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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
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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!
TracyThat is awesome!!!! Gotta love how latent learning “cements” things in the brain. Yay! She is so smart! And you might have been earlier too – either way, I am glad to hear the rear crosses are working now!
Tracy
Good morning! He really seemed to like these – he was a little squeaky and definitely very excited! He had a fabulous balance of speed and great turns. It is nice to see how well he is taking his cone wraps and transferring the skill to the wings š
The front crosses all looked great here! Very clear reinforcement (do I remember correctly that “yes” is your cookie in your hand marker?) and you were almost perfect with connection – one little oopsie at 1:07 but you did the right thing and just carried on with the next rep. Yay!
For the FCs – if you can get a little more distance (at home or at the training center) you can add more of your running and also rotating sooner – it will feel weird to rotate sooner in a smaller setup because there is nowhere to go LOL!
And with more room, the spins will be more comfortable – you were doing them correctly but without a lot of room, it might have felt like you were spinning in one spot. With another 5 feet or so, you can keep moving in the spins: do a nice early FC and move away, starting the spin as he arrives as the wing but you are already nearing the next wing.
Same with t he racetracks – easy peasy, he says! Yay! So now you can add some more room so you can both move even more. Wheeeee! I know that Mother Nature is a pain in the butt and getting outside won’t happen soon, but a few more feet at home or the training center will give you more room šA couple of other ideas since he is doing so well:
Add you verbal directionals!
Try a toy š When you are moving more, I think you can get some good reps in with the toys he loves – do just one or two then switch back to cookies.And, since I am looking ahead and trying to pass on info about the mistakes I have made so you don’t make them: Consider dropping the ‘yes’ marker and changing how you reinforce with food – the actual delivery at your side is fine, but the word yes sometimes gets used on course (on purpose or by accident) and if it also means ‘come get a reward’ then the dogs come off the line and come to us humans. I learned this the hard way – OOPS! So to avoid that confusion with StrykR, you can keep the “yes” marker for shaping situations that don’t look like agility. And for agility like the rocking horses, maybe move your cookie hand during the delivery and have a different marker for that (I use a ‘shhhhhh’ sound to let the dogs chase the cookie hand) or use a lotus ball or treat hugger with a ‘get it’ marker so he can drive to it. Let me know if that makes sense!!
He was a little tired by the end LOL you can hear hu breathing hard and he was going wider so you can also time it so that you do 30 seconds, then take a break, then 30 seconds, etc.
And, did you notice that his bed was almost acting like a tunnel discrimination? LOL It is super high value and was pretty close so on some of the sends, he almost went to its few times. Ha! So for now, move it a little further away but eventually we can TOTALLY use it to simulate tunnel discriminations.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Good job making room to do some of the games where you both get to move! The blind-cross-then-decel game looked great on reps 2 and 3 š Yes, the first rep was late but what was even funnier was when you were late – watch Ella (I think) run up the stairs like OMG THAT WAS SO LATE hahaha.
Your connection looked good and she had no trouble reading the decel, so now the next step is to move to bigger spaces or longer hallways, and add in the barrel wrapping (you can see that in the handling combos).Retrieves:
I think the retrieving started really well and she was legit retrieving for the first minute, really good baby dog stuff… then she had enough. She was trying to opt out after that as you can see by the effort you made to catch her.>>so Iām thinking quit while I was ahead?
Yes! Do one or two then let her run around with it (you can add a go for a run cue). Retrieves are a control game and it gets boring for young pups if you do too many.
>>Was she even bringing it because I sort of caught her on the drive by.
For the first minute? I think she was bringing it to you based on how you didn’t have to work hard to get it and how she was decelerating near you. After :1:20? Yup! You were catching her on the drive by so she was working harder to get past you, faster. That is why you can add in letting her run around with it, so she doesn’t think the game is all about getting the toy past the momma as fast as possible.
>>And do we just keep it under super wraps every time I try a new space or a new toy or her arousal state?
I think keeping it too under wraps will make her less interested in the game. Yes, a short session in a corner here and there is good. But you can also make it a high action game – tie the toy to a long rope and let her chase you with it. Or train other things with the toy on the rope, so the retrieve gets built in to those as well – lots of action and fun!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Great job adding the toy play and leash at the beginning – it really helps to develop the mechanics and habits that will carry Ronan to the line when he starts trialing! Having the other dogs out and about as helpers also adds in a nice layer of distraction but he didnāt seem to have any trouble with that, he is probably used to it LOL!)These were really good sessions here with both of you!
He has a nice stay which really helps š I am sure you are rewarding it but here is my reminder that I send to everyone: keep rewarding it.He did well with his commitments on each rep here, I think he only had one question about it when Karena dropped her arm a bit too early. You fixed that on the next rep by holding the send arm until he was almost at the wing, which really helps for now. As he gets used to this type of lead out, you will be able to drop that arm sooner like you wanted to here and start crosses nice and early too.
Another thing that will help you be able to drop your arm after the send and move away sooner is to change your lead out position slightly. You were lateral – just far enough away to be challenging but not so far that he struggles. Now you can lead out all the way parallel to the wing – it looks like you were both stopping a bit short of it so he had to go past you to commit. By being parallel to it, your position helps set the line and you can start leaving sooner.
Kiwi the Pap was helpful in showing the line for the position – if you look at Kiwi starting at about 1:59, he moved to the line I am talking about LOL! He was sitting closer then moved over at about 2:00 and look at where Kiwi is sitting on the right side of the screen – it looks like he put himself on the exact line parallel to the wing (thanks, Kiwi!!!) That is the line you will want to lead out to, and rotate to face the wing so yo can step to it.
Now, Kiwi was really far away, so donāt start all the way over there, so be on that parallel line but maybe 6 feet away to start then build up to 10 then eventually you will get to the Kiwi spot šGreat job here! Let me know what you think and please give Kiwi some extra treats for his help here LOL!
Tracy
Good morning!
This session went really well! The long lead out definitely got the center-of-the-bar extension to help contrast with the collection and she seemed happy with the rewards for the stays š It might have been new and surprising but she was on board with it š
She was also getting the hang of the decels – I am mainly looking for what the dog does in front of the bar (especially in comparison to the extensions) and she was totally changing her striding to collect and turn. Yes, you were a far enough over on the bar that she was shaping her line a little on the turn but that also might have been that you were sideways (feet pointing to the other end of the bump). Try it with you facing forward more and see if she drives in closer to where the wing meets the bump – and if she still shapes her turn, then you can move over so she sees more of the wing in hopes we can convince her to get a little closer to the edge of the bump on the turn side.
She seemed to like the moving reward too (not surprising :)) so you can build that in too!
Great job here!!!
Tracy
