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Hi Tracy,
We did take a couple of days off from training at the end of last week. It helped that it was very hot out so we just did short walks while it was still cool in the morning.
Vibe did the morning session with Taner Dogan on Saturday and on Sunday at the seminar. It was the jumps and tunnels fun session. Taner is great and knew Vibe is just a baby and I was careful to tell him first thing in the morning that my primary goal was just for Vibe to have a lot of fun and feel good about himself and feel confident and not feel stressed. I let him know I’m not doing lots of startlines in new settings right now as I feel they are creating a bit of conflict in Vibe and I want to build more positive feelings for them elsewhere for now so preferred moving starts and Taner strongly agreed with that. I let him know we have very few sequencing skills so far and have mostly been working on barrel and wing wraps and tunnels and some very very basic baby skills to get him started. I let him know I didn’t really plan to run the sequences as numbered if he would be willing to just give us appropriate smaller sets of obstacles to do and he was super willing and agreed with that approach. It was a mixed session of some older teenagers and experienced adult dogs so the actual numbered sequences were way above our pay grade.
Taner was awesome and instead of having us run the numbered course would give us very very short sequences like 2 to 3 obstacles with baby friendly paths. I let him know we don’t really have good threadles yet slice or wrap, but that we do have really nice wing wraps and nice backside push wraps and Taner made the most of that. Day one was still very interesting and I started to see that Vibe’s tendency might be to flank jumps once he started to get some speed towards them so we worked on some specific drills with him on Saturday to help him rethink that approach. Taner has also worked with Vibe’s aunt who is a dog in this area and so was aware of some of the tendencies that dog had developed (like flanking) and was really careful to help me avoid some of the same issues.
Sunday, which was day two, after some apparently amazing latent learning, Vibe was really good. He was fast, confident, loved playing with his toys. He started to really understand the concept of taking more than just two or three obstacles in a row, never got distracted, no sniffing, no leaving the area even on a big grass field with no fencing and dogs and people just off camera on the side. He was able to play with his toys, play in the hose without leaving the course to go play in the hose, and was overall just a super little guy. His aunt (his mom’s littermate) was actually in the same session and it was cool to see him now and a bit of what he’ll look like in a few years.
We had a lot of fun and Taner continued to lean into the skills that Vibe did have, just pushing the envelope a little bit here and there without over facing him. I’ll share a quick video of a few of his little sequences and then we’ll get back into training again in the next day or two once he’s had a little bit of downtime with just some decompression type stuff. I really feel like his MaxPup foundation helped him be so successful and happy at the seminar. So, grateful for you and this series. 💗
Yes, seriously appreciate the “Kool Konnections” screenshots. Very helpful! Definitely more used to Ripley who lets me get away with more and I forget Vibe is still a baby and needs much more connection.
I did tape this first thing before I saw that feedback so I’ll really focus on the stronger connection in our future sessions.
We did a bit of “Tunnel Exits” from the upcoming Week 2 stuff (cheating from Ripley’s MaxPup2 course so may not be what we actually see here in this session next week). I took a minute in here to ask you a question (in the video) about arousal modulation and would love your input. Vibe is going to be super awesome and I just want to set him up for success by helping him find his optimal arousal state for this stuff (I’m not afraid of arousal at all and am a big Yerkes-Dodson believer) just want to help him stay in or near that optimal state without unnecessary frustration and being fair to him.
I am purposefully keeping the toy in my hand (and it’s a big one) just to start to help him learn to listen and do the thing even with the toy in the picture since we had a bit of an issue with staring at the toy at his baby class last week (in between self releasing to the amazing hose on the other end of the field).
Alright, here you go – apologies in advance 😉
Jump/Wing Wrapping Discrimination –
Wind In Your Hair (sorry this one is longer than the single exercise would have been because I bundled some leash on/off protocols and leash before running to the hose – not that he would repeatedly do a short sequence and then run to the hose on the other side of the field in his baby dog class at Power Paws last time we went – whoops! – he’s only gone to 5 classes there over the past 4 months due to our travel but he sure remembered where the hose was).
