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Good morning! It is always good to get a little something done with the puppies š He was a happy dude to be playing!!!
>>And I realize this camera angle doesnāt show the increased distance between the obstacles but youāll just have to trust me on that. Ha! >>
LOL!!! I will trust you š
This tunnel rocking horses went really well. You can point less at the wing and the tunnel, and connect/move through it more – you were doing that when he was on your right heading to the tunnel (running, saying tunnel, connecting) and he was great! The further ahead you get, the more you will want to emphasize big connection by putting your arm waaaay back to him to open up your shoulder.
Another thing to add in is rewarding LOTS of sits (not just stays, but the immediate sits) because it looks like sitting got harder as the running got more exciting.
>>What should I do next if I donāt have more room to put in two obstacles? Shorten the tunnel to like just a few feet or something?>>
Yes, you can shorten the tunnel up a bit more to make more room. And, you can try to send and leave sooner with the wing. Or, lead out less and see if you can send him ahead of you to the wing from the tunnel exit – that will be a fun challenge!
Countermotion: This is also going well!
A small tweak: start with yourself very close to the barrel, your back almost touching it. That will simulate what he will see when we add in the advanced level. You were starting closer to him, which is a useful skill (and he did really well!) but you can also show him the picture of you starting right at the wing.For the most part, you were indeed on Team Chill and the reps went well! He had a little trouble if you turned your head forward too soon, so as you add more motion be sure to keep looking behind you to the landing spot as you move forward. On the blooper moments at 1:20, 2:34 and 3:33, you sent and turned your head forward before he got past you so he didn’t commit. If you move forward like you did, but keep your connection supporting him by looking behind you til he jumps (and your arm can stay back too) then I think he will have an easier time committing as you add more motion.
And, to keep the commitment strong – throw the reward so it lands as close to the barrel as possible – you did that on some reps but on a lot of reps, the toy or treat was nearer to you. As you add more motion, we want to keep the barrel value very high and the rewards placed right near it will help that.
And with adding more motion in mind… I think you can do fewer reps, all with a toy, and add a bit more motion. You did a lot of reps that were very identical here and with food rewards… so by the end he was very chill and perhaps a little bored LOL so he was just trotting through it. He was in fire early on with the toy – so do maybe 4 or 5 reps with the toy rather than 20 with treats. The skill will build faster with the toy when he is on fire for it, and then he will be fresh and spicy for the whole session.
Decel game:
Looking really nice! Yes, he was leaving the stays a little early (possibly anticipating as you arrived in position at the wing) so do lots of going to the wing and throwing the reward back to him.
When you are doing the extension, you can add in running – he will like that š And with the decels, be stationary before the release so he knows that it is a decel – at :31 you walked into it and there was only motion forward, no decel, so he as not entirely sure if he should collect or go straight. When you were stationary, he did a great job organizing himself for the collection. Yay!
For this game – use more toys too š The cookies were a little too meditative for you both LOL!!! A short session with a toy that ends with your both being out of breath is perfect!Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>
Iām sitting here laughing at my inability to visualize the exercise ā if there are not 2 wings and Iām not running, I have a serious inability to do these exercises! I think thatās why I get all messed up in the rocking horse games.>>Ha! That is funny! I mean, it was a really good session and she totally read the cues… but they were indeed backsides LOL! You have full permission to do the game with 2 wings now – she has figured out the concepts really well so you can add the other wing back.
This session went really well! She had no questions about the commitment at all. She wants to shape her line into the turn, meaning swing out a bit before reaching the bump. That might be that you are so close to the takeoff spot. So, you can move over to the outer edge of the wing to give her the feeling of jumping right where the bump and wing meet. And you can use a tug toy in your hand now, so she wants to get closer to you and drive in hard to you.
I think that when a bar comes into the picture, she will shape her line less and dig into the collection more. She is old enough to see the bar – remind me what she has done over bars so far? Ideally, we would do this with a low bar “locked” into the jump cups (inserting the the open end of the bar into the jump cup, so the bar doesn’t displace). I like locking in the bar to start so the pups can sort out the collection organization, without potentially knocking the bar. If you do the rental before you Masters class, you can try this with the locked in bar!Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>> Iāve done some jump grids with low cars, but not a lot.
Low cars? That sounds dangerous LOL! Just kidding – damn autocorrect LOL!
>>She should be fine to try 4 in.
