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Good morning!!
>Oh my! I was making a joke about braces. hehehe. Babby Barry had that bonus toofer whipped out on Wednesday, and by wednesday night you couldn’t tell he’d been under a general anaesthetic that day! (it was an EXTRA toof rather than retained babby teefs)>
Oh good, that is a relief! Because braces can be hard on baby dogs!!
>Babby Barry was amazing, a place he’d never been he was pretty resiliant. He played beautifully with my friend’s Border Collie puppy. >
Yay! Another lovely experience in a new place. Super!
Looking at the video:
>But I think there’s something missing in these exercises, he’s not really engaging with the exercise part – i definitely think my mechanics are part of it, but there feels like something else missing.>
Yes, it was a hard environment with the rings running/walking and that might have made things a little harder, but I think there were other things happening that made the engagement a little harder here:
Consider the exercises to be secondary to the engagement – the exercises are just a framework for us to get more engagement in different places while we do ‘stuff’.
So at the beginning, you went to play as soon as the leash came off – super! He was very engaged.
And then live by the 2 failure rule: if he fails twice with a behavior, then it is too hard and you need to make it a lot easier so he can be success.What happened here was you got 3 failures early on (2 on the sit and one on the threadle) so the engagement dissipated, so he didn’t know what to do (and you got some sniffing).
You can structure your training sessions in harder sessions a little differently: if he can do something at home (like a stay while yo move into a threadle position), ask for at least 50% less than that in a new environment. For example, start a session with really easy stays and lots of rewards (no threadle). And then do a threadle or two without a stay. Then if that goes well? Combine them for a couple of reps.
After you closed the car up, you had a lot more success even in a challenging environment at the very beginning of that part of the session. More success = more reward. Yay!
When things came off the rails, it was about the cookie he couldn’t find 🙂 He had trouble finding the start cookie at 2:21 (I think he never found it so his brain was definitely thinking about it or smelling the scent, and couldn’t do the threadle) and I think that made the rest of the session harder – that missing start cookie was on his mind!
He found the start cookie at 3:17 but there was still one out there so he couldn’t quite come back to the game.When you are having trouble getting engagement: abandon the exercise, and just play! You can get him back on the toy, get him moving, go find that darned start cookie, then even end with play and watch the video to see what happened. With the tossed start cookies, if the pups do not immediately return their attention to the game, it usually means that they never found the cookie :).
The other thing to consider in a hard environment is to use games that involve more movement for you both. He was having a hard time here (darned start cookie) and the game itself had you stationary and facing him – which is not as engaging as if you were going back and forth and rewarding him for finding the jump in the parallel path 🙂 So adding movement is generally a good plan to get more engagement!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
Reverse retrieve went really well – super fun high energy session! It looked like he was bringing the original toy all the way back (yay!) and he wanted to keep that toy/play with it, so you can totally play with the original toy and fade out the visual of the 2nd toy. The 2nd toy can be in your pocket, so you can sometimes whip it out as a surprise too!
He is doing well with his stays! It looks like there was a cookie in your lineup hand, so we can definitely fade that out. 2 reasons to fade it: we don’t want the cookie to be the context cue to stay, and there was sometimes some confusion if the rep continued after he got the cookie for sitting (he would stand up and move with you). So you can use an empty hand cue to get the line up and sit (like having him move to a hand target, then follow your hand into the sit at your side). Then you can reward after a stay.
If he is happy with the cookie-free hands to line up and stay, you can put the stay in front of the prop to begin teaching him that the stay-til-released overrides the value of driving to something that has a lot of value 🙂
Backsides:
Look at him tugging in the barn!!! Yay! His barrel commitment was really strong (and he was able to ignore a squeaky friend). Super!!He was not totally into the lotus ball toy as the immediate reward, it seemed like he wanted to follow your motion and come to you (maybe to play more). He did go directly to the lotus ball when you dropped it a little more around the barrel (maybe it had more movement from his perspective) so you can attach the lotus ball to a line then drop it where you did – and drag it a little for him to chase 🙂
When he will dive onto the lotus ball (or grab a toy out of the dirt 🙂 ) you can start a little further back so you are both moving with more speed. He was driving to the barrel really well, so you can build up to jogging and see how he does with the countermotion.
