[Kathy McClung]

Hello!
>Looking at smiley face: he barks sometimes now when you say “ready” – it is like he is saying “Heck yeah!” Love it!>
He really, really gets excited to play!

>He drove really well to the tunnel when you were facing the line. If you pulled away from the line, he went with your motion which is correct (good boy Lew!) An example of that is :51 where you were saying tunnel but turning towards the other end of it so he went with the direction your feet were pointing (feet are probably the most obvious cue for him :))

Compare that to the next rep at :56 where you took a couple of steps towards the tunnel until he locked onto the line and then you pulled away. Perfect!>

I absoltely love that it was my fault. I think I am too easy to think that he isn’t getting it when he makes a mistake because he is a new breed to me. I’m going to let that thinking go. Pay attention to the dog in front of me and remember it’s always the handler – lol.

We tried Zig Zags inside. Such an advantage to him being little – ha!
We started with 2 jumps and that is the session I’m sending in. That evening we tried 3 jumps and he did really well, but the challenges in this session were the same in the later session. One side is harder for him & me. I’m not sure if I am moving correctly when I call him from the opposit side of the wing. And patience on the stays. I’m going to add in some catches and keep working on those in general. This game added in distance for the stays and also I was backing up not walking away so maybe that looks different to him.

We are going to a trial this weekend so we will catch up on Monday.

Thanks for the Minny Pinny advice – I’ll try the placed reward our next session!

[Kathy McClung]

Hi!
We did a morning Smiley Face game & and an evening Minny Pinny with verbals.

For the Smiley Face game, he didn’t have enough steam coming out of the tunnel to do both wraps. So I threw his lotus ball to keep it exciting for him.
We got a few in though. In retrospect, I could have moved the wings closer.

The Minny Pinny was a little bit of chaos. I tried to see if he would let me hold on to him like he did for the Wrap Proofing game. Lew said “no”. So instead, I tried to stand still & say the verbals. We tried some turn aways and some neutrals too just to see how he reacted to them.
I think I need to clean up my mechanics. My rewards were late and he was checking my hands for treats.

Thanks for watching!

[Kathy McClung]

Hello!
Thank you! I was really excited about that session!
>Was there food in it on all the reps?>

Yes, stinky mackerel fudge! Yum!

I’ll do some sessions in the yard where he just chases the toy!

I took him to the “real” agility yard to play today. He was very excited! We did a short session of the wrap proofing game. I put his tiny treat dispenser at the end of the tunnel like you suggested (a while back). I had his lightweight harness on & held him and he didn’t seem to care! I think he had his mind on the steak at the end of the tunnel.

Do you think he’s ready to move on to some of the next games & we’ll keep practicing his moving target a bit more before adding it to the set point game?

[Kathy McClung]

Hi!

We did another session of Moving Target. I think adding in the praise really helped him not be hair trigger about releasing. I didn’t really even have to lower the toy incrementally. I tried not to move while I lowered it.

We played in between reps. He was into chasing the toy even though there was food in the treat hugger part. Yay! I left some in there. Sometimes he followed and looked at my hands but mostly he focused on the toy.

Thank you for the feedback!

• This reply was modified 6 days, 20 hours ago by Kathy McClung.

[Kathy McClung]

Hi Tracy!

Thank you for the advice about how to break up the lowering of the toy to help him with anticipating the release. I was so focused on getting the toy to the ground before he broke, I didn’t think about splitting it down more to help him get there. I’ll try that next session.

We did another session of the set point working on his stays. I read back & saw you suggested I add in priase before I either do a catch or a break so I added that in. I saw his reaction on the first one. It surprised him and I do think it helped!

We are hoping to get outside today. We are having some rains the last few days. I want to do one more session of the wrap proofing game to see where we are on tunnel commitment and then hopefully we are ready to move on to the week 2 games.

[Kathy McClung]

Hi Tracy!

Lew’s stitches are out & he’s freeeeee!
The 2 week recovery was actually more stressful on me than I anticipated and we didn’t really work on anything. He did come to a very busy trial this past weekend and did really great. He shared a crate with Bazinga and when I took her out for her runs, our crate neighbors reported that they did not hear him bark. Yay! We wandered around the grounds and did some stays & catches inside in quiet corners.

I’m feeling our behindedness so tonight we dove in with a refresh of the Moving Target game. We still needed some work on it before our break. I used a treat hugger with smelly treats tucked in it on a long line with a fuzzy tug toy attached. I started with just some catches and I had to include his reaction to getting to play again! We had some trouble holding the stay when I moved to drop the toy. I tried adding some catches as I held the toy and that seemed to help. He really isn’t chasing the toy yet but I’m hoping he will as he gets the idea that the treats are tucked in it.

