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Hi!
>>Usually in class, after doing one run, Keiko does a lot of sniffing and checking things out in this room, and, though I have been ramping up the treats, I still lose her focus.
Does this happen at the end of the run (or when you’re talking to your instructor) or during the next run?
>>So I decided to try ramping it up. We did our first run with just food treats, and she did quite well. However, when the instructor asked us to repeat, she disconnected while the intructor talked, and I never really had my girl “back” for that turn. >>>
That disconnect while the instructor chats is pretty common. During that time, you can try playing the pattern game to keep her engaged, and then it should he easier to have her focused for the next turn 🙂
>>>Then we ramped it up. I got out the squirrel chuck-it, and also got out my super-duper excited voice (me babbling), and off we went. She was a bullet!
That’s awesome!!!! Yay!!!
>> The instructor wanted a third run, but it was obvious to me that Keiko had shot her wad, so we did a tunnel, chased the squirrel, and called it quits. >>>
“Shot her wad” hahaha that made me snort! You made a smart training choice – do something short and fun then be done.
>>One of the women in the class, who has known me (via agility) for over 20 years, commented that in my early runs, I did not pour on the enthusiasm and babble that I used in the later runs. So, combination of super-hyped mom and squirrel seems to work well.
Yes! That’s a great observation.
>>It’s been tough watching my girl who is so focused at home lose it in class and weekend sessions.
I think it is going to take a little bit for all of us to figure out what our pandemic puppies need… but this session sounds like a massive step forward!!
>>>I do think, too, that I need to limit how many tries she gives any particular sequence in a turn.
Yes – and you can split your turn in half. So if your turn is 5 minutes long, do 2.5 minutes, get feedback from the instructor, take a break, then come back after a couple of dogs for another turn.
>>What do you think? Continue in this vein? Other ideas?
Yes, keep on bringing the flying squirrel and the frisbees and the happy voice to new places. And add in splitting turns (or limiting turns if you can’t split them) and also the pattern games in between then see if she can come back to engagement.
When is her next class?
TracyHi!
He did a great job here!!! The sequence elements with the jumps and tunnel looked fabulous! And good boy on the second rep with staying in the weaves 🙂 YAY!! On the first rep, he had a little avoidance I think, because it is so hard – you can get closer to the weave entry to help him out. And because he is so speedy, you can cheat with a stay to get closer to the weave entry so you have a head start 🙂
>> His weaves as you will see today are not independent yet. We had a set back after his injury and I went back to 4 poles and have gradually gotten back to 12. One of my summer time goals is to get them more independent.>>
That makes sense and it was smart to start over and build back up to 12. You can also help on the big courses by leaving the manners minder out past the 12th pole, so he has a focal point and is not as attentive when you try to move away from the poles 🙂
>> Today I decided to see if I could get the poles and make it to a BC at 5. 1st time I stopped to try to inch over to the tunnel and you can see he stopped and came with me. He still needs my motion to help him in and through
Yes – on the first rep, you were more obvious and sudden in your motion and on the second rep, you helped a little more and then you slid down the line smoooooothly 🙂
>> but I was able to get to BC at 5 so progress is being made. Yea! I proud of myself for not doing it one more time. Watson got it. I barely made the BC so we stopped and partied. LOL>>
Yes – a double click/treat for you: getting it done and then stopping LOL!!! That temptation for ‘just one more’ is so hard to ignore but you were great about ending on high level success. YAY!!!!
Are you coming to the PA flyball tournament next weekend? I think we can play the pattern game/transition to trials game with Watson to help him learn to acclimate to new places!
Great job here 🙂
TracyHi! I hear you are having some crazy weather – hope all is well!
For Ruse, that FC-BC combo really looked great. She is tight but also fast. And not drifting – she is driving right in to the new line because you made a great connection on the exits. And I also think you nailed it women you did it as part of the full course at :38. WOW! And i could totally hear the verbals! Yay!
(You mentioned doing a FC-FC on the last one but it was a FC-BC, unless I need a LOT more coffee)When you ran the full course, it was almost perfect except we can tighten up the BC 2-3At :19 – you were late so she was wide – you started the blind in acceleration after she made a takeoff decision. So to tighten it, you can lead out a little more then decelerate into 2, starting the BC when she has landed from 1 – similar to the timing you used at :38, but it is a little harder because there is no momentum into it .
