[Dianne M]

Hi Tracy!

I have been in Maine for the past week and returned to the 7 gates of hell in So Carolina last night. Phew is it hot!!

I may have jumped the gun on the live sequences today. I was able to watch most of your live while we were on the way home from the airport (I wasn’t driving LOL) and set up the course late last night knowing the only time I could run this would be early this morning. So the sequences I ended up running were by memory because they weren’t posted yet at 6:30 this morning when we worked on this.

The first video are the warmups. The first rep was fine and the second one I used the brake arm for the 180 4-5. 3rd and 5th attempt I pull him off the wing wrap.

After a water break and cool down, we attempted again. On this video I’m attempting the bonus backside 6 sequence. First rep we have to rework the backside (we’re used to 5’ jump bars so all of a sudden we ran out of room on the 4’ bar). 2nd rep I pulled him off the wing wrap again. We got it on the third try.

This is where I feel I don’t have jump commitment. I could have sworn, especially on 5th attempt of first video, that he was moving forward and committed to the jump before I moved down towards 5, but he pivoted right along with me and pulled off that jump. So then I end up escorting him all the way to the wing (as in the very last rep of 2nd video) to ensure he takes it. If it had been one of his first attempts he probably would have been more likely to take it but then runs out of steam.

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to layer that middle jump.

I noticed that I wasn’t using his soft turn cues (basically should have been rights on #2 and also the 180). Verbals are still hard for me. He’s also sticky on the release today. Also probably too strong on the threadle 1-2 but we’ve been working on it after last session’s pop up sequences and I noticed that was a hole in our training as he was often taking the wrong side of the jump.

These are full training videos, only trimming beginning and ends to remove the excess turn on/off the camera etc.

Thanks,
Dianne

[Dianne M]

Hi Tracy –

I attempted the Pop Up sequences. We have no forward focus 😫 I worked a little bit on rewarding for just taking the jump and am trying to identify any “tell” if he’s even just glancing at the bar.

This are a couple of attempts at Sequence 1. Having trouble getting jump 4.

After a break we tried some of the other sequences. It’s really hot here so I’m trying to make these very short sessions. Baxter does not like the heat.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Dianne

[Dianne M]

Hi Tracy —

In response to some of your last questions —

>>How does this compare to other FastCat experiences? Could he eat or play at the other facilities? Has he been to this facility in the past? These can help us know where baseline is.<<

We’d been here once before. I got the same type of behavior.

When I tried this pattern game with him at the FastCat event it was about 30 minutes after his final run. He’d had a cool down and pee walk, a water break, and just hanging out with me moseying around until we could retrieve his times and ribbon. This pattern game attempt was a good bit after he was all done and we were basically packing up and on our way out.

I know you have previously said this should be done at home with few distractions so we don’t poison the pattern. With that being said, should I also try to bring him out to quiet different locations and try to do this so he gets accustomed to doing it outside of home? Your thoughts on this?

I did the second half of the mid-course sequences this morning. Little guy was on fire! So fun! He continues to go check out the leash when I throw it aside like he did the first rep but is becoming more accustomed to it.

First rep front cross was good. I so did not set him up for the second rep rear cross and he was so good to listen to his right wrap verbal. What a good boy. Third rep rear cross again I was a bad handler – pulled him off the jump because I decelled too much and should have gone deeper at least one more step. In the moment I just circled him and repeated it. Probably should have just kept going but I at least didn’t stop him 🙂 Last rep was to steal your phrase, the Goldilocks rep :). He loved his toy today and was all about tugging and chewing.

He is just a little weirdo LOL (said with love). Today he refused the cheese that he would eat the other day and decided kibble was the go to treat 😝

I will lose the use of my yard after today because it is being aerated and reseeded. At least for a couple of weeks. Therefore we will concentrate on the two toy pattern game, the let’s go with the treats (and leash) behind him, and maybe I can set up a small version of the tunnel discrimination in the garage.

