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Hi! The rocking horses are going well here!
The first couple of FCs as a warm up went really well! Funny, just as I was thinking that maybe you should have the barrels a little further apart, you went and moved them further apart at :16 LOL!
All of the reps looked really strong, there was really only one moment where she had a question:
Freeze the video at :44 – you lost the connection while she was still behind you when you pointed forward, so she thought you wanted a blind and tried to adjust but ended up running into you.Compare it to :55 and :58 which were both lovely connections so she had no questions. Yay! It feels a little counterintuitive, but you definitely want to watch her as you send rather than look forward to the barrel.
She really likes the turn and burn exits and went right to the toy after all the cookies! That was exciting to see and also a great way to keep the toy as part of it even when using treats.
She had a little trouble ignoring the toy when you reached for it on the last rep, so you can have it squished up in your hand the whole time – and then she can learn to ignore it right there in your hand and still commit, which will make it easier to carry the toy to reward when you are working sequencing and stuff.
Great job here!! Let me know what you think!
TracySo true! That is why we teach concepts at this point – we need to let their bodies grow up. When they are fully grown, it is totally easy to transfer concepts to coursework 🙂
T
Good morning! I spent my day off doing the UKI at home trial with Contraband – working on some US Open bye stuff since I can’t get to a lot of trials. He just kept nailing it so we we got 6 clear rounds on Friday and Saturday LOL! He is fine, I am exhausted now. Ha!
>>To get her better grip to dig in on the rocking horse, I could do a ring rental and work on the rocking horse and revisit some of the tunnel game.
Perfect!
On the serp video:
She did really well on this session – I think the hardest part of her was NOT being sticky for the dish on the ground 🙂 She definitely liked the toy better and the toy on the ground was an excellent challenge for the harder angles! She did really well – a couple of little questions that she answered herself quite nicely. My only suggestion here it that you should be closer to the jump – she didn’t really have to make a 2n turn to get to the reward, which means you were too far from the jump. So you can put the reward in closer to the foot of the jump upright and you can be close enough to touch the upright with your hand and a relaxed arm with a slightly bent elbow (no fully extended arm or fingertip touching lol). That will challenge her to bend in for that 2nd turn on the serp. There is handler pressure for that so she might ‘offer’ skipping around it to the toy LOL!If she can do this with you closer and standing still, we can begin to add motion! Keep me posted on how she does with you closer.
Nice work here!!!
TracyI think slanted might be too hard of a visual to get started with for her – you can take pop cans and kind of crunch them so there is a ‘v’ in the middle – then take weave poles and set them in the pop cans as a ladder. Let me know if that makes sense. Weave poles are a bit skinnier than jump bars so will work better for ladder work. And the pop cans (or soda cans, depending on what you call them where you are LOL!) can elevate each side of the weave pole just enough and hold them steady so they don’t roll around under her.
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Hooray for the Manners Minder (or Treat N Train or whatever it is called now LOL!)
>>as I’m still shopping, I’m curious regarding PVC ladders versus the cavelletis cones versus just doing low jumps, that I already have.
Ladders and cavalettis are slightly different – but you can set up the cavalettis to be close like ladders to get the trotting going (if your cavalettis have relatively wide bars). If you don’t have a ladder, I don’t suggest buying one so you can use the cavalettis. I definitely do not recommend doing this with low jumps with puppies – puppies can be ‘scattered’ with their feet and end up touching the ladders or cavalettis, so I don’t want them touching the jump bars. Also, the mechanics of approaching a jump bar are different, so we want to keep the trotting for ladders or cavalettis.
>>I am planning a running a frame-need to make a box for the game. And doing 2o2o on DW.>>
Sounds good!! And sounds like you have a playground set up so she can practice all sorts of planks and wobble board games 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
>>For the tunnel threadles I use ‘me me me’. I’ll assume there will be a game on adding that so will wait for that to come up,
Week 9 is the official adding-of-the-verbal game 🙂
Both videos looked great – it looked a lot more ‘hands-free’ and she was more relaxed and focused on the game. Super!
