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Good morning!
I most definitely saw steam exiting his ears here! I admire how he was working to make the choices, though – the difficulty of the challenge was very high and he was offering behavior! This is better than being frustrated and offering tooth hugs! I *think* the backside behavior either comes from the backside skill being presented in ways where there is pressure, so he might associate the backside with high level of challenge. Or, he might have been “Border Collie-ing” and the challenge was causing him to flank out a bit. Either way: he was working and trying even when the rate of success was not super high. YAY!!!! So the session was very successful in that you got to figure out how to help him here, and he got to practice resilience. You were really good when there were errors, which supported him trying to figure it out.
And that backside tunnel was brilliant. Good boy! “Mom said TUNNEL, I am in a tunnel.”So, what helps? A little motion. For now, try giving him one step to help support the verbal. If he can’t do it with one step, give 2 steps.
And also – you can do this with motion throughout by adding a wing in front of it: do a wing wrap to the tunnel or wrap on the jump. This will help him process the verbal when things are really exciting and moving, which is what you’ll encounter on course.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I most definitely saw steam exiting his ears here! I admire how he was working to make the choices, though – the difficulty of the challenge was very high and he was offering behavior! This is better than being frustrated and offering tooth hugs! I *think* the backside behavior either comes from the backside skill being presented in ways where there is pressure, so he might associate the backside with high level of challenge. Or, he might have been “Border Collie-ing” and the challenge was causing him to flank out a bit. Either way: he was working and trying even when the rate of success was not super high. YAY!!!! So the session was very successful in that you got to figure out how to help him here, and he got to practice resilience. You were really good when there were errors, which supported him trying to figure it out.
And that backside tunnel was brilliant. Good boy! “Mom said TUNNEL, I am in a tunnel.”So, what helps? A little motion. For now, try giving him one step to help support the verbal. If he can’t do it with one step, give 2 steps.
And also – you can do this with motion throughout by adding a wing in front of it: do a wing wrap to the tunnel or wrap on the jump. This will help him process the verbal when things are really exciting and moving, which is what you’ll encounter on course.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
This also went well, I think the hardest part for her was going to the toy when she could smell cookies near the target. My guess is that she associates the target with treats, so she would hit it really nicely and then she was confused when you offered the toy not treats (Bit Mom we get COOKIES for this hahahahaha)
But she figured it out and then it shifted a little into going to the toy and not hitting the target as well. No worries, though: holding the target further away will make it easier for her to see it (you can also shake the target so it is more obvious when the toy is there).>> Sit stays are going not too bad. >>
I was just going to say the same thing: yay for the stay!!!!! I liked how she did!!!!
Great job here, onwards to the jump! And do you have a manners minder or remote feeder? You can use that on the jump too 🙂
TracyHi! When my Export was 6 months old (he is 15 now) I had no toy retrieve and ZERO recall lol! So i did a lot of go for a run and kept sending him for a run til he got bored of it… then I would do a recall or a retrieve and had a party. It made a world of difference and he started coming back sooner and sooner 🙂
THi!
This went really well 🙂 you have built good value on the target which makes it easier. It is fine to say yes when she hits the target, then present the treat in the other hand like you did.
Only one suggestion: you can hold the target hand/serp arm further away from your body. You had it down by your knee, but it will be more obvious if you have it way out to the side – and that is also more like where the hand would be when you are running. I think when it was too close to your knee, she didn’t always see it and that is why sometimes she went to the cookie hand.This went so well that you can transfer it directly to the jump. Yay!! Great job!
TracyHappy Inauguration Day!
I had to watch this a couple of times, I was distracted by your jacket (jealous!!)
He did well here!! Driving up to the top of the contact then moving through to the yummies. Perfect! And making the visual easier might prove to be helpful – hard to tell here, but a couple of sessions will let us know. So here is what I think is next: he is driving up *almost* the whole length of the board. If we can now start to add in the end position: boom! Mission accomplished. I think he drives almost to the end and then since there is nothing else to do, he shifts the board then goes to the cookies. He is not stopping in the middle of the plank.
With that in mind, let’s schedule out his teeter training 🙂 Instead of daily mountain climbers, do a daily bang game where the value of his target position gets sky high with both clear criteria and amazing rewards. And do mountain climbers every couple of days to maintain current status, but no real need to add a lot more tip at this point (because he doesn’t have a real destination to drive to, other than a cookie plate_. The goal is, in the next month or so as he approaches a year old, to meld together the mountain climbers and the end position games and a couple of other games into a fabulous seesaw. He is right on track.
For a dog doing 2o2o, I think the emphasis has to shift away from the mountain climbers at this stage because the real drive across the board comes from the love for end position. And for the bigger dogs, with a 2o2o destination, we shift our focus to that for a bit then morph it all together.
