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Hi! This was a great session! You are right, she does need to feel out the game – and that is what she did on that 2nd rep. She was feeling out how to interact with the tip of the board and that helped her produce a really lovely 3rd rep! Great job having the instinct to ask for one more 🙂 And also great job jackpotting the landing and then releasing and having her chase you. Really great, top to bottom! We just need to do more of this – maybe another session like this, then add the wing wrap into the crazy elevator game, then add the tunnel in too. At some point, after she goes from the tunnel to the crazy elevator with tons of confidence, we will ask for the full teeter. Wheeee!
Also – great job with your mechanics and also I love the mountain of tunnel bags under the teeter! All of that really helped her 🙂
Nice progress here! She is doing great!
TracyHi! Good session here! His home teeters might not be as amazing as his school or trial teeters because he is more pumped up there… and that is fine. I’d rather he rock it out in trials than in your backyard LOL!!
The motion you added to the normal elevator games looked good! he was very excited ago do his end position, even with the big drop. The full teeters also looked good – I see what you mean about the turn after the tunnel when he was on your right though. I think it is possible that the urgent teeter teeter verbals were causing him to think you were calling him? So maybe try a GO GO GO and then when he is looking at the teeter, say teeter 🙂 You can also do a shorter, less curved tunnel and be slightly less ahead so he can find your just before he exits to straighten the line. Or a short straight tunnel and you send to the entry like it is a backside. And yes to getting him on the LU teeter and any other teeter you an find 🙂
Great job! I am excited about how well he is doing and that we are only making little adjustments now! I mean, I am sure there will be a bump in the road here or there, but this is GREAT so far!
TracyHi!
He did really well here! He didn’t seem put off by doing the full teeter, he seemed happy to do it and happy to go back for the next rep (that is the real giveaway: how does the dog feel AFTER the first full teeter rep? LOL!)I think he will continue to get faster with the down as he gets more experienced and also when there is more speed coming from the tunnel (perfect timing for the new course setup at TCOTC!) and more reinforcement for the down itself. It is a hard one to get him to do the full down while the board is in the air, he will probably get into the groove of landing in the down as the board lands 🙂
>>But, he is so focused on the preloaded target, I don’t know that he needs that extra reward unless there is another reason for it >
the reason for that is two-fold: to keep the drive to the end super valuable, and to keep paying the down while the board is in the air : ) So I recommend keep doing ti when cookies are available for use 🙂
The next sessions can have more of your motion moving past the board after you let it go after the countdown. Question: are you going to have a separate obstacle name cue, or will the end position cue be both the obstacle name and end position cue? Either way is fine, but if you are going to have an obstacle name cue, you can go ahead and add it 🙂
The trial sounds like a blast! Your training plan sounds great. Keep me posted!!!!
Nice work here 🙂
TracyHi!
This session looked really good – he stopped a little short on the first full teeter but I think the is because he still needs more reinforcement for it in sequence with you way ahead. That is fine, because for now you can stay closer in trial settings and keep reinforcing in training settings. The rest of the reps looked great!!!>>Do you have any more suggestions for our Trial tuns. They begin Friday: jumpers to snooker to standard and then Gamblers. On Sat, we have Miscillaneous first followed by 2 events and then Pairs for both sides of the course.>>
Lot of ideas! Bearing in mind that he has had a really long break from trialing, right? That means we ned to plan for and expect he will get mentally fatigued more than he would normally. So the day and the weekend needs to be shaped like a bell curve: start easy, do the hard stuff while he is fresh, then end with easy stuff. If we keep making it harder and make it really hard towards the end, he will be more likely to make mistakes due to mental fatigue.
First thing to consider: what is your reinforcement plan? What do you think he will like best during the training runs?
So looking at the schedule:
I would assess after every run and decide if you will keep the plan or change the plan to help him be more successful. I suggest considering the event as a warm up to getting a zillion future Qs, titles, wins… but don’t worry about any of that for this weekend 🙂Jumpers: make it easy and fun! He might be wild, he might be perfect, there is no way to know but it should be a blast!