Smiley Face Game
That’s all I’ve got so far but I might work ahead over the next week to try to make sure he’s as successful as possible in his baby day.
We did go to the same facility yesterday to do EO runs (with Ripley). I used a few of Ripley’s turns to let Vibe just play on the artifical turf and then grass fields where the seminars will be held next weekend but we just played tug, did some retrieve and some jump to tunnel or tunnel tunnel jump 2-3 obstacles at 8″ to make sure he was comfy in the environment.
Taner was there but only to run his own dog, not teaching, so was just the teensiest bit of pressure on me to have him and my upper level friends hanging out while we did that (including poor Christine Brew who was supposed to go to EO with her pumi, Indi). Sad for everyone – folks in France dealing with the fires and folks who were supposed to compete. 🙁
Will do
It looked like he was focusing on the toy as it was moving? If he was looking at you, you can wait to release him until he looks at the toy, to keep solidifying the forward focus.
Up next we worked on set point intro.
He’s doing a baby dog “Fun with Jumps and Tunnels” session with Taner Dogan this weekend so I’m trying to get as much of the early MaxPup 2 started before that (I used Rip’s old version to get a headstart during the MaxPup 1 break after Taner said he was willing to do the baby session) so I’ve got a set of videos to share from the past couple of weeks. It’s all just first session stuff from mostly week 1 and 2 of MaxPup 2 until I get your feedback. Want me to parcel those out or give you a few at a time for feedback?
We’re in New Mexico for Game On camp. Ripley was signed up for the sessions but this afternoon when I went to the “threadles” session with Ashley he told me he thought Ripley would be bored and asked if I wanted to run Vibe instead since he planned to do mostly very foundational work. He’d been bored the past 3 days so I was so happy to let him play.
So we did some baby Threadle slice work and an extra turn on that when the rest of the class did a tricky Threadle wrap sequence and then Ashley gave us a “smiley face” game type exercise at the end.
Vibe had soooo much fun. He’s such a good kiddo. Not sure when we officially end but looking forward to MaxPup 2.
Okay, we did some splits of leash stuff – offered head in leash, rewarding after taking leash off, go to your leash, offered collar grab, and some focus forward to a toy really clarifying that the focus cue is not the release word to do the thing/get the toy in this case. We’ll keep going with that and work up to an agility obstacle as the focus forward and then likely progress to startline stay to focus forward to release to obstacle.
So, yes, the “Treat” was just his kibble but that’s what I use for about 95% of his training. My impression was that he really thought I was trying to trick him and that wait for his food bowl meant no food until he was released (even from me). Who knows what part of his expectations I didn’t meet in the moment, he’s definitely his own little person.
I do think he has a lot of reward prediction thoughts and reactions to things not following the pattern he expected them to. That’s been a super consistent trait since he first came to me.
I did add in his cato board to a lot of our training recently, less for the stationing aspect for startline stays, and more for a consistent place to go to clean up training loops and give him a bit more predictability right now.
Today we worked on fading the cato from his stays – smaller flat yoga mat piece first, then little square contact surface mat, then nothing. Lots of treats tossed behind, lots of tugging, and hose breaks.
We went on to lateral lead outs on a barrel after that and he did great. We need to revisit his focus forward cue and clarify it’s not a release to obstacle. We didn’t do a ton of that the first go ’round and haven’t revisited so he just needs to see that and then we’ll be able to add in a focus forward cue that isn’t a release to do the thing.
Good point on fading the Cato. We really haven’t done much start line stuff – I was kind of worried about ruining his stays forever – but I’m feeling like he’s more ready now. We do lots of random stays/waits around the house so I’ll start fading in agility friend objects now.
I’ll also get to leash and between legs set up like I’ll be doing in actual training/trialing now that I think he’s having some good success.
He has such an interesting way of thinking. The past few mornings I’ve been asking him to do a sit and wait while I put his food down and then I release him to it. We’ve done this the past few days. IT helps when I’m feeding the 3 dogs in different areas to avoid any food issues. He used to want to jump on the counter where I was prepping or jump on me or follow me as I delivered the first bowl to the Swissy in the laundry room by the kitchen.
