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Hi!
Yes, plenty of time to sort out height – if he was a solid 15″ already, then I don’t think we will be able to get him to measure 14″ but it is something to keep an eye on. They do shrink a little after the finish adolescence 🙂Over the years, I have had multiple 15″ tall dogs jumping 16″ – zero issues, they all had long successful careers then dropped to 12P when they got older. The only thing I didn’t love about it was in AKC, my 15″ tall dog competing against 18″ tall Border Collies. It was hard to beat them 🙂 but thankfully AKC doesn’t require wins or placement in regular classes except at Nationals.
Before deciding on a jump height, get together with a sports vet for a pre-sports evaluation: muscling, structure, radiographs, etc. This is useful for any dog and it is something I do before putting the young dogs up to full height.
T
Hi!
Having it as one long video might have saved you some editing time! It worked really well to show the flow of the training here.
Good job starting on the flat, no problem at all. Through all the sessions, he is lining up and holding the stay really well. You were GREAT about getting just as many stay rewards as releases in each step. He is getting really good about catching the treat or grabbing it when it bounces up LOL! He did break one time, no worries, you handled it appropriately.
Your position looks to be a few inches too far from the jump, so he is landing then turning. You can be close enough to touch it so he turns before the bump on the takeoff side instead of having enough room to go over it then turn after he gets over it.
Next steps would be to have the reward on the ground! It can be a bowl to drop a treat into, a manners minder, or the toy 🙂
The concept transfer to the wing wrap went great – yes, letting him offer at the beginning was good and he offered it immediately! So clever!
Then transitioning into the turn and burn game: also terrific! You are able to do the FC nice and early: for example at 6:19, you were already doing the FC before he arrived at the wing and that was perfect. He only had one question (6:54ish) but then he got it on all the other reps. SUPER!!
Great job!!
TracyGood morning!
You had a ton of really lovely reps here on the serp-with-movement game! The MM is a HUGE draw and he did really well coming in over the jump and not just racing to the MM 🙂 I agree – it is hard because there is a ton of impulse control required to be able to do all this from a stay but he was quite brilliant.
The cookie toss start was great because it alleviated some of the pressure of the stay but it was not as easy for him to see the cue after eating the cookie when you were moving. So you can continue with the stay, but dofewer reps and break it up with letting him run around and maybe find some cookies in the grass 🙂 The quality of the reps when he was starting from a stay was top notch! So you don’t need a lot of reps because it is really hard – just a couple of good reps then onwards to something that doesn’t require as much impulse control.
Restrained recalls: OMG that toy in the beginning is AMAZING and all of my dogs want to come live with you LOL! The toy in the 2nd par of the session was good too but maybe a little too short, for the safety of your fingers.
>The morning I remembered to let him run past or maybe I did to preserve my body>
Yes, we don’t want him cranking your shoulder and we don’t want him to crank his neck grabbing the toy So just as his jaws are closing on the toy, let go of the toy so he grabs it and keeps running. As soon as he has it, you do a front cross and run back towards the person holding him. That way it becomes a combo of recall and reverse retrieve. That can help with the deplucking especially with the 2nd toy, like you mentioned. Many, many dogs do the deplucking as a bit of an in-the-moment decompression to help regulate the arousal of the recall. Several of my dogs do the same things. Having a couple of toys that are OK for him to de-pluck will be good because we definitely like that he is regulating arousal!!!!! But also, we don’t want him destroying the big expensive toys so I try to guide the deplucking into the cheap toys LOL!
> I forgot that I was supposed to call him back. >
I do sometimes give the pups a victory lap after the get the toy, and it is a good way to develop a ‘go for a run’ cue. Young dogs need to run sometimes and the ‘go for a run’ cue can be a lifesaver for that.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning! Nice session here!!
In the early reps, he had a few breaks: When he left the stay position, he was moving with you right away a you moved away. To help solidify the stay when you start moving away, you can take a little more time in the transition of you moving away: cue the sit, let him really settle for a second or two, cue the stay… then walk away. So there will be a little more time getting him into the stay but he is ready for you to move away and less likely to move with you.
Dogs are also brilliant at recognizing patterns in our behavior during stays 🙂 The releases were getting predictable which changed his understanding of what the release actually was: the reconnection when you get to approximately the chair closest to the camera. He was seeing your position and you looking back at him paired with the release or catch marker enough that it totally became the release for him.
