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Hi!
>>>I think at one point you said “your brain is braining” and that is the funniest thing I have heard in a while LOL!!!!!!!!
Hahahaha!!! I’m glad that made you laugh! 🙂 That made my day!>I laughed ALL DAY about it. So funny!!!
Position 1 went really well – She had no problem at all reading the cues. Your connection and verbals were super clear!!
On the 2nd video – your positions did indeed look different! This went well too.
When you were ahead at :12, you had a bit of a disconnect, looking forward- so it looked like a blind to her and she took the jump even though you were saying tunnel. And she had a connection question at :59 and 1:33 and 1:50 for example – taking the jump instead of the tunnel. I think you were ahead and she couldn’t see connection, so was guessing based on motion.You can open up more connection there to get the tunnel by using exit line connection: reaching the opposite arm across the body to push the dog-side arm back, which reveals more connection.
Separately, you can work on more of the disconnection by slowing down your motion and not being too far ahead – and deliberately softening the connection. By reducing the motion, she can prioritize the verbals and be able to get the correct obstacle. That is HARD but she is ready!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
Handling 1: The sequences went well, in terms of finding the jump versus the tunnel when cued. Super!!
You get sniffing on the way back to restart, as you get the treats ready – it is enough of a disconnect that he starts singing around. After the reward, can you send him to a station? So if you have a cato board or something, you can reward for the sequence, snd him to his cato board (reward that) then you get ready for the next rep – then you call him to you to start it. It can set up a cleaner transition between reps and help diminish the sniffing.I think the is something to use for sure – the same disconnect happened in all 3 videos, during the reset back to the start, which was causing more sniffing on the next rep each time. Since we don’t want him to sniff at all, you can teach him to station so you can reset to start the next rep without losing him to sniffing.
2nd video:
Your position and release at :12 actually did call him past the jump – so keep going! Or tell him he was a good boy and reset with a reward.
Stopping without a reward indicates that he was wrong, which can be deflating so he ended up on the top o the tunnel and then lots of sniffing. Since the environment is challenging, never tell him he is wrong especially because he is probably never wrong in how he reads the handling 🙂3rd video – he had a little trouble with the less connected reps which means he just needs a little more time to let you fade out the connection to challenge him with processing the verbal only. The outdoor distractions might contribute to that – his brain is processing a LOT so perhaps he can’t quite pick out the verbals and is relying on motion.
4th video:
>I brought out the lotus ball since he was doing well at staying with me and working.>He does like his lotus ball! What kind of treats did he have? You can also tie the lotus ball to a line and swing it around for him to chase – that is both fun and also can help overcome environmental distractions!
On this video too – if something goes wrong, keep going! He did wrap the wing, but you walked away to go reset the bar which is deflating. To help with the start him further back – and I think the side of the wing was more of a handler error than a dog error 🙂 so remember not to let him think he was wrong at all.
>I can tell his focus is split even though there was no one else around.>
Yes – challenging environment for him! But we do have tools to help out.
>’m going to try starting with the sniff and dismiss walk around the field while my classmates are walking the first course. >
Sniff and dismiss is only somewhat effective because you need a lot of time and you need full access to the area – neither of which are useful for trials. And you do run the risk of something really interesting for him to find that he can’t dismiss 🙂 So a bit of sniff and dismiss is OK but we want to use other games to help him engage immediately.
I think the most important one will be pattern games! The back – and- forth pattern game is the most useful one, so you will want to revisit it at home then bring it to the field. And use the highest value food he will eat. I use stuff like scrambled eggs, rotisserie chicken, and lately one of my dogs loves FreshPet (ewwww). That high value food with the understanding of the pattern game gets pretty immediate attention when they enter the environment.
The stationing on a cato board between reps to reset will also be huge – that is where you are getting sniffing too. So do one rep with a huge reward (no telling him is wrong) then onto the station… then get ready for the next rep. Those in-between moments are critical too!
And you can use the pattern game to come out at the start of each turn – and make each turn super short and crazy fun – even 90 seconds might be too long as he gets used to the new location.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi! These went really well!
The push to the backside looked good – he committed when you had your arm back and the pointing forward at :12 actually drew his attention to you (he took a step towards you) because pointing forward changes the line of the shoulders to the front of the bar.
The threadle was easy because the jump was on an easy angle for that 🙂
FC after the backside worked but it was hard to finish the FC quickly enough to be fully off his line. The BC at 1:09 was fantastic! The timing was spot on and you were finished very quickly so he had a clear view of the next line.
>They are nowhere near on verbal alone and we aren’t even at consistent performance yet, especially due to my mechanics inconsistency.>
I would venture to say that threadle wraps around the world are not on verbal only 🙂 99.99% of dogs are also getting some type of physical cue, which is great!