He’s been getting more able to control himself in general. This morning I asked him to sit and wait as I started to put the bowl down and tried to hand him a few kibbles to reinforce as that was happening. He kind of partially closed his eyes and turned his head away, refusing to take the kibble, like it was some kind of a dastardly trick. I am in so much trouble with this kid. 😝
Ugh! YouTube do better. 😜 Yeah, it was in an endless processing loop. New link below:
P.S. We’re heading to New Mexico this weekend for Game On! agility camp next week. I’ll take a couple of barrels and collapsible jumps with us (plus his cato board) so Vibe can keep playing his baby games on the road again. We’ll be driving the brand new RV – I’ll have to remember to share an MTV Cribs video of it with you. It’s full-on dog/remote work pimped out.
Good info on the turns right vs left on that decel exercise. I’ll keep an eye on at and consider for now that right turns may be easier for him. Or, it would be that I do more dog on left reps so I’ll make sure to keep it balanced.
As far as after training, he’s really the same with or without the arousal modulation practice at the end of the session, but he isn’t getting super aroused in these sessions at home. So, we’re mostly just building the muscle of that game for when we do need it out in the world. Have I mentioned that he is truly feral and may have much more dingo than most Koolies? 🤣
Early this AM we did more startline stays in the context of serp countermotion. I was kind of thrilled with how he did on both parts. I am doing a LOT of reinforcing of the stay. I know I’m going to need it with him, so I really want him having good thoughts about it.
Thanks for the feedback and advice. Yeah, since we haven’t done wing wraps for a few weeks we started a bit back from where we left off in terms of commitment distance. No biggie, that will come right back. And, yes, to letting him go at his own pace on value for reinforcers. I had a lot of faith that when the time was right he’d be all in on toys so just didn’t really push the issue when he wasn’t ready yet a few months ago and now he’s got a LOT of things that are SUPER reinforcing and gives us lots of options (food to mouth, thrown food, food in a dish, manners minder, balls – thrown and dead, tug toys – offered from hands, thrown and dead, frisbees, playing in the hose, all the things 😁💗).
Sorry to post again so soon but we did a fun session this AM including a few of the current exercises together. So, longer video because it includes some stay work, some decel work, a bit of after training arousal management routine, including some cheeseball pattern game, and some grass treat snuffle (along with lots of different reinforcers and delivery styles).
We’ve been home for almost 2 weeks and I think it’s the longest Vibe’s been here since I got him. So, our routines are a bit off since we had really good and clear routines on the road. We’ve been doing less training stuff since it’s been god awful hot but I’m trying to get us back into some routines.
We did some adding motion to serps and threadles a few days ago but I wanted to really break it down so we could also use our stays a bit. It’s like watching water boil so I’ll post when we’re a bit farther along.
We did tunnel rocking horses yesterday. It’s been a couple of weeks since we did any wing wraps and so had a couple of errors that I reinforced for effort. He LOVES playing in the hose now (like Ripley) so I’ve been breaking up our sessions for hose play breaks frequently.
I just signed up for MaxPup 2 and excited to keep going.
We’re back from our last long trip that ended up in Canada for a UKI Cup. At a local UKI Classic so did a bit of ball retrieve. He’s only seen a tennis ball a couple of times since we’ve focused on tug toys. He’s never seen the Chuckit or done a distance retrieve but he’s done plenty of tug toy retrieves and dead toy sends in training. I know I could have him drop the ball for a tug toy but wanted to play with him keeping hold of the ball a little bit here. He definitely enjoyed this. 😁
First sessions of “Find My Face” and some stay game. A few minutes near the regular outdoor practice jump and then we used the warm up area of the ISC trial as the last 2 dogs were running and course change was happening. (BTW Rip had a nice clean A3 on a Fanny Gott course yesterday – he’s jumping 24” so bars are a real issue but he’s such a good boy 🥰).
Quick session with more distance and starting my rotation earlier. We did more of this earlier in the course, so just reminding him about barrel commitment. It is a bit hot out so we took a few shade and water breaks. I think I’m going to need to make sure and help him remember to take breaks and take care of himself since I think sometimes his desire to do the thing could overshadow his self preservation.
