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Good morning!
>>Sorry about the airplane noise – the navy does touch and goes at our little local airport about a mile from my land.
I don’t even notice it 🙂 We get low flying practice runs from Naval Station Norfolk – they use the little valley that I live in as strafing practice because of the varied terrain (mountains, valley, huge lake not too far away in jet fighter terms… Yesterday there was a fighter jet flying sideways about 100 feet over my field while I was out there. I wave to them. LOL! The noise is intense but thankfully the dogs are not bothered by it. One of these days, I’ll get video.
Lots of good training elements in this Fast Lines session!!! A couple of details about it –
You’re going to laugh, but you might be saying GO to early on the start wing. The good news/bad news with a GO verbal is that if the dog understands it, he will go straight in the direction he is facing, regardless of what you are doing. You were saying it before he had exited the wing wrap, so he was looking a different direction. In this setup, he won’t go anywhere, but on a course, he might lock onto the wrong line. I have learned this lesson firsthand, thanks Voodoo LOL!! So you can wit one heartbeat longer, til you see his head turn towards the jump.
He is doing a really good job maintaining criteria and committing to the turn wing, especially with the left turns! For example at :13, he maintained his wrap exit criteria so well even though you were disconnected and hustling away. I mean, ideally we would NEVER disconnect but we are human and it is nice to know he will find his line based on the verbal 🙂 Yay!
There was something funky :18 – – maybe it was the wrong verbal? And you got quiet early, so he had a question – but great job for committing!
On those left turn reps – Based on how he is jumping the jump… tell him sooner about what you want on the turn wing. He was a bit inverted, head up, looking at you a little which translates to waiting for information. You were saying it over the bar… try saying it as he lifts off (and keep saying it :)) So far this game has been fascinating in terms of getting feedback from the dogs about just how early we can give the next cue, especially when we are not way ahead. I would have guessed that over the bar would be fine for him but he says it is late. Alrighty then!
On your wrap verbals: say them early like you did, say them often like you did… but then stop saying them when he arrives at the turn wing. You were still saying them as he looked at the jump after the wrap, which could get confusing.
he did well with the soft turns – he didn’t always find the jump after it but his line was generally correct, so he will learn to stay on that line with a ‘jump’ verbal and a little more handling support.
His soft right turns were harder – mainly because body language was not supporting as much on that side and also he is better at turning left on this setup. Be sure to keep moving forward on these – not necessarily turning on time, but moving 🙂 For example at 2:26 – you slammed on the brakes and weren’t connected, so he stopped – eventually I don’t think that will be a problem and the verbals will override the deceleration but for now, he still needs some forward motion.
For the next session, start with a couple of easy ones where you are moving forward, then work your way back to starting closer to the start wing, so he is driving ahead of you into the turns 🙂
The serp versus go setup was hard for him! I think there was too much motion to start this and the GO and the Back are both very forward so he was reading motion and not the verbal, which also made it harder to get the serp. With you not layering on the first couple of reps and running, he was staying on his parallel path to the backside. So that gives us some insight into his backside understanding and motion. He was getting it by the end, he kind of had a “a-ha!” moment 🙂 So for the next session, start with less motion, just walking – and when he gets it right, you can add more and more motion. I think also that adding a name call on the start wing will help, to line him up for the front and be like “HEY SPOT LISTEN” rather than just responding to motion 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
The software can be persnickety… if the image is too big, it won’t post it. Can you put it in a google doc and share the link? Or email it to me at agilityuniversity@gmail.comTracy
Good morning!
>HELP, I need a clearer picture of the “RESET COOKIE” to prevent the GO VORTEX. (Or any vortex, love that phrase!!). I have used a RESET COOKIE during conditioning exercises and to get Prism off of the platform (especially when I need to adjust the spacing or angle and he won’t get off!!) but I am in a small, indoor space and my goal is to get him off or away from me to start over. What would a RESET COOKIE look like on an agility field?
Vortexing is a real thing in agility, just wait til you get into threadles… then sometimes we get the ALL THREADLES ALL THE TIME vortex LOL!!!
Good question here – I think reset cookie is probably too general of a term. I use the cookie (or a toy) as a way to end the incorrect rep, something I don’t necessarily want to reward with a thrown reward or the placement for a ‘correct answer’. And I also use it as a way to bring the dog back to the starting point for the next rep.