The sending went really well!! She was immediately able to do this from more distance, it was pretty impressive how quickly you could move away from the barrel!At :48 she missed the connection and ended up on the wrong side of you, so an extra heartbeat of connection will fix that like you did on the other reps. Her right turns were a bit harder here so don’t be as quick to leave for the FC on those, face the barrel for a little longer – that was most helpful to her here (and on the next video too). When you were more patient, she was pretty darned perfect!
Decel reps (2nd video) – normally her left turns are really strong so she definitely was looking at something in the furnace room! Her right turns looked great here – you were patient and connected, she looked great. Very zippy around the barrel and really digging in for the turns! She is also giving you feedback about your timing of the decel:
At :34, you were late on the decel, starting it as she was arriving at your leg but she was already committed to going straight. Compare to :42 where you started your decel as she exited the barrel – perfect! She was able to drive right to you (and it looks like she did super well ignoring the distraction on the ground!)Since these went so nicely, you should move to the rocking horses games 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning! Hope you had a good holiday!
Lots of good things here! Some ideas for you!
Shaping the uprights and the bigger object (mop bucket LOL!) –
She seems happy to offer the behavior now, so you can wait on the cookie drops. You were doing them early, so now hold back in the timing: let her offer and then plop the cookie into the bowl. Be sure you have your cookies ready – each time you reached over to get the back, she stopped to watch your hands. So have 5 or 6 cookies in your hands then when there are no more, break off, play tug, have a moment to reset. That way when she offers, you are ready with the reward (she did some good offers but you weren’t ready here)I noticed she is on leash here and in the backing up video: unless she can escape the building or something, take the leash off 🙂 Yes, she might leave you but as long as it is safe and she won’t run off somewhere – her decision to leave (if she does that) is a reflection on the rate of reinforcement. So, giving the pup the opportunity to opt out will shape up your mechanics really quickly and that is great info from the pup at this stage 🙂
Plus, she won’t get the leash tangled in the upright if she is not wearing 🙂Next step here for both is to get you standing up. Stay close when you do that – then add a tiny bit of distance. After she can do it with you standing and with maybe an arm’s length worth of distance, you can move to the next games which involve sending.
Discs/goat games – she seemed very happy to walk around on the discs! Nice! You can squeeze more things together so she has a bigger play area to get all her feet on – with only 2 discs, she really has to compress so 3 or 4 items will help get all feet on the things. That way you can really isolate her back feet – I think she didn’t quite have enough room here to get all 4 feet on. She is getting big 🙂
One thing with the disc game here and the wing wrapping above – be sure to mix in lots of tugging before, during and after the cookie sessions! That will help keep her really engaged and will also help the retrieve.
Speaking of the retrieve – I am not sure why she was uninterested in the toy in the first video – it looks like she was more interested in chewing both toys and not as interested in tugging on them? It could be that she is in a chewing stage, or maybe she was just in a chill time of day. So the real question is – how is her tugging going in general? I think strengthening the tugging will definitely help with the retrieve. On the next video, standing was definitely better – possibly different time of day but it was better tugging for sure! And she was lifting it towards you, moving to towards you, and that is a great start! I think strengthening playing with you in general will help, so feel free to post more videos that have tug in them so we can sort that out (there is one below, I have some ideas for you there too)
You can also shape the retrieve as a trained behavior (more on that in the Week 5 games) both on toys and on other things like bumpers or dumbbells.Backing up – take the leash off here too 🙂 Let her freedom give you feedback on your rate of reinforcement (again, if she has access to the great outdoors or anything unsafe, leave the leash on but it if it safe – take it off). Good tugging to start! Keep that toy lower so she can pull back on and really get engaged with it. You were lifting the toy really high, so she had a hold of it but she but you are lifting the toy high and not really tugging so she is having trouble engaging with it.