Snooker – keep this the smoothest, funnest possible course. You might have the teeter as the #7 but if you do: my advise is to skip it. Stick to fun fun fun jumps and tunnels 🙂Standard and Gamblers should both be training runs. For the teeter, specifically: in Standard, I would start with the normal elevator game, and reward. Do that once or twice and if he is NOT happy – do one more, maybe, then be done. If he is indeed happy with it: do a crazy elevator game for reward.
And that is all I would do in Standard
In Gamblers – I would start the same way, nice easy fun teeter reps and if he is happy, do a crazy elevator and if he is still happy – do one full teeter. Reward all them them, even if they are not fully perfect 🙂before making Saturday plans, think about how he did on Friday and watch the videos.
Misc is definitely a training class, so some elevator games and a full teeter or two is great. What are the next 2 events? Will your pairs partner be mad if you decide to train instead of Q? the problem with doing a full teeter in Pairs is that there is more pressure to Q 🙂
Let me know what you think!
TracyAlrighty! Here are two foundation games for the tunnel threadles. The main thing is to get her to turn herself away into it:
Let me know if they make sense. Have fun!
Tracy
Good morning! I am so happy for you – vacations are AWESOME 🙂 I am sure Arty enjoyed her time at Camp Grams haha!
>>I definitely have not yet taught this skill so I had to break it down a bit.
Breaking it down really helped her out. It is mainly a dog training skill, meaning the ultimate goal is that we basically yell the word and flap our hand and she just goes and finds the correct tunnel entry 🙂 So breaking it down to teach her was totally right 🙂 I don’t think she got the beginner steps to this in MaxPup 1, so I will go grab those videos for you so you can play with the beginning steps if you like!
>> Am I relying on my hand flick too much here to turn her away and into the tunnel?
Nope – we are going to teach her to go do it on the first part of your cue so you don’t have to flick her into the tunnel.
>>One time I rewarded her for following that hand even though it didn’t result in a tunnel.
That was smart!!! Breaking it down into tiny bits will help her.
On the video – as she figures out this skill, keep your feet moving straight to the end of the tunnel you want, resist the temptation to rotate and help her. And keep walking towards it until she puts herself in the tunnel (the foundation videos will make this make a LOT more sense to you both :)) For example, on your second rep, you were moving slowly (which is good) but also connected and feet moving to the correct tunnel entry – perfect. When you were moving faster, it was harder to get her into the correct tunnel entry because she is still learning the skill. So for now, keep moving slowly, as slow as needed so you don’t have to rotate your feet towards her.
She was also a little sticky on the wings, didn’t want to wrap – I think that might have been because she knew you were about the step to the tunnel, so she was anticipating a bit. You can add in more wing rewards to help un-stick her in the face of the tunnel 🙂 And she LOVED when you did the figure 8 of the wings – she loved the motion and stopped thinking about the tunnel 🙂
>>I’m going to use “By” for my word but again right now it means nada to her. >>
You can hold off on the word for now until you have the behavior reliably – just use her name for now, then we will switch it. And I am hoping you will say the ‘by’ cue 3 times “Bye bye bye” so I can sing that old boy band song LOL!!!!
Nice start here – I will be right back with the links to the beginning stages so you can show those to her which will make this game much easier too 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
>>OMG yes on the set up! it was getting dark and I hurried to get it done…didn’t look quite right…geez. He’s such a trooper!
He was happy to do it – the tunnel angle was easier for him, so turning the tunnel makes it more challenging (which he is ready for: he was pretty perfect on each rep.)
Turning the tunnel AND starting your first rep with the tunnel send ramps up the level of challenge significantly 🙂
So the second rep was actually rewardable – it looked almost identical to the first rep and your open upper body was late (he was already in motion when you really opened up). So he caught it at the last moment and did NOT take the tunnel (GOOD BOY!) so I would reward it. It was correct enough in a situation where the error might have been human error LOL!