Yes, we can totally be looking at blinds on the flat (like double blinds and backside blinds) in the next set of courses :))
For Hero –
Good job practicing the blinds! To help him read them, I think taking out the bar will help: just use a wing for #2 so he can practice collecting without also having to think about the jumping effort. When he is super tight, add back a low bar… then gradually build it back up to full height. Your timing is good – I think if you are closer to the wing at 2 and decelerate more -he will also read the collection from the decel and that will help too!
When you ran the full course: another WOW!!!!! The FC-BC section looked FABULOUS for him too 🙂 When is nationals? Your dogs will be kicking butt! And I was proud of how well he did his weaves!!And well done to you for GREAT connection all the way through the courses with both dogs. SUPER!!!!
Great job 🙂 Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Oh no, I am so sorry to hear about Dean’s mom. Please pass along my condolences. I am glad he was able to see her.
Min’s sequence:
First up, the baselines:
Yes, on that first rep at 4 – you were stationary as she exited the tunnel then moved straight forward and did say “yay let’s go” so she was correct to look straight.
On the 8- 9, after you decel, keeping moving out towards 9 rather than staying stationary til she takes off – she responds with more collection than she needs. And that will go for 11 too – decel, send, giddy up out of there 🙂Work session: were you saying right on the 4-5-6 line? I don’t think she needs it (a right verbal cues some collection and she can run that line in extension), so you can save the right verbal for 8-9. Because it is not quite a GO either, a general jump cue can work as a verbal there.
You can also send and leave in the pinwheel so some sets up her own turn and then you can have her chase you to 6-7. You were tending to run in with her and ‘round’ the line, which had some decel so she collected – my guess is that slows her down more than we want there.I want to time the difference between the spin at 11 and the post turn but that is something we can do on the full runs, so she is moving in and out with speed 🙂
The go line at the end looked good1
Final version
The opening section looked good! The reason she took 5 again after 8 was that after the decel, you made a sudden acceleration that was pointed into the gap, so she thought you wanted her back on that line. Compare it to 2:11 where you deceled but also turned and ran to 9, she had no questions there.On that 4-5-6 line, you were sending her more and keeping her in extension through the pinwheel, it was faster for sure!
And just be careful of verbals that do not fall into the ‘just the facts’ category: this includes praise or her name – the praise delays the next info so she waits a little, and her name cues her to look at you. For example, on the very last line you called her name when she exited the tunnel (MIN!) and she looked at you and then you said GO! So she went 🙂 But that head check costs time, so you can go directly to the GO cue.Sequence 2:
Yes, she was looking at something in the distance – dead Mouse ewwww!
This baseline went well!
She is really responsive to decel so you can decel later on the wrap at 4. Let her see you still accelerating as she exits the tunnel, then decel and leave when she is maybe halfway between the tunnel and the jump. She is turning really well on the early decel, but she is adding a lot of decel strides in response. My guess is it will end up being slower than more of a last minute decel and run away: that turn might look wider but she will have more extension and more speed, without extra yardage (maybe a couple of inches, but that will be fine LOL!)
And the send to the pinwheel with a lot of speed set up really gorgeous blinds, especially on the last run! She is also really good at reading the blinds, so I think you will find that a lot more effective and fast than the FC.>> Question on post turn vs spin – I have typically used spins in cases where I think I need to keep Min off another jump (like pulling her through 2 close jumps on a wrap). I don’t use them too much with her since she’s so small and generally turns pretty tight. My thought was that I should “save” the spins for that and use a post turn in other cases. Is that faulty logic and I should just be using whatever gets my feet pointed in the right direction faster?>>
We will do them both and time them, and use whichever is faster 🙂 Based on how she runs and what we have seen when timing other dogs, my guess is that the send & go plus verbal will end up being faster than the spins. And then you can reserve the spins for specific situations, such as needing to get more turn and a side change to keep her eyes off an off courses (because spins are FC then BC, you can hold the FC element longer as you run away before doing the BC, which works great for that situation). A send & go can get your feet pointed to the next line really quickly too, so it will really be a matter of what ends up being fastest 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Hooray for a great day in the ring! He did really well – ignored all sorts of new distractions (barking dogs were a little bit surprising to him, for example, but he didn’t lose his focus). And it was hard to see the handling from the camera angle, but it looked smooth and fast fast fast! And he was able to play in the ring and it appears that he was completely engaged (never paid attention to the judge or ring crew. SUPER!!! Even at the end when he was done and they cheered, he was still engaged. Yay! And yes, good lesson learned for the poop-in-the-ring moment where he had to wait – you can change plan in those moments to do that shorter lead out. I also beg cookies from the crowd when I run out during a delay – which really gets the dog engaged because ‘someone else’s cookies’ are always the most delicious haha!I think today’s plan is strong: change only one thing (jump height) and make the teeter decision kind of in the moment. Keep me posted! He looked great here!
