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WOW! His hits here are fantastic! Even with the extra speed! I am super happy with this. I think getting the food out of your hands is a good thing. He is also running to the PT a lot better and moving on the DW better! This plan is going really well for him lets stick with it! When you think he is ready, try sending to the wing after the DW then give him the raw food.
Some dogs are so tricky about that! The first thing that I would do is work on just sending to the wing with the toy in your hand and no motion from you. As he gets better at that it will likely get better in RC training as well.:)
He is doing great with the straight exits!!! I think that you are angling the MM too quickly because his hits on the angles were not as good. So start with straights then move the MM only by 2 feet or sow, get success there then 2 feet farther etc. In the video you when from straight to 90 in one jump and I don’t think he is ready for that quite yet. His forward focus is looking fantastic!!!!
When you add in the wing after the plank only work on straight and very slight turns until he is very successful then very gradually move the wing to the right or left.
Looking very good!
Jordan
Nice work! I like the placement of the stride regulator at the 12in above the target. His hits on the target were the best at that spot. When you moved it higher he was hitting too high.
Yes, you could start raising the DW a bit. I usually do it in 3 heights. So half height, 3/4 height and full height. Although for some dogs it is really important to take it a bit slower. He might be one of those so I would go for 4 (half — where you are at, a bit higher, 3/4 and full).
The placement of the stride regulator should not change at all between heights.
I think going to the full DW was a great choice. I am curious to see how he does with the stride regulator. Because this was actually very very good! I was a bit worried that he would have a hard time adding in the speed but he did really well. So as you are adding in more over time the stride regulator might be more important.
Yes, that was the right thing for both of those hits — no reward. And after the two misses he hit really nicely! He was going quite a bit faster on the first miss (so that was a good thing!) so that is one place where creating a box with the stride regulator may help.
I have actually not played with the slatted vs non slatted very much. The first time Kirbee ever saw one was up in Canada and he didn’t seem to notice or he did the first DW then adjusted very quickly. And that was with no prior training on a slat less. But I could see how a softer dog may be a bit more worried with a change like that. In a perfect world they shouldn’t notice any difference and be able to hit the same regardless. But I think more sensitive dogs will notice the change and could slow down to think about it for a rep or two.
First, I am so sorry about Mercy’s toe! But like I said, she will heal up before you know it! A break/fracture is way better than a tear 😉 The feedback is a bit not needed but here it is anyways.
Yes, to the verbals. I would focus on handler motion and verbals separately — both in different sessions. Then add them together. I think she is ready for both.
Yes, she is definitely ready for fading the target. I do sessions to the wing (either half or full DW) and reward for the same style of hits that she gets on the mat. Basically train just as if you had the mat there. I bet she wont even notice. HAHAHA I can relate to putting the target out when I really dont want to hahaha
Yes! Start in courses. And no, I dont think she needs the mat at all. Maybe if you start working on hard turns bring it back for a bit to help her understand to hit more in the middle. Otherwise she doesn’t need it.
Hang in there! It will heal quick <3
Your thought there at the end — Yes, I think that adding in the full DW could be a really good thing for him. When you start your session try to do 2-3 reps half way then try 2-3 reps of the full DW. Lets see if we can get him to add some speed that way! Also, with my small dog (and this could be completely off but it is what worked for her) she was very similar to him in putting on the speed a lot later. She understood the target in the box with a lot of speed really well so I added a stride regulator at the top of the target creating kind of a box where the target was and she understood that really well. So I think it would be worth trying for him too. I just used a small pvc pole with a bungee cord around the DW plank. I put it about 6 inches above the top of the target. So I think adding that in when you are doing the full DW would be worth a try. I would give it a try for a few half way then the full thing and see how he does with it.
Target color — I have tried this both way and have found no difference. I have tried using a yellow target to help fade it later and I haven’t noticed it helping all that much. I think they build up so much muscle memory for the behavior that that is why they hit the target rather than them looking for the target to hit.
The sessions above look really good! I am excited to hear how he does with the plan above. Start with the PT/raw rewards then try the wing again.
Looking good!