Looking at the threadle wrap on the wing at 1:26 and 1:40 and 2:01 – nice job setting the line after the blind! A little decel will help him read it and turn himself away so you don’t have to help as much. Decel as you set the TW line is a big factor because it helps the dogs collect and turn themselves away.
He did really well with the threadle wrap on the inside wing of the jump! That is crazy hard! You don’t need to go as close to the wing before it – you can send him to the wing after the tunnel , and that should keep you a bit further ahead to set the line to the TW with a bit of decel into it.
But overall he got really hard TWs with a tunnel right there – well done!!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
The cookies session here was great! Even in a new and distracting environment, he was super engaged – in fact, I think he really likes this game! The more he did it, the more pumped up he got. Fun! That is great he likes this because he is going to need this skill for his agility runs!
He did well responding to the sits and downs. You can also ask for tricks, or a couple of things in a row now, to add challenge!After the surgery, it might be fun to shape the retrieve so you can stay off your feet and still train him and keep his brain busy 🙂 We can also work on some verbal discriminations where you can stay off your feet and send to a wing or tunnel, and toss treats 🙂 Hubby can set stuff up for you 🙂 It will be fun and hopefully it will tire PoweR out too!
Great job here!
TracyTotally yes!! The reverse retrieve involves you running the other direction and he can chase you (and you can reward with a 2nd toy) so I think it will be a fun addition to the retrieve games!
T
Hi!
>Big news! Benni earned his NW3 Elite title on Saturday!!!!! Holy cow! It took us 8 trials to finish this. Some learning experiences along the way. So Brioche got lots of sniffaris.>
WOW!! That is awesome!!! It seems like he finished that title pretty quickly. Well done Team Benni!!!!!!!
Tunnel Threadle verbal:
He did really well here! It seems like his right turns were a little easier for him here than the left turns, but you were able to get lots of good left turns reps by being a little slower and very clear with the cues.To really solidify the verbal as an independent skill – try holding him by the collar, say the verbal 3 or 4 times… then let him go. The verbal and the arm movement were happening at the same time here, so he was highly likely to be processing the physical cue more than the verbal.
The double whammy went great!!
He got into a bit of a tunnel vortex (offering the tunnel before you were ready LOL!) so you can buy time to get ready by lining him up with a treat, or tossing a treat to the side so he is going to get it rather than offering tunnels 🙂His stay work is also going really well! I know you want the tight sit, but he didn’t like it when you poked his foot back in. So you can try lining him up at your side by having him start facing you then following your hand, turning around, then lining up at your side – that will help get a nice tight sit! You can also working the between-the-feet lineup you did towards the end!! That also promotes the tight sit. If he keeps popping his feet out in the sit, yo can have him checked to be sure he doesn’t need an adjustment or have a trigger point or ouchy that is restricting his tight sits.
He is holding his stay brilliantly!!! I am so proud of him!!! So now you can work the stays with a toy – he will be more excited so release or throw the reward back sooner so he doesn’t break. The toy and tugging becomes critical because he will be very excited in agility and we want this great stay to carry over to when he is really pumped up.
The last video with the sits had a good angle from the video – his back legs do tend to be a little wider than his hips in his natural stance, so the very tight sit is a little uncomfortable. Along with the sit training, core strengthening will probably help him hold everything in nice and tight! That can be stuff like stand to down, stand to sit (rollback and tuck sits), some balancing on an inflatable, etc. The way he is getting a more complete strengthening and can really help.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>He was a little flat to start, and there were some sniffy decompressions>
Maybe he was not as sure about driving fast with you facing him, at first? He was definitely thinking about what to do, both in terms of coming in to you and going over the bump. Plus, holding the sit took a lot of brain juice (he did really well!) so the little sniff diversions might have just been indicating that it was hard.
But like with the previous video, you made the toy really fun! And that helped him work through a relatively challenging game!!
>(although that last rep, he broke!) >
He stayed really well and yes, left the stay early on the last rep. To be sure he doesn’t think that the hand cue is the release, you can get into the threadle position, extend the hand… then either praise before you release with your threadle cue, or toss a reward back to him. It is possible that he thought the moment when you dipped your shoulder down was the release, even though you hadn’t said the word yet.
Great job!!!
Tracy
Hi!
>Can’t believe it’s been nearly a week. I’ve had a rough one with the old black dog of depression.
I am sorry, that is so hard! Sending love and support!
> And it looks like Edith’s clearance to start training again may have been the wrong call. VetPhysio is worried it’s disc disease. Need to get an xray. >
Ugh that sucks. I hope they get it sorted out ASAP and it is an easy answer.