Great job! Let me know if if this makes sense!Tracy
Yay! He is doing really well! I think he enjoyed the ball chasing 🙂 That actually adds value to the movement because he moves through the board tipping to chase the ball! And it looks like you were pretty convincing with the rewards at the end of the board LOL! He is looking for the tip a little on that first rep but that will go away as we add more and more end position. He looked pretty confident driving ahead of you too. Happy dance! I am adding a new game later this week to help with controlling the tip of the board, I think that will help too.
Speaking of end position: how is the bang game going? That will also help him balance the tip of the board.Great job here!
TracyHi!
Behold the power of the magic cookie hand! LOL!!! All of the dogs had a VERY easy time of this, I am super thrilled! She was fabulous. You can play with starting the FFC one step earlier, just as she arrives at the commitment line.
This was a really good set up for these, because the tunnel was both temptation and reward 🙂 Although, she never looked in the wrong place. Happy dance! I think she was quite brilliant on both the regular FFCS and the throw backs. On the throwback exits where you took her to the far end of the tunnel: perfect! The girl is a GREAT turner! You can try stepping forward one step earlier as you throw her back, to play with just how early you can leave position. The spin on the exit of the throw back put her into the tunnel entry on your left, I am not sure if that was the one you wanted but it was correct on her line. If you wanted the same tunnel entry as the front cross exit, you can delay the blind cross element and also move more directly to that end of the tunnel.
Great job here!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
This is going really well!! Tunnel – to – lap turns looked great! It is not easy to get into position and turned on time so you might have felt like you were scrambling and not in perfect position… but she is SO FAST that I think it is great that you got it done perfectly each time at the beginning here!! True, you can try to get closer to the wings BUT it is more important to time it correctly than to be in perfect position.
On the first couple of tandems you got to the other side of the tunnel (makes it a little harder for you LOL!) but that is fine 🙂 On a few of them, you used the dog-side arm opening back and then at :34, you used the outside arm – to help keep it clear for her, I suggest using the dog-side arm opening back for threadle slices (where she would keep going) and use the outside arm for the tandem turn – which involves that rear cross element (also known as a threadle rear cross).
On the bigger sequence when you added the race track: at :44, I think this was an example of motion being the strongest cue. You were in motion (backing up) near the wing on your right – but as she arrived at you, you tried to lap turn her to the wing on your left. Motion won! It was a little hard to see your shoulders there too, but it looks like the right shoulder was a little forward so she was correct to read coming to you right. You can reward those moments – when the dogs do that, they are 99% of the time reading us correctly 🙂
At :51 you were in the middle between the two jumps and not moving – but too early on the lap turn. Be sure to hold your position and arm stretched towards her, until she is just about at your hand – and then turn her away. This is especially important when you are a little further from the wing.
Same at :59 – you were close to the other wing and moving backwards near it… so she committed to it. Good girl 🙂
You held it longer at 1:05 and she got it. Yay!I think something that will help on this also is if you face her more directly (turned and feet pointed towards her nose as she exits the tunnel) as that will draw her right into you and she won’t be thinking about committing to a wing until you send her. You were a little sideways at 1:05 and 1:15 so she was not sure where to be, exactly. Compare it to :08 and :13 when she exited the tunnel and you were facing her – she totally knew where to be on those.
She did a good job reading the tandem turns and the turns back to the tunnel! Based on the angle there, doing a little pull/threadle to the tunnel was definitely useful to her. And also at 1:50 when she ended up going back to the wing before the tunnel, that was you driving in with motion – a threadle would be helpful there (and also the reps where you did the outside arm to set the turn was tighter and clearer for her).
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi again 🙂 The Forced fronts are looking really good too!
It was interesting to se that she was faster on the forced fronts than she was on the in in on the lead outs – with the in in, you are facing her longer so she reads that as a rally strong decel cue. On the forced front, she is ‘chasing’ you more, especially when you started to leave earlier at :18 and :48 – she had really good commitment AND whipped around the wing into the turn. Perfect!
You can add in running out of the FFCs as soon as you start to turn, to challenge her to commit to the jump bar even as you leave.
She also did nicely on the throwback reps- nice collections! On those, you can throw back and then step forward even before she gets to the bar. That is harder, so be sure to drop the reward on the landing side of the jump as you move away.
And the balance reps of the lead out pushes were easy 🙂 She seemed to have no questions at all about which side to go to.Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>You recommended ditching the MM as reward for the seesaw entries and suggested I go back to running with her and rewarding on the target location by hand.
Yes – rewarding her for targeting to help convince her to shift her weight back. You can reward from your hand or toss it back to her whe you move past or have it there already – I would mix it all in to really convince her to lower her head and shift her weight 🙂
>>Since she seems to like diving off the table, I figured this was a good time to stop rewarding that.
Totally agree LOL!!! Back to rewarding target position and holding it 🙂
>>I will get rid of the table – it’s only at 4 inches, and I don’t think we need since she was doing the seesaw without it until we added the MM.