So, how the reset cookie is delivered depends on the starting point – but generally I just call the dog back to me (”c’mere!” Or some generic word like that, but not a “you’re wrong” marker). And then I deliver a cookie or toy in a way that helps the dog line up for the next rep. So it can be a cookie at my side. Or since you have a line up position, you can call him, line up, cookie, start again. Or a toy!
The goal is to very quickly end the incorrect rep (we humans spend way too much time discussing the incorrectness and not enough time getting the next correctness LOL!), reset the dog to the start position for the next rep – and keep the overall rate of success high so the frustration level stays low.
We all miscount the rate of success/rate of reinforcement by counting only behavior we are trying to train… but I try to count ALL behind offered or cued in the session. So even if my cue is bad or the dog makes a mistake, I can keep the rate of reinforcement really high with these rewards for resetting into the start position.
The magic is that the dog stays very happy and eager to keep trying, without getting frustrated or stressed… and we don’t accidentally reinforce unwanted behavior with the skill(s) we are trying to train.
>>Won’t he lose the cookie in the turf?
If the reset cookie is thrown as the best way to bring the dog back to start position, the dog should already know how to find one and return to focus (plus using big obvious cookies in a contrasting color helps – like string cheese chunks). One reinforcement procedure that I teach my dogs very early on is to find a cookie in grass/dirt and immediately return focus to me. I have video of this if you want to see!
>>Maybe I use a whole meatball, lol?
He won’t be sad LOL!! But you probably won’t need a whole meatball, and a lot of the reset cookies in this context are from your hand so throwing them won’t be a problem.
>>so he DOES take time to find them (and POOF, vortex dissolved).>>
YES! Doing fast reps all in a row are NOT helpful for breaking out of the vortex. Tossing treats and then doing something really easy sure can help!
I will go find a reset cookie moment in one of the demo videos so you can see it in action – be right back with that!
>>I finally pulled out the 5’ bars>>
Depending on your competition goals, we might only ever need 5 foot bars – but we might also go back to 4 foot bars later on, as he will see those in UKI and on the more ‘international” style courses 🙂
TracyGood morning!
I love the upside down garbage pail as the cone to wrap 🙂 but I think she had a question about it (see below).This game went really well! A couple of big-picture things:
– right turns appear to be easier for her here than the left turns did. There might be 2 reasons for it:
She might be a righty 🙂 So don’t be surprised if you are able to rotate more and leave sooner when she is being asked to turn right (like the first part of the video) than on the left turns (2nd part of the video) and that is fine, you can make things easier on the left turns.Or – she moved the barrel at :53 and it slammed behind her. That was right when she said “no thanks” to more left turns for a few reps then did them but did them slowly. So perhaps it is not a side preference, maybe it is more that she was sensitive to the noise or feel of the barrel? You might want to dampen the sound with some towels under it in case she hits it again.
My guess is that it is a combo – left turns might be a little harder and she didn’t like the crash of the barrel. Begin sure that it doesn’t make a big noise will help her get past that.
She really liked it when you did a little “ready ready” moment 🙂 Very snappy responses from her when you did that!
And remember to use your “you may now grab the toy” marker (is it ‘strike’?) so she knows she can really drive into the toy.
For the next session, move the barrel to a new spot on the floor so she hopefully won’t remember the noise, and put some towels under it so it is not noisy if she moves it. Fingers crossed that the snow melts soon so you can pay outside!!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! I heard about the temps at the Shade seminar, holy cow! I was there the following weekend when it was nice and cool 🙂
For 2022, the dates are:
July 15-16-17 (or 14-15-16-17, not sure) – last I heard was that the teaching days are a mini camp with Shauna Oliver from Canada (I have enjoyed working with her) and the Saturday is a UKI trial (he will be old enough to play in Speedstakes, even if is it NFC and at a lower height!!!!!!!)August is the big camp with Jordan, me, Tammy and I think the 4th instructor will be Desiree. It is fuuuuuunnnnnnnn! 2 camps in the Aug 25 – Sept 1 range.
Hope to see you there!
Tracy
Hi!
