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Hooray for good weather! She did a super job here.
It looks like she was happy to move away from the cookies and do ‘stuff’ 🙂 The focus was great, the stay was great, the touches were great – she was not as quite on the ‘shake’. That might be that she was a little uncomfortable with the exercise (because it is hard!) and when you leaned over her for the shake cue, it might have been a tiny bit of extra pressure. That is good to know, as she gets out and about in new places: ask for easy stuff where you are moving away from her or standing up. And the speed of her responses can be indicative of her comfort level in different places 🙂
She also did really well with waiting for the leash to go back on, that is a critical skill at the end of runs!One question about the marker for the reward: is it ‘get your cookies’ or just ‘cookies’? Either one is fine, as long as you don’t use “get your” or ‘get it’ elsewhere on course 🙂 it might get confusing if she hears a lot of ‘get’ 🙂 I use ‘get’ for things like ‘get out’ so that is why I use ‘let’s go’ for this particular skill 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>>Patt is a sweet boy and moderately fast. He loves agility and is willing to play by my rules: he has a solid start line, good 2o2o contacts and very good weave skills. Patt also has very good focus and attention. He is not as physically gifted as some dogs and needs practice to manage his body over slice jumps and awkward approaches/striding.
Really, not a bad summary…>>
Ha! We can certainly build on that, including his Agility Grand Championship and all of his other massive accomplishments!
>> Here is an example of a threadle we are having trouble with:
Does he go straight to the off course, or ‘just’ wide? Can he do it when he is not stimulated with motion mid-course?
>>(this is the only way I know to put in a picture — make it into a video. There must be another way?)>>
Let me ask the tech guru – the IMG button on the replies should allow it but it is asking for a URL. I will find out!
T
Hi!
>> I was abit surprised that i managed to get so much arousal at my place. This is good as easier to work at home.
I agree – it is great to get it at home. I think the leash brings the arousal in! It is not something we normally do so the dogs get more stimulated.
>> He directs his focus onto the food almot as if he is tryingto keep focusand the struggles to keep focus when not thrre. Why we struggle these gaes. I think a leach tug might helo but need to build the bridge of nothing>>
Interesting! I know lots of dogs who struggle with that… stay tuned for the game in Package 2 which should help it 🙂
T
Hi!
>>Yes, in the first two I had a target loaded with food. I try to be fairly religious with this since the teeter was such a project. After that, no food.
That is what I thought – but she was still targeting to that spot really nicely even without food!
>> So, when you are saying she didn’t know where the reinforcement was coming from, are you referring to the ball? Or that I was mixing food and ball and that made it unclear?>>
If you watch her head after she gets the treat or hits position, she is looking around with really quick movements (like at :48, :57, etc) – sometimes down, sometimes at yuo, sometimes behind her, sometimes away from you and off to the side. So she is looking for *something* 🙂 When you had the toy out ahead, the looking around went away – was she looking for a placed toy? If so, keep on placing the toy just so she can have that predictability.
>>I don’t think I know about the rebound game so if you have a video that would be great. I do agree that when she knows where the ball is she is more intent to hold the teeter down. When it is in a sequence or even the few trial runs we have done she does hold it down.
Yes, I think knowing where to look (ball!) allows her to multi-task and use her hind end better.
Here is a rebound game explanation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDZC6byGinwAnd a bit of a finished product, you can see the weight shifting more:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfddwEcTjfY>> She has a strong preference of wanting to do a 4 on. My original intent was to teach that but when the chaos began plans changed. If I can come up with a plan of attack I might do that later.
I like the clarity of the 2o2o – we don’t want to frustrate her. And 2o2o criteria tends to last longer than 4on because it is very specific.
T
Now that I have had more coffee, I thought of one more thing: you can also break it down by making the weaves themselves easier. How did you initially train them? For example, if you used channels, you can have all 12 poles. The first 6 or 8 can be straight and then you can open up the last 4 or so a bit, so they are easier to stay in when you are doing all sorts of crazy handling things 🙂 That can allow for the training we need to do without too much bang on her body.
Let me know if it makes sense or if I am still under-caffeinated hahahaTracy
Hi!