>Here is his tunnel slice. Auntie was sitting in a chair (and recording this). >
Auntie is a hard slice but a good choice to work on!!! I figure auntie will be around a lot so clarifying when he can run to her for reward or to socialize is GREAT! And he did really well too with a super high rate of success., and letting him visit was probably great fun for him 🙂
You can have the lotus ball tied onto a line here too, so he can chase it more because it will be moving more. He turns to you when it is ‘dead’ so you can keep it a little more alive to get him grabbing it.
I notice that he was barking more here in the tunnel session and on the backside wraps. I think it was excitement barking that is also part of the games being harder overall and not frustration. There is a fine line and it all involves arousal regulation! So it is something we will keep looking at. In general, when the pup is barking but moving forward into the ‘work’ and looking the ‘work’, we are in a good place of excitement and arousal regulation. But when the pup barks at the handler or spins when cued to do something, that might be tipping into frustration. I don’t see any of that happening!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>the first word I said was the wrong direction but quickly caught myself.>
You caught yourself before you even let him go, so there was no issue at all!
This session went really well – he seems to really love this little game LOL! Lots of running but he is bending really well in collection here. Super!!! You can probably add a little more distance between the bars, maybe just 6 inches more so he can be a little more extended in the bounce.
The backyard stays looked really strong – excellent choice of toy at the beginning, and great job getting him playing and doing tricks! All of that helps to overcome the challenges of outdoor distractions. And he didn’t go too far away with the toy when you tossed it back to him – that is great because he had all the freedom in the world to take off with it 🙂
Nice long lead out and release to the jump – and your party for the reward is long and happy! He had a little trouble lining up when you changed directions to come towards the camera – harder visuals of distractions? Brain tired because it was taking a lot more energy than he was letting on? Both? You adjusted by rewarding sooner and that was an excellent choice.
You might not be able to get a 4 minute session outside yet (4 minutes is no problem for him indoors). I’d say he was mentally done by about 3 minutes (you can see at about 3.5. minutes he was really looking around, not giving up the toy as well, etc. So you can go to shorter sessions outdoors for now (get one great rep on each side and be finished, resist temptation to do one more :)) and you can also bring some good treats out to reward lining up. That will help extend his ability to work in the more intense outdoor distractions and then it will all be even easier.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
She did great with the minny pinny! Good girlie!!!!
>Today she did well to the right, but not the left. I’ve been working on walking on my left side and I’ll start balancing out the right side as that may be part of the issue.>
It is possible that it is not a left side or right side question, it might be a first side – second side question. One thing I have noticed is that she often has questions when changing sides mid-session – almost always goes the original way, which results in a hard moment where you stop her to get her to the side you want.
So to be able to get the 2nd side as strong as the first, you can make it into 2 mini sessions: get the first side for a couple of reps and rather than change sides to go into the next rep, you can break it off for a nice long play with a toy, a bit of sniffing around… then come back and start on the other side as if it is a brand new session.
>Also, I ran out of food, left her and ran into the house to reload. She STOOD by the set up the entire time! That’s huge.>
Wow, good girl! She is liking the game for sure!
>We are having an issue going back into the potty yard towards the house. She’s like…nope I don’t wanna do that.>
Based on what you mention about her potty habits, it is possible that she finds certain substrates to be more ‘ick’ than others. And the potty yard after rain might be very icky (smells, etc) so that is something to consider in terms of getting her through it fast or walking around it or even carrying her. Also be sure that going into the potty yard is not always paired with going back into the house and going in a crate or x-pen – that might be punishing in contrast to being out in the yard, so she is avoiding it. You can adjust that by going in the house then right back out again for a few minutes, or going in the house and hanging out with a chew or toppl, and mixing it up so going to the potty yard/towards the house is not always paired with anything specific.
Nice job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Lots of good work here!!
1st video – this went well! Good challenges from different angles for sure. The placement of the wing at 1:02 (and the same angle on the other side) was best for both obstacles being fully visible. When it was more centered between them, the jump became harder because she would have to cut in and take it so it might not have been a jump to her (more of a threadle).