Looking into UKI trials too 🙂

If you ever go to Rising Star or Quicksilver Canine for agility let me know. I may be able to enter something and meet up with you there. It would be fun.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Dianne

[Dianne M]

Hi Tracy –

Thanks for the great feedback.

Ran into what I feel is a setback (maybe?) or challenge this morning.

I took Baxter to a FastCat trial. We’ve done this a couple of times now and he ran very well with two personal best times. He doesn’t seem to be bothered being in a queue with other dogs around him. I had him in the check in queue and Wayne was his holder at the gate and we both feel Baxter didn’t seem to be bothered or interested in the other dogs at all. He did his runs very well, as I said. But at both the beginning and the end of his runs he COULD NOT take a treat of any flavor, could not play with his toy, and could not chase his treat ball.

After he’d done his runs and used up all his energy and had been in the environment for about an hour, I took him way away from the field and tried to do the up and down game. I tried several types of different treats (which I always do now because he’s so picky) and he wouldn’t eat anything. He’d bend his head and sniff at it but couldn’t eat it. He looks interested in his environment and I noticed on the video that he really wanted to check out that dumpster that I hadn’t noticed when doing the game, but he doesn’t look stressed or upset in any way. In fact at one point he laid down at my feet. Actually pulling out the toy at the end was the best thing for him. He’d had no interest in it earlier.

Where should I go with this? I’m beginning to toy with the idea of entering him in a few trials after the first of the year. Havanese Nationals are at the end of May and I’d like to enter him in Novice if he’s ready. We’re beginning to work on the end of run behavior and hands free runs. I’ve read up on the NFC/FEO information you’ve sent but we’re not there yet. I guess I don’t know how he’ll be in the ring but I have an inkling he’ll be like this outside the ring.

I will try to teach him to jump up in my arms. I have tried it with some of the older dogs without much success but we can give it a shot. Gabby I trained to pop her head into a martingale leash when I held it open and that was my thought process with him as well.

Regarding the meatballs, he started eating them because Gabby was getting them in scentwork and there’s nothing like sibling rivalry. He then continued to eat them at home during the pattern games and teeter training. But now he won’t eat them again – I tried again today 🙁

Let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Dianne

[Dianne M]

Hi Tracy!

First off, regarding your last comment –

>>One thing I notice is that he often freezes after the thrown reward until you pull out the next one back at the start line, or call him to line up.<<

Yes, he has done this since he was a puppy. To be honest it has always bugged me but I have always hoped in the back of my mind that this will improve as he matures. I tried some of your suggestions in the video that I’m submitting for the mid-course sequences. I put his treats on a “treat table” and carried a leash with me, except for the last rep when I forgot to have one on me. I’m also trying to reinforce with a thrown toy between jumps on occasion rather than just after the last obstacle. I guess I only did it once in this clip but I’m trying to remember to do it more often.

After that first rep it’s taking me forever at the treats to reinforce him and restart LOL. I ran him over to the treat bench but he was being a fussy fellow. I was offering him a treat that he didn’t want, and after several attempts I gave him cheese, which he thought was just super. Of course yesterday meatball was absolutely delicious, but today he didn’t want it. Today he wanted boring old string cheese instead. Go figure.

I forgot to do the blind from the tunnel to jump #7. First rear cross I got a spin before that last jump. Second one worked out okay.

I usually would trim out the playing and petting at the end of our session but I wanted to ask you about this. Baxter is a VERY affectionate dog and is always by me or on my lap if I’m relaxing. He seems to really enjoy physical interaction and searches me out for it. At the end of this session I get down on the ground and play with him, rub his tummy, pat him and rough him up a little bit. I don’t think you can see because the jump is blocking but he is leaning into me against my leg when I’m patting him up. Would this be considered decompression? Just curious.