Notice the clear different at :15 and the next reps – MUCH earlier and clearer serp position so he was great. And then when you switched sides and serped him at :42, you had a nice position and upper body – and he was perfect. Very nice! He had one oopsie on that side: and yes, it was not enough open shoulder. The general release could indeed mean either tunnel or jump, so upper body is critical. On course I would be using a name call and jump directionals to help him see the difference, in case my handling wasn’t perfect (which happens a lot LOL!)On the threadles – very nice too! Your cues are very clear so it looks like he was 100% on the threadles. Yay! I think you can start to add motion on the threadles – walking into them with the arm back, releasing with the verbal just as you are arriving at the entry wing. And maintain that upper body until he turns his head to go back out.
When you have motion on the threadles… you can start changing his line up position relative to the jump so he is facing the tunnel less and facing the jump ore. That will challenge him to collect more on the serps and find the threadles from harder angles 🙂 That will take a few sessions, but he looks ready to start the process.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Great job in class last night!>Maybe I shouldn’t have skipped Bailey’s Chicken Camp.
He is still giving them! I got to work with him 3 times and it was life changing as a trainer 🙂 I remember that he spent the entire first day just working our mechanics, no chickens involved. It really helped me appreciate the intricacies of mechanics and all the things that come with it. And it made it much easier to train my chickens, Marsala and Pot Pie 🙂
>>By the way I don’t get the course images. Just a spacer that says “image.png” but nothing happens when I click>>
That is odd! Were you able to see the course map in the Course Syllabus post, or does that also show as a spacer?
On the video – this is going much better! He is much more precise with a more clearly defined starting point (you can reward him from your hand for coming back to line up for the next send, he wants to keep working but the reset line up is important for the quality 🙂 He is looking nice and slithery here – my favorite reward placement was at :18, where you tossed it for him continuing more of that left turn. Think of it as a clock, with you standing at 6 o’clock: most of the rewards were tossed to 12 o’clock . That reward at :18 was tossed more to 9 o’clock, so now for the next sessions you can keep tossing there and build to getting the reward to 8 o’clock then 7 o’clock. That is to get him to continue the bending all the way through the turn.
The right turns should start with the tosses to 12 then move the tosses to 3 o’clock. It will take him a little more time to be as slithery on the right turns, but that is normal and also perfectly fine 🙂 That balance will be really helpful in the future 🙂Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
Friz throws are HARD lol!! I am taking some lessons to be a better thrower – although we did a disc competition and I had a great throw… right over the fence. Poor Hot Sauce was all like “how exactly am I supposed to catch THAT??” hahaha! At least the wind brought the frizzy back into your yard LOL!
He did well getting the poles straight with the PT out there as the focal point. It is a deliberate “calmer” so he can think about the added difficulty of the poles. Then it was clear sailing!!! Since he is a frizzy maniac , I am going to bring a bunch of different types of discs to MN so you can see others he might love 🙂
Yes, he is a little slower in the entry and then speeding up as he gets into the rhythm, but that is a normal part of the progression (I left video of CB doing that in on the demo videos, I think in the channel section). If he has questions, we can open the entry a bit but for now, let’s just see if he sorts it out in the next session or two. He has historically been a “think it through then lay on the speed” type of dude, so I am no worries at all here. He is maintaining his striding and keeping his head low and forward the whole time, exactly what we want. And he is not concerned about where you are or what you are doing. Super!
So, planning… I think giving him a few more sessions on the 6 straight poles will be the next step – adding angles of entry, maybe even doing those little sequences with the 6 poles (they can be the tiniest bit open for those). If that goes well (I am sure it will) you can move to the 6-and-4 game. Once you get into 6-and-4, things go really quickly to boxcars (6-and-6) and then to 12 straight. So sitting at 6 poles for now, maybe a week depending on weather and life schedule, then we can move on to the 6-and-4 and so on 🙂 Yay!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyYay! Getting steps 1 and 2 going is definitely moving the right direction. You’ll see her lightbulb go on as you put it all back together 🙂 Keep me posted!! And post some video so we can see if she has any questions, or is she just needs more experience 🙂
T
Good morning! 6 straight poles!!!! Very exciting!!!