When the wing got really recessed, it was a little harder to find the obstacle on the other side but you had a little extra motion pressure and she was able to read that and find the correct obstacle. She is not 100% on verbal only quite yet, but she is definitely improving and doesn’t need nearly as much help with the physical cues! Yay!
Video 2: it is on setups like this where we can see all the verbal-only games paying off! This was pretty perfect (perhaps a few months ago we would have lost Muso into a tunnel when you wanted the jump!)
Send to Tunnel – great
The blind to threadle – great
Send Backside not tunnel – no problem at all
Send to tunnel and turn on exit to the threadle – great3rd video –
Blind to backside. – this went great too! You can keep moving rather than stand still to step her to it. Your connection and line were really good, so keep repeating the backside cue as you move away
She was VERY zippy coming in for the threadle there! Good girl! As the spacing gets compressed, you can use a soft turn cue (like a left and even brake arms) when she exits the wing so she collects before the jump a little more, making the threadle even easier.
Excellent! So the next challenge on this setup is to move it all closer together. A very recent trend in European discriminations is that the obstacles are only about a meter apart. So if they were 2 meters apart here, start to squish them up to maybe 1.5 meters then 1 meter. And if that all goes well – less than a meter. This can be done over the course of the next month or so, depending on how much training time you get.
Great job on these!!
Tracy
Good morning! This was a really fun session to watch, she is really doing well with the handling!!! And good for you to carve out the time to do this even with all the stress of packing to get on the road.
>That opening jump was DIRECTLY into sunlight for me (some good practice for me at the Open for early morning runs in those outdoor rings!) so we ran 1-2 where I was completely blind to what she was doing on all of these.>
Wow! Looked great! I never would have guessed you couldn’t see her! Definitely (unfortunately 😂) good practice for the Open.
You can use a sit and forward focus on this first jump in both sequences and if she is fine with it – raise the bar 2 inches because she can sit there and look at it before moving to it.
First sequence – the hardest part is getting the right amount of turn on the pinwheel jump (#4).
I liked your brake arms at :14 – just be sure to keep turning rather than face forward – that caused her to continue forward.
On the 2nd run – your cues were too fast at :39 so she hit the bar trying to turn. On the 3rd rep, at 1:02 you had your brake arms AND kept moving (turning your shoulders to the 5 jump) – best one of the 3 for sure! Really nice!!!On the ending line: Gorgeous blind after the tunnel – nice connection! The Serp ending looked good too, very nice getting the connection to turn her. And the RC was good too – it is the hardest one because you have to decelerate then get her to drive past you and she did. Super! As she is driving ahead, be sure you keep driving to and past the last jump. The bar came down because you were decelerating/turning/praising/reaching for toy so her head came up.
2nd sequence: this one gave us good insight into what she will need as turn cues!!
Looking at the side change needed on the 4-5 section:
Good timing of starting the blind (1:24)
And you did get the reconnection before takeoff but also – line of motion was parallel instead of towards 5 to she stayed on the line.When you revisited it at the end – the timing of starting it was a stride later (3:10) so the reconnection was late (after she was already jumping 4).
But even with the good timing – I think she is getting a conflicting indicator on where the line is based on your lower body. The first steps through the blind were supporting the wider line – were those first steps wrong? Nope! But for her, it is possible that a rotation (front cross) will show her the motion to 5 better than the BC will. So maybe after the Open try it with a FC and see how she turns!
The RC is really hard there – setting it up line requires a big decel/turn/brake arms that actually start when she is finishing 3, to set the line – with you as close to 4 as possible then driving to the center of the bar of 5. That will be another one we can play with to get the turn on 4 – some baby dogs actually need a spin on 4 to get the turn then the RC. It is a good way to teach them that a RC on this line could actually exist! And then of course we fade the spin out because we don’t want to use a zillion spins everywhere 🙂
On the 5 jump:
At 1:27 – you were already rotated when cueing 5 so you can finish with a spin and take off. Opening back up to a post turn cued her to go wide. You did the spin on 5 at 3:12 and it was GREAT!!! Super nice turn even from the harder angle as she was sorting out the turn at 4.