I’m also sending our first attempt at the Find My Face game. I had to laugh as he tries to go between my feet as I’m teaching him that behavior. He’s a good boy 🙂

Let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Dianne

[Dianne M]

Hi Tracy –

Here is the Sequence 5 Opening layout. I think he did a really good job. I started out reminding him about serps (have to remember that putting my hand out is a cue to him and not to bring it out until I’m ready). Anyway, other than missing jump #4 one time he did really well. I found a hold in the middle of the course at jump #6 and was a little tentative on that last rep because of it. Will do some lawn fill work in that area LOL.

Based on your earlier comments I’m trying to keep my lip zipped other than verbals so he doesn’t look at me. Work in progress LOL.

Thanks,
Dianne

[Dianne M]

Hi Tracy –

Here is our work yesterday on opening sequence #3.

I am working on the volume dial game at the beginning of this video. Baxter can do hand touches but we are working on spins and circles as I haven’t really taught those yet, so these are being lured, but I’m expecting that he will eventually be able to do it on a verbal.

On the first rep the opening was good but he wrapped the wrong way on jump #3. Second rep comes in to me on jumps 3 & 4. Third rep yay! Fourth rep blah and fifth rep was working hard on getting jump #3 so I know I was late on the blind between 3 and 4. However, I think the point of this option was to see if he would not take 5 and go into the tunnel which he did so yay!

Based on your commentary yesterday I will try to throw a toy on his path between jumps on occasion instead of waiting till the end. Correct?

This was it for him. Just under 5 mins. I was happy with his enthusiasm today as sometimes he’s just blah. Early in the morning, cool and he hasn’t done anything else yet today. Also possibly the volume games at the beginning. Yay.

Need some ideas for moving tricks. We have hand touches at face level and jumping up, and learning spins and circles. He will run around and chase me or my hand to get a food or food toy. Although he chases and retrieves a toy he does not tug.

Thanks,
Dianne

[Dianne M]

Hi Tracy –

Thanks for the tips on taking him out to distracting environments. I did bring him far out into a field that day and he was able to chase a toy – not necessarily that enthusiastically but was able to. I do need to bring him out to more places.

>>In the 3rd video, had they people you were chatting with gone away? The latency was lower here (he was very quick to re-engage) which is great!<<

Yes they were walking away back to their camper. His pattern is generally -people people!! I want to see! I’ll go say hi to them. Okay I’m done. – He generally insists on checking someone/something out and is then pretty good with focus back to me.

I’m back home now and have started the sequence openings. Here are the first two openings.

There is a red wing on the far side of the course next to the fence that blends into the equipment and is hard for you to see in this camera setup. He blew past that jump a couple of times in this sequence.

In this sequence I like the lead out push – I’ve used it a lot with my other dogs and it works for me. However, Baxter seems to want to come behind me at jump #3. I feel that I’m connected – is it my feet? It seemed to be much clearer to him on the blinds. Also, sorry that he’s out of the picture where I set him up 🤷‍♀️

Lastly, over the past couple of months I feel like he’s becoming way too attached to me (agility wise LOL) . He seems to be looking at me a lot and curling into me rather than staying out on his line, which leads to blowing by jumps as in the first opening sequence posted above. Even Wayne commented that he’s looking at me a lot. I’ve been working weaves and contacts heavily the last few months which involve me being close-ish and/or rewarding after every short rep. I usually carry a toy in my hand which I’m thinking I should hide but I’m not sure that’s the problem. Your thoughts?

Thanks as always.

Dianne

• This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by Dianne M.

[Dianne M]

Hi Tracy –

Yay for making the finals! Good luck!

I’m attaching videos of working the pattern games while I’ve been traveling this week. The first clip is at a very quiet RV park and Baxter didn’t seem to be very distracted. I think this exercise went pretty well.