Perfect! I like locking the bars in to get the behavior developing with having to even think about what to do if she drops. the bar (because she can’t drop a bar LOL!)
>>I was tossing the toy on the extension towards the brand new iPad on the tripod. Not brilliant planning. >>
iPads and tripods have an almost magnetic draw, we are great at throwing things at them accidentally and somehow are aim is AMAZING when throwing at the tripod LOL!
>>Iām not able to move sandbags just yet. So, Iāll so I the tunnel in the off weeks.
Sounds good! No rush on the tunnel games, they will be really easy and fun for her.
On the video:
She is doing really well here! Her commitment AND collection are developing really nicely – on the 3rd rep on the left wraps at the beginning (:17ish) she mad a really nice adjustment by lowering her head, organizing the collection, and wrapping tighter. Nice!
She was shaping the turn differently on the right side wraps – I wonder if you were a bit too close to where the bump meets the bar so she was widening her line to go around you? You can try moving more to the outer edge of the wing on those – that is where you were when you were moving around the wing in the next part of the session and her turns there were terrific. When you were moving along what landing side of the wing and releasing when you passed it, she was not shaping her line in either direction and was nice and tight on the turn (and had lovely commitment).>>Iām not sure if she lost focus or was stressed on the one rep where she ate grass. What do you think? I donāt think I over did it.>>
This was at 1:28. I watched it a few times to see if there was a change in your connection or anything weird in your release or motion… I didn’t see anything. Good mechanics! And she was working at a nice high rate of reinforcement (100% on the skill in this video). So either there was legit something on the ground that drew her focus for some reason (a dropped treat, or who knows what :)) or she was a little bored with the limited motion LOL!! It did not appear to be a typical stress response that we see when the dog is frustrated or worried or getting punished,
She did finish strong on the last reps – did you have a big tug session in between? My guess leans towards that she was a little bored with lack of motion and repeating the same thing a lot. I mean, you didn’t do thousands of reps but I think you can add more motion after maybe 2 reps on each side. Good to know LOL so you can up the ante on the criteria sooner by adding more motion sooner. You were really good with walking through this so try walking for one rep on each side in the next session, then go to faster walking… then jogging…. and so on. She might have a failure mixed in but the stimulation of the “ooh, mom is going faster!” is likely to be really fun for her, even if she is more at 90% rate of reinforcement as opposed to “mom is walking again” and 100% rate of reinforcement.Let me know if that makes sense! It is pretty fun to have her want to have more action š How did Gemma do on the decel game with the bar?
Nice work here š
TracyGood morning!
>>Changing the Yes Marker is not going to happen. I am very aware when on course to not sure it at inappropriate times, and if I do I fully expect the dog to leave what they are doing and come towards me.>>
Totally understandable that changing it is not going to happen š In theory, I never ever say it on course. In reality, I say it more than I ever realize LOL! I think the confusion about coming to us or staying on the line only happens when they are young – as soon as they get some experienced, they say “oh, she said it again but she wants me to keep going” LOL!!!
>>It was actually a fitness prop that we had just worked on rather than the bed that he was being drawn to on the one end. About 1/2 way through the session I went and relocated it. Lol.>>
ha! Good boy! And it will make for a nice discrimination game in the training room š
On the video:
HOORAY FOR AN ENTIRE SESSION WITH A TOY! HAPPY DANCE!VERY smart training to get him rolling with the flirt pole and yes, he loved it!!! Chasing it was fun for him and there was no pressure of you having to lean over with a smaller toy.
And heck yes, you need a 3rd arm to work with the flirt pole but it is totally worth it – his speed and engagement looked amazing! He has always been fast on this game, but the toy play took him to being explosive – very cool to see here. Yay baby dog!
The hardest part of using it looked to be getting connection on the left turn exits while also holding the flirt pole. He was driving a little wide here because he couldn’t entirely see your connection/side info, because you were holding the flirt pole. You sorted it out, though, and nailed it at 1:32ish – your left shoulder was back, he could see the connection, and had a great turn (it looks like it was easier on the right turn exits, wing further from the camera). And then when you went to the smaller toy – gorgeous work, MUCH easier to make the connections and move on those last 2 reps. YAY!!!