>I wouldn’t be able to cross her line before she took off for 5, but I think the motion is better. Would be interested if she would still be able to commit to 5 with that amount of pressure but probably won’t get the chance to try it.>
An experienced dog would likely be able to read that pressure – and it would good to see if she would too! It is on the list of things we can revisit after the Open, because Mother Nature promised us good weather for another 6 weeks LOL!!
Really nice last line, driving ahead brilliantly! More driving ahead work coming up soon too.
Great job here! Safe travels to Florida!
Tracy
>I’ll swap over to the other recalls. We talked about building confidence with him doing the recalls and eventually going between legs. He finds that game fun except with someone he barely knows so I’ll make the switch>
Good to know about his preferences – if he is not comfy with someone he doesn’t really know, then you can work it as SSC and see how it goes. It is pretty normal for adolescent dogs to have shifting interests in other people: some days he will love strangers, some days they will give him the ick, some days it is all neutral. Totally normal!
>Same with the toy. Running around there was too much stuff and I didn’t want to run toward the pile of stuff bc it holds more value.>
For the toy, you can run into the ring to play then back out to the pile. And being near the pile but making the toy super active is also fine, because it helps the pups understand what is being asked in each moment. If I am quiet in body language and near the pile? That is generally a cue to offer on the pile of stuff. If I am swinging the toy for him to chase and saying ‘get it’ or making other noises – that is totally a play-with-toy moment. This is critical for agility because it is actually the basis for discriminating obstacle and handler focus, but we are using play and offering here.
>But it makes me ask what happens when we don’t have space. Places like sotc. It’s tight if you’re not alone doing OT. Maybe target bowls ?>
Nope! Treat tosses on or near the pile, or delivering from hand – but then toy play near the pile if needed. The toy can be really long and moving away – but also near the pile. The demo with Plot Twist was in a small room so you can see the difference in mechanics when I wanted the pile versus when I wanted to play. The toy can be a squirrel even in a small space 🙂
>Side note we have been working on how to exist peacefully inside the training building during a seminar.>
Yes! That is sooooo valuable (and hard!)
Serp video –
>Trendie toy from like 10 years ago bought at petsmart was like crack to him so when I do revisit I may try just food or a lower value toy.>
Don’t change to food or a lower value toy! This was perfect to work through!!!! The challenge is that there is something high value that they learn to ignore.
This was hard at first with the stay because you didn’t get a snappy sit response and then he tried to move. But he quickly figured it out and you had a great stay!
1st rep was spot on – in and out to the toy.
Things got harder when you put the toy on the ground… I think part of it was how you put it there. You dropped the toy *after* you got into position and that is all he could see. Letting the toy drop like that rally drew his attention, especially with it being the last thing that happened before the release: it really enhanced the toy.
So make the toy less of a focal point: put it down in a less interesting way (bending over to just place it on the floor) then get into serp position – then watch his eyes. If he is staring at the toy, shake the target like you did at 2:06 and the last rep – and if you get an eye twitch towards the target hand, you can release him. Releasing him while he was staring at the toy is basically permission to go get the toy 🙂 I think being less interesting as you put the toy down and doing it first before getting into position will also make a big difference for him.
The first serp rep of the 2nd video was HILARIOUS! Watch his face: you had the toy slowly lowering (enticing!) at the same time the target hand came out – he was looking back and forth 😂
Also, another session after the first session might have been too much – he might have needed to sleep on it because he was breaking the stay here and having a lot of trouble turning to his right (usually he doesn’t have a massive side preference). There is a TON of self-control required to ignore the toy and drive into the pressure of the handling position (for a Border Collie!) and so he might have just been depleted in the 2nd session – he had trouble even when you put the toy away at the end.
The other thing that might have been happening in session2:
You were so close to the jump, there was no way he could have fit between you and the bar on the landing side, so he totally read it as ‘don’t come across the bar’. That is a lot of pressure on his line! You were not quite as close and a little further over on the other side, but being so close might have played a role in the misses on that video too. You should be about an arm’s length away from the jump so there is room for him.The threadle wrap – this kind of affirms that he was a lefty that day, which might also be why the 2nd serp session was hard (those were right turns)! The left turn reps at the beginning were really good! When you switched to the right, he first tried to wrap left and then he hit the barrel trying to turn right. You moved him a little further forward which helped him be able to turn away – but there was still a lot of steam coming out of his ears as he processed the right turns. Good boy!!!!