>>Here is Zing’s teeter. This is the crown jewel of all of my training with her. When she began she went CRAZY on the teeter, biting, spinning, etc…So after coming back from my panic attack, I decided to train her teeter, not on a teeter. >>
Whoa! I have met some dogs who do the spinning barking BITING on the teeter (all BCs lol). I am glad you came back from the initial panic with a plan: her teeter looked GREAT here! Was there a cookie planted there on the first few or was she doing a great nose touch? She was SUPER independent… she didn’t give a cr*p about where you went hahahaha don’t take it personally. She did have a question about holding the teeter down with her hind end: it lifted it up a lot and even bounced her off on one rep. That is partially due to the nose touch element. I personally really like the nose touch so I add a game that helps the dog with the whip of the board (the rebound game). It might be something you already know but haven’t done yet, because you’ve been working on “don’t bite the damn board” LOL!! If you have never played the rebound game, let me know and I will send videos.
The only other thing I saw here was that after she initially landed in position, she seemed to not know where to look next (in other words, she didn’t always know when/where the reinforcement was). If you can be earlier with the marker about where to look next (or when/where the reward is coming) then she will know where to look and also I think she will think about holding the board down with her rear.
Not sure how much sequencing you have done with the teeter, but she looks ready for it to go into the sequences here!
>I will now use that with all my dogs I loved it so much. Zing did not get back on a teeter until she was 16 months old, still had to address the going crazy, but we had tools by then. >>
This is inspirational! If only everyone would approach things like you did. YAY!!!!!
>>The last 2 clips are just cause it is HUGE for her to sit beside a teeter, watch the motion, listen to the sound and stay in a control position.
This is indeed huge!!!! In fact, she looked quite zen-like. Almost napping. Was she awake? HA! Just kidding 🙂 She looked great!!!!! I am so thrilled for your progress. I would love to see before/after videos at some point. And Hoot looked great too, of course 🙂
Ok so next steps would be to move the teeter and weaves into the sequences for success (the weaves can be slightly open). Have fun!!!
TracyHello and welcome! She did great here!
It seemed like she was fast and correct in the striding, no matter what you did or where you went (perfect!!!) She did look for the toy as she came out, so you can throw it earlier (which is an additional challenge) or leave it out there (also a good challenge :)) You can definitely try the sequences with the weaves.>>She seems to do better when I am behind, than when I run ahead. >>
She probably tries to rush because it is so fun to go fast when you go fast 🙂 The guides seem to help! Which brings up a good question:
>>For our last rep, I did an entry sending on the L side with running ahead, as these are her weaknesses at the moment.>>
Since she seems to find the guides really helpful on the exit, have you tried them on the entry in this situation? They might help her out too!
>>I am wondering if it would be a good idea to do these skill exercises with the travel plank for her 2o2o.>>
Totally yes 🙂 You can use the plank and a target. I also play this with the bang game on the teeter, starting behind the dog so the dog moves ahead to target position.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy>>And, this might be a way to fix the releasing himself to his leash on course – the dreaded run to the leash instead of the last jump.>>
10000000% yes to this! I have seen some of the biggest names in the sport have a winning run go sideways… because the dog didn’t know how to ignore the leash.
>> I can throw the leash, use one cue for it and a different cue for the food reward and teach him to bypass the leash for treats unless he gets the cue for leash play. This is a really good exercise!>>
Absolutely! And that is something that doesn’t even need agility equipment to play with 🙂
T
Hi!
Wow, the teeters reps were hard for her but I am SUPER excited about her confidence!!!! She drove right to it and went directly to target position. That is fabulous!
With the MM straight out ahead, you can use that to release her to when you are miles away – that can make for a more immediate reinforcement, which can translate to driving across the board faster.
And since she is still pretty new to the full teeter, you can mix in some ‘easy’ reps where you are running fast alongside her or ahead of her to also keep the speed through the pivot point. Overall though, I am doing a big happy dance with her teeter performance!!!!She was trying SO HARD on the weaves – it was really challenging and she was so funny, weaving next to the last couple of poles LOL! Good girlie 🙂 I liked how you broke it down for her on the last rep: lateral, a little, and behind, a little: but giving just enough support so she could be very successful. That is where I suggest starting the next session, than gradually add in fading away laterally, then reducing the amount of motion. You can also have the beloved MM out ahead as a focal point too for these – it will be a great way to get her to let you fade the motion while also getting quick rewards.
Question: how does she do with 6 poles? You can work the standing still or dramatically running away on 6 and see if that is easier for her to stay in the poles.Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi there!
I have always found that the more experienced the dog, the harder it sometimes became to get them to NOT watch me at the bottom of the contacts LOL!!! I mean, all of their competition/course running experience helped them realize that my position would dictate what was next, so that watching me would help them find the next line.That is the good news.
The bad news is…
I have always found that the more experienced the dog, the harder it sometimes became to get them to NOT watch me at the bottom of the contactsHa! And watching us causes them to slow down or not go all the way to the end/curl off the side or both.