When you were having her use the platform – you were too far away, you caught yourself and moved back, good catch! I think the platform is a good thing for her – she has a good value for it so you can start with all 4 feet on it (you might need something bigger) and lure just her front feet off – then let her offer stepping front feet back on, Tat way she will get the concept that it is backing up to it rather than turning around to get back on it. When she can step her front feet back on, you can then work up to all 4 feet off then stepping back feet back on.
Sitting down with your legs in a V went well! I think she was avoiding the purple platform when you sat down, so you can remove it so that she is backing up straighter and not around it.Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Hope you had a lovely holiday!!!
Lots of good work here, she is doing really well!
Turn aways:
>.Tried this again, it’s still a bit of a struggle especially when she comes in at a canter since she kicks her rear out, at a trot she comes in straighter. Not sure how to adjust to help her come in straighter?>>I want her to be able to canter, so slow yourself down (not her, just you 🙂 ) And for now, always feed her for coming into you – then turn her away, then feed her again. LOTS of cookies happening, she will be happy 🙂 Feeding her for coming in will help her drive in straight and not anticipate turning away.
So you will be moving pretty slowly, she comes in, gets a cookie, then you turn her away. I think she was a little wider in anticipating of being turned away, so we can build value for driving in and that will get her to come in straighter.Tunnels – She is also doing really well here! When shaping, start closer so she is sure of what she should be interacting with, she wasn’t always sure. You might need to shape different tunnels in new places, so you’ll want to start up close to it. And good job switching to a reward that is clearly visible – the first couple of reps were harder because she didn’t see the reward but then things got MUCH easier for her and she did great!
One thing I see here (and in the other videos):
She was not a huge fan of being moved around by the collar (like at 1:08) so you can reward her for walking with you and then when you are in position, take her collar then send. We don’t want unhappy collar feelings to bubble over into tunnel games (or any games) It was hard to see the transitions from the reward back to the starting point on these but in the other games, you were moving her by the collar. There is also a lot of great self-control we build in by having her walk away from the reward without holding her collar, then touching her collar to start the game will raise the value of the collar grab 🙂2nd video & 3rd video had more angles and sending, not just shaping:
She did really well here, especially on her easier side. If she has questions on the sends, make it easier after a failure or two by going to an easier start position. She sorted it out nicely on your home tunnel, so I am thinking ahead to when you are able to get to different tunnels in new places.You left a few transitions on these where you move her back by the collar she definitely does NOT like it (mouthing and looking away) – so have her walk without you holding her, line her up the way you want her without physically moving her (you can use hand cues or a cookie lure) and then gently take her collar to start the game when she is already in position.
You can teach her to enjoy being moved by the collar separately, with lots of food rewards and you sitting on a couch so that the collar doesn’t lift her at all and so you don’t have to bend over.Lots of hard angles here And she did well – you tended to stay at one angle for multiple reps, so you can both change your angles more frequently and add in easier angles so she can drive straight too.
Threadle side work is also going well – there were some visual distractions, I think, when she was on the side of the tunnel closer to the camera but she Worked through them nicely. I think that was where you mentioned she was looking at the wobble board? LOL! Good girl!
So – have you decided on what you want your tunnel threadle word to be? If tunnel means “take the tunnel on your line” then we need a word to mean taking the other end of the tunnel. She is ready for you to add it, starting on easier angles as a warm up then adding the verbal.
Handling combos –
>> I need to get more distance from the barrel so I can actually try to get the blind crosses in decently and then the decel (haven’t even tried that yet), just finding it a bit hard to get her to commit to the barrel as I try to add distance. >>
To add more distance and be able to get the handling in, these sends should be legit sends now like you did on the prop. When you did the prop sends, you gave an arm & leg cue to indicate it. So, the same goes with the barrel – start with her next to you, with your dog-side arm/leg at your side or a bit back – start with engagement and then use your leg and arm to send her. You were starting super close to the barrel and with your leg forward and you were holding her… which makes it harder to do the sending With distance, and harder to do the handling.
