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This is such a great update!!! I am excited that things went so well for you and Sly!
Onwards to the real trial environment 🙂Good morning!
Nice work on these! They are indeed challenging and let us know where she is SUPER strong and where she has questions.
>> It’s pretty obvious what weave skill we need to revisit and which one she rocked, LOL. She can go without me, I cannot go with our her!!>>
I think she is also anticipating the exit a bit as she realizes that the weaves are part of a fancy course. More on that below 🙂
>>Oh and I decided this is more like summer school, not summer camp. These courses are head hurting ( in a good way)
Ha! Yes, I should have made it clearer that it would be more like Advanced Placement classes and not as much about s’mores or campfires LOL!!!!! But now I want some s’mores…
Looking at each course in sections:
Overall, her commitment is strong and her contacts are strong, both of which REALLY help with these challenges! Yay! There are a couple of spots where we can get a little more but overall, really strong. I couldn’t really hear your verbals so I am going to assume you were perfect. 🙂Specifics, Course 1:
Opening Line:
The backside on 3 really should be a slice but I think my course design map didn’t leave enough room to give folks confidence that they could slice there. The slice is faster and sets a better line, but in this case it also requires turning towards a wall (which is actually a useful skill for trialing indoors :))
On the wrap at :13 – you had a big explosion of speed to head to 4 so even though she had turned and was looking at 3, your speed was a distraction so she came off. The handling intention was correct! 2 ideas for you:
First, you can lead out less so you can start to move sooner. That way there won’t be the big blast of speed and you will still get way ahead.
Second – placement of reinforcement will help her take the jump even when you accelerate suddenly (there is a placement of reinforcement theme in my ideas for you :)) – as soon as she rounds the wing to the backside, throw the reward to the landing side as your accelerate to 4 – that will help her default to taking the jump no matter what you do, so then the timing of the acceleration becomes less important.Weaves –
Staying parallel on the 1st rep was good for helping her stay in, nice reward! The Second rep at :41 is exactly what we want, in terms of you getting way away up the line, nice reward here too. Things go sideways with the weaves later on, so even though she got the rewards here – I think we need to change *how* and *where* she gets rewarded so she doesn’t look at you. More below.Middle section – she had little questions of looking at you on the 5-6-7-8 section to the teeter at :49, possibly a combo of you looking ahead for a heartbeat a little and the visual distractions of the other jumps and the frame nearby. When you were very connected on the serp to the teeter, she had no questions 🙂
Teeter – try to keep moving through to position without stopping – the stop and then go without the release was hard for her, so she broke position. Your stop almost always precedes the release so we don’t want to accidentally set her up to fail.
Jump after teeter at 1:24 with the threadle handling- you can send her to the teeter and then just run to the landing side to get there, rather than going all the way around and then having to rotate 🙂
When you arrive there: stand still in position, closer to the jump, feet facing the landing spot – and don’t move til she turns her head top the jump. You were a little far and moving a lot at 1:24, so she had a question. At 1:38, you are also a little far from the jump and having to step back to it when ideally you would be closer to it (arm’s length or less). The threadle is a specific cue so she should turn away and take the jump without you needing to step to it (and throw your reward to the landing spot as you move away).The other option there is to have her teeter on your left and do a German turn on the jump 🙂
She was a good girl on the DW! If you are going to go back to her to reward, place the reward center where a target would be, with her head low – so she doesn’t get paid for looking up and curling off the side. That is something to consider on all of your contacts: placement of reinforcement to keep her from curling in and looking up at you. When she curls in, you have to handle her back to the line. If she stays straight, you can just release which will be a lot easier for you and faster for her too.
Nice weave entry even with her curled off the side of the DW when released! Good girl!!
2nd set of poles to the last line: For the handling, she needs to stay in so you can get waaaaaay ahead there -converge more to the last jump on the line to get it but let’s train more independent weaves there so you can drive ahead on your right, do cartwheels, or whatever you want to do in the moment.