Tracy
Hi!
Yeah, pinwheels are not my favorite either but they are a necessarily evil LOL!
If something goes wrong the first time, you can go right into fix mode: if the reason something went wrong is very obvious (like my blooper when I clearly did not tell the dog she was turning) then you can go right into fix mode. If it is not obvious, watch the video and see what looked like it could be adjusted – then go right into fix mode 🙂 And then yes, you can totally post of the first run and the re-do runs 🙂T
Good morning!
>>On the jump before the tunnel at 1:11…. patience (I know, I hate that word hahaha). Don’t rock back out of it, and be super connected – you looked ahead but rocked back so he looked at you. Stay in position and look at him til you see him looking at the jump – then you can run to the tunnel.
I was really trying to stay upright and not bend down (from your previous feedback for wraps) but I just moved too fast.>>Something that can help commitment is changing the placement of reinforcement: when you cue a tight turn and want to move away, toss the reward to the landing side so that the dogs get rewarded for continuing to move off of you to commit, even if you are a little early exiting or a little disconnected. The last second pulling off of the jumps can indicate that the value has shifted to your handling and away from the jumps, so we can shift it back by changing the placement of reinforcement to the landing side of the jumps as you peel away.
>>>It will also be fun to look at the difference between the wrap there, and a slice on that jump to see which is faster! We will start to obsessively time all these in Games Package 3.
I chose the wrap there because I thought he would blast past the tunnel opening with the slice and have a hard time getting back into it or get the other end. I think the timing will be really fun to do with both dogs.>>Yes! The games being published on Monday will set up situations where you can do both and we time them 🙂
T
Good morning! Lots of good work here!
1 Lily transitions – really good! You had good patience, waiting for her to lift her head up and then nice timing on the tosses. Yay! It sometimes took her a moment to lift her head but I think that was because she needed to swallow the treat before lifting her head. Movement was no problem for her – the swinging toy was a little distracting for me to haha!!! That is a GREAT distraction! But then she remembered and looked really good! Nice timing on your ‘get it’ cues! You can totally take this on the road to any classes or trials.
2 – both girls: This made me laugh so hard! Rosie thought this was the BEST EVER (like going to a drive in movie haha). Lily appeared to have no problem at all. You were completely focused on her and she was great, despite some great distraction LOL!! Good girl!!! Rosie was also fantastic, she came away from the free treats and was able to focus beautifully. I think both dogs will benefit from doing this around moving dogs, that might be a bigger distraction. Kim was an excellent distraction 🙂
4 (Lily Motion Override):
Good job started with a low level of motion so she could be super successful – a good ‘next step’ for her can be fading out the wait hand signal. You can say wait if that is part of her stay cue, but you can also move your hands as if you ar running (fake running at first) and see how she does. I love that she was able to get into the sit as you added more motion! And you can use the wait verbal while you move more (without a sit cue so it is more of a stand stay). When you went back to the waits (after the spins), she was really doing it on the verbal and not the hand, so I think you can fade out the cue and keep doing the crazy things (she was great with it). The spins looked really strong! No problem! She found it relatively easy to process these verbals with all the movement. YAY!!!5 Lily verbals
She is also doing well here – she was watching you a bit too much on the first rep so missed the pole but then got on track really nicely. One element you can add to this game is more crazy motion like you did on the motion override (arms moving around, etc) so she isn’t seeing handling all that much, she is seeing you do crazy things like jogging in place or flailing your arms – and responding to the verbals. That way she will go around the wing even if you are too quick to move away (like on the 2nd to last rep) because the verbal will override the body motion 🙂 I think she is ready for that here!6 Rosie motion override – you started off moving a little too fast for her then slowed yourself down, which was really helpful for her – she got really successful after that. You can also throw the reward back to her on the waits to help her want to stay back where you cued the behavior (you can do this with Lily too). And because she did really well, you can fade the wait hand signal and just try the verbals. She also looked fabulous with the spins – I think for both girls you were using a hand signal too, so this is another good place to go to using just a verbal and see how they do (start off by moving slowly though, because this will be hard).