Thanks for the feedback! We are happy to be back!

[Kathy McClung]

Hi Tracy!

Thanks so much for the videos and this golden piece of advice 😂:
>You can work the games with bringing Bazinga into another room (out of site) eventually, and he can hang out with the Manners Minder as social support. A note about the Manners Minder – tape it closed if you are going to leave it with a dog, so they can’t open it and eat all the treats. Ask me how I know 😂>

I love the idea of using the couch and also the MM! Thank you!

Lew had his surgery on Tuesday and is recovering well. I, however, am stuck administering liquid syringe medicine – the horror! I hope Lew & I are still friends when he is healed.
He wanted to show you how he is rocking his surgical suits 😊

We are both looking forward to catching back up on the games when he is healed! I think in a few days we can work on his happy stays, find my face and maybe a low-volume dial game to keep him busy.

[Kathy McClung]

Thanks for the advice about Lew’s FOMO!

Maybe the course is too high level for what I actually need & want. I don’t actually want to put him on a station out in public (or even really at home). I super thank you for mentioning safety & little dogs exposed out in public! <3

I was hoping there might be something in the course that would help me address his feelings about waiting his turn. I just want him to be able to settle in a crate at trials and in an expen or room at home when I train at home and it is not his turn. He will use a food toy for about 10 minutes and then the is going to TELL ME ABOU IT! Lol

>And giving him a decompression while in the xpen/crate or on the cot helps: Toppl, lick mat, etc. I have a video somewhere of how I start this if you want me to find it for you!>

I would love to see the video. If he is angry, he won’t eat, but maybe I can ease him into it. Maybe I can approach this whole thing differently.

>Not sure if the class talks about this – One thing you can do is social support: have one of the Bostons with him so he is not isolated. Ideally it is a Boston that is quiet in the crate or on a cot. How does he do at home? I always start it at home of course, I am guessing the class suggests that too.>

He gets crated with Bazinga now if he comes to spectate a trial and that keeps him happy. He fusses when I take her out to run and he has a very loud bark for such a tiny guy.

At home for training, I give each non-working dog a food toy, so I can’t let them be together where one of the IBD girlies can get someone else’s treats. I could put them in the same room with barriers though.

Thanks so much!!!

[Kathy McClung]

Hi Tracy!

We’ve been working whent he weather cooperates but things were so hectic, I didn’t have a chance to edit & post. Here is what we have been doing.

Wrap Proofing
>Since he was so confidently running into it at every opportunity 🙂 and he still wrapped the wing when you asked… we can move to the next steps of fading out your motion and getting him to do it independently. This might be a little challenging because he is so smol! You mentioned that he was ok with your hand on his chest to hold him: you can have your hand there, say the wrap or tunnel verbal 3 or 4 times… then let go so he can move without you moving.>

We tried again and tried for less motion. He struggled a bit with that. I think my less-motion body language was too swoopy and I wasn’t staying connected. We did get some really good reps when I held him with both hands! We did on 2 tunnels in a row rep too.

Wind in your hair (maybe more like a breeze on this one!)
It was hot and he wasn’t driving ahead, so I couldn’t stay behind at the wing. I’ll try another session when he is perky!

We did the Smiley face game yesterday!

I took him to the field we rent last night and it illuminated alllllll the crate to gate things we need to work on! Crate tantrums being one of them. I’m doing an independent study of a class from Nicole Wiebusch called Freedom from FOMO: Overcoming Canine Frustration. He is a crate screamer and I’d really like to teach him how to settle. The class teaches them to stay on a cot and eventually to wait on the cot while other dogs are working. There is some transition to staying in a crate in the class. I never thought I needed that kind of “control” from my dogs to do that “cot stay” but the sylabus mentioned that for some dogs it is actually easier to wait on a cot than inside a crate since they are not physically restricted. This stuff is out of my wheelhouse, I don’t think I really need the perfection of the cot-stay but I really would like to be able to put the dog waiting his turn in an ex-pen or crate or behind a gate and not have a tantrum. I am simply lame at teaching duration.
I just signed up for the Brain Camp Relax, Recover & Recharge webinar series. I really need to teach all dogs how to regulate and chill at times. I’m looking forward to it!