The lotus ball reward is high value but it also draws her focus to you – she is watching you as you move ahead or move away, and then when you throw it when she completes the weaves, she is watching you throw it. All the watching of the momma causes the pop outs as you move away up the line. So I suggest a Manners Minder or something similar to help get her to look ahead, and to establish placement of reinforcement straight out of the weaves and not near you.
You can start with the MM being pretty obvious and maybe 10 feet from the weave exit. And when she finishes the poles, you click the beeper remote and cookies fall out 🙂 As she gets more and more independent, we move the MM further and further away until it is not visible – and you can still use it as a reward because you can make it beep when she finishes the poles. This should help shift her focus to finishing the weaves so you can then do whatever handling you like 🙂Course 3:
Opening line – Because she curls in a little and looks at you, you will have to be one step further across the bottom of the frame before the release or use a get out as the release to help her get a straight line to the tunnel entry (and obsessing on placement of reinforcement low and straight where a target will be should help her to stay straight).Weaves – yes, for some reason these are hard for her when she is on your right – I would think this was an easier challenge than the left sided weaves on course 2 but she disagrees 🙂 So this is where I would plant the MM out there to really give her a focal point to weave to as you add the crazy handling… then we fade the MM. you’ll find that in the skills sets and sequences.
Line after the weaves: connect more to her on the exit of 6 – really strong, direct eye contact for the wrap exit – so she knows how tight to come around the wing – she had a question at :59 and she wasn’t sure exactly where to be which made it harder to show the rest of the line.
Good job getting her to the backside at 8! Dog training moment there – she got to the backside at 1:02 but then looked at you – and plus you were shaking your hand with the lotus ball in it so she stopped short. She got it nicely at 1:23! So, handling-wise, stay connected but keep running like you did at 1:23 – and for the training element of it, you can toss the toy to the landing side as she comes around the entry wing to help solidify commitment so he gets it on the first rep even if you are shaking your hand lol
Teeter – She is going to the end of the teeter really nicely, shifting her weight… but the placement of reinforcement is getting her to sit (I don’t think her criteria is a sit?) So this is also a god place for the low, straight placement of reinforcement, right where a target would be (I throw it to that spot to further encourage the dog to look down/straight and not at me. The straighter you can keep her on the contact exits, the less you will have to do a send to the next line. And less sending makes it easier for you to get to the next spot. And we like it when the handling is easier LOL!
Left side weaves – I think this is her stronger side but she popped out on the first rep here too. As with the previous weave questions she had, we can change the placement of reinforcement so she doesn’t look at you – even when you throw the reward she is already looking back at you. And having the lotus ball in your hand is a big “draw” for her, so the more I see about the weaves, the more I like the idea of a reward target for her that starts close and is visible, then we can fade it out.
On the Rear Cross on 18 at 2:31 – she definitely prefers to wrap towards you rather than turn away, so you will have to pressure the RC diagonal line more just like you would do on a ‘normal’ rear cross 🙂 That would mean taking one or two more steps to the wall to get the RC diagonal line: you can decel her on 17 and then push your feet to the center of the bar there, so she can change her leads. Keep moving your feet to that RC line until you see her turn her head and look to her left. If you move too fast and don’t turn your feet to push her RC line, she will default to the wrap.
You were more patient at 2:50 and definitely had a better upper body turn so she knew something was different (bar down) but you need to ‘seal the deal’ by moving towards the slice line for another step or 2 or 3 (the wall here, in this case) to really get her to turn away.
Make sure you reward her there in those moments – she was not wrong and didn’t get a really reward interaction as you reset.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi there!
>> Yes I did cue a tight turn tst tst tst. I am not sure what you mean by brake arm with the outside arm? That is my dog side arm? I think I was holding the arm back at 38 s so that he would come to me to do the weaves.
