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Haha! I was trying to decipher the notes about playing, and I was really struggling. Thank you for the edits. Very helpful info!!
We do cookie trades in the house for bringing me random objects she picks up that she’s not supposed to have, and it’s been working pretty well. (I think she might be part golden retriever, lol.) She used to run away with anything she had, but 9 times out of 10 she’ll bring it to me now if I ask her to. I can see the cookie trade thing helping to get her to want to bring it back to me when I let go of the toy, too. I remember in one of the Max Pup 1 toy games, you specifically said not to trade for a cookie in the beginning and to just take the toy out of the dog’s mouth, so I wasn’t sure if I should be doing that yet. I will give this routine a try for sure!
And yes, she did bite me when I gave a verbal correction. She likes to reposition higher on the toy onto my hand. She bit me pretty hard a couple weeks ago, and bruised my hand and drew blood. I (reflexively) gave a pretty loud correction when she did that, and she immediately let go and tucked her nonexistent tail. Since then she has been better about it, but will sometimes still go for the part I’m holding. It doesn’t seem to matter how I hold the toy or what toy I use; she is intentionally aiming for my hand. When she and Nox are playing tug with a toy, she’ll get very close to her face sometimes, and Nox lets go (she’s super nonconfrontational.. you know, except for her leash reactivity. She’s a weird dog!), so I think it’s a learned behavior that she’s been rewarded for. Most of the time she plays tug nicely with Nox and with me, though. It feels very much like a puppy pushing boundaries sort of thing.
Hi!
We did set point with the moving target again. I started with a warm-up rep without the jumps as you suggested. I am still moving the toy very slowly because I don’t think she’s ready for too much movement and speed on it just yet. Her stay behavior is good, but not that good, lol!
I included a clip of me playing tug with her from about :20 to 1:17. I was wondering if you have any suggestions about my play mechanics. Although I tried desperately to get Nox to play with toys as a training reward (she LOVES them in the house), it just never worked, and I honestly think that through some bad advice, I poisoned toys for her in training. I do not want to make any of those mistakes with Katniss since it’s going well overall (except for having the occasional victory lap with her toy still, lol). If this is out of the scope of this class, I totally understand!!
We also did the Minny Pinny Proofing game. In reality, though, I wasn’t doing any real proofing here. The minny pinny is the next game we were going to play from Max Pup 1 since we’re trying to do these two courses simultaneously. Therefore, she hasn’t actually seen the minny pinny or heard lefts and rights except for the tunnel exit game (and I was relying on motion).
The first part of the video is where I introduced her to the basic game. A couple of days later, we tried some of the harder ones since she did so well with the basic game. She was good with me being in the middle of the set up (I didn’t go much past the middle with her), but the rear cross proved to be much too hard, so after two failed attempts, I did one where I supported her more with motion and then did a couple of really easy lefts and rights at the end of the session (not included in the video) just to boost her confidence.
I know that the big thing to improve this skill is repetition of the easier ones before adding too much challenge. I wasn’t sure if I should even attempt any of the hard ones, but I hate to not get any feedback on my mechanics while the class is running so that I can continue on my own when we’re more ready. I caught myself rewarding in the wrong place a few times both with the food and a toy. I know the reward is supposed to be parallel to the wings, but in the moment, I kept forgetting!
I have a question about her mechanics and the set up. Once she figured out how to play the game, she had more speed and started to bounce. However, I noticed from the video that she often would only bounce the first one and then throw in a 2nd compressed bounce before the third jump. Is this just her sorting out her feet still, or do I need to move the jumps closer together for the time being? She’s probably about 18″ (maybe more) tall at the shoulder right now. And does it matter if she’s trotting through some of the harder reps when she has less speed?
Hi!
<<That jumping on the back is a frustration behavior (jumping on the handler’s back is a pretty common Aussie frustration behavior, actually!)>>
Oh good! Something to look forward to, lol!!! At least she’s not screaming at me or running away like Nox? Haha!
I posted 3 videos, but I mostly just need feedback on the last one since that was the new game we tried.