>(I also just discovered an out of place toof on babby Barry – He’s gonna need braces!)>
Oh no! I do know of many dogs that have had braces and they do fine but still, I wish you and Barry didn’t need to deal with it!
>Also sorry your country is in such a place! Your recent elections give hope… but I cannot imagine your health insurance nightmare.>
Yeah… pretty much an epic disaster here that will take decades to undo. I don’t have to deal with the health insurance until December so I am refusing to even think about it at all. Part of what is happening with the disastrous government here is one section (minority section but hopefully strong enough) is holding out to be sure that the health insurance issue does not end up being as horrible as it looks.
I did look into moving to NZ! But it turns out the the NZ government really only wants either super rich (nope not me LOL) or in super useful professions (they don’t consider ‘dog agility’ to be super useful LOL!!). So if anyone wants to adopt an adult with 9 dogs, that might be my only chance LOL! 😂😝
He was a good boy with the tunnel here!
>At 1 min he was freaked out by something at my neighbour’s house (they were on their deck, behind the camera). He had a couple of moments where he was worried about the neighbour but by the end of the session he started looking for the tunnel I think.>
Yes, I see that something did worry him! A dog was barking in the background there so maybe he was picking up on something that the other dog was worried about too? Plus… adolescence 🙂 You will see on-and-off times where he is sensitive to things even if they are familiar things. But he worked through it really well and had a bunch of strong tunnel reps! You made the toy play fun fun fun and that really helped.
This tunnel looks like it is scrunched up to make it shorter for now – but I think he is also ready to see a longer tunnel!
Gret job!
Tracy
Hi!
>I believe he will tug in the parking lot as he’s done this before but will test it next week.>
Keep me posted! Are there any toys (like frisbees) that he is so wild for that the dirt might not be an issue?
Backside slices – he did great! He was finding the line to the backside really well on both sides. You can add in moving up the line to center of the bump and then eventually even further over to add a lot of independence. My only suggestion is to toss the reward a little closer to the entry barrel, almost over-exaggerating the placement so he curls around the barrel and look directly for the bump. The placement here was a little too parallel to the bump, which might end up sending him past it when you are building in more handling.
Threadle wraps: These went really well too! Once he turned his head away, he was really strong with zipping around the rest of the barrel especially to his left. The right side seemed a little harder but he was sorting that out really well too! You can start to add more motion into it, as long as you maintain the decel right before the hand cues to turn away.
Backing up is looking great! He is pretty straight and using his back feet really independently! Wow! Once you got past the first minute or so, he was not as straight: probably a bit of fatigue, so you can break things up every 2 oe 3 reps with a bit of tugging to allow the muscles to reset.
The next step is to get the plank moving a little, just a little tiny bit. It might be something like using this board and having a bunch of towels or mats under it, so it moves the tiniest bit when he backs up on it. Starting with barely imperceptible movement that might be too easy is better than surprising him with something too hard 🙂
On the foot targeting video:
>He seemed to be thinking about pivoting to start with.>
Ah yes, I can totally see his thought bubble: “Is this the pivot thing, human?” So you can start the session with a quick reward for front feet and the tossed treat, just to remind him that this object is what we move over and not pivot on. Then the rest will be easy to lock into the back feet, like you were doing by the end of the session.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>I had to review your verbals with mine to make sure I was using the right verbal for us. I use “in-in” for my threadle slice. Glad you had the class post with your verbals listed! >
Yes, sorry, my threadle verbals are backwards LOL 😂😜 most people use in in for their threadle slices – somehow it is my threadle wrap cue and I am too old to change it now LOL 😆😂
On the video: she figured this out really well!! The stay was super useful again, allowing you to set up the turn away and verbal – even when you started her further back! SUPER!!
Both sides went really well
When you added 2 barrels – the slight bit of decel really helped set up the turn away brilliantly. Both sides looked great here too! The first rep was her only question – and that might have been partly because she was surprised but also you didn’t decel on that rep so she was not expecting the turn away. All of the rest looked awesome!
>lost two of her teeth in our morning tug/play session. >
OMG! I did notice she was extra chewing LOL!! But she was game to keep working and playing!
Great job here!!!
Tracy
Hi!
He was a really good boy here, totally engaged even with big distractions!>Things we are working on- coming into the building. I came in the main door ( not the normal one he uses) and worked some patterns. He is having some squeals when other dogs are working on the floor so I need to work this more then the tunnels if ya know what I mean lol!>
Patterns are helpful! For when other dogs are running or in the tunnel, you can try a pattern game with amazing food, or you can even try to get him to tug!