The backsides are looking strong so far, especially the first part of the video when you were moving – he was happy to the backside without needing much physical help. Yay! Good job throwing the toy, too!
When you added the front side versus backside – remember to keep moving, so he learns to respond even when you move not just standing still. He did well with the dig dig versus the backside. And I see what you mean about the Go versus the backside being harder. Both are forward verbals so they are similar in some ways.
You can help with the go a couple of ways:
line him up a bit more center of the bar so it is easier to see the Go line. You were facing the center which pushed him off a little to the backside line, so if you move over a step, he will face the front.
And, since he is begin so good about you holding the collar – say the Go Go Go a couple of times (or backside cue) and *then* let go – and see what he does. While he is learning the Go versus the Back, you can reward any frontside since the backside is so tempting. I would have rewarded 1:29 when he did go to the front, throw nice and early – it was not perfect but it was a good approximation 🙂 Also, rather than place the toy ahead, throw it – I think placing it is too much of a ‘tip off’ and he will go when you place it, but won’t go without it. So, throw early but don’t place it – you can throw as he is heading to the front, and not the backside.Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyAh, the 4am questions 🙂
>>Backside wrap with us on their tail- I know the verbal should be the ultimate distinguisher but I feel like sometimes I inadvertently cue a whisky cross when I intended for a tight wrap. Is this something we will be visiting?
GREAT question!
The verbal cue of the circle wrap is very important (we would use a backside slice verbal for the whisky) but so is the handling:
with the circle wrap, we run right up their tails and there is not turning to the jump bar whatsoever.
with the whisky, there is a decel/shoulder (and sometimes feet) turn to the bar. It is small, but it happens. If you are getting the whiksy when you want a wrap, you might be ‘helping’ at the bar (other hand coming up, or rotating) or he might not have a complete understanding of it at high speed – it is a hard turn!We don’t have the space in this class – I will probably put it in the next handling class, which is either CAMP or something else if there is a spot on the calendar before it.
T
Hi!
>>I left this session feeling kind of funky because I missed so many opportunities. I know he was turning left and it took me a few reps of just getting the turn to realize the jump was incorrectly placed.>>
That funky feeling is the reset cookie voice in your head LOL! We can always find a way to get a reset cookie in, even if we don’t want to reward what happened. For example: Contraband dock diving from the top of the dog walk down ramp to the ground was not something I rewarded. So after I got done laughing, I called him back to reset, gave the cookie, did the next rep.
>>For toy placement and independence, should I throw for L and R and then run for check versus dig to get the acceleration out of the tight turns?
Ideally, you would be moving for both and yes: throw with a get it for the soft turns and run the other way with your ‘strike’ for the wraps. I think he has really strong drive out of the turns, and this will get even more 🙂
>>I’m working hard to embrace the reset cookie. I even FORCED Carrie to use it yesterday and it really reduced Roulez’s frustration. It has also been helpful with Callie who much prefers food to keep her playing with toys while training. You’re just so good at what you do!>>
The reset cookie has allowed me to suck and sort out my crap without pissing off my dogs 🙂 And it has eliminated tooth hugs!
>>As far as spacing goes, is it appropriate? Should I adjust that left jump more?
Adjust it a little more so when he turns on that perfect left turn, the jump is on the easiest line to it.
Hi!
>>I feel like we are getting it now. I think we both needed a break.>>Sometimes the best training happens when we leave things alone for a few days – latent learning kicks in! I think this happened here 🙂
Apologies for the SUPER BORING feedback here – nothing to tell you other than how fabulous it looks:
Wow, the first video looked outstanding! No worries about the bar on the left turn, I think she was thinking REALLY HARD about getting it right 🙂
The 2nd video was also great – nailed it!
And great job to you with the very clean mechanics and also making the verbals sound very different, that really helps! So onwards to adding the start wing before this, for more motion.
You can also skip to some of the other games, like the serps and backsides – that way each game & skill can have a break and she learns a variety of skills.
Great job here!!!!
TracyGood morning!