>> I think maybe I shouldn’t have used the frisbee for this session, as that is probably her most exciting toy – the tug toy might have been better.>>
It is a balancing act with the frisbee, I feel that pain: it is the favorite toy so there is a lot of incentive to keep trying. But it also elicits some behavior that is counter to weaving: head up, lots of speed, trying to anticipate the throw. But overall, she did well with this session and was MORE than happy to keep trying for the frizzer 🙂
At this stage, we want to sit at 6 poles to get the success rate up with more angles and motion (it won’t take more than a few sessions :))
One way I incorporate the frisbee but also keeping the dogs a little less excited about it (and therefore more successful with the weaves) is to incorporate food into the loop: cookie to line up, weave, frisbee, cookie on the retrieve of the disc, lather rinse repeat : ) That has allowed the dogs to stay a little more thoughtful on the poles but also earn the most favorite reward 🙂You can also take the frizzy out for a couple of sessions and use the tug toy until she has more experience with the rhythm of it all – then bring the frisbee back 🙂 The Frisbee is an important element because it stimulates her, much like a trial environment will do.
When she is more reliably hitting and holding the weaves in the next session or two, you can add back the harder angles of entry and more of your speed 🙂
Great job here!!!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Ooh nice toy!!!
Good session here – he had to work out weaving that last base but the entries and speed and rhythm looked GREAT! I had the same questions from 2 of my youngsters when they were on my left and I had a god toy – it is easy for the dogs to want to look at us there and look at the toy. But they have to look away from us there to get the last base. So opening up just that last base can help. The other thing I did was I changed the placement of reward for them when they are on my left (you might notice it on the videos especially with Contraband): rather than reward straight on the reward line, I tossed the toy to the other side of the poles away from me (towards the trees on the right side of your screen here) so they figured out to look away and not at me. The cleared up those last pole pops on my left.
It doesn’t seem to be an issue for the dogs, Sly included, on the right because they can watch us AND weave LOL!!!So overall, great session – taking it outdoors presents a really different internal and external environment and he was GREAT! And the new toy looks awesome, which is super helpful for when you do NFC/FEO stuff and can’t use food.
I think you next session can be the 6 and 4 game, because he will still get reinforcement for each set in isolation before putting it all together.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>> I think getting into a class somewhere, and doing run thrus when they’re finally available will really help her acclimate. I’ve heard it said several times that dogs don’t generalize easily, so experiences will be co-teachers. >>
Totally agree, generalizing is tough. Except for the stuff we DON’T want them to do, somehow they generalize that in a heartbeat haha!! Experience in new places is the next level an this pandemic has made it really hard so it might take these youngsters longer to get into the trial environment, but that is fine 🙂
On the video: 6 straight poles looked really good in both sessions! And from different obstacles too! There was much thinking going on with the Max200 set of poles LOL!!! But good girl, she got it! YAY! The 6 and 4 setup was really strong, especially because I think it was the first time she saw it?
>>This is good to know – my thinker may decide to analyze new pieces of equipment, even if they are similar to what she’s been doing.>>
Yes – some dogs get thoughtful when presented with changes to the environment or to the obstacles, some dogs get over-stimulated. I personally prefer the thoughtful approach, because then as soon as the dog sorts it out, the speed comes roaring back. Over-stimulated is harder in terms of helping the dog sort things out. So as long as you keep making it fun for her like you did here, with super rewards – I am fine with it if she needs to sow down and take a looksee as you change types of poles and environments. My fastest dog was quite slow in the ring until he was about 2.5 years old. And then he decided that he had sorted it all out and turned on the speed. Those were happy times when he was a slow, he got a lot of Qs hahahahaha!!! But it is more fun with all that speed and understanding 🙂
>>Keiko is going in for spay surgery tomorrow. This means we won’t be doing any agility for a few days. I will be checking with the vet, and we’ll be watching our girl as she heals.>>
Today is the day! Depending on the type of spay, it will be at least 10 days off from agility and weaving – she will probably be willing by the side-to-side action might hurt or damage the stitches. But that is fine – as soon as she is cleared and feeling good, you’ll be able to work to 12 poles really easily based on what she did here.
Please keep me posted on how she does in the surgery, the hardest part is waiting to hear that she is through it and awake and being feisty again 🙂
Tracy