The brake arm is the arm opposite of the dog (the left arm, if he is on your right, for example). And I bring it up gently as kind of a “WHOA!” To help get collection on those types of soft turns. You’ll see more of it in the next set of games & courses 🙂
>> Oh, it didn’t occur to me that I could slice that jump from the front side lol. That would have been way easier and faster. Would I just do a front cross or a blind to cue that from the weaves?>>
Either, because it would happen while he/she was weaving 🙂
On the Jumpers Course – TONS of nice work here and I liked how you experimented with different options. Don’t be disappointed in yourself 🙂
Looking at it in pieces:
The opening:
1-2-3-4 nice line on blind on the first rep!!! It was also good on 2nd rep but be closer to the line (stay right near the wing of 2) she runs 2-3 to get a really great turn over 2 so you don’t need to step her back to 3. At 2:10, you set the nicest line there!!!Middle: 3-4-5-6-7:
At :07, flipping from the landing side of 5 set her up on the center of the bar at 5 and put you too far behind so the line was a little zig zaggy. I liked the idea of getting between the tunnel exit and the jump at 1:04 And 2:15 for a cross! But a blind will be easier to execute and you can show her the head turn before she enters – the FC is really hard to do at top speed and it was late because you couldn’t get the rotation going before she entered the tunnel (because you had to get to the correct side of the tunnel. So if you do it again, try a blind there and start the upper body rotation before she enters even if you are not in the perfect spot there.Weaves: Yep, as soon as she realized where the course was going, she was popping out. So yes: bring out the MM or reward target so you can work that skill. I thought your intentions were great – run away while she is weaving 🙂 And you can Also try the FC and be moving away before she exits the weaves (at :15) 🙂 to get a better turn on the tunnel exit. The more you can leave her in the weaves, the easier the next section would be.
At 1:12, she popped (just anticipating and also maybe you were running slower ?) At 2:23 you were moving nicely and cuing the weaves… still popped! Training opportunity 🙂 The visual of the other obstacles is tempting so having the reward out there will start getting the independence and then we can fade it.And yes, resesetting from the previous jump will smooth it out and yes, rewarding it would have been good – but either way, she told us loud and clear about a good retaining opportunity and now is a perfect time to work on it.
Closing section (10-14):
There was a little bobble at 12 on the first rep – Stay connected as you send at :17 – you were ahead, arm high, looking ahead so she came off the line (She couldnt’ see which line you wanted).You were much better there on the resest at :41 but as timing idea: you can show stronger connection and cue the send to 12 as she is approaching jump 11 after tunnel – so she will make the lead change before takeoff and set up a prettier line.
I also really like the idea of the BC on the closing line 12-13 rather than serping the 2nd to last obstacle – the magic would be in being able to really leave her while she is weaving, so you can run towards the wing and decelerate a little bit. You can totally get at tight turn on a blind! But leaving the weaves is how it would happen. It is kind of what you did at 1:51: run closer to the wing of the BC jump and then decel into the BC – no need for lateral distance there, the BC can be done right on the wing to support commitment.
My favorite line there was at 2:04: clear send to 12 and then you really drove through the serp to the last tunnel – LOVELY! That was the one where you got the blind and she didn’t run across your feet.
The FC at the end (2:44) was NICE too! And you had impressive hustle considering how close to the weaves you had to stay…. I think the FC or BC there will be super easy if you can leave the weaves more.
One last thing to note: great job with the verbals especially on the tunnel exits. For example, the timing of the left cue at 1:31 was GREAT, nice turn on exit!!!
Great job here! I think the hard parts would be easier with the more independent weaves, so feel free to put the MM out there to help reward her as you run to your next line.
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
That is definitely odd!!! She seemed happy and she was driving to them, but couldn’t get in. And I agree that your handling was very clear aw and also the entry was not that challenging. When you did it on the other side, was it also a right side entry? Just curious to know if she had any trouble with the left side.I think your theory makes sense: different base. Dogs are not known to be good at generalizing so the different base could be the issue. No worries – you can give her a day off from weaves and I bet she is fine. Also, you can have 6 of your normal poles then add these 6 as poles 7-12 to help get her used to them.
