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Hope you are having fun!!!!
>>She tends to target high in general.
Yes, she was a little higher than the toy on the ground – but it was still a good had position for the jumping skills!
T
Hi!
He did really well here – it is a hard game! The hitting of the wing on the very first rep is an indicator of how hard it is!>>he LOVES “fisbee”- he can’t say Rs,
HA! That is so funny!
He did really well for both of you. You can totally move the wing in closer for the next session (and add more motion – see below).
One thing to play around with is making the verbals sound very different from each other:
Mike’s verbals in the beginning sounded a little too similar – Karena’s verbals started to sound pretty different and Mike’s verbals in the second part of the session sounded more different too, which is good! So try to keep the wrap verbals quiet and chattered – and the tunnel verbals can be long and LOUD 🙂For the next session, you can move the wing in closer and try it without motion. But also, you can add motion to it by sending him into the tunnel, then meeting him closer to the tunnel exit then walking forward to the wing (while cuing the wrap or the tunnel). The motion might cause him to want to just take the tunnel even with the wrap verbal happening.
If he is fine with it with you walking, then you can build up the motion up to jogging and then running!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Welcome to class – she is adorable!!!
Really nice session here with the set point. She has a great sit-stay! And the cookie tosses provided some big entertainment LOL! You can totally throw a toy back to her instead of a cookie 🙂
Her jumping form is looking good – I think we can add 2 elements to teach her to power even more:– How far apart were the 2 jumps? Move them in maybe 6 inches closer or a foot closer, to see if we can get her to land more in the middle of the 2 bumps.
– You can move the cookie bowl further away by maybe 6 feet so she can extend for another stride after landing. She was moving into collection here pretty quickly in order to be ale to stop.When you add the moving target (from the Pre-Games) game to this, you won’t have to worry about where the food bowl is 🙂
Wrap to jump – this is also looking good! Try to position your line of motion to be outside the wing of the jump, so you are not standing still – you should be able to walk past the wing and that will challenge her to commit or follow you. If she can find the jump with you moving past it, you can add more speed 🙂 And also start closer to the wing so she drives ahead a bit!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>I agree that he makes decisions very early!
Yes, based on what I see here and what I saw at the trial, you will probably start giving him the info no later than when he is taking off for the previous jump. He is very fast with a lot of power!
>>I think he had a decent port or starboard turn because I was throwing the toy too early.
That is fine for the first couple of sessions! Then we can delay the reward.
>> I think will help (although ONE of my weaknesses is recognizing commitment – it all happens so quickly!).
Part of it is that we really have to trust them, which is SUPER hard to do when they are young! And also, the more connected you stay, the more they commit. (plus the verbals :))
>> my biggest take away here is no handling. Let him make the decision on the verbal and reward when correct!>>
Yes – for training purposes, we take out the handling and reward his good decisions. That way, on course, he will see both the handling and hear the verbal, and it will all be much easier 🙂
Tracy
Hi! Good work on all of these!
The jump height session with the soft turns was really interesting:
She really had trouble with the left soft turns for a while: she would miss on the first attempt (and take the 2nd jump) every single time and then get it right on the next attempt. I was about to make some suggestions to help her but she had a lightbulb moment, figured it out, and then was perfect. CooL!!! I think on the left turns, she just needs you to move more slowly for now, so she can be successful on the first rep of the next session, then you can add back more motion.
She was pretty darned perfect on her soft right turns! And she was amazing with the wraps!!! Nice!In the back-front combos:
>> I’m not sure how much I was helping her with my feet.
You were totally helping 🙂 When your feet were facing the center of the bar she thought it was the cue for the left soft turn, even when it was not – so you adjusted and pointed your feet to the backside when you wanted one of the backside cues. That was fine for this session, as it is still challenging! So for the next session, I think you can concentrate on your feet pointing forward to the bar and not the backside wing – first in position 1 and then position 2. You don’t need to do as much of the backside wraps, I think the backside slice versus the front side soft turn will be good to contrast for her as you work on keeping your feet pointing forward.
She did really well on the serp versus threadle game! Usually dogs have trouble alternating the two behaviors and she really did not – I never saw anything that I would consider a “vortex” 🙂 The left turns were definitely easier for her to come in for the threadle side. You had a subtle dangle of the toy and that helped her come in, which is fine because that can then become a hand cue. She did a great job alternating – she hit the wing a couple of times but I think it was more about watching the toy, so you can throw sooner. So on that side, you can add more motion!
