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Some of Level 5

Hi! Here is what I have so far for level 5

More heeling steps straight forward

- She is moving her head around when we take off, and that causes her to either veer her body back behind my or occasionally she floats off away from my leg. We're just going to keep practicing until she understands that she's getting clicked for being at my side... Maybe we're ready to move away from a wall?

“Wrap” hand signal

“Wrap” sit

“Wrap” verbal cue

- The angel is not so good for seeing me, but I start with just the hand signal. I'm clicking for her putting two front feet on the mat with head up. I think I'm going to go back to just the hand signal until I can straighten her out. Should I maybe use a back foot target to get her to get those back legs all the way around?

Verbal pivot cue

- Same problem of wrapping around too much into heel. I just started adding the cue to this, so she sometimes offers the wrong behavior... I am not rewarding those attempts! I'm also reverse luring with food in my hand out to the side when I say the verbal. So for the last attempt without the target, I call her, cue the heel, and then use the lure to get her into position.

Still need to do wrap from front and heel, and work on quarter turns

11 comments

Comments (11)

Emma & Modoc

Nov 23, 2020

The side step is definitely something we have not faded out yet...(and the secret is, I think that's actually the cue lol). We will work on that next! We need to work on me being still for other cues as well, like front.

Coralyn - Venus and Mars K9

Nov 25, 2020

Replying to

The moving backwards in front is valuable for helping the dog straighten out. (Fading out stepping backwards is in Level 8, too. But you can step backward in Rally Novice.)

For wrap: I think the hand signal should be enough help, and it might just be habit for you at this point! If it's hard for her, do reps of cueing wrap that start with her in front of you and free, instead of in formal front position.

Emma & Modoc

Nov 21, 2020

A single wrap on (mostly) a verbal cue!

Coralyn - Venus and Mars K9

Nov 22, 2020

Replying to

Yay! Nice!

Be aware of your sidestep and how it will affect her understanding of the cue. The sidestep (I THINK but would double check) would be fine for Rally, but in AKC Obedience you cannot change your stance.

Emma & Modoc

Oct 08, 2020

Here is some work on wrap from heel and front, and 1/4 turns. I have not been able to get wrap on a reliable verbal cue.... I talk and signal at the same time a lot, it's a bad habit. Plus, I had Willa today and she was barking in the room next door, which often happened at the moment I said wrap. So I'm relying a lot on luring!

But! One really nice heel forward from wrap happens at the very end❤️ She looks so happy:))

Emma & Modoc

Oct 08, 2020

Replying to

Also!! Hope you have an easy journey to Chicago!

Coralyn - Venus and Mars K9

Oct 18, 2020

Replying to

I would add your verbal cue for wrap from front position, or even just from the front of your body (as opposed to formal front position), first.

You can try to drilling treat toss forward, swoosh hand as she comes in, reward in place, treat toss, swoosh hand, etc. Build a strong swoosh hand cue (or whatever you want as your signal!), and then add your verbal.

All of the heelwork is going to make her hesitant to leave heel, so having a more solid wrap cue established in a different context first will be easier.

When it's time to plug it back into heel position, you could take your left hand out of the picture, too, since that's throwing her off.

Given that she tends to look around in heel position, I think it also makes sense to hold off a bit on plugging it back into heel. Off the top of my head, I'm pretty sure it's a more advanced rally sign, anyway.

Ok, I typed that up before watching the reps of wrap from front. She does seem to recognize the hand signal, so that's great. In a theoretical universe, you can teach it with the waiting out that you do or a side step + fading out the side step. However, I foresee that being a huge pain in the butt for you. Layering your hand signal should be way easier.

Revisit your hand signal recognition for "wrap." (It looks good, but I only see it a few times. )

Layer your cues more quickly; don't wait for her to think.

"Wrap" (1/2 second pause) *hand signal*

You may have heard of this method referred to as "new cue, old cue." Layering cues like this makes the first cue take on the meaning of the second. The timing is the same as when you charge a clicker.

Coralyn - Venus and Mars K9

Oct 18, 2020

Replying to

And that heel forward looked beautiful!

Coralyn - Venus and Mars K9

Oct 02, 2020

Heeling forward:

Her head (and everything else) looks good to me! I see tiny little movements in the first rep, but she keeps her head high, and since it gets better with more reps, I'm not currently worried about those little movements. Do you feel like the head thing you described is shown in this video?

No, don't do much off the barrier yet. The curriculum walks you through that systematically, when we combined heeling forward with left turns. (Level 7.)

Wrap:

This looks good! I would rather her be a little extra scooted in than swung out. And she's nice and tight with you, which I think is different than the last time I saw her wrap.

I would not do a back foot target. Can you move her with your reward? Like, while you're feeding her, you can also lure her into the exact position you want. She can probably scoot that tiny bit forward and stay sitting.

(Then, off in the future, you can do a similar thing by asking her to touch your hand to land in the right spot. But don't worry about that yet. What you've got going is good.)

Target:

If the verbal cue is new, try warming her up with offered behavior and/or lured (or whatever, extra help) for a couple of reps before you start saying your cue. Good job setting things up so that she figures it out, though.

You can click and feed before she over-pivots, and also adjust her with your reward by luring with the reward.

Anticipation/breaking the sit/target to get to you:

Since she is breaking her stay sometimes to get to you again, I would recommend walking back to her and feeding her in place half the time, and releasing her half the time. If you want to even deal with that in your session, that is! And if she's already using her brain a lot for everything else, feel free to reset her in a different way.

Emma & Modoc

Oct 03, 2020

Replying to

You can see it in 1:09-1:15, 1:51-1:55 at .25 speed; her head moves back and forth right as we take off. Maybe because of the treat lure? 2:37-2:41 is the best rep imo, but still some of this swaying, which now watching it back I'm thinking comes from the way she's walking forward? Almost looks like she's crisscrossing her legs as she walks... It's kinda fancy I guess.

I started moving her with the reward for the wrap and that has helped a lot already.

I also have started doing lots of rewarding for the stay... We actually just need to work on stay in general.

Coralyn - Venus and Mars K9

Oct 03, 2020

Replying to

@Emma & Modoc I see her do some tiny glancey stuff that looks like she isn't sure where to look, mostly in the very first rep. Each rep is better, which is a good thing. I think that the treat lure is helping combat her urge to wrap her ahead around and look at you (or at your right side, idk), which I have seen in other videos. I see her glance at the treat lure for literally a second at some points, but I think it's fine.

There is some movement that does not look like her glancing to me; it just looks like her head moving with her body, which is normal. She's holding her head the same, but her leg movement moves her head.