Plus, using a send step/arm will get rid of errors where she goes the wrong way around the barrel, like at 1:04 on the 2nd video where you stepped out sideways and it pulled her to the other side of the barrel. Be sure to reward that because it was a handling error, not a dog error. Even if it was possibly a dog error, I would reward a puppy anyway because she made a good effort to go around the barrel. You’ll also be able to clrify commitment with the send and be able to get up the line better – at :24 on the 3rd video, you never really sent and just stepped back so she didn’t commit and drove to the reward.
>>Plus all the bending is hard on the back.>>
Well, easy answer here – no more collar holding 🙂 It is not helping and she doesn’t like it 🙂 She wasn’t chewing on you here but she looks away a lot when you move her around by the collar, which is another sign for not liking it. 2 ideas for you:
– like with the tunel games, don’t move her by her collar. Instead, reward her for walking with you even with the treats out there on the target (or use a toy). That is part of how we teach this real life self-control.– without holding her collar, line her up next to you. Engage, then give the big send.
I think this will all really help get the sends, which sets up the distance which sets up the blinds.
The other thing that will help is handling the send like the turn and burn handling: send and face forward til she is at the barrel, then turn and go. As you add more distance, you will still be able to get the blinds in and the decels. And using the turn and burn game, you can add leaving earlier and earlier, which makes this game easier too (but don’t add leaving earlier AND distance simultaneously, that will be too hard).
So adding the sending will help the other details you ran into on these videos:
Being a bit further away will allow you to make better connection on the exit of the barrels. On the 3rd video in particular, you were trying to go really fast but didn’t quite get the connection so she didn’t pick up the new side (like at :53). So make a really strong, direct eye contact as you exit the wraps will help – which will be much easier with sending and more distance away from the barrel. Adding the toy in your hand in front of her helped her make the connection, but it was too much in front of her for when you wanted her to drive ahead. You can help make the clear connection using the toy in the arm across the body like we did with the blind crosses early on in the class, that can get connection and keep you nboth moving up the line 🙂
>>Question – any concerns about her tending to connect with the barrel? It’s certainly wider than a non-wing but not a wing so a bit concerned that this could transfer to a wing.>>
No concerns 🙂 This is why we train this on a random barrel and not the actual wing, so we can work out all the mechanics. She was hitting the barrel whenever you were too close and in her way, or when you were showing her the toy as you were turning and right at the barrel. Getting more distance so you are off her line will help her not touch the barrel. When you were out of the way, she did not touch the barrel.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Hope you had a great Christmas! I wish a had a private jet – our weather here is stunning so I would just fly you all out to tire those pups out haha!
This is going really, really well. He definitely asks little questions when you leave earlier At this distance – he still commits but he gets ‘hoppy’ (stride bounces up rather than extends out). But as you worked through the reps, he was digging in more (which means extended stride) because we can hear it on the carpet (sorry, carpet LOL!) And that is why we use barrels and not wings – to help him sort the questions so when this goes onto wings or jumps, he can drive and not ask any questions. You were able to leave pretty darned early and his commitment was super strong. I expect some questions at this age and he was great about maintaining commitment!
Since his question was along the lines of “am I really supposed to go that far while you leave?” you can have the barrels closer for now as you add more and more early rotation – eventually you will be rotated enough that you will be sending backwards as the main variable, so reducing the distance helps at first.
Separately, you can have the barrels wide apart like you did here, and with more running towards them, using the deceleration then FC to cue the turns. Running towards them a little more at a big distance will support his forward drive to the barrel. The barrel itself creates the turn, so the decel is more about practicing the mechanics of rotating earlier and earlier.
And with all of these options: throw in a turn and burn on every sequence. The opportunity to chase you out of a turn like that will continue to cement commitment because for most dogs, the turn and burn is the MOST fun (and he really really loves tugging with you).
Also – great job with the wrap verbals! Keep going with those, it will be 2nd nature soon if it is not already.
>> switched to toy,
He was terrific with the toy here – the toy is stimulating so he was working in a different state of arousal. He was faster and more excited but never lost his thoughtfulness. That is a BIG happy-dance moment because it is the best of both worlds: fast & excited, but still processing thoughtfully. YES!