That is what Taken is doing here – he is using his experience to try to sort out the next line so looking at you and curling off the side. To keep the contacts fast and ‘correct’ (not sideways haha) we can work on convincing him to go straight. The best reps were when the toy was straight out in front, like at 1:27ish. On the other reps, even when you tossed the reward straight, he was still looking at you (and being able to watch you throw the toy is very reinforcing :))
So definitely in training, have the reward placed out ahead. You can also revisit the original training method (if you used a target on the ground, for example) to help get his eyes straight and position straight. For example, I train my 2o2o with a target at the bottom of the contact, and I like to refresh that skill with the experienced dogs (the baby dogs don’t have enough experience to look at me yet LOL!) So you can put the target back in during training to remind him to look forward and not curl in (especially on the teeter). And I add it into course work sometimes too, just to be sure I can be independent and not build in any looking at me.>> I’m pretty cautious about the reps we do on the DW and the weaves so I don’t do those often in training (which is why I only worked the end position here).
Totally agree! Working end position was perfect! You can get a ton of training in without any slam on his body 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHowdy!
>>I need a bigger yard! (The DW is diagonally across my back yard right now)
That is a good place for the DW 🙂 I wonder if all of the MN people can get together to use each other’s spaces?
Up first, Mr. Floof:
Great friz throws LOL! Most were good, a couple were clunkers, I feel that pain LOL!!! I like that you had the go verbal there too, so he had clarity of where to look after the tunnel. And he was looking straight on the tunnel exit, thanks to the go verbal, which is terrific!! If you want to do the sequences with him, you can totally do it with the tunnel in the center and just add in the different exit verbals. I do think he might be able to do most of the sequences with the teeters and weaves, even if you help with slightly open weaves or a target on the teeter (my demo dogs had a target out and also slightly open weaves).
>>I plan to try but am expecting I will need to move forward more. And for his teeter, I plan to put the target back out. Should I run up to reward him in position with food or try releasing and throwing a toy?>>
Yes, you can support the newer obstacles with more motion forward and less moving away dramatically – and then fade that out. I bet he is stronger than you think!
For the teeter, yes you can totally use the target and then either run to plop the treat in position or release him forward to a toy or a MM).
Ooh your rollers with Min were really good!! She also did well on the tunnels! And as with Kaladin, great job with the go verbals. Consistency is so critical with verbals: you used the verbal and placed the reinforcement correctly. Click/treat for you 🙂
She also did well with the weaves: and if the Sunday session helped that, then I am totally doing a happy dance! I support your goal of wanting to tryout for the WAO team at US Open – I believe she is an excellent candidate! I am quite sure we will all need some super independent poles there. She seemed to have a little question on the very last rep in the poles, but it is also possible that she just slipped or got caught in the poles. But that slip might also be a sign of distraction: MOM WHERE ARE YOU GOING?? LOL! So this is something to keep showing her until she is VERY confident (we revisit this skill several times this summer 🙂 )Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>Couple questions about this
– does he need to be ‘controlled’ on the way out or can we play tug on the way out before we stop and sit/do trick or whatever?Do you mean on the way out to the jump, with the leash on? Nope, you can find your own rhythm/teamwork with that. He can be tugging on the leash on cue, doing tricks, or walking with you – anything that is engaging (not controlled, that is no fun :)) but also nothing that would have him obsessing on other dogs running.
>> If I’m using the toy to tug as the reward, then do we just play wherever we are when I reward or still pretend the run out of the ring?>>
Tug toy as reward would look something like this:
go to line on leash, playing
leash off
leash tossed or placed behind him and you (like near where the ring gate would be or ring exit would be)
you lead out (eventually, for example)
then yes, cue to run back to it then go play. It is the same as having the cookies on a chair, but instead it is the leash on the ground somewhere.>>I like your idea of leash off before the sit. He’s so conditioned to amping up as soon as I take the leash off once he’s sitting. In the old days I needed to make sure he was going to stay in the ring with me, so I didn’t take the leash off till he was sitting, now it’s a habit that i don’t need to have. Wouldn’t it be fun if we could break that old trigger and have a controlled Wager at the start line? 🙂>>
Yes! You can also allow him to offer the behavior and it can be a different behavior (a down or stand rather than a sit, for example) to really break out of old habits.
>>I’m pleased with how Spot is coming along. It must be all that great instruction I got on his foundation and progression to sequencing. 🙂 Will add a target for a while.
I think he looks fabulous 🙂 You are doing a great job!!!
T