7 Rosie verbals Since this was the beginning of the training to get her verbals to match Lily’s verbals, I think you used the exact right of handling help for her. At the beginning. Since she is just learning them, we don’t want to ‘proof’ them yet. She is a little sensitive to you moving away too quickly (when you tried to step away faster, she didn’t wrap the wing) so for a couple more sessions, be more patient so she gets more experience with the verbals… then you can start moving away sooner 🙂 She did really well here and that will help transfer the new verbals to the behavior.
8 Lily Sequences. I see what you mean about her coming in to you a lot more than needed like at :39 on the 5-6 line. It happened a couple of times on that run! Any time you got the tiniest bit disconnected (looked a tiny bit forward) she would come off the line and come into you. And your motion was good, so it was not a matter of your running to weird places LOL!
The same thing was happening on the #9 video. From what I could see, if you looked a little ahead of her she came in and then wanted to cue behind you. So yes, it could be a preference for being in your right side and a ton of value build up there. I also thing she is a ‘lefty’, if I am remembering correctly? She wants to turn left (my Contraband is the same way) so she will slide over to the left turn side if possible. And this Sequence 1 is all right turns, which is harder for her. So any tiny break in connection would lead to her wanting to pick up the left (easier) turn side. I would be curious to see how she does on Sequence 2 which is basically all left turns.So yes, try to be 1000% perfect in your connection. Never take your eyes off of her. But since that is basically impossible for any of us, especially when running a really small dog, we can train her more to turn right on the lines. On this sequence, don’t worry about the handling (your handling is good!). Instead, let’s put some value on the lines on the right turns, with a lotus ball: as you move through the sequence, toss the lotus ball with treat (or whichever treat hold she likes) out of the line, so she gets really into looking ahead at the line based on your motion and not needing as much connection. And same with the tunnel – she didn’t really want to go into the tunnel as much (maybe she doesn’t love tunnels that much, especially when there are right turns in them?) so you can even get your manners minder out and placed somewhere past the exit of the tunnel to use as a reward on the line. You can spend several sessions throwing the rewards on the line especially on the right turns so that she builds up a TON of value for that and so you don’t have to be perfect 🙂
9 Rosie sequences: Because she mis more experienced, this session was a good look at what cues she really understands and which ones were harder. She really seems to understand when you are sending to the jumps without a lot of moving: that is when you are most connected and she is working well on the lines, even at bigger distances! When you are moving next to the line, she is not as clear – like at :13 and 1:14 where she came off the line but stayed on it really nicely at :33 when you did a big send.
When she stayed on the lines, the handling looked really good! You can try leaving sooner on the wrap at 11 to show her the line to the tunnel (she had a little hesitation there from 11-12 on those reps, so that is a good place to send and leave so she sees and hears the tunnel cue as she lands from the jump).
So as with Lily – do a couple of sessions where you move close to the lines (like on the 4-5-6-7 pinwheel) and just run past, but without a lot of strong connection: and throw a reward for her to taking the 6 jump in particular. She was demanding perfection connection there 🙂 so yes, when handling for real like a trial, really be sure to maintain that eye contact – but since it is sooo hard for any of us to be perfect, we can put more value on the line based on your motion (I thought your line of motion was spot on for the reps where she didn’t take the jump, she was watching the slight disconnection). So basically jog past that jump without a lot of connection and toss a reward straight ahead when she takes it. Everything else looked great!The list of verbals looks really good 🙂 Does she had a threadle cue that is specific to tunnel threadles? That might be something to add to the toolbox (so she has one for jumps and one for tunnels). The reason is that judges are putting jump and tunnel threadle possibilities right next to each other, so using the sane cue for both an confuse the dog about which obstacle we want. And teaching these to Rosie will also be good, because it expands her list of verbals and it keeps you from having to remember 2 different sets of verbal cues.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
This was interesting to watch – I read your post, then watched the video, then read it again. Some thoughts for you!>> At first I struggled with 3-4-5 with him ducking into the wrong end of tunnel. But in reviewing the video, I think I found the solution to that when we went out to train again (more lateral distance and better timed tunnel cue).