The other challenge for him with the toy is him learning to ignore it til asked to get it – we want to balance the self-control of that with continuing to build up the toy play like you’ve been doing, so with the flirt pole: you can do simple reps like send to one wing, with the toy kind of dangling right there. He will quickly figure out that in order to get the beloved flirt pole to move, he needs to ignore it and drive to the wing. Then the process can be expanded into a couple of wraps in a row with the rocking horses with the flirt pole right there and then do the same with the regular toy. By doing that, you will have an easier time holding the toys – they can be visible and dangling a bit and he can ignore them. It looked like part of the question with the flirt pole in particular was that he REALLY wanted it and when it ws very visible, he had a harder time leaving it for the wing… but you can’t exactly scrunch it up in your hand š and it is hard to move with it behind your back LOL! So, up-close and easy sends with it very visible will help solve that and make the mechanics much easier…. without dampening any of this gorgeous toy drive.
Great job here – I am loving that you are building terrific wing commitment & speed, along with the toy play – all in a more distracting location. Wonderful!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>Will try this first I think as I havenāt retried the rocking horse with food yet but when I did the 360 with food and walking during the one online group session she did much better with not pushing the barrel out of the way.>>
Yes! I remember she was really smooth with food. I think that is going to be our best approach for now: wrap, food, tug. As she gets into footing with more grip, and as we get the wings involved, you might be able to use the toy more but truthfully – it is fine if you use food then toy forever because she is happy, she is fast, and it balances her state of arousal really nicely!
>>That side is actually the side with all the room on it and nothing on the floor to crowd her either, so itās food for all barrel work for a bit and slow speed on my part. I do also think it is her weaker side as this seems to be the direction she is more likely to do the pushing.>>
Yes – if there was no pressure from, say, a wall there – it is just that either that side is harder for her to organize without rushing, or she was more stimulated because it was later in the session? Try that side first next session and see what she does. And time is on our side – she is really young so you can totally keep working on these games without worrying about more speed. Then when spring arrives and the snow melts, she will be at just the right age for more challenge š
Tracy
Hi – sorry for the delay!
All of the course info is here on the Course Syllabus page:On the right side of the page, you will see 3 sections under Course Syllabus:
* Getting Ready
* Recordings, Demos and PDFs of LIVE Seminar
* Bonus Games and List Of VerbalsClick on any of those, and you will see a drop down of gold-colored links. Click on the link with. the content you want to see, and the info will come up on a new page.
If you have any trouble seeing it, email us at support@agility-u.com . As an independent study class, we don’t monitor this forum but the email is monitored closely.
Thanks!
TracyGood morning!
>>Tried doing a little of this on the backside exits when she started doing the same thing, had some success but I was probably still off a bit. Forgot the suggestion to toss to the landing spot, will try that next time.
The other option is to reward with food then bring the toy out, so she doesnāt rehearse pushing the wings to get to the toy.
Decel video
The stays and the extensions look good! She is also starting to get the hand of the decels – you can see (and hear!) her slowing down to make the turns – each rep got better and better with more organized collection, turning her head to the turn, and jumping closer to the turn wing.
On the extensions, you can lead out less and run forward more rather than walk, just to make a sharper contrast.
For the decels, you can move to a pool noodle or bump, something that is bigger to help her organize even more.Countermotion exits: The right turns went really well, you had a really nice balance of calm toys drops in just the right spot. I donāt think she touched the barrel at all on those.
She was touching the barrel more on the left – was that a smaller space on that side? Even when you didnāt drop the toy, she was pushing the barrel. So – on the left turn side, give her lots of room so she doesnāt feel any pressure from the environment and use food rewards. She is understanding the countermotion element, so we can really work on the ādonāt touch the barrelā element there too. I donāt think you did anything weird or different with the toy, so it was either a smaller space, a weaker side, or she was more stimulated so she pushed the barrel more – or all of the above LOL!Advanced level:
The left turns were first here and we did get some barrel pushing, but a little less than the previous level (probably because you were moving more slowly).
You also got some barrel pushing on the right side if you praised rather than just dropped the reward, so letās emphasize the mechanics and reward markers/placement:
For now, use food on this – the toy is getting barrel pushing on at least half of the reps to the left and a couple to the right (ideal percentage is zero LOL!) so I think using food will be better – less stimulating to chase and you wonāt need to be perfect. So, toss a treat to reward and then she can play after eating the treat.