When you started being a lot less predictable in the location and timing of the release in the lat part of the session – the stays were much better 🙂
And to help the reconnection *not* become the release by accident, you can mix in some other non-release things after it: quiet praise before the release/marker, standing still for a second or so before the release, sometimes releasing/marking while still moving, etc. That will be more unpredictable in a good way 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
Hi! He is definitely getting the idea of turning away into the tunnel! I agree, he was stronger to his left. It might be a combination of a slight side preference and you were a bit closer to the entry/easier angle of entry.
>My plan unless you say otherwise is to back up on the right side.>
Yes, being a little closer to the tunnel entry on that side will totally help! A couple of other ideas for you:
The setup had a bit of a double challenge – the tunnel threadle/turning away, plus you were on the backside of the tunnel so he had to find the backside entry and the tunnel curved away from you. For the next session, a curved tunnel is fine but being on the inside of it will take out one of the challenges that was making it hard here. That way he is curving towards you and not away.
The other tweak is about the visibility of the toy. He had some questions about ignoring the toy in your hand on the threadle/turn away moments. Zero trouble ignoring it on the ‘regular’ tunnel sends, which is great! But the turning away was harder and he did a lot better when the toy was not in the picture. So for now, tuck the toy away until he has had a bit more experience with the skill. Separately, working the turn away on the flat (like tandem turns) with a toy in your hand will help him take his eyes off of it 🙂
And when he does go away and get into the tunnel – throw the reward to the exit for him to drive to. The toy coming from your hands made it a little harder to ignore your hand and going into the tunnel (especially with it curving away) so a thrown toy will help him want to take his eyes off of you 🙂
That will require a bit of speed getting the toy out of wherever it was tucked away 🙂 but the length of the tunnel buys you time to do that. And it is a great opportunity to work and reward the retrieve of the toy. You can also use a manners minder which is fun because he has to ignore it on the first tunnel exit and to it only when you click for the threadle/turn away 🙂
Nice work!
Tracy
Hi!
>. I’ll add my physical cues next time. We’ve not had a switch cue before, so I was winging it.>
Yes! The switches are very useful 🙂
>That old shadow handling would be turn your dog with the dog side hand then switch to the other hand and maybe that’s why he started with tight turns back. I’ll try just using the outside hand – it did make for better turns.>
I shadow handle these things with my outside arm – it is also a nice physical warm up before the run.
>One question about the next exercise – the bonus part asking for the backside wrap – do you expect them to get it with us doing the same motion down the line or can we turn back when they do?>
Maybe this is the US Open brain fog.. which exercise? The threadle wraps next to the tunnel? Let me know and I will give you a better answer. Generally we want to have the same motion as the other cues to use verbals and upper body to differentiate.
T
Hi!
She is doing really well with the Minny Pinny – I think she went to visit her friends because there were too many reps for treats (especially since it was the 2nd round) so it was not as exciting as visiting her peeps 🙂 Even with the tug break, she might have thought it was too stationary & repetitive so the steak easily caught her nose (and belly :))You were doing the minny pinny with you standing still and lots of stationary food rewards – to keep it more spicy, you can have the toy with you and tug more frequently. And you can add in doing the front cross and run away. Keeping things a little less predictable in a fun way, and with more movement will help her stick with you!
It sounds like that is what you did with the tunnels – fast, fun, short session with a lot of movement 🙂
Nice work!
TracyHi!
I am glad your recovery is going well!! You are moving really well and he did great 🙂 No worries about things feeling a little off, it is probably just the drugs LOL!! He did really well going to the toy even though there was food in the picture too 🙂 He loved it when you were moving it around to chase it!Since the stays worked so well, you can add in having him stay in front of something like his prop or a jump, anything exciting 🙂
And his retrieve is looking good!!! And yes – he doesn’t want to ‘work’ for toys but playing before or after training is still incredibly effective. That way the toys are legit play and not pressure or any time of conflict between you and him.
We missed you at the Open! Most of the courses were SUPER nice, perhaps the best set of courses in years. Hopefully this trend continues for next year!!!