All sorts of good stuff here, and definitely things we can add to answer her questions!One thing I see here throughout the games is that all of your rewards are marked with “yes” which doesn’t really help her know where to go for the reward. It might be ‘yes’ then a toss, or ‘yes’ then a reward from your hand… teaching the verbals goes faster when we use what I call “predictive reinforcement” meaning – the cue (verbal cue in this case) predicts where the reinforcement will be consistently, so when the dog hears the verbal cue, they go to where they can predict the reinforcement will be.
For example, when we teach a 2o2o, we reward in that 2o2o position a LOT so the dog learns to run to the end of the board, to where reinforcement is coming. Teaching the verbals goes better when we use the same concept. So with that in mind, try to add at least 2 reward placement markers and use them instead of “yes”:
– a thrown reward marker (like get it)
– a ‘from my hand’ marker (like ‘bite’ or ‘strike’)Then, placement of reinforcement becomes more powerful because you mark her behavior with the word that tells her where the reinforcement will be:
GO GO GO Get it!
or wrap wrap wrap bite!That way she learns to predict where to find reinforcement and when she hears the verbal, she goes to where the reinforcement is consistently placed. If everything is a “yes”, then she loses that important element and ends up watching you more, so it takes longer to learn the verbals. And it can be frustrating when you don’t know when/where/how your paycheck will be delivered: so it leads to more errors and barking.
With that in mind, on the videos:
Exit line criteria at the beginning –
The wraps were good, soft turns were harder, but probably because she didn’t realize the 2nd jump was ‘in play’ after all the games of “don’t take the 2nd jump”. As soon as she figured it out, she was fine with it all 🙂 And also she did a nice job going back to the wraps!!You can add the reward markers here: ‘get it’ out on the line past the jump for the soft turns, and your ‘from the hand’ marker for the wraps. If you use the marker as soon as you see her decision on the wing, she will have an easier time knowing what is next and also an easier time responding to the verbals.
At 1:16, she had a legit question about the 2nd wing out there – then 2 failures in a row – then you did a FC on the wing. She was real mad at that point LOL!! So if you see her have a question like she did at 1:16, you can just give a reset cookie (yes, different verbal marker for that but it can be casual, like ‘c’mere’) and start over rather than send her from the error spot – you can also use the reset cookie at 1:36 and 1:43. Starting from the point of error often makes mechanics unclear and leads to more errors, which is what happens here. And more errors lead to more frustration and a different type of barking. So, if there is a question from her (either a random wing out there, especially if it might be on her line, or a legit error), you can reset with a cookie and try again. Those resets provide a nice balance of moving to the next rep (the dog has the idea that the response wasn’t quite right, but the overall rate of success remains high) and clean mechanics for getting success on the next rep as well as a moment to figure out what went wrong and why.
On the 2 jump setup:
The left and right on 2 jumps looked good! You can definitely use a get it for those rewards (tossed rewards)>>Also, what’s the best way to work go when you’ve been doing this close work. She’ll eventually go, but right off the bat she’s not going and just gets mad, LOL. Should I put motion in to make it easier?>>
You can add motion, as long as you add it after you start saying go – so it can be a moment of normal walking while you say GO GO GO then you can accelerate, so the GO verbal predicts the motion which predicts reward placement (dogs are big predict’ers) And be sure the line of motion is past the wing (past or towards the outer edge of the wing on all go, wrap, soft turn reps) – on that the first Go, you were moving a bit to the center of the bar and I think that confused her a bit.
Also, reward approximations: bear in mind that GO is relative to what she does on the first jump, not about taking the 2nd jump, so you can mark the moment when you see her heading straight to jump 1 and throw the reward
In the last third of the video, there seemed to be a massive leap in criteria from when you were walking and using cookies in a very zen way (like at 2:51), to more motion and a toy and the wing further away so she had more motion too like at (2:57). It was a whole lot happening! So she had a lot of questions. I scrolled back to see if you had done the in-between steps of running hard with cookies, or moving more slowly with the toy – you can put those in or revisit them so that as you gradually increase the criteria. It is better to make things a little too easy and get success, then make them harder – than it is too get failure and try to dial it back.
Because the toy is very stimulating (yay!) you will definitely want reward markers involved so that she is able to process the verbal cues more about how to get the toy and not just run fast for the toy. Knowing how to get the reinforcement will make a massive difference in her processing and responses when she is in high arousal – and while I don’t think she will ever be completely silent on course 🙂 I bet that she will bark less and process more!