Based on your feedback for the Tunnel Exit Turns game, I tried it again and focused on some reps with just the “Go.” Then, we did a couple with adding in the wrap. It went much better after being reinforced a few times (imagine that! 😂). We’ll keep working on these directionals and verbals.
This is the set point with a moving target. She broke her stay the first time, and then we had some successful reps. Then she got up one other time, but I was pretty confident that she wouldn’t break again since she didn’t really leave the start line.
This was the new game we played. It was the Pill Bug game. Very challenging, lol! I didn’t try going all the way around the tunnel, but we did get some blinds in. When she catches up to me, am I always supposed to reward at that moment, or am I supposed to sometimes keep going and have her run next to me at my pace before rewarding?
Hi!
We attempted the tunnel exit games. Katniss doesn’t really know what “left,” “right,” and “go” mean yet, so that probably made this game harder. I’m pretty sure there are some games in Max Pup 1 that we still need to do that practice those skills. I’ve been trying to play at least one game from Max Pup 1 each week along with all of the games in this class, but it’s been slow going thanks to work, weather, and being sick. Even though she doesn’t know those verbals, I was hoping body language would suffice.
Our problem areas:
-The “Go” was the hardest one. I think I needed to connect more, and it didn’t help that she flew out of the tunnel past me and doesn’t know what a “go” verbal is.
-She sometimes runs behind the tunnel instead of going in it. There is one example of this at :27 and :46. The first time, I rewarded her anyway. The second time, since it’s something she’s done several other times even on easier entries, I sent her back through. Is it ok to do that since it’s not necessarily a handling error, or do I ignore it for now?
(The rest went fairly well if you want to skip to the end since it’s longer than 2 minutes. :))
-At 2:23, I messed up the handling, and she didn’t know what to do, so she jumped on my back. She’s done this a couple of other times in the past, and it’s definitely not something I want her to do, even if my handling sucks, lol. Should I just ignore it like I did in the video, or is there a better response if it happens again?Unfortunately, it’s not really possible to take them separately all the time. For example, they are in back-to-back scentwork classes one night a week, and that’s the only day the classes are offered. I will keep working on the skill and trying to use management as much as possible when I can’t avoid it.
Hi!
<<For some of the reps, like at :04, the connection was turning forward and looked like a blind, so she was correct to consider coming to the other side (definitely rewardable!)>>
I actually thought she was going for my toy, which is why I didn’t reward her. I didn’t realize it was my body. Ugh, lol!
<<No stopping without a reward (and definitely don’t mark the moment as a dog error) and it is actually better to just keep going if possible.>>
Old habits die hard! There were a few times where she didn’t take the correct thing, and I can see the pause between when she missed it and when I gave her the toy. Unfortunately, there were some times where my brain reverted back to stopping (without a reward).
<<Wow, the big sequence at the end had all the elements! Connection, verbals, timing, and some fancy handling! Super!!!!>>
Thanks! It is very cool starting to do sequences with her and seeing the pieces coming together!!
This is the proofing verbals game. It went well, but it was definitely hard for her!
On to some more games!
This is the set point exercise again. I took the 2nd jump out. I had completely forgotten it was there! I am working with Nox on some jump grids, and I’m supposed to be doing a double jump for her set point. I will try not to leave that extra one in again! I also moved the MM out a bit more. You can see some amazing self-control and understanding of her release cue on the first rep!! It was a total accident, but I clicked the button on the MM before I meant to, and she sat there until I released her! It was making the spinning “cookie-is-coming” noise for a while, too, because I chose treats that apparently didn’t work well in it. They took FOREVER to dispense. While it was not purposeful, it was pretty cool that she didn’t break!!
This is the Smiley Face Game. It was her first “real” sequence! I am very happy with how it went overall. The biggest issue we had was me not giving her the right amount of connection at points. The video contains two sessions on different days. We started over with the warm-up at about :55.
Hi!