And, rather than toss the treat near you on the exit line, toss it more to the landing side of the jump. The physical cue here is so strong that I donāt worry about wide turns – the treat tossed to the landing side will help her look there and assess the bar and wing, rather than look at where you are going. And looking at the bar/wing will help with the jumping effort in the future.And, is you can get 2 sessions of moving slowly using food and no pushing of the barrelsā¦ you can start adding more motion š
>>Had a question about the video for this game ā at about 1:55 were Voodoo is doing the backside serp you have your offside arm up. Was wonderirng what that was for?>>
Good eye! Voodoo lives his life driving towards me as fast as possible. So, to get the really independent backside pushes without having to step to the backside (I cannot afford the time to slow down and step the backside, I need to keep running), I cue the backside slices with an outside arm. Works like a charm! It is pretty common in Europe. And gives me a ton of independence so I can just keep moving.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Your position on the decels was greatā¦ for a backside send š She was going around the back of the wing then over the bump. On the first side, she had a clear view of the wing. O the 2nd side, you were blocking the wing almost entirely, so move over more so she can see almost the whole wing. When rewarding the backsides, you can remain facing forward and just toss the toy to the landing side, rather than turn to face the bar – that way she will take the jump on the backside on her own and not need any handling help for that element of it.
To get the front side decels, be right t the wing like you were here, but face the other way: so at the beginning, your left hip was on the wing and your back was too the bar. To get the front side, you would put your right hip on the wing and face the bar. (And vice versa for the other side to get the front sides).
The extensions looked great, she was moving in extension on the center of the bar. Yay!
The lateral lead outs do look great! My only suggestion is to use your leg on the send as well as your arm – it didnāt make a difference here at all because he commitment to the barrel is really strong, but as you add more distance, the leg step will help. You did use your leg on the last rep and that is what will help as you get further and further away.
>>Iām kind of out of space, so if I should add more distance, Iāll need to go elsewhere. I thinking about renting some space on Tuesday before my masters class to get back to some of the rocking horse games and tunnel games.
That is a great idea! That will give her more space to dig in and do the bigger games, and I think she will like that š
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Your position on the decels was greatā¦ for a backside send š She was going around the back of the wing then over the bump. On the first side, she had a clear view of the wing. O the 2nd side, you were blocking the wing almost entirely, so move over more so she can see almost the whole wing. When rewarding the backsides, you can remain facing forward and just toss the toy to the landing side, rather than turn to face the bar – that way she will take the jump on the backside on her own and not need any handling help for that element of it.
To get the front side decels, be right t the wing like you were here, but face the other way: so at the beginning, your left hip was on the wing and your back was too the bar. To get the front side, you would put your right hip on the wing and face the bar. (And vice versa for the other side to get the front sides).
The extensions looked great, she was moving in extension on the center of the bar. Yay!
The lateral lead outs do look great! My only suggestion is to use your leg on the send as well as your arm – it didnāt make a difference here at all because he commitment to the barrel is really strong, but as you add more distance, the leg step will help. You did use your leg on the last rep and that is what will help as you get further and further away.
>>Iām kind of out of space, so if I should add more distance, Iāll need to go elsewhere. I thinking about renting some space on Tuesday before my masters class to get back to some of the rocking horse games and tunnel games.
That is a great idea! That will give her more space to dig in and do the bigger games, and I think she will like that š
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
OMG! I have done the iPad splat on more than on occasion and it stinks! I am glad you are back in action. Ask me about the time I ran over my android phone, though, and it was perfectly fine LOL!!!
I think she has mastered the ācatchā reinforcement LOL! She was happy to stay there and let the toy come to her š
The decels look really good – she is doing exactly what we want, by changing her approach to the jump to make a turn rather than go straight. And she is doing it on the takeoff side, which is also what we want. YAY!
If my math is correct, she just had her one year birthday. Has she seen a jump bar yet, either at home or at an in-person class somewhere? I want to give her a bar to go over on this game, in a way that will be very successful. If she has seen a bar to jump, you can add it here by locking it into the jump cups (sticking the jump cup through the open end of the bar so it cannot displace). And the height can be 4 inches to start.
If she has not yet seen a bar, do the lock-in at 4 inches and play the parallel path game, where she finds the jump and you throw the reward straight, just to introduce the concept.The goal of the super low bar is to give her a little more stride organization challenge in the collection versus extension. 4 inches will be really easy, then we can go to 8 inches (and leave it there for a while, with minimal training over bars, because she is still really young).
