We did some halts. I've been working on those already, so she gets the concept of sit when I stop without me cueing it. She nips at my sleeve once, but totally my fault for wearing flowy sleeves while training haha.
We also started mixing up our heeling rewards! She really likes the "look back," which is a cue she is learning in herding, where she grabs the toy that was dropped behind.
Lastly, we did pivot on a target. We don't really practice pivoting on a target that much any more... I think we're both getting a little lazy about it. She's doing well pivoting off a target. Sometimes she sits crooked (like at the end), but I'm not that worried about it! She usually nails the positioning, especially when she really gets hyped (like you see in the beginning of the video).
So... the first bit of this is working Mo for kibble to do the in-motion heeling. She has been extra demotivated for the kibble lately, so I probably should do some other food reinforcers. I have been scattering food and then calling her into heel when she's finished, and I've been trying to have her enter heel position from different positions.
The last bit is me working with Mo with scrunchie under the arm, and that has basically solved the bunny hopping🎉So I'll probably keeping using that in her heeling reward rotation for a little while.
Wait throw like behind back and up above her head? I think I've seen you do it with Cupid... I have not tried that yet, but definitely will work on that next!!
Here are some quarter turns outside, off the target, working for her scrunchie! I tried having her go right, but it looks like that will need more work :P
Even after reading your advice about not marking and moving my hand at the same time, I realized watching back I am still doing that😑bad habit, I will try to break it!
I am horrible about adding verbal cues to things. I do a lot of handler help stuff, another bad habit I'm trying to break haha.
Pretty pretty pretty! Her heeling and head position are looking steadier. You guys are rocking it.
- Marking: Make sure you put that pause between your mark and lifting your hand to reward with your toy/leaf/whatever goofball item she is working for.
- Layered cues: For both your skill cues and marker cues, you probably want to flip your layering. (For "look back" I'm not sure if your physical signal is her look back cue, or if you are just signaling her to twist, and then verbally cueing look back. So maybe this message is not for markers, if it's the latter.)
Here I see you do physical signals followed by verbal cues. If you want her to start recognizing just verbal, you should do the opposite (verbal, then physical).
There's nothing inherently wrong with physical signals as an isolated cue as long as they are distinct and predictable. Personally, I don't do lots of physical formal cues, and that is just a personal preference/potentially even a hole in my skill as a trainer.
For Rally, it doesn't matter as long as the dog is clear on the cue.
For IGP, I know you'll get dinged for "handler help" on some things, because some skills are supposed to be on just verbal. I'm not sure how much that comes up in the BH, but I know it does some.
I'm not saying anything you did in this video is wrong, but just something to think about as you are planning your training and proofing cues.
- When she sits crooked after halting, did you know, or did you only notice after looking at the video? You could try heeling forward towards your mirror. Also looking at their front feet can give you a clue.
I'm not worried about it if you're not worried about it. :-)
-Spin in heel: I looooooove it
- Pivots: She has an extra couple of inches to get in. You'll want her practicing this for left turns. Especially when you start heeling faster and then turning left - if you want that tight, flashy left turn, it helps to turn them into pivoting monsters.
I want to see quarter turns off the target. :-) That's the most magical part of the curriculum!
She's looking really nice. She's got the potential to have extremely pretty OB.