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>how in the world did you find time to review a video today? I wasn’t expecting to hear from you until the Open was over. >
There is some downtime here – I didn’t enter a lot of classes because there is so much course building. It is nice to sit down and look at the computer 🙂
He did really well here!
One thing to consider is the timing of the switch on the jump: you can start the switch cues (verbal and physical) for the jump before he takes off – ideally it is 2 strides from takeoff or more so he has time to adjust before takeoff. It can be the release here.You were doing it on landing so the turns were wider.
Your timing of the switch on the tunnel exit was really good! Which hand cue do you plan to use for it? Sometimes you used the outside arm, sometimes dog-side arm. When you were doing the dog-side arm (coming towards the camera on a lot of those reps) he was exiting the tunnel towards you and waiting to see motion to know if he should turn away or not. The outside arm going up before he enters the tunnel can help build more independence because it is earlier and also you can turn him away without also needing to step to the jump.
>One thing I noticed was the time I spent saying the switch as he exited the tunnel, he moved slowly and the second he heard what I wanted next he sped back up. That was especially true on the tunnel to the back side slice. Any suggestion for how to avoid that moment of hesitation?>
That was him waiting for motion info – the verbal switch conflicted with the dog side arm looking like a go straight cue, so he was waiting for your feet to turn. On a few reps, you used your outside arm to set up the backside push and that went really well!
>Just for grins, I tried to do some other cues from the tunnel to the jump just to see if he could do it>
Yes! That was clever! The backside pushes were great and also the backside circle wraps were great too – you had good physical cues supporting those that he could see even on the other side of the tunnel.
The threadle slice was fun to see – what is the physical cue for your ‘in’ cue? It looks like your dog side arm was down at your side so he had a question – maybe a dog-die arm swinging back and high will be clearer?
>When I tried the threadle wrap, I realized that was super hard for him – he did it but it wasn’t my best thought process and he was super confused. >
There was not a lot of time to get all the info in 🙂 You had to finish the switch then immediately get the TW cues going – in less that 8 feet of space. But he was able to get it and that was great!
Great job here! I love the creativity of adding the other stuff on the jump after the tunnel!!
Tracy
Hi!
He did great here, what a good boy! Great stays, attention, tugging, releases… brilliant! And there was plenty of distraction. Just be sure to stay engaged with him when you give him the toy at the end so he doesn’t take it on a tour of the area 🙂
Also of note: how he tries to give you super fast high fives when you line him up (1:54) LOL! It took him a moment to recognize that it was NOT a high five cue LOL 😂😝
One thing you can add at the practice jump is bringing him in on leash, taking the leash off, lining up… that is great practice for future runs! And if you have a friend who can be your leash runner, you can teach him to ignore people who are nearby or taking his leash. And that means you can also add in putting the leash back on, then giving another reward: that is valuable for the end of his runs in the future.
>Played lots of pattern games as we came in and out of the building and walked around the rings. Wicked tugging today too.
>This is great! What a good boy!
Great job 🙂Tracy
Hi!
>She wasn’t that interested in the toy initially, so I started with food – should have gotten a dish for tossing but I hadn’t planned on using food.>
Because young dogs tend to have value shifts on rewards you can build in a test drive of the toy (or food) by playing with her first before attempting the training. That way you can both get her really engaged and see if she wants the particular toy or not 🙂 She was definitely moving away when the toy moved towards her (or standing still) so keeping the toy moving away worked really well. And the 2nd toy was DEFINITELY something she really liked 🙂
And for this game – you can deliver the food from your hand rather than throw it, because the FC on the wing asks for handler focus.
>Once we got connected (no bark, no leaf distracting her and a toy I could drag more easily>
Yes – once you had engagement and the fun toy, the game was great! So it is worth adding the playing beforehand to get her ready to ‘work’.
Was she able to engage before you started the game, or was the game the start of the session? You can add in the volume dial game before each training game, to help get her engagement dialed in.The tunnel threadle reps looked GREAT!! I agree that the right turn away was a little harder so you can slow down your motion there: let her see the hand cues moving slowly. If you are too quick, I think it is harder for her to sort the mechanics so moving slowly will really help.
Great job!
TracyHi!
She did really well sending straight to the tunnel but definitely had a harder time turning away into it. To help her out, start on less of a hard angle with the ‘close’ threadle – you can be almost straight so she sees it better when she turns away and you start moving.