>He’s still having a hard time with when he should run to the people friends and when we should go to the ring to work. But I’m just redirecting for now.>Try playing the stealth self-control games and adding people as the exciting things and the ‘slices’. That will really help!
Threadle slices: The stays really help here because you were able to set up your position and have a clear release. Click/treat for you! The next step would be to have a reward target on the ground to replace the cone and cookie throw: You can have an empty bowl to toss the treat into, or leave a toy on the ground (and use a marker like ‘get it’ to indicate he can go to it.
My only suggestion is to break this session up with tugging and partying instead of doing cookies for all of those reps in a row 🙂 That can also be a great way to incorporate the toy on the ground as a reward – he looks ready for it!
>Our theeadle wrap not good. I can’t get him to come to me and not just seek the barrel. I’ll video next time for sure!!>
Video please! It was probably lack of clarity of the cue or it was late (he was already locked onto the barrel. Video tells all!
>Loving him so much. Loving working with the dog in front of me, which we always say but I really am with him because he’s so different to me. He’s so smart he makes me see him and chill!>
This is great! These boy dogs really worm their way into our hearts 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
>Tried tugging again and she’s more interested in rubbing her panties off. She’ll interact, but not much tugging.>
The panties are distracting, plus there are construction noises and other people and hormones… so you can be more active with the toy! When you did get it moving for her to chase, she engaged! But when you were squiggling it in front of her, it was not as fun. You can attach it to a really long toy and get her chasing/pouncing/grabbing 🙂
She did well with the circles at your side – maybe a little better on your left side, where you are both more comfy perhaps! You can toss the treat ahead of you after the full circle so she can drive out of the turn. She did like the U-turns with the tossed treats! Just remember to have your hand low and slow to decelerate her into the turn 0 when you were too fast, she didn’t know a turn was coming. But when you decelerated and had your hand nice and low, she read the turns really well!
She really likes the barrel, offering it right away! The low and slow hand movement worked best here too – when you did that: perfect! If you were a little too fast, she didn’t quite turn away as well – but most of the reps were low and slow so she was great. And as soon as her head turned away, she knew to zip around the barrel the rest of the way. Yay!!
You can break this up with tugging too – either dragging the toy on a long line to chase, or having her chase you for cookies. That breaks things up in a fun way and keeps the excitement level really high.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
Tunnel threadle session: She did well overall here! Good girl! Because there were good hard distractions for the tunnel threadle session (not just the normal people & puppy distractions, but also the construction noises in the background) – you will want to start from an easy angle and use high value rewards. Higher value than normal (and use a reset reward even if it is not perfect like when she ran around the tunnel at the beginning) will help break through the challenges in the environment.
For the barrel wraps – it took her a moment to figure it out but then she was getting it by the end! And same with the other side. So for both sides: You can add in a warm up: turning her away on the flat, and going around the barrel. Then if she can do both separately, add them together. For this game too, especially with the tossed treats: super high value (like cheese yum!) and tug breaks will help her stay engaged throughout the session.
Nice work here!!Tracy
Yes! The pattern games are a huge piece of dealing with the distractions and motion of the other dogs, especially in flyball. Getting her really good at them at home is the way to start, followed by going to different environments and trying them as far from the ring as possible with incredibly high value food – I started this with rotisserie chicken 🙂
Let me know how it goes!
TracyHi!
> she couldn’t seem to figure it out>
When a pup is adamant about a behavior and keep doing it even not really being rewarded for it, we try to figure out what is cueing it unintentionally. I think 2 things were happening here:
On the first side, it looks like most of you was visible between the uprights so only your hand was outside of the upright – that could be what was cueing her to go over the jump rather than threadle. So be sure you are mostly visible outside the wing – and you can put wings on the jump to move you over even more, so you definitely are not between the uprights at all.
On the other side, you were definitely not too much between the uprights, but I think your position was cueing her to go the front (feet/hips/shoulders). Most of your body was facing the target/front side of the jump and even with the extended arm, the body position overrode that. She was having to decide if she should follow feet/hips/center of chest, or arm: feet/hips/chest will win out at this stage.
So to help get the body position supporting the threadle line more: as you into the position, face her fully (including your feet and hips and shoulders, and extend the arm – then slightly rotate your feet towards the reward target. That will point your feet the right direction but will keep your shoulders/hips supporting the line better (and probably won’t feel as twisted :))
> I decided to see how her sit stay was coming along. She was brilliant!>
The stays worked great here! She was SO GOOD!!!!!! You can mix in throwing rewards back to her to help maintain the brilliant stay. The stays did make it easier but I think opening up the physical cue will really seal the deal and make it all easier.
Nice work here!
Tracy