On the extensions – she was totally in the decel zone on the first one, expecting to wrap so she adjusted at the last minute. The other extensions looked great though – center of the bar and fast-moving. Yay! You can throw the reward sooner on those, so she doesnāt look at you at all – as soon as you see her driving towards the center of the bar, toss it straight and long (and you can run on these too, she will like that!)
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! I am glad things are getting back to normal!!
This session is going really well! He did better on the first side (dog on left) as you mentioned – on that side, you slowed down the tiniest bit right before the release so nowā¦ keep moving on that side the whole time.
The other side was much harder for him indeed! I would do 2 things in the next session on that side:
– do āregularā serps as a warm up for a few reps, to refresh the value of going over the bar. These were serps with the countermotion exit, which is harder so a couple of regular serps will get things start nicely.
Then, show him the exit exercise where you are indicating the landing spot while you add the countermotion (rather than doing the whole serp).
If he can do the regular serps and the step-backs to show the countermotionā¦ then put them back together.>>irst time was a lot of standing still.
Yes, and that helped! We donāt want you to stand still in that position, so add the motion in the regular serps and separate the countermotion. As soon as he seems comfy, you can put them back together
Great job here! Fingers crossed for warm weather ahead so you can take this outside š
TracyGood morning!
The tunnel rocking horses ate going well! On the first couple of reps where you did tunnel-wing. That looked really strong – you were timing the wing wrap cues nicely, his tunnel commitment looked good and he had a good stay! Nice!!!
When you added tunnel-wing-tunnel, there was a little blooper after the wing. – you got too excited LOL!!!! You said āyesā instead f connecting and saying tunnel, so he came to you. You fixed that by connecting more after the wing and cuing the tunnel. Yay! He is also starting to find the line on his own later in the video, which is really cool and takes off some of the pressure to be perfect in connection. Very nice! And adding the MM as the reward works too, it is definitely a challenge to ignore the MM the whole time and he was great! The next step would be to add more distance between the wing and the tunnel if you have enough room.Serp countermotion:
>>I was pretty much only brave enough this time to do the throw back without adding the countermotion yet. >>
That is fine, it was a really strong first session! The hardest part of this game would be the mechanics and you were being really clear with them, so it is a big win!
Nice job with the reward placement, releases and so on – you were definitely looking more comfy on the first side (left arm) than on the 2nd side (right arm) but the right side was correct. You did have a little countermotion starting on the first side!
So yes, continue as you did and start adding a little countermotion. 2 things that I think will help –
Look at him directly while he is in the stay, then when you release and indicate the landing side, you can shift your connection to look behind you (you were looking a little away from him at the releases, and letting him see you shift connection to the landing spot will help support him as you add motion.And, when you step back , try to just step back and not lean back. So you might feel like you are leaning forward a little, and that is correct – just the arm and the leg step back because that will be easier to then start moving forward.
Lateral lead out:
Good job with the stay rewards! Having a good stay has been super useful in all of these games!>>how much motion or cue I was supposed to use,>>
On the release, ideally only one step to send and that is pretty much what you were doing. Super! He seemed to have no trouble committing to the barrel on the release. One thing to be careful of is that you line up his feet to face the barrel – that makes the send harder. You noticed it here towards the end and he still got the commitment, but as you add distance away from the barrel you can have him facing the barrel more.
Everything else looked really good so onwards to the next step: you can lead out more laterally away from the barrel to add distance šSimple decel:
He did really well here too!
Only one little detail: Your position can be more on the takeoff side of the towel bar, in front of the barrel. The more parallel to the barrel you are, the wider he will turn. So you can stand in front of it, with your back mostly to him (you can be a little angled towards him to make connection) and your belly button almost touching the barrel.The extensions were a good contrast – note how on the wraps he was on the side of the towel bar next to the barrel, and on the extensions, he was on the center of the bar – this is exactly what we want. He was looking at you a little bit on the extensions, so you can throw the reward sooner (before he even gets to the bar) to keep him looking straight.
>>Feel like weāre almost doing real agility now.
