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Thank you – as always, super super helpful step-by-step advice! I’m not in a hurry to get him weaving (especially since he’s just 14 months) but sometimes I forget that 😉 I will write my lesson plan in bold marker so that I have no doubts when I set up the next session!
ChristinaHi Tracy!
I went back and did 2x2s today. It was an interesting session – I didn’t quite stick to plan and perhaps asked a little too much at times. He also had a super interesting moment where he was missing the entry and then got a little confused, stopped, barked at me, then went and did it right. Like, “FINE, if this is what you want!” Totally made me laugh. But right after that, he figured he had to stride, but he kept doing it on the wrong side of the pole. Anyhow, it was so super interesting to see him think through it, figure sometime out, then do it wrong very thoughtfully.I did start to add a few challenges like some more angles and movement (sometimes maybe a little too much). And I didn’t use the MM – I did set out the frisbee, but was tossing cheese. But he was looking at me a fair bit – but it didn’t stop him from going through 3 & 4.
So, not quite sure if I should work this a little more – or start adding a little angle to poles 3 & 4 while still working the right side entries?
As always, thank you for your feedback and guidance!!
ChristinaThanks for the guidance…I guess I better go look at the fade the target game 😉 So much awesome material, I am a little behind on digging through it all. So I definitely appreciate the suggestions for what to be focusing on right now. Good news is my teeter skin should be shipping shortly, so then I’ll feel safer using my home teeter for more games, especially now that the end position is integrated into all of them! I also feel like I should do a short round of mountain climbers sometime in the next week just to keep a little balance.
Oh fun news – Presto landed a spot in the young dog seminar when you come to OTR in June 🙂 Can’t wait!!
Thanks again!
ChristinaHi!!
More channel weaves! It’s such a nice privilege to be able to practice channel weaves in two places to at least get some variety. We did the fully open 12 pole set up today and I threw a bunch of challenges at him – motion, counter motion, distance, angles…he just took it all in stride 😉 On the last rep, I ran away from the weaves to see if that might tempt him out – but he’s pretty fixated once that MM goes off. Should I proof sometimes by clicking later? I’m also finding it harder to pick a camera angle that shows helpful information with weaves this length – perhaps setting it up by the entry would be more useful than at the end?If all goes to plan, tomorrow I’ll switch back to 2x2s in my friend’s space – so taking that on the road too! I will try throwing treats instead of the MM to see if that helps change his focus to his work 😉
Thanks!
ChristinaHi Tracy! Took a little break from the teeter, although I’ve been working core exercises with him. Either he has an amazing core, or my poor girls have a lot of work to do! I’ve been doing stand to fold down on a few unstable surfaces and Presto’s a champ – but I had to go back to stationary plank work with both girls because they thought I was totally nuts to ask them to down on a fitbone. 🙁
Anyhow, I did the same teeter bang game exercise this evening and worked on adding the different challenges and added height once. I used the target Frisbee out ahead and usually had a pre-placed treat (cream cheese balls!) although near the end I occasionally did not preload the target. Definitely helped keep his focus forward. And there were a few super awesome reps where he went straight into a down – I tried to jackpot those, although I missed a couple since I was crossing at the time. But he’s confident and finding that down position consistently – occasionally slips one foot forward. But he also seems to be more stable and not sliding off to either side like he used to.
Thanks!
ChristinaHi Tracy!
So, I did a session of 12 channels in the morning. He’s done 8 at TCOTC, so it wasn’t hard to get him comfortable with the full twelve. We worked some angles and then I started to add motion. After one missed entry, he started being very thoughtful about searching for the correct first pole. It was nice to see him work through the question and find the right answer. So, I think we keep the set up the same (full open) and work more motion and other challenges for another session or two? I realized that the channels may not be hard on their bodies in terms of weaving, but it sure is a lot of running!
And then tonight we started Lesson 7 for the 2x2s – went back to 3 and 4 at 3&9 and working to get 1 and 2 straight again. He forgot a little 😉 So I added a little angle back to the first poles and worked through different positions until at the end of the session I was able to get 1 and 2 straight again. I think he needs a least another session with this set up in a bigger space to proof a little more before adding angle to 3 and 4. I did forget to start with 3 and 4 further away first. Oops 🙁
I won’t normally do both weaves on the same day – weather was just a limiting factor today.
Thank you!