Yes, I think you found the answer, hooray for video review! Yes to the lateral position and better timed tunnel cue, and also you changed your arm position and that made a WORLD of difference 🙂
I often do this video review at trials too if something if happening and I need to adjust something before the next run.>> But since he was not running with much drive, he was not committing to jumps in the pinwheel, which led to various issues.
I thought his was running with good drive – but yes, on the pinwheel, asking questions (it was a handling question, more on that below). And if your frustration level was bubbling up, he might have been getting stickier because he could feel it. It is possible that he was running with plenty of drive here but the stuff you mentioned about the reinforcement issues was on your mind as well, so that was muddying things up a little.
>>>As I reviewed the video, I did appreciate that Presto was giving me more effort than I was crediting him for. I tried to remember to maintain more connection by keeping my arm back more…but found I got lazy about that as the session went on, which may have contributed to some of the misses.
Yes, yes, and also yes 🙂 Keep reminding yourself to lock your arm back so your fingers point to his eyes.
>>And I know pinwheels are often harder for dogs since handlers don’t show as much motion, so I should be more patient with Presto on that skill.>>
I think a handling adjustment will fix it! Onwards to the video:
First run
On the opening, when he was having trouble finding the correct tunnel entry: At :07 and :20 , you can use more eye contact by extending your fingers back to his nose so he can really see your upper body and don’t say tunnel til you see that he is looking at the line you want (typical young dog for to go to the first tunnel they see).The FC gets it done but not desirable because you had to wait for him to really see it then do the RC – the original plan was good and you worked it out when you trained the next day – at 1:01, I agree: lateral position totally helped and you made a better connection and didn’t call the tunnel cue til he was more on the line to it.
I LOVED your open arm cue at 1:09, he whipped right in! Also really clear at 1:47! Locking yourself arm back, fingertips to eyeballs, really helped him see the line.About the pinwheel: Looking at the sends on the first runs and the ones you did the next day, I think it is a matter of ‘one more step’: looking at it in slow motion, at 1:15 you are wanting him to go to the pinwheel jump: you are looking at him and saying the verbal (yay!) The physical cue does not support the line as much: as he is in the air for the previous jump, your arm or higher than your shoulder, which turns you chest away to the blind jump, and your lower body is already rotating away from the line – he is reading that cue and turning.
1:28 was a little better and then yes the FC was too soon, the rotation started as he landed.
1:35 was best so far! Low arm, your body was facing the line for the send.
To really make it clear, use an even lower arm – and take one step past the landing of the jump before the pinwheel. Don’t turn away from the pinwheel til he has reached the landing spot – then do a big leg send (arm can move with it as long as the arm doesn’t ge too high) and then move away. And when you send, send to the takeoff point of the pinwheel jump rather than turn with the line. It is like pitching a softball to the takeoff spot. On a smaller setup like this, you can run closer to the tunnel so you aren’t standing still for the send, but staying forward until he has landed from the jump before the pinwheel jump and then sending before turning away should make it smoother.And yes, when you get frustrated because he is asking questions: go to the video and see what the handling looks like 🙂 I have learned that lesson with all of my dogs LOL! And also, I reward the dog even though I am frustrated – I assume it is my fault even if I really think they should be doing the thing LOL!
So, cleaning up the physical cues will help! You don’t need the arm cue up for each jump – you can run more, arms down and back. Your arm want to get up high near your shoulders, and it blocks the connection and rolls your shoulders away.
>> But then I feel like I can’t keep up his motivation up once we are out there because he’s only mildly interested in what I have to offer. So, trying to work through these individual pieces a few time quickly becomes as much about working the sequence as trying to make sure he is feeling rewarded for his work.