He did a good job inside the ring at the rental though. I don’t have video but we did a quick session of the wrap proofing game. He needed a lot more support but he went into the tunnel and did some wraps. He wandered off after only a few reps but it was hot & a fairly new environment so I was still happy that he did some stuff.

Thansk so much for your feedback!
Kathy

[Kathy McClung]

Hi Tracy!

>you can keep adding distance and also you can stay at the start wing longer… then as he finishes the wrap you can start running forward. That will allow him to get ahead of you 🙂>

Thank you – we will add this in in our next session.

He is really having fun with these games. I set up the blue tunnel let him watch Bazinga run through it & he ran right in with no a care in the world. So yay for dark tunnel intros! We did another session of just running back & forth through the tunnel for steak. I think we are making a tunnel fan!

We did a short session of the Wrap Proofing game now that he is liking tunnels.

Later on in the evening we did some Moving Target work. I tried adding in catches to help him with the stay. The food/toy combo gave him a bit of a dilemma. He lost interest in the toy, which maybe helped his stay but his “get its” were less enthusiastic. I’m curious to hear your feedback. I’m also wondering if it is a good idea or not to use “get it” as a release – will it mess with the “break” cue?

Thank so much for the feedback!

• This reply was modified 1 month ago by Kathy McClung.

[Kathy McClung]

Hi Tracy!

>At least they are friendly critters! Hopefully a good toad and not a bad toad!>
Yes, just a regular nice toad. She’s been around for 2 years! We fortunately don’t have the bad Bufo toads this high up in north Florida. (Hopefully we never will). I’m happy to report everyone self-evicted after I moved the tunnel the other day. YAY! Be free – find better homes!
Hopefully we’ll get to play with the blue tunnel tomorrow.

We will keep working on the set point “stay” edition and also the moving target with the stay and build up his skills!

We did a quick session of Wind in Your Hair this morning with more distance & more speed. He keeps running away with his ball UP THE STAIRS, so I will need to up my speed to get to the toy with him & play tug. Haha

Here is our session.

Thank you!!!

[Kathy McClung]

Hi!
Today was a fun day!

It miraculously got a little cooler tonight, so I straightend that tunnel, cut up some steak and took Lew out for some fun! I set up the mini manners minder at one end & let him run back & forth through the tunnel. I caught him at one end, gave him steak, turned him around & held him & said “tunnel, tunnel, tun – and he was gone! He got to the other end & got the treat from the MM and turned right around & ran back through the tunnel to be caught again – if I could keep up. He loved it!
I’ll do a few more sessions like that to really get him loving the tunnel. I didn’t use his harness, just held him by the chest and let go.

I need to evict a garter snake, a toad and a wolf spider from my blue tunnel before I bring that into the mix. That sounds like a scary childrens book! Tunnels really attact wildlife.

Set point – session 2
>To help him hold the stay and not anticipate the release, mix up when and where the release happens for now so the only thing that predicts the release is the verbal and not where you are or if you stop or move. Sometimes the release is while you are moving up the line. Sometimes you stop at jump 2 and throw a reward back to him. Sometimes you got to the MM but throw a reward back to him. And sometimes you go to the MM and stop and praise… then release. That way the arrival at the MM doesn’t get paired with the release.>

We did another session of the Setpoint game. I spent more than half of the session just doing catches and following your advice on mixing up when I said “catch” & threw it back. That absolutely helped clarify things for him. Then I started adding in some “breaks” and doing the same mix up on when I released. Thank you for the feedback. Here is a video. I sped up the “catch” part of the session. He was trotting over the second jump towards the end but I was mostly just concentrating on the stay & release. Is that ok?

• This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by Kathy McClung.

[Kathy McClung]

Hi Tracy!

Thank you for this! I’ll follow your suggestions on the next session and give him more time to get used to such an exciting set up. I think I’m jumping ahead with him a bit on all these games since we were behind in MP1 at the end. I’m going to try and break them down a little so he gets the idea. I love that we can do this one inside for now.

We had a little bit of a cooler day today so we got started on Feel the Wind in Your Hair (am) and the Wrap Proofing Game (pm).

Feel the Wind in Your Hair
I got him a new lotus ball. It is tiny its made by Wild at Heart and it’s called the Audrey ball. I decided I don’t like lotus balls with treats inside for him because his eyes are so close to the velcro and even the tiniest one gives him a lot of trouble to open. I just used this one as a toy and he went crazy for it. I think it is the perfect size ball for him. He kept running away with it. LOL. I kept this session food-free and he was really having fun with the toy.