Being better when working off your left side *might* also indicate that you work him on your left side too much 🙂 so if you are doing obedience or rally which are both left-side-heavy, you can add extra dog-on-right reps for the agility games.
On the left turn side (when he is on your left) you can give less swoosh (arm movement) with the hands and see if he will turn himself away. And you can add motion with you moving forward. He might need another session without motion and lots of hand movement on the right turns – or he might sleep on it and be perfect next time LOL!
Great job! Have fun at the seminar!!
Tracy
Good morning! All going great here!!
>I keep forgetting to ask you if I should add the word “wait” before I lead out, like I use with Benni which I use with him in obedience along with the flat palm cue towards his face. Or even just the verbal or whatever.>
You can add an additional verbal if you like – as you can see, he doesn’t really need it right now (maybe never!), but it can help support the stay when things get even more exciting.
To be honest, I am not sure we ever really need it 😂 but it makes us humans feel better and keeps us more connected, so that is good! I use a stay word (not sure if my dogs need it at all) but it makes me feel better to say stay, then if I need to change position or something, I say stay again… it might be more for me than for the dog but everyone is happy. And it kind of forces me to breathe while leading out, which is always a good thing 🙂
I don’t use a hand in front of the face because that is definitely not needed and I have seen a lot of agility dogs in high arousal, ready to run, actually flinch when the handler does that.
Minny Pinny:
He figured this out immediately! ! Super! You were using your arm/shoulder to kind of trace his path and you don’t need to at all – once he started moving, his commitment as great so you can even do a FC and run away!
When you added the bars – remember to keep rewarding him in for sliding in between you and the wings front of you (some of the rewards here were more straight then turning)When adding the verbals: hold him at your side, say the verbals 3 or 4 times… then let go and don’t move 🙂 Let him go do it without you as you keep saying the verbals 🙂 The verbals get repeated because he is turning left/right 3 times. We use this setup to help create a ton of independence on these verbals (including turning away) so the first step is to getting him to do it without you moving at all.
Stay video:
Great job working the stay in higher arousal with all the toy play and tricks!! He was wonderful 🙂He only had one question, at :20 when you moved the toy away and asked for the sit at the same time he couldn’t quite process it (so he ended up in a play bow, CUTE!!!). It all happened too fast 🙂 Separating the toy removal from the sit cue makes a big difference so you can move the toy away, stand up, then cue the sit so it is very clear.
You can put barrels or even wings on each side of the bump now, so it looks like a real jump 🙂
Also, if you have opportunity to work the stay skill in a different environment, go for it! It can be off to the side in class, or if Brioche is still sharing a lesson with Benni, or even in your yard (you can have him on a long line if you are worried about puppy shenanigans). In new places, assume it will be a lot harder and make the stay a lot easier (shorter duration with you closer). I would rather be surprised by his brilliance because it is easy than ask for too much and have him fail.
Great job!!
Tracy
Good morning! I am glad the rain stopped for a bit!
>My timing is off with her as I don’t think I completely trust her commitment so I’m hesitating which makes me late for the front and/or blind crosses.>
That is normal and relatable – we are not really sure what the puppies will do, so we kind of have to delay the next thing until we see commitment. So it is perfectly fine if you are a little late for now! And as you saw with Jack – his experience made it much easier for you to have earlier timing. Plus, with him, I bet it all just feels more natural and comfy because you’ve got so much time under your belt working as a team 🙂 Very fun to have tried it with him too!
The session went great overall and Jazz is really figuring out the commitment!!
>Still working on the turns to the left>
Yes – the right turns were all spot on and it took a moment to get the left turns going, but then she got them brilliantly! One on of the first left turns, just as she was deciding about the left turn at :16 – a car turned on and she got distracted. Normal adolescent brain to not quite be able to process the left turn AND the car starting.
But after that, the left turns were sooooo good!!!!
She was really zipping around the barrels on the rep from :26 – :33.She got several in a row but you asked for one barrel too many, got a little hesitant, so she was not sure what to do and things came off the rails. So for now, stick to 2 or 3 barrels then reward.