You can revisit these when she is comfy with these particular poles. I think setting up the jumpers course is a great idea!
Tracy
Wow, I’m really excited to see this session! Her first teeter and last teeter were my favorites, she was really driving across! The others were good too! The handling elements looked good too but the independent teeter made me really do a big happy dance.
Did she know there was a cookie on the target for that first one? It was a really fabulous performance!!! Having the MM out there is a good visual for her too. At some point later on, we will game plan fading the target and MM but not yet – her teeter performance is still percolating and I want her to be insanely confident before we fade anything.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
These went well, I have some training ideas for the weaves!
Here are some thoughts from the videos:Sequence 1 – yes, she totally had a WTF moment when she realized you were not coming with her on the weaves LOL! She got more comfy later on but I think this is indicative of her concerns with the weaves. Plus, she was not doing a rhythmic striding on them here (or in any of the reps). She is big enough to ‘swim’ or bounce – so I think we can spend the next few weeks doing a retrain to both get the striding AND get her more independent so she loves loves loves the poles.
How did you originally train them? 2x2s? If so, take 6 poles with 2×2 bases and open them up a tiny bit (maybe 2 inches?) so they are easier for her to swim or bounce through. And, we will show her all of these independence challenges with *all* of the rewards tossed out past the end (not from your hand) or you can even use a Manners Minder as a reward target. Getting her really focused on the weaves regardless of what you do will help both in training and also in trials.
If you didn’t use 2x2s, you can open up whichever method you used 🙂A handling question from her at :23 – she was not comfy jumping in towards you in that position pro the jump after the weaves, is that normal that she does that? When you were further across the bar at :44 she was fine and she was fine on the other reps in the videos, so we will just chalk it up to an oopsie moment unless you see that happen more often.
2nd video – she was more comfy on the first set of poles with you moving away laterally in each sequence but popped out on the 2nd set both times on the first 2 sequences. The slightly open poles and rewards out ahead will really help that too, so she can do the poles no matter how many cartwheels or dance moves you do LOL
The handling overall really good! There was one added line of jumps (no problem, you were connected and kept going). I wasn’t sure if at 1:22 and 1:51 you wanted her to come to the inside of the wing or just needed more connection to push her to the outside of it?
3rd video – teeter in the middle – what is her criteria? It was hard to tell if she was supposed to do a bang-and-go, a 2o2o, or a 4on. She slows down because she doesn’t know when the release is coming (like at :35) and so she has some questions there. On these independence games, you can use a target to help her drive to position (and get rewarded there, by tossing the reward to the target) so she has no questions and so you can move away very independently.
On handling suggestion: on your spins, you tend to be late starting them which makes you late finishing them, which causes her to wait for info. At :09 and :26 on jump 4, you should be already finished with the FC rotation part of the spin so you can go to the BC element. You were still facing forward to commit her, so the spin didn’t start til after landing so she was not sure which side to be on (the first 2 reps were either a repeat or amazingly identical! LOL!) Trust her commitment so you can send and start the rotation before she takes off.
The BC at :36 was a tiny bit late getting the connection on the new side, which is why she picked up going around the pole. But then you got the connection in and got back on track nicely.
The ending line on all reps looked great!Nice work here! Let me know what you think about the ideas for more independent on the weaves!
have fun!
TracyHi!
>> pity video wasnt closer as her eyes nearly leaped out of her head with shock that it came so big she was in heaven.>>
That is so funny! The person who can create dog training treats out of horse poop, sheep poop, etc, will be the first dog training billionaire LOL!
She looked great here! Very exciting!!!!
>> I need to stop thinking about what she is doing and think about me..>
Yes – plan your lines more smoothly. She doesn’t seem to get frustrated when things go a little sideways, but we don’t want to create any frustration. So having a plan will help. The distances here were very true to what she will see in the ring, so it was great to see her finding her lines! She was a little distracted by the toy sometimes, so a smaller less obvious toy will help too (or having it in your pocket)
I really loved her focus in a new place! Great job!
TracyGood morning!