>>trying had to give “bite” get the toy LSM first and then the praise chatter (better but not always doing it).
You were pretty darned good! On a couple of exciting moments, you did pop in a little “yes” and praise but most of the reps were LMS-then-party 🙂 So keep focusing on that because it gets easier and easier to do.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Hope you had a lovely holiday!
>>BTW if you use a manners minder for the running footwork I’m assuming you bring them back to the same start each time. I like to go back and forth where possible, but you’d need two MM to do that and be lbs to figure out which remote triggers the correct one.>>
Bearing in mind that RDW training is complex and there are a lot of ways to do it: I do a little back and forth with a Manners Minder for the running contact stuff – the MM on one end and I throw a treat or toy on the other end. There is only a little of the back and forth in the grand scheme of things. When we get things going one direction (for driving ahead and to change handler position, and then on the plank) – I set it up so the dog drives through the mat to the MM, then back to me for a toy or treat so I can then reset for the next cue. So if you are considering an A-B-C loop for it, the drive back to me after the MM is the transition moment between the C and the A because we can’t always line up the C and the A in the same spot when working sending or using the plank.
I have never used two Manners Minders because… eek! LOL!!! Too many hands and remotes and the MMs misbehave half the time anyway. I much prefer having the dog come back to me between reps after the MM for another reward (which helps keep arousal where I want it), and then a clean reset into the new rep. I have found that with the emphasis on clean loops, people end up rushing the all-important reset with too much immediate back and forth, and it actually gets messy in many scenarios.
On the out video – this is going really well! I think the main thing to make it feel less weird is to keep moving. You can travel down to approx where you toss the cookie then turn and start moving up along the leash line – so you are in motion before, during and after the cue. Then when you toss the reward, keep moving towards it as she does, then turn and begin moving the next direction (rather than toss and stop moving) That should both keep you moving relatively straight and also you can cue sooner because you can be moving so as she finishes the tossed treat, you can cue the out and have room to stay in motion.
The back and forth worked fine here and I think heading down to the treat spot more will help it feel a little smoother. When you were standing still, it was hard to send and keep your feet straight – moving will smooth that out. Her understanding is looking good, there is only one time where she didn’t quite do it but that was more about the cue being late and she was already passing the prop.Her balance reps looked great! I like that she had no questions on those and was not considering the out until you cued it. NICE! We really want the dogs to default to chasing your line even if something is tempting out there, and only head out to the tempting thing when cued to do it. She was great!
Well done here! When the weather is better, you can take this outside so it is easier to keep moving. A food bowl on each end can help you toss the treat someplace where they are easy for her to find. The placement of the food bowls would kind of be an arc, or a banana: the food bowls at each end would be on your side of the leash, next to your starting points. And her out line to the prop would look like the curve of a banana, with the prop being at the furthest point of the curve. Let me know if that makes sense!
Tracy
Hi! Hope you had a lovely holiday!
Her stays are totally coming along nicely here, especially when she is on your left! Your handling mechanics for the lap and tandem turns all look really good. YAY! I think the hardest part was convincing her to come to you and not the prop when she was on your right 🙂
When you lined her up on your left, her stay was stronger (being in front of the prop is like a start line stay) and also you had her a little further from the prop and angled away from it – so she was really pretty perfect about coming to you and not the prop, and the lap turns and tandem turns looked great. I love how well she can turn!
Her stays on the right are not as strong yet so keep rewarding, especially with the prop right there. When she was on your right, the first reps had her lined up a closer to the prop and a little angled towards it, so it was hard to resist. She did a good job of coming towards you but she took little detours to the prop first 🙂
At around 5:30 you moved her away from the prop and she still drove to it! With confidence and enthusiasm! LOL! So I think her question on your right side is more about value for working on your right side – if you have been working obedience lately, maybe the value of being on your left is higher which would be why her left side reps were so strong. So keep starting her further from the prop on your right side, and angle her a little away from it. You can also give her cookies for coming directly to your right side (before the lap or tandem turn) to increase the value of driving to you.