When you switched sides, she needed a moment to remember to come in tight on tie right turn – you helped her a little with handling and then added the threadle – then she nailed it 🙂 On this side, start your next session with a reminder to come in and threadle, without a lot of motion – then gradually add in more motion if she is successful.
On the threadle – you can also add in an arm cue that you would normally use for threadles – I couldn’t see if you had i going here but she can definitely see it now.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Hope you are off doing something fun and relaxing!!!
The pre-games look good!
I am happy with what she did with the flirt stick toy – it immediately lowered her head. She was always looking way up at your face as you did the lead out, but the toy got her head down really well. On some reps, she looked forward and down to it and you released in that moment: perfection! She didn’t offer the focus forward before the release on all of them and that is fine – she focused forward on the toy after the release on all of them 🙂 And, in super happy news, she was not a crazy beast going for the toy – fast, head down, but organized and not wild.
I also see her targeting a little higher on the toy – her head is still low, but if you have someone who can do a little hollee roller arts and crafts, we can try that. Do I remember correctly that she also likes a jolly ball? Those are great for this too!When you get back, you can add this in to the set point.
The wraps look good too! She was starting before the verbal at the beginning of the session, so ideally you either hold her so she can’t start without you, or she waits til she hears the verbal as the release (which is what she was doing towards the end). I just hold the dog, so they don’t anticipate and start before the verbal 🙂
She is ready for the next games when you get back. Have a blast!
TracyGood morning!
She is doing really well here and plus it gives us the chance to sort out what she needs from us humans 🙂
I see what you mean when you say the wrap is not as strong without the rotation. She seemed to have the most trouble with the wrap versus the go when you were leaning over and pumping your arms (which is what a Go cue would look like) so we can add motion differently:
Try to just move forward upright, not bent over or pumping arms really fast, more like what you did with the soft turns – jut walking forward. Then it can be jogging forward and we can add real running later 🙂 At trials, we are generally behind (and perhaps late with the cue :)) so getting her to do the wraps with you just moving forward will really help!The left and right soft turns are looking good!!! So now, just walk forward on those too, don’t turn and move laterally as much.
She had some trouble with the Go verbal but I think it was the line up and not the verbal or understanding. At 1:09, you were moving on the line to the center of the bar so she couldn’t get on it, and she almost considered a backside. She did get the front side there but that takes the 2nd jump off the Go line so she didn’t take it. At 1:12 she did take the backside, because you were blocking the front side line and also stepped to the backside, so off she went to the backside.
At 1:28 you were not on her line and she was lovely there 🙂 Yay!When you switch to the soft right turns – you were bending and pumping your arms there at first like you did with the wraps, so that propelled her away – moving forward and upright will help her here, too.
When you did the exit line game – this was a good example of moving but not handling 🙂 You were basically just moving forward and not tipping her off with handling before the turn wing. Super!!! You did help her find the jump after the soft turn a tiny bit but that is fine, especially if this is one of her first tries at this crazy game 🙂
One thing that I think can help her:
Make left and dig sound more different – extend the left so it is more like lehhhhhft lehhhhft and not letletletlet, because the dogs seem to process rhythm and tone as much as they do the specific word.At 2:31 and 2:41, the rhythm and speed of the verbals sounded the same and she looked up at you.
Compare that to 2:48 and 2:57, when the dig and the right sounded pretty different and she drove away to the wing nicely there! So same thing with the right verbal – keep it longer like “riiiight riiiiiight” so you can make it very different sounding than the wrap cues.Great job on these – they are hard games and she is doing really well!!! You can totally play some of the other games as well – the serp games help with the left/right, for example. That way she is learning them in different contexts and not just the same games.
Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>> But suffice to say, that after watching your threadle videos, the question is solved. The sequence was basically a threadle! Subtle, but there it is. Above our pay grade, for now. Glad we worked toy drop. Will get better with a proper set up into it.>>
This same topic came up in the chat last night! Threadles are hard lines to communicate to the dog – based on the what needs to happen on the jump before the threadle jump, I choose the turn verbal that seems closest to what I want the dog to do to set up a good approach to the threadle jump. No verbal usually means the dog lands really wide and then the threadle is much harder. A soft turn or wrap will work, based on what I know the dog can do on the takeoff side and how much collection is needed.