Wrap Proofing Game
We did this in the evening and it was hotter than the morning session. He was really excited to play but he petered out as you can see. This was a little advanced for him, I think. It was the first time we did the tunnel without a treat dispenser, so I was happy that he was getting in the tunnel. I think he had a few good reps where he really drove into the tunnel. I don’t think my mechanics were the best either. I tried to hold his harness from the side and say “tunnel, tunnel” but it seemed to take him out of focus with the obstacles. I will need to spend a little time using your line-up cookie method to get him more used to me holding his harness. I tried this session with no food as well, so I didn’t want to bring the treats out for the line up since I thought I would lose him on the toy. I thought the toy might be better for this game than him stopping at the end of the tunnel to get a treat. I see the progression of the game will be multiple passes through the tunnel, so I was wanting to get him used to the toy. I guess I could treat from my hand or throw a treat hugger with a treat as an option.

I have a tunnel question. What are your thoughts on little dogs & scrunched up long tunnels? I always thought that the bumps from a scrunched up tunnel might interfere with a small dogs feet, so I always extend them all the way. I think the 20 foot tunnel may be long for Lew. I have a 15 foot but it is dark blue. I may need to try it out and see if Lew cares about the color/darkness.

Thanks so much!

• This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by Kathy McClung. Reason: editing a bizarre phantom copy & paste mistake!

[Kathy McClung]

Hi!
Thank you for the feedback!
>I have also used a cookie bowl attached to a line (duct tape!) and the manners minder attached to wheels for the foodie dogs 🙂>
We did the MM on wheels for Bazinga! LOL She loved it!

I think self control is going to be something we need to work on. 🤣
We did our first session of the setpoint game and I did a lot of the backchaining at the second jump with many, many “catches” but he was SO AMPED! I think maybe seeing all the equipment get set up made him extra wild. There was a lot of barking! I think most of them were excited barks and maybe a few were anticipatory/frustrated barks? What do you think?

Maybe I moved to fast for him because he did break his stay a few times and he did a couple of “cheaty” releases. My bad, I didn’t act fast enough.
I’m hoping he sleeps on the setup and can focus next session. I think I should start back at the baby level with the backchaining?

I am hoping for a break in the heat & rain in FL so we can work on the other games. Unless I can figure out how to bring them inside. (I joke) I am obsessing about renting a climate controlled storage space to practice in!

Thank you! I’m determined to get all the games in ahead of Agust 11th.

[Kathy McClung]

Hi!

>That reminds me of another lotus-ball-alternative, called the clam: less velcro, easy to throw, very easy to open with mouth or feet:>
PURCHASED!!! Thank you!

Thanks for the great feedback. Especially this – I never would have considered that. I’ll figure out a different location.

>The weirdness gauntlet was interesting! He definitely noticed the thing, and stopped moving: I wonder if he was waiting for further instructions, because it was in his training area? He did not seem to be worried about it or surprised, so it is possible that freeze moment when he did not immediately follow you was him asking if you were going to shape behavior on the object LOL! You can definitely try this in other places that are not associated with training, and see how he feels about it 🙂>

We tried our last 2 games today. I was scared to try them because I thought he may not be ready but he really impressed me.

Lateral Startline Baby Level

I did a lot of “catches” I left them in in case you wanted to see how he did on that part. Fast forward if not. hee hee hee

Strike a Pose in Motion – Countermotion Serp Exits

I cut out many of the “catches” on this one. This session was right after the Lateral startline so he was pretty warmed up on cacthes and I did less here.
One side was easy and the other side was really hard for him. I re-introdiced him to the treat hugger toy. He was not into it the first time I showed it to him a while back but I spent a little time showing him how it worked and he liked it! Yay!
I learned more watching your video for this game, this time around vs when I watched it for Bazinga’s class. I think I may not completely undertand the final moves. I’m trying to wrap my head around them. Frankie loves serps but we always did the 3 jump serp from the same side. She is awesome at it, but I think I’d like to have more flexibility with Lew & Bazinga. I’m getting the Backside Serp description from your “final product” clips ( think), but I’m having trouble visualizing the “handler & dog on the takeoff side of the jump at the same time” in a final scenario. I’m sorry if I’m slow!

Thank you so much for an amazing class! I can’t believe little Lew has completed his first MaxPup
class! ❤️ He really, really impressed me here. I wasn’t sure what to expect but he surprised me at every turn. We’ve really bonded and he is thirsty to play these games. I wish you could see the way his eyes change when he thinks we are going to play! He loves it.
See you in MP2!!!!

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