Yes!!!! When the snow melts, he will basically be doing real agility. He is transferring the concepts really quickly and it is so fun to see!! Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
Wow, the reverse retrieves looked great! She was fast both directions and brought the toy right back. I think on the 3rd rep, the timing of it gave her less room to get past you. The last rep was better, more room land a little less motion so she did well. I am really excited about how youāve shaped her to bring the toy – think back to when she had a lot of party-of-one with it and now she is great with bringing it back and very little taking off!Lateral lead outs –
Good job with the play and the stay rewards! She was a good girl to bring the toy to you as well! She had questions on the first couple of reps: at
1:00 and 1:15, you can point less at the barrel, and point a little more towards where the takeoff spot would be, a couple of steps before the barrel. That can keep your shoulders/chest pointing to the barrel because when you pointed to the barrel, it turned your chest past it (which is why she came inside and turned to her left at 1:14, smart girl!
Moving closer to it definitely helped and then she had it after that. Her left turn side (dog on right) seemed naturally better (or she transferred the concept easily on that side) so you can start on that side next session as you add more distance away from the barrel.>>She did push the barrel out of the way a far bit on one of them. Will have to watch as if she keeps doing that we switch to wings correct?>>
Do you meant at 2:35 (last rep)? I think that was more about the toy being offered to early in an exciting way: when she sees the toy come out early on as she gets to the barrel, she stops going around it and just goes to the toy (which might mean pushing the barrel). So try to mark quietly and hold the toy til she is past it, presenting it more calmly for now – it is definitely something to consider as she starts to learn jumping and using wings. You can also Toss the toy to the ālandingā spot to help her look forward and not drive through the barrel to you š and that will also help when you add more distance between you and the barrel.
Decel Game:
Excellent catch on the first rep LOL!
She does best when you call her for the retrieves here, those looked good!>>Only did the one side as it didnāt feel like there was really much decel happening on her side of things so I wanted you to see before I do the other side in case I should adjust anything.>>
She did well with the decel – it didnāt look like tight collection because there was no jumping involved, but she did a great job of figuring out the turn.
The first decel was normal, she was a bit surprised and a little wide. But then the 2nd rep and 3rd rep and all the decaes after we really good, she had the idea – she was shaping her line to make the turn, which is great!
If you look at where she was over the bar, like at 1:49, she was turning to the wrap wing and that is what we want (we donāt want her looking straight or being over center of the bar on the decels). She she starts seeing this with an actual jumping effort required, you will see more hind end shift and collection. She might make that collection at the edge of the bar, or she might shape her line to be just as tight but without as much collection – either way is fine. I have one dog that does the collection, and one dog that shapes her line like a race car – they are basically equal in speed and both set up great turns. The race car dog does not look tightā¦ but her course times are incredibly fast and she is gentle on her body by shaping her lines, so I am happy with the race car approach LOL
So keep going with this, add the other side. You wonāt want to give her an actual bar to jump for a while longer so she might end up shaping her line for a while longer (which is perfectly fine). And be sure to mix in lots of straight lines with you moving so she feels the difference.
>>Not sure about doing the rocking horse game with the tunnel in the basement given the speed that could mean she gets into combined with the turns around the wing/barrel. Thoughts?>>
Yes, I agree – I am pretty sure you have a ton of snow on the ground, but do you have access to any of the indoor locations? The tunnel rocking horses are super fun but they are high speed and you will want to have plenty of room and great footing.
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>More Hallmark moments! Yes, itās still hard not to look for the obstacles. Iāll play with this more as itās really fun.>>
Glad yo are having fun! I think you two look great! And yes – more connection early on when they are baby dogs helps. The style of training though, is intended to reduce the amount of connection needed and increase independent commitment because, well… the biggest handling error that we ALL make is breaking connection š And that dogs are happy to learn to commit to things when we disconnect so I have definitely shifted a lot of emphasis to “please commit even if my connection is poopy” haha! So far, the dogs are happy to do so š
The lateral lead outs look great! You already had a good stay happening, so this adds in a little more excitement to it (no problem, says Sprite!) and she was happy to get cookies tossed to her – she is even showing some understanding of ‘catch’ by staying there and leaning back a little in anticipation of the cookie!
And, the release and send to the cone was super easy for her. Not surprising at all – your mechanics were very clear: connection, arm, leg, position, verbal release all spot on. So the good mechanics plus cone value made for a great session. Yay! Indoors, you can transfer this to a wing. And, if you are able to get this outdoors, add more distance laterally away from the cone or wing (using whichever one you think is higher value at the moment – the wing will be pretty high value at this point!)Great job!!!!! Keep me posted on how it goes with more distance outdoors and with the wing!
Tracy