>>>The confusion I had went like this…Diana works left/right verbals on M.P. both toward and away…then tries to progress to a single bar doing turns toward and away, but using wrap verbals (for tight turns) shouldn’t Diana try to use soft turns (same type of v.c. as from M.P. before advancing to wrap cues)?>>
Ah yes – it can be easier mentally if you it one type of turn. They are two different approaches to teaching it, but less for the dog to have to process if it is only one type of turn (and less for me to have to remember, especially if I am coffee-deprived haha)
>>I still say that awesome verbal skills from behind are like cheating! 😁😉 great success for your speedstakes run! >>
Ha! Then my goal is that everyone is a bunch of cheaters with great verbal skills 🙂
Tracy
Hi again!
Left turns here looked really strong – I wonder if the visual of the other obstacles (the jump to the side, the DW out ahead) help draw her into commitment. On the other video, was there anything past the left turn wing or was it the only thing out there? Her right turns here still looked fabulous.
Right turns wraps were great here! At first, the left turn wraps were harder too partially because the wrap to the left is hard for her, and partially because of the distraction jump. She likes the soft left turns! And she had a lightbulb moment about the left wraps in this session too: look at her turn at 1:04!!!!! And again at 1:21!
The whole session looked strong, her only question was about finding the jump after the soft turn on the wing. For the soft turns on both sides, move the jump up a little so she can see the front side of the jump clearly when she finishes the soft turns. Her sort turns looked really good – tight AND powerful but the the exit line of the soft turn (you can see up close at 1:06 and 1:23) puts her on the backside line of the jump and she is very literal – so she was heading around the backside LOL!
The entire last rep was great, a real look into the future of how lovely she is going to be on course. YAY!!!
And yes, poor Breeze! I hope he got a lot of cookies for his supervision efforts 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Skipping the backside stuff to do the fast lines game is good – it is better for her needs right now 🙂 No pressure to get things done, we are going to go until at least April 1, maybe longer if the weather doesn’t cooperate LOL!
And yes – ideally we stop saying “yes” because then the dogs start looking at us, expecting reward. LOL!! The reward markers are better but yet… we all say “yes” all the time haha!
Watching the video – I think it is really great and there is only one thing to consider to help her out. Yes, you were loud – but the choice of verbals makes them sound different enough that I don’t think the volume was an issue.
So looking at the reps here –
All of your connection was terrific – and that it hard to do! Great job staying connected and not flinging your arms around.She had a bunch of refusals so I watched trying to figure out why – and I think it is a left turn versus a right turn issue.
When you decelerated a little too far from the wing or early, she had refusals on the left turn reps (:21, :34, :45, 1:14). But not to the right! You were able to do the decel kind of whenever you wanted and the wraps to the right were not problem.
When you took one or two more steps into the left wraps (:55, 1:02, 1:20 even with the wrong verbal lol and 1:34) – she was perfect!So, she is a righty in this game 🙂 That means for the left turns, take maybe 2 more steps forward to support her for now as her left turns get stronger. That is normal with young dogs and good to know now before she trials!
The other thing you can do is move the right turn wing in closer to the jump, so she doesn’t have quite as far to go away from you when you decelerate.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>It’s so hard to remember to stop while ahead (and I wanted to get some video)…I think I’ll set a 5 minute timer next time.>>
I feel that! Setting a timer helps, or get a puppy. The pressure of having to get the other puppy out for training will help keep sessions short LOL!!!
I agree, he is doing well! I am generally all for shorter sessions, but the looks he was giving on the circle wraps might have had more to do with the difficulty of the skill than the session being too long – try them first next time and see how he does!
On the backside versus front side:
>> Anyway, I think he’s doing well. He does think the answer to a hand in the collar is backside (he did that the first rep when I wanted a left or a right). And interestingly when I first setup the serp excercise he thought the only thing it could be was a threadle so I definitely need to balance my training.>>
Yes, he might think that the setup of your position on the line and hand-in-collar means the fancy, hard stuff and the front side is too easy LOL!!! You can start in a slightly easier position for the front side reps at the beginning of the next session – closer to the exit wing and not as much towards the center of the bar.
But overall, he did REALLY well! You can move forward on the soft turns too – your motion on the backsides is really good. I think you can move to the front-back combo game because it takes out the collar-hold variable an we can see how he processes the verbals while yo move on basically the same line.He did a really good job on the circle wraps – these are HARD, he says 🙂 I think they are hard because it is a hard bend for a big dude like him, and the pressure of your line of motion was distracting. Your line was correct, and that is why it was so hard for him – it would be so much easier to NOT bend. He was giving you a little side-eye LOL!!! But he got it right and your rewards were on time and placed properly. So on the next session, I bet he is less side-eye about it and goes even faster 🙂 And if he is happy with that, you can add more motion and bring this skill into the back-front combos as well.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi and welcome back! It was great to see you in the class last night 🙂
I love his photo – what a gorgeous dog!Great job on the video, he looked great! Good boy!