>> I’m happy with the turns, but then once she’s in handler focus it’s hard for her to leave to drive to prop.>>
I agree, the turns looked great – The lap and tandem turn mechanics all looked fabulous so she was nice and bendy on her turns. You made it look easier than it is with a big dog (or any dog)! I am not worried about her return to the prop after it – you can add a little more distance away so you can move up the line more, like the parallel path game. You’ll see her lightbulb go on and she will go smack the prop. It will be even easier when we resolve it with a wing or jump 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Hope you, Karl and the dogs had a lovely Christmas!
>>Don’t tell the red squirrel but I started parking in the driveway again so I can have room to train in the garage. It’s not perfect but more than in the livingroom.>>
Definitely more room! Lots of good stuff here! The red squirrel will forgive you 🙂
>>Training space is hard to come by. Everyone is desperate for it here.
Ugh! Maybe a bunch of MaxPuppers can get together 🙂 Covid makes things harder too.
>>Our toy skills are basically non-existent. It’s been a struggle with her. With food too but that has gotten alot better. Toys have too but so far from where I want to be. We keep making progress. It’s just as a snail’s pace.>>
I am glad you left in some of the toy play! We can add some things to get it where you want to be 🙂
>>At what point should I consider the lesson completed – when we have the Advanced skills down?>>
When you have done 2 short sessions of the Advanced level at about 85% success or better. The games don’t need to be perfect, they just need to be pretty good and she has to be happy to play them 🙂
On the video:
>>I used string cheese – easy to see and quick to eat.
Yum! It is a very easy food reward to use.
Get it for cookies at the beginning looked good! Remember to let go pretty quickly so she doesn’t look up at you, and also switch sides so she is great on both sides.
And idea to make the food games a bit more exciting: I also use food for driving ahead differently than toys! Toys are so visible that we can just toss them. I like to have the food either on a plate or mat or some type of super visible target. It is hard to reliably get cookies to land there so you can start really close to the target, holding her harness, let her see you put the delicious thing down… then slowly move her back away from it (using her harness or hands on her chest) so she is basically pulling towards it when you release her to drive to it. That tends to get the driving ahead for food as driven as it is for a toy.
Barrel wraps – she is showing good commitment here!!! Instead of backing up to feed – do a front cross and have her chase you to get the reward. Dogs will slow down when we face them (even if we are moving backwards) but they will speed up if we run away from them. So when she started on your left, do a FC as she is committing and then reward from your right hand.
When you switched to your right at about :55, I think you were too far from the barrel and also too quiet – you can give her a little ‘ready, ready…’ then step with your leg and swoosh a little (think of it as bowling) with your right hand.
Check out the difference in her commitment and speed at 1:07 when you did a little ready moment – BOOM! Very nice 🙂Turn and burn – commitment looks good here too! The cookies as rewards are de-burning her because she has to decelerate to get the cookies. And, since dogs are exquisitely efficient… she is not going to blast for a few steps to then have to slam the brakes. You did it with the toy at 1:48 and she was already much more interested! Do turn and burn only with toys now – we have the turn and now we will get the burn too 🙂 You can throw the toys to get engagement or you can use a really long toy like this one so you can get it moving away from her so she can chase it.
At about 2:00, you have some toy play going – yay! One thing I notice is that as soon as she gets a hold on the toy, you lift it up pretty high. It is not a comfy neck position for her, so she either tugs very lightly or she lets go of the toy. When the toy was lower, like at 2:15, you were not really tugging, it was kind of hanging there. She did seem to like that little bit of smack da baby that you did there! And she definitely liked when you were moving the toy… but you need to let her grab it LOL! Every time she tried to grab it, you whipped it away or lifted it – so she opted out (2:30).
So I think you can get more tug drive by changing your mechanics and being a lot less clean about it all LOL! It is easy to put control on the toy play, but it is harder to *get* the toy play. The best way to get it is to just be dirty with mechanics for now 🙂 Here are two old videos of how I built tug drive with Matrix – the main difference between Matrix here and Saphira is that Matrix didn’t mind that head position with her chin tilted all the way up – bIt Saphira does not like it at all. So stick to the lower positions with the toy, let her pull back, let her win by pulling it out of your hands, make it a squirrel but let her grab it, etc.