>> They are not scenarios where there could be a collision or she would need to cut me off. She’s typically already ahead and I wonder if she’s just not committed to the front side of the jump and I push on the diagonal and that’s all it takes to push her off.
My guess is that it is the pressure on the line happening before she is committed – so even though she is ahead of you , she would have to cut across your line to get the front of the jump. We will try to set something up in May to simulate it and see what we get!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Nice work on this last video!
Backside slices – I think you need a bit more room for these, so you can move up the line more. When he was in a stay, the ‘break’ release means to take the front so he was confused. When you lined him up to face the line more it helped, but the best results where when you started him with a bit more motion and from a ‘search’ cookie at 2:05: both of you could move a little more and he was able to figure it out MUCH better!One big thing on the backside slices is to drop the reward on the landing side of the noodle as you move away – dropping the reward will get him conditioned to look for the jump bar and take it as a default behavior, rather than look up at you. when you were rewarding from your hands, he was watching you a lot – that changes his head position for future jump and it was also causing him to watch your hands too much. So, as soon as he is going around the wing, you can drop the cookie on the ground with a get it marker so he looks for the bar and cookie, not at your hands.
He is also doing really well with the serps! He is very happy to come in nice and tight to you. At this stage: When you are using food rewards, try not to turn your shoulders at all to deliver the food. Your upper body should remain completely stationary in serp position (facing the noodle) and then you can either have a cookie bowl on the exit line (where you drop a reward in from the hand next to it), or a MM. That way your upper body stays open which is the cue to turn away- we don’t want him to think that you need to close your shoulders as that can add questions about the next line.
When you switched to dropping the toy on the ground – that is the correct placement of reward, reward marker and upper body position – super! It was a really big leap forward in criteria after the cookies in hand, so be sure to work the empty bowl or MM on the ground first so he doesn’t fail. He did get it after that, but ideally we don’t want that first failure.
He is beginning to really understand perch work too! Two suggestions:
– try a lower perch so he hops less and separates his rear feet more. If this one is 4 inches tall, try something that is 2 inches tall. The taller perch shifts a lot of his weight back, so he is having a bit more trouble with separating his feet. A lower perch will allow him to shift more of his weight to his front end, so his hind end can more more easily.
– Reward with his head lower so he is not craning up at you as that also shifts his weight back, making it harder for him to move around the perch. To do this, have your cookie hands at your knees as a focal point the whole time (either bending over or sitting in a chair). You’ll see this will change his posture and he will be able to move more freely.The next step will be to add a bar taped to the ground (so it doesn’t roll) for him to step over.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>I wish I had thought to submit a trial video from last weekend. It was a Premier Standard course that I definitely needed independent verbals. A few different handling decisions might have helped but I think I would have still been behind.>>
Submit it for next week! I would love to see it! The video clips people have sent in have been so cool to analyze! Very helpful info from the dogs.
On the video:
>>. I really struggled with releasing with command instead of “break” . Also not saying “YES!!!”>>
Yep, we are a society of “YES-ers” hahaha!!! Keep rehearsing the verbals and markers; they all get to be more reflexive soon!
The serps are going really well! She had a little trouble with sending off you to the start wing rather than taking the jump right next to you, especially at the start of each side.
One thing that will help on the sends is to just connect to her more a bit like a :04 and :12 – the line up was good, verbal was good, so looking at her more (and less at the wing) will help her understand which obstacle is on play (NOT the one closest to her) like at :04 and :12, first reps on each side). It is completely counterintuitive to look at the dog MORE when sending her away LOL but it totally works because of how the extra connection lines up our shoulders. As she gets more experienced with sending to the less obvious/smaller visual obstacle, you won’t have to connect as much.On your next serp session, you can move more so you are passing the exit wing of the jump as she is approaching it. My bet is that you can get to jogging and running in the next session pretty easily. As you add more motion, you can also say the 2nd verbal sooner, as soon as she arrives at start wing. So on the send to the wing, you can be saying ‘left’ for example and as soon as her cute little nose arrives at the wing, you should be saying ‘right right right’ and moving through the serp line.