And when she does turn away, don’t say yes or good girl (that is what caused her to come out of the tunnel 🙂 ). Use your get it marker instead so she drives to the toy.
She really likes the toy! Play with her when she brings it back rather than take it away – the food for taking it away is nice but without playing with the toy, she might stop bringing it back 🙂
Remote reinforcement:
Is your marker work “Cheetos” That is hilarious!! She did really well here. I think starting this on leash will help -she didn’t really know where to go when you were moving, so the leash servers as a context cue to move with you. Keep gradually adding in more distance and more tricks, she is doing great!She also did really well with the minny pinny! I think she is more comfy turning to her left, so you can start that way, then switch to the right when she remembers the game. You tend to start her turning right (on your left) but I think that is a little harder for her.
She also did well with the bumps! I think the bumps were a little too far apart because she had to extend the bounce rather than collect. You can scoot the two outer bumps in towards the center by maybe 6 inches and that might be the sweet spot for now to help her comfortably bounce the turns.
Nice job adding the verbals! You can hold her and say them a few times so she hears them before you let go – that will help make them more independent so we will be able to add in more handling down the road 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
>oops – I guess I forgot that one. Here it is…>
Fantastic! He seemed to have zero questions. We actually saw this same basic thing multiple times here at the US Open 🙂
>Then I went on to do the Ch 6. We had a couple booboos on this one, lol.>
Overall, it went really well!!!
> I didn’t get the other jumps we weren’t using out of the way at first. >
He offered some bonus wings at :12 but they were indeed on his line LOL! Good boy!
His only real questions were on the GO lines. He was looking at you a lot. It might have been that you were looking ahead, so he was looking at you for more info because connection was too soft. So you can add in looking at him more (look at his butt if you are behind LOL!) because that turns your shoulders to support the GO line better.
It is also possible that he was looking at you to track the toy throw – so you can place a toy or MM out there and use it as the GO reward, provided it is also out there for the turn reps so he doesn’t just run to it like a lure 🙂
He had another question on the serp at 1:21 where he hit the wing. You can have your serp arm back more (like it was at 1:27) so he sees the in-then-out line.
>I just BARELY made that blind on the last position of the wing>
Yes! You can actually turn your head to t start the blind well before you get to position so he sees it as soon as he exits the tunnel.
>And of course, you can make fun of his nickname. I just can’t help myself. ha!>
I love his nickname! Just try to keep the pitch of it as the turn cue consistent – who it got high pitched, it sounded like a go verbal so he came rocketing straight out of the tunnel LOL!! When it was in a lower pitch, he was turning brilliantly.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi! Lots of nice work here!!
Wing wraps went really well! – no need to go faster for now! The most important thing is to stay connected and you were great with that! Going faster tends to cause us to disconnect. You were connecting and using your verbals so she did really well. She is fast so it might feel like you were late but your timing was good!
She only had 2 questions in the session:
At :42, you tried to send her and she didn’t go. That was because your dog side leg did not step forward to support the send. It was actually pointing to the other barrel, which is where she went. You used your dog side leg on all the other reps and she had no questions.
You were getting a tiny bit of jumping up at your hand, here and there (like at 1:36), That was happening when you were moving your hand forward too early which blocked a bit of connection.
Compare to 1:50 and 2:07 for example, where you kept your hand send a sa relatively minor part of the cue, letting your hand stay low and follow her nose. Those were very smooth!
Her brother Quill also watches hands a lot on this game, and keeping the hands “quiet” and low really helps him too.
You can also reward differently – not from your hand with a treat – so she has a little less value for it in this context: have empty hands when cueing the wraps, then do a turn and burn and whip out a toy so she are not looking for food as she goes by your hand 🙂
Minny pinny with the bumps also went well! Because she us zipping around it indpendently, you don’t need to support with shoulder movement at all 🙂 You can send and be stationary til she is about half way around, then do a FC and take off to reward.
>Clobbered jumps on one rep, but seemed to sort that out. I guess that’s why jump bumps!>
Exactly!! She seemed to have an easier timing collecting to do the turns here when going to her right – it seemed like it was harder for her to organize to her left (more feet on the bumps) but I am sure she will sleep on it and the next session will be very balanced 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