ChristinaHi Tracy! So, we go from too cold to too hot! Ugh – we were in the 80s today. Miserable 😉
So, didn’t do too much training, but I did play the find em with 6 poles. Overall, he was like, ok, but this isn’t as fun as the other way 😉 I also was annoyed with myself because I let him run back through the weaves on most reps to go to the MM. I started trying to stop that – but should have been better about that. I also wish I had remembered to bring out a toy to occasionally reward him on the other end. Alas – I think it was still a helpful exercise and he showed he was able to move away from reinforcement to do the weaves.
Hope it’s ok that I shared videos of Presto from class – probably should ask first 🙁 But it’s fun to share all the cool stuff he has been doing!! I’ve never spent so much time on foundations and it is nice to savor the learning process.
Thanks!
ChristinaHi Tracy!
OK, we worked more of the bottom of the clock today 🙂 And I added more motion sooner for the “easier” angles. He missed a couple entries from that one angle – but he if he missed it once, he was quick to get it the next time. And I like the effort that he is giving to always make it through the second set of poles. He seems to enjoy these games 🙂 And he should – today there was microwaved hot dog mixed up with the special kibble!I was thinking of playing the “find ’em” reverse weaves on the 6 channels next – before I turn them into a big 12 channel set 🙂
Thank you!
ChristinaHello!
OK, I think I got the human element right on the bang game today! Next to the board, toes facing the end, cue word just before releasing. I played around a little with how I delivered the reward. And I used cream cheese thanks to you – we had some left over from a recipe. I made little chunks and froze them, although it was getting a little soft and messy by training time. Anyhow, I set a target out ahead (a yellow frisbee I use for jump grids). Sometimes I delivered the reward in place, sometimes I tossed it, and sometimes I even pre-placed it on the target. That blew his mind a bit!The session felt pretty good – I felt coordinated and he was pretty focused and success full in jumping up and getting into position. I added some more tip through the course of the session and he didn’t seem to struggle with it. Also seemed a little more coordinated/balanced today!
I do think I need to make sure the reward is reinforcing the right behavior. I think when I treat from my hand I’m still too slow to deliver. When I pre-placed the treat it really helped to keep his focus forward. I guess I could also use MM – but I feel like I’m using that all the time, I just wanted to use a different method/reward.
Thanks!
ChristinaThanks!
Ugh, can’t believe that I totally was a slob on the mechanics of the elevator game. I had watched the video, but hadn’t really planned to play it. I decided to throw it in to see if I could figure out how to be coordinated enough. Next time – stick to the plan and prepare fully! 🙂
I’m also totally realizing I’m way behind on looking at all these teeter games! I’m thinking I might do a little detour to focus this week more on the balance/core types games since the sound/drop is not an issue. Stability is what will hold us back. I was just watching the donut/peanut game and that seems like kind of a fun game to address the imbalance he was showing on mountain climbers.
Have a good weekend!
ChristinaHi Tracy – hope you had a good drive and a good day teaching!! Now you have to take care of your online students 😉
I have two videos. I did a session yesterday at TCOTC where I tried a couple of the new games – the rebound one and elevator. I have to admit, I felt I was a little less than perfect on the human mechanics with this – especially the elevator game! The rebound game went pretty well – he had one or two moments of “what the heck” but then, as usual, seemed to log the movement as not important. When he’s on my left, he just seem less balanced overall…I think that’s been a trend all along for him.
For the elevator game, it was especially tricky because my hands were greasy from treating with “stinky cheese” (some German brick cheese) so my grip wasn’t great. And, as I expected, getting him up on the teeter and waiting was a bit awkward. With a little more practice on my part, hopefully this comes together better to actually help him to dive into a down as the board drops. There were one or two that seemed to work ok 🙂
And then today I did mountain climbers on the different teeter – a little more bounce to the board. He had a few different reps where he was a little unstable. I also really was throwing him mentally with the “I’m just going to hang back here while you drive forward.” In retrospect, probably not fair to throw that at him immediately after he did have a little slip at the end of the teeter. But he recovered mentally right away. I didn’t add as much tip as he had at TCOTC – the tip itself didn’t seem to be an issue for him, but since he was a little wobbly here and there, I didn’t want to push too much. Although in watching the video, he probably would have been fine if I’d added more challenge. In the moment, you always seem to focus on the “bad” parts and get a lot more perspective later when you rewatch the session!
Whew! I think Friday we take the day off from all this hard thinky stuff and have some fun with some jumping!
Christina
Hello!