The circle wraps are going really well!!! Change the angle of your line though – there was a distraction jump in the picture, but you were running away from it. The challenge is that your line is towards it, to ask her to either turn away and complete the wrap (yay!) or to succumb to temptation and chase you and grab the jump (no yay haha)
When she is fine with that, you can keep adding more distance from the wing to start, and more motion so you are really running right behind her tail – as you do that, be sure to keep throwing the reward back to the landing spot and not near you or out ahead of you to maintain the value of commitment as you blast past her, especially with the distraction jump out ahead.Backside slices were also looking good! Good reward placement!! Now you can start to move over and over a bit more, so that she can go to the backside with you running more to the bar and less to the entry wing – first move towards the part of the bar closer to the wing, then more to the center of the bar.
Great job here!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>> And my birthday dinner was ready
Hope you had a great birthday 🙂
>.We had a real world young dog day and we were able to implement verbals for soft turns. It felt like cheating, lol, he did everything great.
So fun!!! And totally NOT cheating. You trained it, you’re gonna use it 🙂
>> I did some backchaining so he would know my expectation on the turns.
This is an example of very, very smart dog training to help set up a young dog for massive success, especially in a different environment. CLICK/TREAT FOR YOU!!!! YAY!
>>Then we went to a new venue where an adult dog course was set up and I TOTALLY forgot to incorporate many of our verbals. When I DID use them, it was great!!! When I did not, there were wide turns.
We all feel this pain LOL!!! His response when you used them (versus when you didn’t) is a great motivator to walk the courses more, work your verbals in more before you run him. I posted that video of me walking the course for my 2 year old dog so I could have my verbals in place before he got involved. I do this now with everything, even wing wraps, to train my own brain to spit out the verbals as a reflex.
>> NO ONE in this group does this level of training the dog/human partnership.
The level of communication we are trying to offer the dogs is more along the lines of what our European friends has inspired us to do 🙂 Add in the handling we are working on… BOOM! Excellence in the ring. Very cool stuff!!!
On the first video – very nice work!!!
You were saying the reward marker and pulling out the treats over the bar – it is fine as a distraction for the jumping but also try to keep moving for the reward 🙂Speaking of doing stuff over the bar – for the most part, you had really strong timing of the wrap or right verbals, like at :45 you started the wrap verbal when his front feet hit the ground (the previous 2 reps were maybe a heartbeat later, but after :45 all the cues were when his front feet hit the ground). Based on his structure and speed… I think you’ll probably need to be telling him sooner, especially on an AKC course with shorter distances. On full height bars, he will land further away from the jump giving him less time for the adjustment. Ideally, he knows what is next before he lands so he can already have it processed and make the adjustment as soon as his back feet hit the ground. This would mean starting the next verbal right before takeoff or over the bar, so he has already heard it before landing. This is a good setup to start that – he is highly likely to be successful without hitting the bar, so we can show him that yes, we might be yelling something while he is jumping LOL!
On the turns – he did a great job maintaining criteria on the wrap exits, good boy!! He had a couple of questions (look at you) about the soft turn exit line – he came around the wing correctly but wasn’t sure how far to come back for the jump. Ideally the jump would be more on the exit line, where the aframe was, but I think that was a space limitation.
One other thing I noticed: what a difference in the sound of the words though, wow! Loved how you able to run and make all the verbals sound completely different. Yay!!Next session on this setup: add more challenges by starting closer to that first wing so he has to drive ahead of you. If possible, change the position of the 2nd jump so it sits n the soft turn line a little more. And play with the earlier timing of the wrap and soft turn verbals and let’s see how he does with that!
Go verus serp – this is a hard one 🙂 Good session here!!! We have all done the leftrightrightright oopsies, you fixed it really fast and he had no question LOL! I think you had a wrap cue on the start wing then soft turn cues, and that was messing things up, too many words in a short space – a soft turn cue on the start wing is correct because he doesn’t need to exit it on a tight wrap, so you can use right to send him to it and left for the serp jump. As you are doing the serps here, try using your right/left verbals more like you did in the first video – the difference in delivery style can help too!
