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This is super helpful and thank you for all of that detailed information. It really helped me see this a bit differently. I think because he “seems” to not be affected by new environments and locations I was more assuming that we would see the same play behaviors in different situations. But it totally makes sense that he is doing more processing than is obvious in the moment.
Because he can be such a tough tugger away from equipment and work expectations it’s been surprising to me When it disappears in other situations. I’ve also been so used to Ripley being such a persistent and strong tugger, anytime and anywhere, that it’s made me forget other dogs I’ve had where we had to build that up a lot more slowly. With most of those dogs, I did a lot of light tugging and letting them win. Vibe doesn’t really seem to like that very much so I’ll have to play with some different options.
Also, I’m enjoying the Brain Camp series and have added more up/down game to our stress cycle pre/post run prep (mostly for Rip, but making sure Vibe knows the game too).
Yes, we are continuing on our chill drive to Chicago – left Tulsa yesterday after a relaxing 4 day stay, in Missouri today, Chicago area by tonight with ring rental at Agility at the Farm on our way this afternoon. 😊
So, we did try a really floofy toy at the beginning of that session. I have 2, 1 with a handle and 1 without. At home he likes them both. When he’s really I interested in tugging he gets a really good grip or if he doesn’t on the first try his next try is usually even harder.
Around agility equipment he is really not trying to grip at all. He may do a little bite at it especially if I drag it and run, but then releases almost immediately even if I don’t pull. Here’s the short clip of the actual floof toy. When he did try to really bite at all it was more on the nylon bungee handle part and even then he wasn’t really gripping it.
I switched to the fur braid, udder tugger, fleece/fur tail combo toy after that in our session and he had some interest but really not trying to grip it and tug.
Here’s a clip of tug at the AirBNB with various toys. He does sometimes re-grip but usually it’s stronger on the second attempt and then he really holds it. Sometimes if Rip’s around he checks to make sure it’s okay to really tug but once he knows it is he tugs really hard. I don’t feel like he’s ever doing that when we are around equipment.
It’s not so much that he’s leaving me to go do equipment, but it feels like he has an expectation of work and doesn’t feel like it’s time to really tug and play (even though I do feel like he likes to tug and play when he feels it’s the right time/expected thing).
I am seeing a real thing with him about expectations and have had other working line Bree Koolies tell me their dogs are like that too. I still think we can work toward tug as a reinforcer for work but it’s looking like a bit of a process.
Okay, so, as you know from Vibe’s MaxPup posts, we’re on our epic trip. We’ve had the ring rental the past 2 days here in Tulsa but mostly working on contact entries and exits with Rip and not doing a ton of stuff to make sure he’s getting enough downtime. Yesterday we did a bit more opposite arm specific stuff including turn away wrap (tandem turns) and a few threadle wraps.
For the threadle wraps we used to use both arms and then transitioned to mostly dog side arm. I feel like sometimes that’s what he needs and sometimes he likes the opposite arm coming up.
The issue we have is that if the opposite arm comes up before he’s on the line to the backside he takes it as a front side turn away/fake rear cross/get out cue. We’ll try to do more of this today when we have the rental and also some actual get out.
Okay, I did find a longer flooffier tug toy to try when we go to the facility today.
This video is from yesterday AM before your feedback. I used a medium length tug toy for a few reps before he got too work focused. Also a tiny bit of squeaky ball to see how he felt about that. I don’t plan to use thrown balls with him but wanted to see how he felt about the noise and rolling to overcome his work focus.
We did a few barrel tunnel wraps including a couple of backward sends. A few reps my connection was crappy and he found the wrong side of the tunnel but all good bonus points for the effort that took. I’ll use more of the opposite arm exit line connection with him in the future from Rip’s class.
We also did some Startline work. We’ve done this a bit away from agility at home and away from equipment at trials so this was in the ring with our parallel path set up.
Also, including some clips of Vibe getting to play with his 2 Tulsa littermates that he hasn’t seen since he left Canada (including 1 who belongs to the facility’s dog diving instructor – it will be obvious which pup that is). Our “get measured/podium training” at trials paid off when he came time for a group pic. 😊
We are definitely still figuring out toy play in the presence of equipment. He tugs like a beast at home, outside the ring at trials, and various places as we travel, but once the opportunity to work is there he really loses interest right now.
I’ll clean up my praise/markers. 😆 I was excited to see how much latent/new learning had happened since we last did any real training the past 2 weeks.
Here’s some of his barrel stuff and a countermotion cookie send from his first agility seminar at Run Wild 2 weeks ago.
Very exciting about the mal mix. I’ll keep an eye out for when you start posting (or using for AU videos)
Geez, crazy how out of my normal routines I got the last week and a half. At home I pop into MaxPup a]every morning during breakfast and look at the lessons plus catch up with classmates’ videos. With managing the 2 boys in the camper van on the road, trials, and driving I’m way behind on that stuff.
We ended up also doing an evening seminar with the judge for the WA trial – Peyton. I had signed Ripley up for it but when I saw what they were going to work on realized it was more appropriate for Vibe. It was on commitment and some foundational stuff to do with that and Rip basically has commitment and distance for days.
I’ll go back and share some of what we did -it was mostly your rocking horse game but without the sideways or backwards send part focused on.