Second and third videos are a couple days later in a much busier RV park. Lots more distractions with people around, cooking dinner smells, generally more activity. The first clip is only about 40 secs and shows the difficulty Baxter was having. I didn’t realize it until they spoke but an elderly couple had come up from behind me and wanted to say hi to my “Maltese” 😐 Baxter was having a hard time but was just beginning to get into the pattern when they spoke and interrupted us. We chatted with them for a few minutes and then we immediately went back to the games (in the 3rd video) and he was much better.

A couple of weeks ago I took Baxter to an outdoor agility trial to just hang out and visit with some havanese friends. He behaved very well and didn’t seem to be disturbed by the noise and the dogs. He was able to lay by my side and be calm. He got measured and didn’t have any issues with the judge or the process. However, although I tried the simplest up and down game, he COULD NOT POSSIBLY eat any food in this environment. Also couldn’t play with a toy. That’s unfortunate 🙁 I’m hoping this class will give me some ideas to handle this.

Thanks!

Dianne

[Dianne M]

Hi Tracy!

Wednesday night’s LIVE class was SO MUCH FUN!!!

I had the course set up and really wanted to try it again Thursday but we had pouring rain all day so we worked on the teeter skills instead.

Here is the bang game. We’ve only done this once before this session. I’m not a fan of him defaulting to a sit so I tried to reinforce and toss the cookie off quickly so he didn’t have a chance to sit. Missed it a couple of times.

Also the mountain climbers again with your suggestions a couple of days ago. We wrapped a wing, ran lateral, drove forward. I had to call him away a couple of times because he looks forward to running up it and get that treat at the end. When do I add a cue? And any good cue words? I don’t like teeter because there are so many “T” words in agility and now I’ve added the tsk tsk tsk verbal as well. I used “bang” for Gabby but is that too close to Baxter’s name?

You’ll also see a cameo appearance by my Eli, 1 month shy of 14 years old. He’s physically very well but is in the clutches of canine dementia and is declining. It just breaks my heart 💔. He is my first agility dog and has brought me so many new experiences and such joy. Sigh 😔

Lastly, I left yesterday for a two week vacation to ALASKA (woohoo so excited!!) so wont be doing any training obviously. Baxter and the other dogs are with family. I will be back very close to when you’re closing the class. Of course I’ll keep training, and plan on starting weaves when I return, but are there any plans for moving onwards with these MaxPup dogs? I’m looking for a group class now to get Baxter working in a different location and distractions. Let me know if you also have anything planned to move these pups along.

Thanks, and have a great few weeks.

Dianne

[Dianne M]

Hi Tracy –

Yes, that was my Brain Camp T-shirt 😉

I’ll work on the teeter suggestions you gave me. Thanks.

I’ve put serps away for awhile. Here is the work we did yesterday and this morning on lap and tandem turns and the zig zag jump grids.

Tandem turns –

Lap turns (AAAGH I used the wrong wrap verbal. You would think I’d have those straight by now sheesh 😩)

Zig Zag jump grids – I’m not sure I have these set up correctly. He doesn’t seem to be zig-zagging. He was also obsessed with a corner of tape coming loose on the jump bar and wanted to help it to come looser LOL.

Thanks,
Dianne

[Dianne M]

Hi Tracy !

It’s gotten hot and humid again so we haven’t done much training, but here’s what we’ve been working on this week.

We did some more practice sessions with the serps and trying to be more cognizant of looking at the landing spot instead of his pretty little face LOL. We’ve advanced to tunnels and serps and here’s where we’re at. I totally know when he went into the wrong end of the tunnel that my feet sent him there! He’s a good boy.

Also worked on entrance/exits of tunnels. We haven’t spent much time on the soft lefts and rights but I think he’s pretty good on the go’s.

And some more teeter work. It’s tipping about 5-6” now. He’s really developed some value for this and tries to offer it on his own so I need to keep it blocked off when we’re not using it. I guess that’s a good thing LOL.

Thanks,
Dianne

[Dianne M]

Hi Tracy –

Thanks so much for the feedback yesterday. It really helped pull me out of the doldrums and put a better perspective on our training.