Loving the extended tug sessions! Fun!!!The Go versus the serp was hard – at first it was hard to get the GO line. The reward at :51 was a good reward, as it rewarded the approximation: yes, didn’t take the jump but also he didn’t turn right, so it was more of a go than a turn. Nice help on the next rep to get the behavior! To help him realize that Go applies to the jump as well, you can have the wings of the 2 jumps practically touching, so going through the gap is much harder during the layering moments, and finding the jump is a little easier 🙂
Then he got into a bit of a GO vortex, all go, all the time for a bit LOL! A little reset cookie instead of a marker can help him refocus during a vortex moment.
On both the Go and the serp – try less motion for both – this helps maintain the soft turns but also challenges the response to the GO, so he processes the word more and doesn’t wait for your motion 🙂 Eventually you can work it up to the point where you can be running on both, or walking on both – and he responds to the verbals 🙂
At 3:24 and 3:39 – You can reward the approximations here (behavior was good, not perfect) or do reset cookies to go back to the next rep – he got frustrated and a bit leapy for the toy, so the approximations or reset cookies can help him stay centered in arousal even when there is an error.
I liked the motion you worked up to at 4:14 for both cues! It was a was a good amount of motion for both that GO rep and the serp after it – kind of medium speed, nice and smooth 🙂 to help break out of the Go vortex and balance the serps and the Go lines. It was a really good way to end the session!
On the next session, start with this medium speed and see how he does. Then you can add more and more speed.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
This is a hard setup for sure! It demands a lot of the dog at pretty high speed, in a way that our handling can’t really help all that much. He is doing really well with his commitments and I really liked the timing of your verbals (early and often!) The main thing we can obsess on here is the exit line the he chooses (which helps him choose the setup for the turn before the wing) in response to the verbal.
On the wraps, we want the dogs to wrap nice and tight so they exit close enough to the edge of the wing, that the jump is right on their line. So the timing of the reward can be when you see him exiting the wrap wing and looking at the jump – don’t reward him for passing it because that means the wrap exit is not within criteria (you can call him in for a reset cookie then try again). You’ll see him make a tight enough turn to pick up the line to the jump. I don’ think you were actively rewarding for passing the jump, I think you were just a bit too early on the reward marker, so he was thinking the job was to come to you and not wrap very tight. More on that below. So taking the jump is not the critical thing, it is more about the exit line – and in the case of the wrap, the jump should be right on the exit line.
For the soft turns, the concept is similar in that if he turns correctly, the next jump is right on his line. In the setup here, it was not – it was more on a wider arc where I wouldn’t use a left verbal – a general ‘jump’ cue or a soft name call if he might be going too straight would work, but the ‘left’ verbal asks for a collected turn (which he did, more on that below too 🙂 )
Looking at the video:
The first rep was really interesting – he wrapped *something* (the french drain noodle) but not the wing LOL It was fine to reward. I would totally reset cookie that – rather than a ‘almost’ or ‘good try’ marker getting consistently used (which turns it into a punisher because is paired with negative punishment), you can call him, cookie him in a line up position, and do the next rep. I mean, you can use your ‘almost’ or ‘good try’ if it means come back and get your reset reward, then we go again.
2nd rep – good boy, found the wing, no problem 🙂 This is where you can wait on the reward marker til you see the exit line you want. He hadn’t fully made the decision at :19 when you gave him the strike marker. He was still deciding how tight to turn.3rd rep and 4th rep, left turns – these fall into “sometimes the dog is correct and we don’t realize it” category. His responses to the turn cues were correct both times here and you can totally reward that even if he doesn’t take the next jump. After all, ‘left’ does not mean “turn left then take a jump”, it means “turn left on this jump”. Freeze the video at :30 – he has collected and turned left, is exiting parallel to the wing. The jump you have out there is not actually on the left turn line so he just looks at you – I would reward something there (reward approximations!) rather than resend him, get the same response of a nice left (which didbn’t get rewarded) then he just started offering all sorts of things and got rewarded eventually for a down.
Freeze the video at at :47 – he is properly turned but you did reward the approximation, at this point probably figuring out why he was so convinced it was a left turn LOL!You can set up your jumps by walking the desired landing line/exit line, the plop the next jump onto it 🙂
5th rep – :56 – also a good left turn from him. He did get a thrown reward, yay! Try to use a get it and not a good try 🙂 The thrown reward is the god placement on the line here – try not to reward from hand like at 1:13 and on the last rep at 1;51 as it will dilute the independence when he is working away from you on a line.