We were in AZ at the UKI Festival this past weekend – Rip made 3 podiums – 2 golds 1 silver and overall Festival win – despite the heat and Vibe got lots of little training stuff in a new exciting place (but no video since it was quick bits when the opportunity came up).
Today we’re in Tulsa and rented ring time for the boys at a great facility. With Vibe I worked on the handling sequence – barrel to toy. The parallel path exercise with a jump bump and early RC mat work.
I didn’t have the best treats to throw here so tomorrow I’ll get cheese balls or something other than kibble so he can see it. We’ve rented again the next 2 days.
I did show him the mat and do the shaping part of that a few weeks ago but this is the first time we’ve circled back to it since then.
Handling
Parallel Path
Running Contact Mat Work
Sorry we won’t get to see you in Chicago. I’d love to see some of the work you’re doing with your mal mix. Is there a place you are sharing anything of that training?
So, as I mentioned in Ripley’s opposite arm class, we are on the road on our epic 1 month camper van trip. We have only wingless jumps with us and the other stuff I mentioned I couldn’t find/fit in an under inflated balance item but we can fake it.
So far, lots of driving and hiking off leash (despite rain and cold). I did snag a quick 30 minute with Hana when we got to Run Wild. I let her know we were just doing baby stuff but wanted him to get to play on artificial turf and in a new place. He was super focused and did great. Mostly wing wrap stuff since I told her we’d been doing barrel wraps and some tunnel stuff. I think I remember the straight line wrap work from Rip’s MaxPup era so suspect we’ll be seeing this again.
Thanks for the feedback on that last video.
So we’re on our epic 1 month camper van trip and at Ripley’s favorite place, Run Wild in Washington. Here are some clips from our runs today (he is loving Peyton and Gracie Hoffman’s courses). He’s reading the off arm so well for collection I really tried to use it for turns and even for some contact decel with these big open lines.
He was 3 out of 4 Q’s today and the 4th was my decel at the end that led to a dropped bar on the last jump.
Vibe is also doing great on the trip and snuck in a baby dog private with Hana. I’ll see if I got anything on video to share over in MaxPup.
Yes, I feel like he’s pretty good at tight wrapping. Our bigger issue tends to be him being too tight and brushing the wing with his tail causing dropped bars.
I worked on exit arm today and really should have had coffee first. I get the increased upper body turn to more clearly show the new side but I seriously struggled with which arm to hold the toy in. 😝
I also did something super funky on 2 of these that made him think it was rear cross. Also, I accidentally cut out what I think set us up for the issue 3 reps earlier where I said the wrong wrap word so he wrapped away from me (correct for the verbal, not for what I actually wanted). On video looked like just poor timing on my brake arm and exit rotation plus pressure forward on his line before the-off on the 2 in this video.
In honor of EOTT large dog round 2 jumpers course we tried an easier variation of the come into a jump tight wrapping away to weaves. I want to set it up for real at some point since it’s such an interesting challenge.
We did a short session (after his breakfast because I have a bit of a crazy day) on barrel wrap to pre-placed toy. I added his mat as a destination with the toy partway through as he was heading back to the barrel and some of my body language wasn’t helping. We also did a tiny bit of tugging up against me.
He is definitely teething right now so toy preference is varying.
We’ll be hitting the road for our 1 month trip in the RV. I’m going to bring 2 pop up barrels, some jumps (for Rip) and jump bumps for this kid. A mini tunnel he may outgrow during the trip, a large contact mat trainer (yoga nat, wood, yoga mat that’s like 40 inches long and 14-16” wide, his Cato board and plank, his regular elevated bed, treat n’ train, tons of toys, chewies, etc. Anything else you would suggest so we can keep training and playing while we’re on the road?
Are you going to be in Chicago for the Invitational?
Quick session on tunnels with toy reinforcer. This is a time of day he’s a little more mellow. We’ll do another session this afternoon to compare his toy drive when he hasn’t just eaten.
We did some of the wrap sequences today. I think I need to rewatch what you had in mind for the push wrap mechanics. His tend to be pretty tight so I’ll watch others in the class and your feedback to them and me on the 1 rep I did here at the end.
Yep, that is Jessica and Bokeh. I didn’t know she was doing MaxPup2. Fun! Yes, all good ideas here and I’ll work them in. Thanks for all of this feedback.
So, he’s super interesting to me and does still get very work focused at times and in “work” settings. The past few days I’m letting him watch Rip train in the house and outside using toys instead of food so he can see what that looks like. He seems to be starting to see that you can work for toy play.
He’ still not super into switching between food and toy so I’m feeding him his breakfast in his giggle ball while Rip gets his little training session for food and toy. Then knowing he’s not super hungry anymore we’re doing some training for just the toy with Vibe. We’re getting there, he just has a very interesting mind and personality.
This morning we did a super short strike a pose for toy only (so no cookie tosses to help with the start yet). He’s also in a baby agility class with Nancy Gyes that’s only happened 3 times due to the weather and our travel. We actually did a tunnel exercise there like you have in the content this week so sharing that here too.
SAP Toy
Tunnels
Quick session of opposite arm for wing wrap outside today. It felt good in the moment and his turns looked good but I feel like I’m still a bit late for what he really needs from me to actually shorten his stride on approach and set himself up for a nice tight turn without last minute adjustments that seem more likely to bring a barn down at full height.