WOOHOO – 12 channel weaves!! That means I get to break out the rest of my new set of weaves 🙂 Half of them are still wrapped in their packing paper. But the weather warms up tomorrow and looks like we have 60s into the future. So excited. My other goal is regular jump grids to work on slowly increasing his jump height.And he JUST turned 14 months yesterday! I’m pretty impressed that you nailed that 🙂
So, we did two sessions with angling 3 & 4 to about 1 and 7 – one in the morning and one in the evening. Ugh, it’s really hard to sight that on the grass, especially with the two sets and different angles. I had to pull out a strip of cloth to lay on the ground to make sure I had things straight. We still are having some issues with the one angle entry with 2x2s (in the first session I clearly added movement too soon). But he was able to think through it in both sessions and have success with some increased challenges, including distance and motion. And I left in the very first rep of the day where he totally blew by the weaves and went for the tunnel. After the last session where I couldn’t get him to go in the tunnel, I thought that was hilarious!
So, when I do 2x2s again, does it look like we are ready to switch to 1 & 2 straight and 3 & 4 back to 3&9? I haven’t seen any foot work starting so far with the current angles, but I heed your words to reduce reps as soon as we get into that territory!
Thanks!!
ChristinaHello!
So, Presto was a super good boy at his first in person learning class! He overcame some tough challenges – like the dog sitting a few feet away barking right at him for several minutes straight, the same dog straining to the end of his leash to try to visit Presto while he stayed on his mat as humans were walking the course. Luckily there wasn’t much of a course, so I was able to go back several times and reward him for ignoring the dog with his nose two feet away. Presto handled it amazingly well. Not exactly the level of challenge I wanted him to have for his first 10 minutes of class, but definitely stuff he needs to be able to handle. And I videoed his turns – so you can see how good he was at focusing on work and super responsive to my handling! He also had some really tight turns. I gave you credit 😉
And then tonight we did some challenging handling with the channel weaves. I felt like he somehow matured a bit overnight, because he was unshakeable today. I did some funky stuff – but he only had a moment of question when I was facing the wrong direction, otherwise he was a channel running machine! I tried a couple of times to get ahead to do some kind of handling at the end of the weave poles, but as you can see, each time he beat me there.
I expect to switch back to 2x2s in the next session and start working getting poles 3 & 4 to 1 and 7 🙂
Thanks!
ChristinaHello!
The Clubhouse thing today was fun! I’m really glad you are thinking of doing those – although I’m not sure how you have any more time in your day. Granted, it’s probably a nice change of pace from reviewing videos and prepping lessons 🙂I laughed when you mentioned the weave challenge and that one of the games was doing weave entries in front of a tunnel – because that’s exactly the game I chose to try out early this morning just to change things up! So, turns out Presto is totally cool with weave entries and has little to no value for the tunnel. Not a surprise since his sequence training has been near zero lately. 😉 So, I had to do some special assistance to get the tunnel (and edit out the parts where he distinctly told me that I clearly did not remember the right cue for weaves), but by the end he was starting to see there was two obstacles in front of him. Now, if I tried this game by the teeter, Presto might have some seriously conflicting feelings!!!
I am noticing that, at least at his current age/maturity level, verbals are not his priority when making decisions, especially in an aroused state. I’ve been playing the “verbal fun” (I can’t remember the name you had for it in Max Pup) where I ask for behaviors while moving, etc. Also remembering the discrimination game we were playing between “place” and “tunnel” – probably should revisit that one too!
On the good news side, I found an in-person class designed for experienced handlers with young dogs that is just jumps and tunnels. SO PERFECT! It starts tomorrow, and I am so psyched to get him working in a class environment. So, we will hopefully be rebuilding more tunnel value 🙂
Thanks!
ChristinaOh my, I have not had a chance to absorb all the new games you posted! I just looked at the elevator game and that looks super helpful. Although I suspect I’m going to have some trouble keeping him just standing on the board until I cue “spot” – the videos may be very amusing as I try to coordinate all that.
This morning I did a session of mountain climbers and just kept adding more tip with various handling positions and speed. He is really consistently taking three strides up the teeter and then going into a down with a couple little steps. I can see him do the weight shift – but I’m sure these games will help him figure out how to shift a little quicker on that third stride. I’ll admit I keep watching these in slow motion, so it looks like he shifts really slowly – but it’s probably a little faster than I think 😉
My thought is to switch back to more end position games to help him build that coordination and confidence? I’m not sure adding even more tip will get him much further until he gets a slightly quicker down. My only exception might be doing this game on one of the other two teeters, just since they are a little shakier and louder.
thanks!
Christina