Have a blast at your seminar today!!!! I am sure it will be great 🙂
The warm up is always good! The look on his face when you ran laterally made me snort – he was all like “WHERE DID YOU GO AND WHY ARE YOU NOT RUNNING” hahaha because much of his teeter frame of reference was with you running near it and past it.
And yes, he was asking if he should turn around and run back up the teeter? He definitely had opinions there. Your position was good for a very experienced dog but because he is learning these challenges, you can be closer to the center of the bar just to teach him to drive off the teeter tight and not go back up it.
Doing the bang game reps with you behind him was a really good brain-bender! It think he figured it out in the context of the very recognizable game. And then on the next full rep, he had it perfectly. And same at 1;42 – he is still thinking a bit of ‘what the heck??” when you are so lateral but he is being GREAT about driving across the board and into position.
On these reps where he has to do the whole teeter without you, you can totally leave a surprise cookie on the target sometimes, for an immediate reward. He won’t be sad about the 🤣 and it will help remind him to look for the target and not at you 🙂
The handling overall looked fabulous! You were especially strong on the BC from jump 3 back to the wing wrap – nice timing and connection, he seemed very tight and fast there.
He had one little question at 1:32 – sending to the wingless backside. Being a wingless, it is a little harder to see and your turned your shoulders away from him before he could lock onto it. So think of it as more of an arm-back, very connected one-step send and not a shoulder turn. You stayed connected for longer at 2:01 and he nailed it.Great job! Let me know what you think! And have a blast today!
TracyHi! That’s right, now I remember! Yes, keeping the hand low helped him out.
I also realize that we are being very obsessive about it (in a good way haha) because his position on the end of the board there is better than 97% of agility dogs out there! But because of his talent, I believe we can get him right to the very end all the time, to put him in the very top 1%.Good morning!
Same good opening as course 1 (yes, 3 is a backside slice if you want to run it again)
Looking for the chase moments: I think the first one was at :19. Coming out of the long tunnel, and since she is small, when you turned a little forward (pointing ahead of you) so all she could really see was your back – and it looks like she saw the shoulder turn and was reading it like a blind cross. You peripherally saw it happen and tried to fix it, but she was pretty irate about it LOL!
So it was not really a chase moment – it was more of a break in connection. When you were miles ahead on other elements of this course and connected, she was perfect – so try to make eye contact back to her especially on the tunnel exits (I know – make the eye contact there from miles ahead AND keep running as hard as you can :)) When you are that far ahead on the longer distances, lock your dog side arm back, extended to her, so she can see your upper body. That should eliminate the error you had here.
And if you have other chase moment videos, feel free to post them so we can sort out why she is doing it.Saving that moment partially contributed to the off course a-frame, but also that delicious high value a-frame was right on her line. She would need a stronger left turn cue there – either send and leave sooner if she responds to that and will turn tightly. Or, you can add a brake arm (outside arm to ask for more collection). Or a spin! But a spin would last option because you have to rotate and we don’t want you to lose any ground with such a speedy dog.
When you fixed it at :32 you had the opposite arm going but I think that was more for the serp after it?
Nice backside after the teeter! One of the summer goals will be to allow you to send and leave on that, without needed to use your opposite arm to cue coming in over the bar. Your backside cue should also mean “take the jump” so you should be allowed to just send her to the backside side and run through the the blind on the exit. The upper body rotation takes a while and delays your running… and again, because she is little (no hang time) and FAST FAST FAST we are going to do as much as we can to let you just run and handle minimally.
Now, she is only 2, so I don’t know how well she understands to go to the backside AND take the jump. But try it without speed, just send to a backside, stay connected, and walk past *without* using the opposite arm cue and let’s see what she does 🙂
She was a little high on the RDW at :42, so if you trained with a mat, feel free to put it back on for these big independence moments so she rehearses correct behavior there.