She did the drive-to-handler for the cheese, but it puts her totally into chill mode. So you can file that away from now (her drive to you looked great) and we can focus on the faster, dirtier stuff like toy play going into these games. One other thing – what else does she like to play with? Balls? Frisbees? Paper towel rolls? You can add toy play starting with anything she likes and we can build from there!
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning! Hope you had a good holiday!
She is doing well with the sending, lots of good value for her prop already! Yay!
Little tweaks to the mechanics –
– after the sends (forward, sideways or backwards), be sure to bring your arm and leg back when you feed her (with the same hand that sent). You were tending to leave your leg back at the prop rather than stepping out of it, which might be why it felt a little awkward. The leg coming back underneath you will help you get ready for adding countermotion too!– in between each rep, add in a bigger moment of engagement to get her set up and ready. You will want to do a big ready dance til she looks at you, and you can even feed her for that. That will make the sends very crisp, and she won’t start without you LOL! Also a bigger ready dance moment will avoid errors like at :20 whre she ended up between your feet LOL and also at 1:27 where she was at your side (we want the pups in front of us for he sends). And it will help you be able to be more upright and benind over less – you were bending over to keep her focused on your cookies, but you can work on more engagement so she looks at you more before the sending.
Keeping in mind that she is just 14 weeks old… you can end this session at about 1:45 on the video, where she was playing. You did more after than and she was able to do more reps… but her mind was definitely wandering by about 3:09. Set that timer to be done before she is done.
Driving ahead – This looked really food! The walking was a really good start here, she drove ahead and went directly to the toy, and didn’t try to run off with it, and she didn’t seem to feel any handling pressure. Yay! You added a bit more speed and that was fine – stay at this level for a few more sessions til she is totally leaving you in the dust 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
>> She had trouble on the “easy” angles coming around rather than take the jump. Thoughts on helping her with that? She didn’t do that on the most extreme angle.
About the 2 bloopers on the easy angles –
I think on the first rep where she did a threadle, she might have just be on an angle where the jump was less salient and your hand target has more value, so she just chose to go directly to the hand. You fixed it by adjusting the angle perfectly. The blooper on the easy angle on the other side was more expected, because it is easier for most dogs (especially herding dogs) to want to run parallel to the jump in this setup – but you got her going really nicely and then she seemed to have the idea 🙂
The extreme angles are actually easier if the value for the hand target is high, which it is 🙂 She did really well bending her body on those!!>> Also, I started getting drive by nose touches towards the end. I know you ultimately get rid of it, but when do you decide that’s ok?
We decide it is ok when we start to see understanding, aka drive by nose touches LOL! Basically, she was saying ‘got it, come in got out’. So now you can start marking and reinforcing sooner – as soon as she is coming in and turning her head to go back to the new line.
And part of fading the hand touch is getting the reward to the ground – you can use a food bowl with the cookie in it (or the Pet Tutor) so that now she comes in and lowers her head, which will help her drive the lines.
>>I tried with Gemma and a toy on the ground. She knows a serp behavior, but couldn’t do the nose touch. Interesting info!
Could she do it without the toy on the ground? The toy on the ground is a nice distraction/discrimination that we add in very early. I’ve trained a lot of my dogs to do serpentines… the older generations all had trouble coming in on the serps when there was a tunnel out ahead as a distraction. The youngsters have no problem because we added in this distraction so early. This has become really useful because jump-tunnel discriminations are very stylish right now on course!
>>Also, I struggled with the out exercise. Keeping hips and feet straight are hard for me. >>
I feel that pain, that out prop is almost magnetic and draws me to it LOL!! So that is why I put a leash on the ground so I can move along it and not get drawn across it 🙂 I didn’t see any outs on the video, feel free to post!
Great job on these! Have a lovely Christmas! Things are very quiet here too 🙂
Tracy