>>Was I starting way too far from the wing in some of these reps? It didn’t feel that far when I was out there LOL. I also could’ve made better eye contact with him when he went around the wing in some of the reps.
You started off close enough that you were supporting his line a bit, and he did really nicely with that! And then by the end, you were getting way ahead which is also great. This MaxPup Superstars class allowed us to add in getting the handlers waaay ahead – because a lot of young dogs struggle with that and go into chase-mode (skipping the jump or knocking the bar). He was perfect – the right balance of “go fast” with finding the jump and good form! YAY!
He seemed happy with the amount of connection, he didn’t seem to have any questions and didn’t look at you or make any mistakes. Yay! But you can always add more connection – it is a great habit to get into especially as the games get more challenging.
For the next session, move the wing further away and do a couple of warm up reps like you did here. Then start super close to the wing and stay at the wing til he finishes the wrap before running forward, to see if he can leave you in the dust by driving ahead of you 🙂 That is an important skill to add1
Your toy throws were generally very good – you were earlier on the reps where he started on your right and moved out of the wrap wing on your left, and earlier is better 🙂 You were a little later on the reps where he started on your left and moved to the jump on you right – those throws were tending to come when he was done with the decision so he was looking a you – keep throwing super early on those, more like what you did at the end.
The placed toy worked well too, but I don’t think he needed it to help him – he was driving beautifully without it. YAY! So you can have it out there sometimes, but it is not required. When you get him driving ahead, you should probably start it with the toy out ahead to keep him looking straight. And if he is happy with that, you can switch to throwing the toy.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
>>actually getting more snow right now.
nooooooooooooooooo I guess I will stop complaining about the rain, then.
>>I’d love to post a photo of my backyard but the forum doesn’t seem to allow for that in a post??
it does, through wordpress links but it is persnickety about size of regular photos.
The wraps are looking really good! When she had the little questions, I don’t think you were letting go too early – I think it the wing was pretty far away (for a puppy) so she was asking the question of whether the best way to get to the toy was to hang out near it, or go to the wing. The answer was go to the wing LOL! She worked it out nicely.
My only suggestion is to use a reset treat to line up rather than moving her by her collar into position – she was avoiding that a bit, so you can tug, use a cookie-in-hand to get her lined up, then take her collar.Moving target game also looked great! Nice stay!!! It was a nice big hollee roller… and she grabs the handle LOL! Is there something you can put in the HR that she might like, such as a tennis ball? I have a frisbee and some fur in mine. She was lower on the handle with it was really moving towards the end of the session, though, so it might ultimately not matter (and looks like she might have grabbed it on the last rep?) We just wan to be sure she is looking down and not up or sideways to grab the handle 🙂
>>Gonna say that I have never had any of my BC’s that have done jump grid work have the issues you mention in the video. They all jumped beautifully on their set point work, focused on the target, head down, rounded back and powered through with their rear ends. >>
Yes, some dogs did well organizing themselves but one thing that I saw with those was that it was too sterile… and they had a whole lot of trouble maintaining that organization when the handler and/or toy started to move – for those dogs, that is where I would see rushing or changes in form. So this will help them handle the added distractions by installing them pretty early on while maintaining good form.
Great job here! Onwards to the other games!
TracyHello Wendy! Welcome!!!
Yes, be careful this week and then we will move forward full force!!! I am looking forward to more Sassy!!!!Tracy
Good morning!
Both games looked great here!
The wraps look strong on both sides, she was great! She will have even more fun when you can run more in and out of them – we need spring arrive soon!! My only suggestion here is to use your ‘toy in hand’ marker (I think you use ‘strike’?) rather than a “yes” marker, for clarity purposes.The moving target is going well. When the toy was stationary, I think she has experience with that and it was easy to grab it on the ‘break’ release. When it was moving, at first? She took one look and said that it was a dirty rotten trick” and she didn’t release LOL! Ha! She was fine after that, especially on the other side. It is possible that her ‘get it’ marker will be clearer than the release word here? Let me know if that is easier for her.
Great job on both, you can totally move to the next games!
Tracy