Great weaves at the end!!! Layering the tunnel – the video stopped but it looks like she had a question about taking 15? I think the cue was late there – you can start giving her a go verbal or out or jump verbal while she is around pole 6 or 8 so she exits looking forward. You gave the cue after she was done here, so she had already turned towards you (the weave exit turns them towards us there too).
Doing it without the layer worked to get it because you could show her 15 really nicely but it made the line 17-18 harder to smooth out.
Her weaves look really independent in the opening AND here in the closing, and that is GREAT because you can really do whatever handling works best! Yay! And it will be a really good handling challenge to start giving her the next cue while she is still weaving 🙂Great job!
TracyGood morning!
She looked really strong here with finding the entry and staying in. I have a couple of questions that can help us figure out the next steps:
About the toy – yep, I have seen that in a lot of dogs including my own. Twitching the toy sometimes is so distracting that they pop out. When you were holding the toy and she popped out, was the MM also out ahead? I found that by using the MM exclusively for a couple of sessions but also holding the toy (not throwing it, it was just in my hand) – the popping out stopped. And then I faded the toy in as a reward: the MM was still there, but sometimes I threw the toy instead. That was an easy way to get the dogs ignoring the toy too (and now they just weave for the toy, no MM :))If you were holding the toy and the MM was out there and she still found it difficult, you can ease off the line of motion distractions and make the toy smaller in your hand and see if that helps. We really do want her to weave while you are holding the toy 🙂
Her striding was a little questioning on the video – it could have been that the poles were open as you mentioned, and/or that you were sending from a distance and running away. She was great about getting in and staying in! So you can experiment with this and see how she does with the handling challenges on the 6 closed poles with the MM versus slightly open poles, using the same handling as you did here.
And you can also try setting the line from right next to the wing – by doing it from a distance, she might have been thinking hard about it and that changed her striding. Setting the line from right next to the wing might be easier and then the striding in the poles will be there – and I also think the distraction of you starting next to her and then dramatically running away is a pretty significant challenge 🙂
Let me know how it goes playing around with these options! And she is also looking pretty ready for the sequences if you are ready to do them too 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
>> Since I’d been introducing Sole to this along with Presto, I also did the Pizza game in her class last week and it was pretty amazing. Perhaps it will help unlock her next level of potential!
That is great!! Clarity in this can really help dogs relax in the ring 🙂
>>He can do 12 closed weaves now – even did it in Jackie’s seminar in a sequence! But, as I mentioned when I saw you, he has lost the nice speed and footwork he had a couple weeks ago and he seems more thoughtful and deliberate.
Good boy!!!! Here on the 6 poles, he was speedy and rhythmic… bouncing, not swimming. Totally independent, good boy!
>> But he had no problems with the independence – the only moment was in the middle rep included here he did look back at the end since I was a little late clicking the MM.
Yes! And when he looked at you there, it was appropriate. That is where we would want him to look after the weaves in a sequence if you were in that position. Good boy!
>>It was harder for ME since I had to run into trees. 😉 Also, I noticed that as I do the wrap, I keep moving the clicker from one hand to another, which makes my send a little muddled. >>
Yes, I was chuckling about you running into the trees LOL!! And I don’t think he really noticed the clicker moving.
>> Later this weekend I’ll try this again with a full 12 weave set, although I’ll reduce the reps. I was thinking I may also open the weaves a bit since it’s a new challenge.
Let me see a couple of reps on the closed poles so I can see what he is doing with the striding. Then yes, do some with them a tiny bit open, so we can obsess… I mean so we can look at striding 🙂
>>Tomorrow Presto gets four FEO runs at an ASCA trial. I am hoping to find some longer sequences in the courses and if he’s handling the environment well, also work some weaves (although separately from the long sequences). His teeter is starting to look pretty good too, but not independent enough to do at a trial yet. After tomorrow, our next trial opportunity is UKI at the end of July – its the weekend he turns 18 months, so then I really have a great opportunity for NFC runs!!>>
That is a great plan!!! I am excited for all of your training opportunities!!!!!
Great job here! Keep me posted on the 12 poles 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
>> I always tell my instructors to be brutally honest with me.