6th rep 1:10 and last rep at 1:51- you had a little more motion and he was wider on the wing… so he took the jump. I like the responses to the left turn at :30, :47 and :56 better, as those were true left turns per the definition of the verbal, and the reps where he passed the wing and took the jump were wider turns.
7th & 8th reps – at 1:26 and 1:36, you wait til you see if he takes the jump after the wrap, that will really tell you if he is wrapping tight on the exit too or not. It is not about the jump as much as it is about getting him to understand he needs to exit really tight, and set up his turn before the wing accordingly. He was pretty wide at 1:36 so I would not reward that right away – let him make the decision to tighten it to look at the jump (reward!) or to say “giddy up!” and go past it (reset cookie)
Great job here! Let me know what you think about the exit line ideas!
TracyGood morning!
Overall – these look SUPER!!!! you took the wing wrap skill and transferred it to the wing-jump setup and BOOM! No problem, great turns.
On each video, a couple of thoughts. Then below that, ideas for the next sessions:
Video 1 – very nice start to the session! Really good wraps for food rewards. I particularly liked 3rd rep and the reps after that, where you had a more dramatic angle of exit – it was a good challenge for him.
Video 2 – Also a really nice session on the, he is really turning! Lots of success!
Video 3 – When you added more of your motion, you did post turns (which is fine, he still turned :)) but also remember to add FCs on this side (and spins and being late and any other wrap handling you can think of :)) Adding more of your motion added more urgency to your voice and your physical cues, kind of like what we all do at trials with such a fast dog… and he was perfect. YAY!
Video 4 – This one also had more of your motion, on the other side – you did the FCs here and he was really nice with his responses!! He was turning as you ran forward, even before you rotated for the FC, which is GREAT!!! We don’t want him relying on perfect timing with you being ahead of him – I am very happy with how he turned here without needing you to turn early.
Video 5, with distraction jump -BIG happy dance, he was brilliant! To add some more challenge, you can lower the bar – that makes it harder and more distracting because it is easier to hop over. A tall bar is actually easier to ignore.
Yes, that one error was you blocking the line, no worries. Yes, he took te jump but he turned on the jump – good boy!Video 6 – Also really nice, he is doing a great job of turning and not grabbing the distraction jump.
Video 7, other side, also good! VERY tight! No trouble with ignoring the distraction jump.
OK then – Onwards to adding more to this:
The next step is to apply more arousal (tug toy reward and tugging) applied to this game – can he still respond when he is more stimulated? This will give you the opportunity to work with him when he is in a more trial-like state of excitement 🙂 You can use food at trials, and toys in training, so he learns how to respond well even when he is stimulated.
And as you mentioned – add the start wing before this setup too so there is more motion from both of you.
To get the most success, I would structure the next session like this:
– A warm up on the wing-jump setup with a food reward, one rep on each side – to see if he remembers (should be easy). If he does well –– Do a couple of reps on the wing-jump setup that you had here, but with a tug toy getting involved: it can be as simple as tug, then treat, then wing wrap, then treat, then tug. That way he is more stimulated but not tooooooo stimulated, if that makes sense. (this will be harder)
– Do a couple of reps of just the toy with the win-jump setup (will still be a little harder for him)
– go to a couple of reps of the start wing before this setup, but with food rewards only, no toys. I recommend food only on this for two reasons: the added motion for both of you will be stimulating, so we don’t need the toy to add even more stimulation. And, the toy in the earlier part of the session will have him already stimulated – since we like to end sessions with something a little easier, you can use food because I think it will be easier.
That session can be maybe 10-12 reps.
If that session goes well (he is correct 90% o the time or better)… in the next session, go to the 2 jump version of this game, both bars really low – the low bars are partially so that you can really tempt him with the distraction jump, and also so that you can cue some Go Go Go over both jumps (they are too close for him to do that on tall bars.
In separate sessions but with the same setups and progressions, you can be working the ‘soft’ turn games as well.
Great job here, I am really excited about what he is doing!!! Let me know how the next session goes – we are in for some decent weather so I think you might be able to get some good stuff done!
Tracy