I agree with this too! You can fade out the line up boards too. She is doing really well with these different angles of entry!
At this stage, I think the main priority if placement of reinforcement on the target to keep getting the weight shift.
And one more thing that I add at this stage – a small weight on the board (under it) so I can change the speed of the tip. I have bungeed a 1 lb weight underneath (and also duct taped it haha) and move it slightly every now and then – so sometimes it is the normal tip, sometimes it is a little faster, sometimes a little slower. That way, bit by bit, you can generalize the teeter without having to leave home. So many teeters have slightly different speeds that you can start showing it to her now 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning! These are looking really good!!
1st run: nice job with the line from the tunnel to 3! You can give her a bit of a verbal cue on the tunnel entry here so she is a little tighter – I think just a name call before she enters will be all she needs. You can decelerate sooner on the wrap at 5 so she sees that the wrap is coming
2nd run
The decel into 5 was earlier so the collection is better! Take one more heartbeat to connect to her eyes strongly as she comes around the wrap on 5, so she doesn’t drifting looking for the new line at :28She had a little question at :31 on the way to the tunnel (looked up at you) – try to have your arm back for more connection and don’t turn your feet
Blind on landing of 8 looks good!3rd run – the early FC on the entry of the tunnel got a really nice turn on the exit! And you were able to get WAY up the line for the 3-4 line!! Good turn on 5, especially with the connection on the exit. And you had a better running line to the #7 tunnel too!
Good job on the RC at :59 on 10!
4th run – another good FC on the tunnel entry and position on the line 3-4-5! The RC on 5 went nicely, you can play with a tiny bit more decel to see if she can collect even more. The decel on these wraps is a timing thing, that will change a bit as the bars go up as she matures.
At 1:12, this is the line where she takes the jump and not the tunnel. What happened here was that that RC on 5 puts the dogs strongly turning to their left on the way to 6. And we humans get a little caught behind the wing of 6, so when you pulled away to not run into the wing, it strengthened the left turn over 6 (you can see her turning left as she lifts off at 1:13). Then at 1:14, you looked forward and pointed forward before she was past you, which turned your shoulders and chest to the red off course jump…. which is where she went.
On this line, I ‘felt’ the left turning happening in the run with Contraband when I ran him and used a ‘get out’ cue and a super strong connection to get him out to the tunnel.
Ideally, you would be a little further back cuing the RC on 5 so you can set the line from further ahead on 6-7 but the get out cue works nicely too (and I use the outside arm for that so th dog dos *not* cut me off LOL!!) A ‘go’ verbal won’t work as well because ‘go’ means to stay on the line she is looking at… which is exactly what she did 🙂 The ‘get out’ means to lead change away.
Being further back for the RC to put yourself further ahead for the line to the tunnel worked like a charm on the last rep! Yay! That way you can set the line with motion and position.
Great job running these!!
Tracy
Hello and welcome!!! I am so glad you joined in 🙂
And I understand the verbal paralysis – we were just talking about this in puppy class last night. I suggest adding the ones you feel are important and most useful for the venue you love to trial in, or for any instances on course that you think Titan needs the most info. For the other verbals, we can put them lower on the list (ranging from “later” to “never” haha!) and you can use motion for the proofing or name calls.The videos look really good!! Titan is really cool, I am enjoying watching him work!
On the wrap video: you mentioned that the wrap is the stronger skill in this game at the moment, and you used motion to support the tunnel. That looked really good here: your motion was just a bit of a lean and the wraps needed no help. Nice!!!! That little lean for the tunnel is perfect. And I am glad you added the mini sequence at the end, he is ready. You can add motion to that – have him do the tunnel then meet him at the end and run into the wrap – that is more challenging because the movement forward might get him thinking about the tunnel 🙂 Or, you can meet him at the end of the tunnel and try to send him into the next tunnel and *not* wrap 🙂 Keep using the new verbals, they are going really well! And now you can add more motion challenge to it.The serp game is also going really well!! He finds this a little harder because the handling position is similar. When you are standing still, you can turn your dog-side shoulder a little more forward towards the tunnel. And with the serp, you can have your dog side arm back and shoulders more open to him – that will help him drive in even more. You can also add motion to this but walking (then jogging forward into it – and sometimes release to the tunnel as you move, sometimes serp him in over the jump as you move.
Great job here!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
She did really well here! Good girl! Her stays are coming along very nicely. Love how she offered it to get it started again – we want her to love stays! Nice distance and duration on these – be sure to “ping pong” the rewards by adding in some really early/fast catch rewards for the first step or two away. I am not sure what she was looking at towards the end, something caught her attention? But then she ended with a good one. Yay! Definitely take this on the road to help her do it everywhere.
>>It’s hard to do it at the barn because the treats get lost in the dirt.>>
That is true! You can totally use a toy instead of treats, or a ball – or use treats in a lotus ball or treat hugger.
Great job!
Tracy