Training is a collaborative art 🙂 And the video really helps! I will try to give you as much detail and as many ideas as possible 🙂
>>On the weaves I was working with him on open channel weaves going to a treat & train prior to coming up to Colorado. I guess I need to continue that as I was seeing progress in his speed and he certainly loves the treat and train. However I do need to hang back in the weaves and not rely on my motion so much. I am able to pull off the weaves and have some independence but if my overall goal is fully independent weaves I need to be able to send him and go. >>
I like the idea of bringing back the Treat And Train and opening up the poles – the TnT can help with the independence and the open poles make it easy and fast, so you can do more reps without an extra ‘bang’ on his body. And you can work on sending him ahead while you sit in a chair 🙂 or run the other way or run off on 90 degree angles.
>>I was also working on sending him to the tunnel and taking off to the next obstacle before I left.>>
Perfect! Thrown rewards are great for this too – since he likes food, a treat hugger or lotus ball is perfect to for that.
>>I will focus on moving away from him with the toy in the future. Keep me honest. If you see the same thing in a future please call me out on it.
You can also tie that toy to a long line or a long tug toy, and let him chase it while you swing it around. Let his response be your guide: if he lights up and gets right on the toy, you are moving it in a way he likes. If he backs off the toy or stops looking at you, then he is not excited for it. I find that smaller dogs like it better when we are upright and moving the toy away, so having the toy attached to something long can facilitate that 🙂 And I will indeed keep bugging you about it LOL!!
Looking forward to your next videos!
TracyHi!
Yes, I like your idea of using the poles for the Skills Sets! You don’t have to have them all open, just either the entries or exits that you think might be super challenging.And you can say your reset cue and keep turning in a circle, so it doesn’t get accidentally paired with stopping. And you can also stop on purpose and keep giving your weave cue… then throw the ball. Wheeee!
The Skills Sets will be fun! And you can also set up small pieces of the bigger courses. It can all be super fun 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
>> I was so hesitant to post this teeter video because I knew this would end up in an accountability for criteria discussion 😅🤣. He was originally trained in a 2o2o. I’m not the best about holding him in a stop like seen here. We haven’t done a ton in full on run but he’s been offering a stopped 4 on. He’s such a fragile soul sometimes I’ve worried that somehow a butt bounce in a 2o2o might traumatize him so I haven’t pushed the issue. I originally trained by back chaining and then uses the MM at the end, which I should probably revisit.>>
4on can totally work, but clarifying it through lots of rewards will help him be less delicate (the 2o2o is also a great option and I have games to prevent the butt bounce LOL!!)
>>Going back to the obstacle commitment, I think I underuse deceleration with him. One because I don’t really need it with Callie so it’s sometimes an after thought, but mostly because it will usually result in a refusal and orienting back to the mama. And I mean man can he stop on a dime when I decel. >>>
I think we can fix that with changing the placement of reinforcement: all rewards come at the exit of the obstacle and nowhere near you 🙂 I call it Commitment Boot Camp and for 1 month, all rewards are thrown to the landing of jumps and exits of tunnels. Boom! Commitment. Then you can figure out what he needs in terms of cues for extension versus collection. Without commitment being really strong, it is hard to know. So even on a tight turn where you are decelerating: decel, cue a turn… throw the toy. The toy should be thrown approximately to where you want him to land/turn.
>>I don’t really have a soft turn cue in my toolbox at the moment. Left and rights are on my list of training goals that is ever growing. I find the tone which I say jump can cue collection versus extension and I do tend to try to decel with him for soft turns.>>
Let’s get commitment first… and then it will be easy to install the soft turns. We have that on the agenda for the summer 🙂
>>>I am not recalling zigzags
check out this setup:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1Vq_Mv4j0o
>>>Carrie and I were working on my timing 🤣. Unfortunately we didn’t get her in film saying “you need to do that again because you were late with your cue 😜”>>
Ha! I thought I heard her starting your turn cues on time lol
T