I’ve never tried a baby pool with him because, to be honest, that coat LOL. It’s a good idea to try a wet towel, though. Yes you’re right that’s a concrete pad and his favorite place to lay on, frog style with back legs splayed out behind him and full tummy on the cool. In the house he’s always laying on the A/C vents. He definitely feels the heat and is clever enough to find a way to cool down.

This is 6:00 am training this morning. It’s barely light out. It was actually very pleasant to work in. I’m aware I went much longer than I should have but it was nice to be working with him and he was tolerating it.

Notice the setup between the legs at the very beginning? He’s getting better yay? I didn’t do much toy play so as not to use up his energy, and you’ll notice it took me some work to get him on a toy during the session.

I have a few thoughts after watching our session on video. The concrete pad and door into the garage is just out of camera range to the right on that red wing. I’m wondering if he missed it so often because he was thinking of going into the garage and that distraction was too much for him. Also, I should have angled that jump a little bit to help him out when he was having so much trouble. I didn’t think about it until after I watched our session.

What I will do is set us up so he goes to his left AWAY from the garage door and see if that makes a difference 😊

Again, thanks so much for your supportive feedback yesterday. It helped and I actually enjoyed working with him again this morning.

Dianne

• This reply was modified 2 years ago by Dianne M.

[Dianne M]

Hi Tracy –

Just an update since I don’t want you to think I’ve fallen off the face of the earth LOL.

Baxter is absolutely not wanting to work in this heat. Since the last LIVE we had a few weeks ago where he wasn’t inclined to play, I’ve had with his motivation to play. I am finding him going in the tunnel and not coming out, leaving me, not engaged in playing with his toy. I’ve kept a timer and training sessions (when attempted) under 3 minutes but in all honesty we don’t often get to the timer before we stop, either at his request or that I’m reading that he’s done. I’ve tried early sunrise and late sunset with limited success.

I’m wondering if it’s an adolescent thing or a heat related absolute refusal. We continue to work inside the matted training space on the teeter mountain and small area proofing verbals on one wing. I’m inclined to bring the tunnel and jumps back inside for training but footing is a little slippery when his feet are wet and I honestly want him to train outside. Not all trials around here are in indoor spaces like we got used to in NY.

I took him camping last week in the Tennessee Smokey Mountains. I even brought a wing jump along but didn’t find any reasonably safe place where he could work off lease 😟 We did practice a lot of collar grabs, learning to set up between my legs, and the pattern games. He really needs a lot of work on those outside of his home base – he is more interested in the surroundings than in the treats involved in the pattern games. He’s not horrible lunging or screaming, but is more interested in looking out and about than food. I intend to work on this more.

Here are a few of the best sessions we’ve had in the last week or so. It is very early morning – barely light out but the temperature wasn’t bad. They’re not great but it is what it is. My handling is not great – I know I have a minute or two of his cooperation at best and the pressure affects my handling (good training for trials, right?)

I finally got the spin at the last rep Yay!!

And the ladder wraps –

Oh, and by the way, that’s a leaf on his butt, in case you might think it’s something else LOL.

Sorry for the book, but you haven’t heard from me in two weeks so this is catch up time.

Thanks,
Dianne

[Dianne M]

Hi Tracy –

We are doing sunrise agility this morning. It’s 7:30 am and hotter than blazes already!!

There are two sessions with a water break/cool down in between. I pulled him off the wrap a few times because I wasn’t patient enough and left too early.

I walked these exercises off camera to try to get the verbals right. I used the wrong one in the last rep of the second video, and maybe more that I didn’t catch. As we add elements verbals are getting harder and harder to remember which to use.

Can you explain to me again why I can’t use just one “wrap” verbal for either direction. That would sure make my poor pea brain hurt less. Wouldn’t a single wrap verbal and direction of motion send him in the right direction?

It looks like we’re going to be doing more of this tomorrow night in the LIVE class. Looks like fun. Hope it cools off a little.

Dianne

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