Speaking of timing – as you got more comfy with her commitment, the blind cross element of the spin got earlier and earlier. The spin on the last rep was especially good – and that was to her left! Super!
One suggestion here:
You can have the toy or cookies in your hand… but don’t switch them from hand to hand. That switch happens in the pivotal connection moment, so it delays connection and also draws her attention to your hands. You might not even realize it is happening 🙂
So either leave the reward in one hand, no switches – or tuck it into a pocket. We don’t need a precision reward here, so you can always pull the reward out when you are ready to reward.She did GREAT with the toy so having it in a pocket will make things even smoother!
Great job!! Fingers crossed for good weather ahead!
Tracy
Good morning!
>. I fell over my own feet just doing this exercise. No I didn’t send u that part of the video lol. But after that I was quite sore.>
Oh no! Hope the soreness is gone!! Do you remember if you got tripped up doing a FC? On those, decelerating before rotating prevents us from tripping, it is possible you were going too fast?
But the session you posted here was lovely!!!
She is looking GREAT – super fast with great commitment and also turning tight. And tons of play in between reps. Love it! Really wonderful!
You did a regular blind at :27 (turning away from her to change sides) – she read it but it might have felt weird and a little wider than the others. You did spins (the FC/BC combo) and those worked great. She is doing super well with her countermotion commitment!
One tiny moment where you looked ahead of her too soon, which led to broken connection at 1:38 so she didn’t know which side to be on.
But you immediately fixed it on the next rep and gave clear connection at 1:45. Yay!The racetrack at the end was fabulous – I always find the to be the hardest to maintain connection because of the should return, and you nailed it.
Great job here! You can spread the barrels out a little more so you can send more and she can go even faster 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
Reducing the high arms definitely helped you set the parallel path line of motion that propels him past the tunnel to find the jump. The parallel path is key here and the high arms turn your shoulders away from that – the shoulder turn ends up looking like you want the tunnel.When you were keeping the arm low but also turning too much – that is when you saw him still glance at the tunnel. But then at :29-:31, you had the parallel path line of motion – lovely! And so did the last rep – yay! You can test the theory by cueing some tunnel reps in there, so we know if he is responding to cues or if he has learned that you want the jump.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
These are looking really good!!Run 1 went great, nice conencted backside push!
> My set up didn’t have a clear threadle side for sequence 2, and I don’t think it did here either, but we did get a lovely line in this redo.>
The threadle was run 2 and it also went well. Because the natural line around the wing does put him on the line to the backside, it is a threadle to get the front. Decel and rotation at the wing set the line, but that will end up putting you behind him on the line. With his speed, staying ahead and staying in motion is a good thing so you can also see if he will read the threadle cues without you having to decel or rotate towards him as much at the wing. Instead, you can turn and run forward like you did on the backside push, but the verbal is different of course 🙂 and you can be swinging your threadle arm back too to cue the line change.
run 3 – blind after backside – very nice! The clear connection makes it very easy 🙂
Great job trusting his commitment!Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
This was hard! She was definitely getting it by the end, but we can definitely look at why it was so hard. Two things might have been happening to get the extra jumps and not enough tunnels:
But first, a question: did the first session also use a frisbee as the reward?
Frisbees (and tennis balls) elicit a response that involves accelerating away on a big run out while tracking the frisbee throw. That would explain why the tunnel was so hard for her at first, because the presence of the frisbee was eliciting a specific response that would cause her to not naturally even consider the tunnel (which was tighter and also blocks the visual of tracking the frisbee).
I have seen this a lot of frisbees and tennis balls too – the elicited response overrode the processing of the cue.
So try it with a tug toy not a disc for a session or two (tug toys elicit an entirely different response). That way she can process the cues better in a slightly lower state of arousal. When she is closer to 90% successful? Then heck yes, we go back to the frisbee! We do need her to be able to process cues in that higher state of arousal, but it is not necessarily the starting point 🙂
The other thing that might help is different cues on the start wing: in this setup, a wrap cue on the wing before the tunnel cue can help. And a ‘soft’ turn cue on the wing before the jump cue can help (because it is not a real wrap when you are going to cue the jump). That can definitely help with the processing!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