Super helpful info about working the dogs at the same time! I did consider that it might be taxing on Katniss mentally to have to watch Nox working, but I thought it was a skill we should be working on. A little bit of background info… When I first got Katniss, I was able to leave her in a soft crate in the backyard with me and she would quietly watch while I played with Nox. Once Katniss started understanding what training was all about, that quickly turned into barking, so I left her in the house while I worked Nox. Often, she would be with my husband in his office while he played on his computer or finished up his work (so not paying attention to her really). He said she would bark and cry. He did try to distract her with toys, but he doesn’t do much training and doesn’t know all of the pattern games and such to help her work through it (that was my only thought on how to work on it). So… I started bringing both dogs outside and putting one in an x-pen with the Manners Minder. It worked really well at first and Katniss will now sit without barking or jumping on the pen at all while I work Nox. I have not tried it without the MM in the down-stay mode at this point. However, I do recognize that she is still “working” and therefore using up some of her mental bandwidth. This skill has not transferred to the car at all unfortunately. She will SCREAM in her crate when I take them both to a training class but only when I take Nox out. She will stop after a couple minutes, but I certainly would prefer she not do it at all. Besides being annoying to others if the car is open, I know she’s stressed. I’m not quite sure how to work on this issue without stopping other training altogether. Nox has SERIOUS FOMO, and I want to prevent that in Katniss. Nox was doing well with the MM in the xpen, but she’s starting to bark the whole time except when treats are actively being dispensed, so I have already stopped leaving her outside when it’s Katniss’s turn.
As for the question about the toys, I do sometimes give the toy right back to her as a reward for letting it go, but I do need to balance it more with more of those reps. I think I was being super boring in the video, lol. I probably should have ended the training a little earlier since I was not giving her my best after a long day at work.
Thank you for pointing out that I randomly took a treat out of my pocket and pulled her focus off of the toy! Nox kind of broke my training, lol. I have caught myself throwing cookies at Katniss for absolutely no reason other than the habit I’ve formed to keep Nox focused while transitioning from one place to another during training. I’m so used to a dog that will leave to chase things when she’s not quite sure what she should be doing (or when something catches her eye) that it’s apparently ingrained in me without my knowledge, haha.
Hi!
This is the Feel the Wind in Your Hair game. Our biggest challenge was the toy. She is getting much better about bringing the toy back or at least to my general vicinity and then letting me walk over to play with her. In the beginning, if I let go of the toy, she took off with it and did zoomies. She would come if I called her but not with the toy, lol. We’ve been playing the games in Max Pup 1 to work on toy skills, and I’m definitely seeing improvement! She is also not used to driving to a dead toy, so that skill isn’t strong yet, but she seems to be getting it.
We were both a little tired in this video I think. I alternate working her and Nox, and this was her last turn. They only work for a few minutes at a time before getting a break, but I’m finding that she tires more quickly than Nox ever did as a puppy. I don’t know if it’s a mental or a physical thing (or maybe both).
Hi!
I’m a bit late posting this, so if it’s past the deadline, that’s totally ok!
This is Package 4 Deliberate Disconnection and Extreme Connection. Nox didn’t have any issues really, but I had a couple of spots where I flung my arm out and was late for the backsides, which she did not appreciate, lol. One question about this. What is the difference between the deliberate disconnection and the extreme connection for backsides These seem like opposite types of connection for the same behavior, so I know I’m missing something.
This is Package 4 combos. They went really well I think!
Thank you for another super fun and VERY helpful class!!
Hi!
<<Looking a the video: reward placement was very strong!>>
I tried to work on this again here. I forgot on the first rep but did better on the others.These are the combos from package 3. They went really well! The only parts I cut out of the video were clips of us going from her toy back to the start of the next rep and me looking at my notes for the numbers. She read every cue perfectly, and there was no angry air chomping at me, just her normal sheltie barking. I noticed in the video that I could have run a more parallel path on the extreme connection like you mentioned in for my previous video, but I think I did a bit better with it in the sequences.
Hi!
What is the last day to post for this class?
<<Her first response is to look at you and come towards you, because of the reward placement history.>>
This might actually be an improvement over what she used to do, which was run off every time I messed up, lol. She only does that occasionally now. At least I can work on this a bit easier!
