Luna Level 6 Homework

yay! Noted. Our yard is big for Chicago standards but with her strides being Newf sized, she only gets a few in before hitting a stop point.

@Lauren & Luna You could get creative to maximize momentum in the space, like:

Whip a cookie down that sidewalk next to your garage.

Wait by the garage for her.

When she starts coming back, then start to move away.

Maybe even like pretend to be running but don't actually go that far, and then stride out normally when she gets closer to you!?

Oh good idea! I once threw a cookie to reset her into the gravel and thought she ate a rock so now I’m super careful never to do that again. 😐 bc I worry about every little thing with these damn dogs!

I expected you to keep working on it and posting it! :-)

This is great! Omg the tiny glances down, I'm going to call them micro glances. They are cracking me up. Like she is afraid she's going to run into something. That will clear up on its own as she realizes she *can* walk like that, and you won't steer her into anything.

up and down the couch line SO many times and she still doesn’t realize there’s nothing for her to bump into. She will get there. Everything in Goon time.

@Lauren & Luna LOL! You make a good point.....

My favorite part is when she's glancing at Cookie in the beginning, lol.

Awesome! I definitely see her focus consistently being more and more upward.

Be careful about saying "yes" and then cueing another behavior (touch) before feeding. Though, it sounds like you said "yes" on accident. And Luna didn't seem too offended.

Fair point. “Yes!” Is something that flies out solely on routine sometimes but I need to honor my part of that.

Perfect! You can check this off your list.

Cute! I like the touch!

When you creep your shoulders forward, think more about leaning straight forward, and not leaning down. (This is weird to describe because we call leaning towards our toes "leaning forward" as well. But I mean moving your shoulders forward without hinging at the waist so much.) HONESTLY I think in the first rep, it looks like you're looking at the floor, and Luna goes, "Oh, did I drop something?" 😂 And.. did she!? Since you pick up a treat round 2?

I love that middle rep! She has the slightest dip after step 1, but it's wayyy better than before, and she lifts her head again faster, and then she holds her head up for SIX steps! (See, I told you it would work out.)

You can check this off your list, though I think it's not actually on the list for this level.

Halts in heel:

Obviously, she has the autosit down pat.

Something is different in these reps. The slow take off is not clicking. You're bending at the waist, but you're not actually doing the slow mo take off - she's not following your shoulders, because you're not moving forward as much as just folding over. So, when you step off, it doesn't register as the slow mo step off, and her head position slacks off again.

I'm going to take another quick video for you.

Ok SO I'm really glad I went to take this video, because I discovered something important:

It's REALLY hard to lean your shoulders first, and then only do 1 step forward. You have to really use your toes to balance yourself. I have pretty good balance, but I'm thinking I should probably not tell other people that they have to do that. 🤣

Anyway, you can check sits in heel off your list, because Luna has a great autosit already.

Here is the video I took, but I'm not longer sure how helpful it is. 😂 Mars actually has a head dipping problem, so this is a for realsies demo, not just a dog who is already perfect at keeping her head up. Combining the halts is easy in some ways, as when we are moving in slow motion, Mars is really anticipating sitting the whole time. I think Luna has the same feelings, with her great autosit.

Whatever they did to change the upload on videos - YUCK. But here are some pivots and swing finishes!

@Lauren & Luna Oh no, what happened to the video uploads!? I haven't done one in a second.

Wix doesn't like... send me updates, newsletters..... nope

Look at her go!! Pivots off the target? No problem! Like magic! They're perfect! And she's following your leg/body, no hand guidance needed.

For her swing finish, you've come up with quite the knee movement! I want to see if we can get her to come into position without so much help from you, knees or hands. You're guiding her pivot with your hand on the outside of her head, but I don't think she needs that. It might take a few reps for the lightbulb to go off, but based on how great her pivots are without any extra help, I think she has it in her.

Revisit how I move my hand here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsKVeqGElLA&feature=youtu.be I have my hand at my waist, but you can put it behind your back, since she's used to that picture. Mark any pivoting at all, if she only does a little because she's doubting herself.

It's like you're doing a teardrop finish hand, but you just don't guide them as far back. Once they recognize they're near the heel spot, they offer the pivots, and then eventually start snapping into place.

Let me see that. :-) And I'll offer extra tips if it doesn't happen by magic.

As I just said to Molly & Oona: You could keep doing that forever for Rally, but I am curious to see you try without the hand as a cue. (Hand behind your back, probably, if that's what she sees on the target.) This will look more like her "offering" the pivots.

I currently have no other justification for assigning you this besides the fact that I am training all of you to have way cleaner obedience than Rally actually requires, hehe. And the cleaner/more advanced version of left turns in heel is that she just follows your leg/body, no hand cue. :-)

Can you do this somewhere with more space? I'd like you to be able to stride off more quickly. The idea is more like, the dog follows you because you're interesting, and then offers heel because they know you like it. But if you're not walking normal or fast, there's too much time for the dog to amble up like, "Hmm, what are we doing here?"

That explanation may or may not make sense. 😂 But it is a momentum game.

@Coralyn - Venus and Mars K9 makes sense. We can take it outside once this heat breaks!

I feel stuck, she def has grasped head up from first step so how do I get her to follow through on the subsequent? Just keep doing a slow first step or throw in a game of touch? 😐

@Lauren & Luna

When she moves ahead without you and you cue her back, that's a perfect solution. It's great that she has that skill!

1:30 rep is PERFECT

Ok, I am noticing that the best reps, you lead more with your shoulders. 5:44 is a good example of this. When you just step forward without a shoulder lean, that's when she dips the most. This is a cue we will phase out of eventually, but it seems to be really helping her. (And it'd be allowed in Rally to lean forward like that, so heck, why rush phasing it out anyway.)

I only recall seeing her dip her head after step 1 OR eating a treat. So adding more forward steps after she has this down shouldn't actually be a problem. :-) THEORETICALLY

She'll likely dip a bit again at some point as we add turns, but that will just be her figuring out how to move her body, to some extent. (That's why we practiced pivoting by itself, first!) She might dip if she gets distracted, or maybe if you heel for too long too fast.

I told you to hold off on the last Level 6 exercise, "catch the dog in heel." Now that I think about it more - go for it! Let's do it as a diagnostic test. It's kind of a funny one, mechanically, but I'm curious to see if she'll come at your side and lift her head. For some dogs, it's just too chaotic of an exercise, so don't be worried if it feels crazy!

Awesome! I would say this is not quite 180 degrees yet, because she comes in from the side - which is about where the treat toss went. So, you can work up to the full 180 still. :-) That would be more like you throwing the treat at the tan bed, as you face the same direction as you are in this video. The full turn from facing you to pivoting into heel is a lot of booty hauling, and she has a lot of booty to haul, so be understanding with her!

Me and math/directions not so good. But noted!

Beautiful! I don't normally mix luring and offered behavior in the same session like this, but honestly, it seems to be working really well for her, so I don't even want you to change it!

Yes like she’s not waiting for me to step forward again. She’s getting brazen and stopped sitting immediately and is like “feed me and let’s go.”

@Lauren & Luna Hahahaha, yeah I noticed she stopped auto sitting - which is fine! As I go over in Level 6.