The dog walk is looking amazing!!!! Yeah, I definitely think that what you are doing (the full DW low speed start) is the way to go for her. The hits look really really good! I think she is ready for you to add more speed. So I would just start slowly moving that entry stick farther and farther back so she gets more speed on the approach. Looking very very good! If you are working on tricky stuff (different verbals, collection exits, fixing a problem etc) always go back to low speed then add the speed back. If my dogs are rusty or need any retraining I usually go back to either half DW and low speed entry (in the same session).
Aframe looks basically done to me 🙂 I would put it in courses at this stage (as long as you have done some from a tunnel entry). Reward the good ones (make sure they are pretty low — like middle of the target) and stop her for any high ones or misses. Some of the “crazy” frames are to be expected (like that one she did). If that happens they usually fix them right away on the next rep. So stop her and try again.
SO AMAZINGGGGGGG 🙂
Is there a target on the end of the DW? I cant quite tell so I just wanted to check that there is as he needs that right now to help him learn how to target the bottom of the DW.
They toy cooler looks like it is a bit too close to the exit of the DW.
Yes, with the toy he is still head checking too much. SO I would work more with that on the flat so he learns how to drive forward without looking back for you. Until he is doing that more consistently, I would continue working more with the MM.
You could start with the low DW but make sure that you are still only having him run down the down ramp. Not the full DW yet. I would also work through ore of the DW before adding in the Aframe. Usually when they understand the DW really well having them do the behavior on the AF is very easy but if you start it too early it could actually teach them to jump off of it more. To attach the target to the AF I use vet wrap. 🙂
Yeah… I know how some of those sessions feel…… But dont worry! Some sessions are just not perfect but it will come together! Dont worry it is already looking so so good!
Yes, I agree. There were some high ones in there.. So keep an eye out but overall looking fantastic! She is also a dog that hits with really big RF separation so in some cases she is hitting actually really well but technically only one RF is hitting. So I would keep rewarding those really nice ones as long as the one RF is like 3/4 of the way deep into the mat.
I think she is ready to do more low speed full dog walks. Especially on the straight to easy wing exits. It seems to be the only the hard rights or lefts that are really difficult for her. I think doing some more low speed full DWs will help her learn her striding and muscle memory a bit more too.
The aframe looked great!! Time to add height. I put it up to full height before adding in any speed. But it looks amazing! Yes, you are on the right track with it.
Here is the link – https://vimeo.com/355677978/7c5b2356d2
Hopefully this one works! Not sure why it didn’t!
I say my generic “go” word. Work on the around the clock training then add my Aframe word in that I want to use before go then eventually drop the go all together 🙂
This looks so amazing!!!!!! She is ready for the wing around the clock! Then the low speed full DW wing around the clock!! A few of those hits were a bit high so make sure to keep a close eye on that. And it is probably a good time to take the cardboard off of the edges. To make sure she is learning the behavior without them. You can also slowly fade them if needed. Great work!
No. You want to start with low speed and lots of success then gradually build up the speed from there. It is better that is he is slower and more thoughtful right now than for him to be running but not thinking or learning what the behavior is. Yes, you want to try to get him in a slow run rather than a trot but that is better than what he is doing with the thrown toy because he is looking at you too much and not really thinking about what his feet are doing.
This is looking AMAZING! So so happy with this!
I was about to say… If she continues to struggle with turns to the left you can do more reps on the slight turns to keep building up that confidence. Then gradually add more of the turn. Kind of like you are going back to the beginning and more slowly adding in the turn. But then… she did a bunch of really good hits haha!! Sooo keep that in mind if you see that she is just not super confident with that side etc. And keep in mind when you are adding new stuff you may just need to take it a bit slower on the left.
The plan still sounds great 🙂
Teeter Qs – I contacted him through FB. The class was even through FB. I did start the teeter after I was at full height so you could anytime now and be just fine.
UGH! I would LOVE to come to Texas for a seminar! So if you know someone interest let me know 😉 Regardless, I am excited to see Mercy live sometime sooooon!!! The running dog walk and the rest of her amazingness!!!! I am so excited for you. She is really really looking great and you have done a great job with the wild child 😉