<<Try not to have the reward be within 10 feet of you! If you can bend down and pick it up after she eats the treat because it is near you? It is too close.>>
I know you’ve said this several times over the last few weeks, but I finally think I get it, lol. I don’t know it didn’t click the other times. 🤣
Thank you for the explanation of the two kinds of wraps. It made total sense.
This is our attempt at package 3, shifting to extreme connection. Using the opposite arm for outs feels weird to me still, but when I don’t use it, I tend to point my dog-side arm forward and make her curl into me. I’m still trying to decide if it’s something I want to keep trying to use or if I want to just work on keeping my other arm back. I used the MM in some reps and made sure to throw the Lotus Ball away from me in the others.
Hi!
So much to unpack with the serp lines and on all those other questions you answered for me! I will keep working on the serps and circle wraps.
In the meantime, we did the shifting connection for the turn aways and threadle wrap exercises. As I’ve mentioned before, I struggle a lot with rear crosses with Nox. I did not do the foundations with her on them, and that might be part of it. Add to that her dislike to work ahead of me and commit to obstacles, and we have a recipe for a lot of barking and refusals! Focusing on shifting connection was very helpful, and she read my crosses a lot better than she usually does!
For this video, please skip to 1:48. I did the MaxPup track exercises with her first since we struggle with turn aways/rear crosses and don’t have much experience with threadle wraps. I just wanted the video to be all together for when I review these skills later. 🙂
There is a section in the middle of the video that demonstrates the difference between when I look directly at her fact for regular connection and when I look slightly ahead of her (about a foot at the ground). At 2:26, I’m looking at her, and she is making direct eye contact with me and not looking at her path. At 2:37, I looked a little more ahead, and she did much better. For the later reps, I was looking ahead as well. Is it possible that she is uncomfortable or confused by the eye contact and needs less direct connection, or am I doing something wrong to get this continuous head checking and eye contact back from her?
Can you clarify what a circle wrap is? I was getting a bit confused about the difference between that and a threadle wrap. I was thinking for a circle wrap, the dog is crossing in front of you (almost like a rear cross) based on the last exercises we did, and a threadle wrap was where the dog is between you and the jump. I understand what a threadle wrap is (non-obvious side of the jump and wrapping towards you); it’s just the circle wrap part that I don’t get (especially since the circle wraps in the MaxPup track felt the same to me as the threadle wraps in the competition track).
Finally, what is the last day for posting videos in this course?
Thanks!!
I REALLY liked this exercise. It was simple, so I was able to really focus on the connection without worrying about a complex sequence. I will definitely be setting this up again and working on shifting my connection (although I probably won’t get to do it before the class is over so I can try out the other stuff). As you said, I felt like these were really smooth, and I can’t always say that with this dog, lol!
<<where there was not enough exit line connection so she just followed you and was either wide or didn’t take the next jump>>
I figured missing the jump was a lack of connection, and I could feel my back turning to her when that happened, but I wasn’t sure about the wide turns. That makes sense, though.
<< I don’t think you need the arm across your body as part of the cue because it makes it harder to shift the connection to the landing while you move forward.>>
Are you suggesting that I don’t use the arm across the body for any type of connection or just in this scenario? Am I mixing up exit line connection cues with shifting connection cues?
<<On the reps after it, like at 3:01 and 3:18, you used a little more arm and waiting longer – but I like your impulse to move forward right behind her so the connection shift will get her committing as you move forward nice and early>>
Just to clarify, you’re saying that even though it worked to get her to commit, I actually should not wait for her. I just need to do a better job of shifting my connection to the landing spot? (And probably work on circle wraps more in general since they aren’t something we really do much of).
Hi!
Here is the video for the serp lines. Although some reps were nicer than others, we got it with her on my left every time. For some reason, I was struggling pretty hard with her on the right. I kept getting a threadle. I was able to see in the video (which I watched in between reps) that I was pulling my shoulder back to get the threadle instead of the serp. I was attempting to shift my connection to the landing side, but I guess I was doing it too early? I felt like I was getting stuck on her line when I was holding it longer. Should I use a backside verbal to support it so I can get off her line earlier?
