treat like cream cheese shmeared at the top of the plank, right on the board 🙂 You can also use a little duct tape on the underside of the board to hold a spoon on – it will work as a temporary target attachment on different teeters.
And, as the dog is learning the game, be sure to go with her, step by step, feeding her each step so she doesn’t go flying up the board. If she is very confident, you can ask her to stay facing the plank while you lead out to the end. You can then face her as she comes up the board, which helps her stop at the end and not fly off.
If you are just using a chair to prop the teeter, then what’s the best thing to put at the end? I will need to rent the yard and I’m not sure I can tape a spoon there. I have new sod, so no teeter dragging for about a month.She seemed super confident both directions here on the plank game! It was easy for her- and that’s good, because even though this game looks relatively simple, it is so important as you build up speed and height.
>>I used a 6 foot travel board for the plank. We did Nancy’s contact class so Sprite can run and stop on a flat 12 ft board. But, she hasn’t seen any height yet.[[
Time for some height! Do you have 2 cinderblocks or 2 Cato boards/planks? You can put one under each end – or anything solid so the plank doesn’t move at all.
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>that is always an issue with this non-foodie BC, nothing is crazy high value, and it seems like if it might be she wants to play with it.
BCs or any dog that doesn’t love food certainly require us to get creative 🙂 I’ve played teeter games using entire meals as the reward- one rep, here’s your breakfast 🙂
Also, I use food as a bridge to the toy reward – do the thing, eat the treat (and it is a high value food reward, usually meat or cheese of some sort) then I throw the frisbee. That helps build the behavior and loop in more food value too!
TracyGood morning, thanks for the clip!!!! He is looking good – and yes, when I get home later this week, I think I will put together some games for Ripley and the other youngsters who have worked up to the full teeter. Yay!
T
Good morning!
>>Question about the week one games – what are you using as treats that the dogs are finding them so easily in the grass?
Cold bits of white string cheese.
>>On the teeter game – I have nothing that I can use to prop up a full height teeter so I assume lower is ok? Like a wing jump like I have seen used?>>
Yes, a wing jump or chair is fine, as long as they are solid and will hold the teeter. And the lower teeter is fine too.
>>Also, Beka has shown some concern about heights at the vet on the exam table, we worked on that and she is pretty good now, but I won’t be surpised if she shows some issues with the height of the teeter. Would it also be ok to start doing this much lower – for example to an agility table instead – and raise it up from there?>>
Hopefully there is no correlation because the context is so different, but yes, you can do it with a lower teeter. The point of the game, though, is isolating the height so you’ll also want to get it pretty high and use incredibly high value rewards with only one or two reps per session.
Keep me posted!
TracyHello!
>> mixing up training runs with toys and “real” runs since he sometimes gets annoyed if I interrupt a course to praise or train).
That cracks me up! He is very serious about his work!
>>I did some mountain climber work back in February (I got the self-study version of your teeter course). I’ll post that here and let me know if you want me to revisit it. He’s doing a full-height teeter with 2o2o and no issues seen but I’m happy to circle back to whatever you think is best.>>
This is looking good – do you have a recent video of his full teeter? Several of the dogs here have done the independent study teeter course and the dogs look great, so I am thinking maybe I can add teeter sequences or something for Ripley and friends who don’t need the ‘baby’ teeter games! Let me know what you think.
Have a great time at the trial this weekend!
TracyHello and welcome! Changste is adorable, brilliant, and FAST!!!! YAY!!!
Both of these sessions went really well. On the ‘lazy’ game – yes, another session or two is perfect, no need to add other obstacles yet. She is a fast learner!!! For now, reward every time she takes a jump even if she skipped one or you weren’t ready yet LOL! And, after a quick warm up with that, you can go to rewarding after the 2nd (pinwheel) jump so she goes over #1 then drives out to #2 (and if that is easy you can start more jump 2 a bit further and further away).
The one step sends also looked good! One suggestion is to connect more to her as she exits the tunnel for the one step send, so you can see her more and that will help the timing. Same at :26 after the wing wrap: to get her on the correct side, give her more direct eye contact and connection (you did that nicely on the next rep :))
>> send. Changtse is having a lotof fun. I hope that I can keep her in that mode forever!!
She definitely is having fun! And I agree we want to keep it that way:
As she learns more and more about handling, be sure to reward *everything* – even if it didn’t go according to plan. Handling errors are always human errors, so even if you aren’t sure what happened be sure to reward her anyway – then reset and try again 🙂 That way she continues to have a blast while we sort out the handling for your baby speed demon 🙂
Great job here! I am looking forward to seeing more of Changste!!!
Tracy
Hello and welcome! I am excited to see you all here! This course builds into all sorts of fun grown up stuff – he is ready!
>> The live seminars registration looks like it is closed. Are we out of luck?
Did you want a working spot? If so, we can get you in! For the auditing, it is included so you don’t need to fill out the form for that. Let me know and we will get you set up 🙂
Thanks!
TracyHi!
One idea is to have both ends of the plank elevated, maybe with cinderblocks or something similar, so the plank is maybe a few inches off the ground? And have her go on from the side and off from the side, with you clicking and calling her off the side? Let me know if that makes sense 🙂 And yes, for this you can use the full DW plank if you want!To avoid confusion with her 2o2o, don’t have the plank touching the ground so she doesn’t get tempted to move through the 2o2o position.
Let me know if that makes sense!
Tracy