This is a good thing to notice. It could be happening for any number of reasons: the heat? Hormones? Something is sore? I would maybe check his mouth, make sure his mouth is not sore (he would not want to tug hard if his mouth was sore). And if you have been doing a lot of a-frame or teeter work, there is a lot of impact – there might be something restricted in his movement that is making him less than enthused with sequence work. I think I would check all that out before switching up reinforcement. Then you can see how he feels about a MM in sequence (or a toy with the a-frame). I don’t know of any behavior reason why he would lose interest in rewards in sequences, so that is when I generally look at other factors (my Elektra has a lot of trouble in the heat, for example, and it has impact across her whole day.)
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>> I really liked the way moving through this box went with the blind. I am not sure if it went so well because of the line set or because he isn’t one to shop for jumps yet.
It went well because you handled it really well 🙂
>>this was evidence that I really should have ended the session sooner but kept pushing. Thankfully he stayed happy and recovered beautify .>>
Do you have a timer running on the session? You can set it to 3 minutes and then be done when the timer says so 🙂
>>Looking ahead to course 1 of standard with opening 1-3… I feel like my mechanics on a forward send from a stay are not the best. If they don’t have a lot of space to take off and you want to be on the landing side to serp, how do you get this done without moving backwards?>>
I try to avoid moving backwards. You can start further back from 1 with a short lead out (but not past 1) so you end up parallel to 3 and an just scoot along the landing side of it without having to move backwards.
>>Also, I’m having some trouble with the coordinate maps displaying?>>
Yes, the software and the CRCD are not talking to each other. Sorry! Try the PDFs – the courses are in first PDF (not the one with the handling ideas)
Tracy
Hi!
Yes, it is great that she is motivated by food AND toys – it makes training easier! Keep me posted on how she does in the new places with the evil challenges 🙂
TracyHi! Hope you are having a great trial weekend! Glad to hear she likes the treat huggers!
The rear crosses are very close to being perfect: you had good pressure at :06, :14 and 1:05 but you stopped short and never positionally crossed her line – so you physically remained on the wrap side, so she wrapped. Compare that to :26 when you followed through on the line and kept moving towards the exit wing (moving towards the camper) and she got it!
So the main thing to do is put the pressure on the RC diagonal then keep moving to go to the other side of her line, which should solidify the rear crosses.And when she went to the backside, it was because you had too much pressure and turned your feet to the backside line before she could pass you for the RC (at :38. :47 and 1:30 for example). So the reps where she wrapped by accident were better in terms of rear cross pressure, just be sure you keep moving to the exit wing to make the side change. Let me know if that makes sense.
On the second video, the
Go looked great! And her wraps are going really well too – you can leave even sooner! Once you begin the FC, stay connected but keep moving through the cross so she chases you up the next line.And I agree – nice backside pushes! Yay!!!
Great job here!
TracyPerfect! It is a spoon attached to the teeter, I love it!
This also went really well: she is going to have a fabulous teeter!! The wing wraps tp the board looked really great: fast & confident. I think she is ready for one more thing – move the upright that is holding the teeter buy maybe an inch towards the end of the board, so the board moves the tiniest bit under her as she runs up (the board should only move maybe half an inch or less. Then do all the same games – and reward a LOT so she is really happy with the teeter. This is the beginning of training the real thing!! So fun! And yes, after she drives to the treat, she can look at you:
“What’s next, Mom?” LOL!
As with the previous game, my only suggestion is to have her turn around and then call her off the side so she doesn’t run straight off the board, through her eventual end position. That will keep her from thinking she can just run off the board (I am guessing you’ll teach her a 2o2o of a 4on at the end of the board.Great job!
TracyHi!
This is looking really good! She seemed perfectly happy to run up the board and start without you LOL! And she realized she has a great view from up there haha! Things were smoothest when you had her wait for you to get to the top of the board before you released her, so definitely keep doing that. It also looked like you had a target attached to the end of the board – that was helpful for getting her to drive all the way up. She seemed nicely confident!
So yes, add more motion and distance too, you can even start moving past the end of the board and add more speed with the wing wraps 🙂 She looks great here!
The only suggestion I have is that rather than let her run straight back down the before through the end, you can have her turn around then cue her to hop off the side. Running straight through the end of the board might eventually dilute her end position, so we want to be sure she doesn’t just run off. And she did seem to like turning around to walk down the board better than she liked being lifted off the top.Nice work 🙂
Tracy
