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Hi Tracy,
Thank you for the detailed reply and advice for training Hola.
Those Vanilla Cupcake Graham Goldfish are really good treats! A friend who teaches nosework up in Jax told us about them. One of her students had some and all the dogs (and handlers, too!) loved them, LOL! I never knew Goldfish came in so many flavors!
>>On some of the decels, you also rotated towards her which looked at the RC cue>>
I realized this felt myself being turned but couldn’t seem to keep myself from doing it. That’s the main reason I got Gingji out to see if I could get myself pointed in the right direction.>>On the reps where you stopped moving, she also stopped moving. But then when you kept moving as you were decelerating, she was great>>
I know, I was doing an abrupt stop that caused her to stop. That was easier to fix than the turning.We’ll do a short session in in a few days with your suggestions.
>>And try not to do too many repetitive things in a row, like the rocking horses or race tracks>>
So easy to lose get caught up in the moment. OK, I got out my wrist timer that I use for nosework and set it for 2 minutes — it beeps and vibrates. When I saw her start to lose interest and putting pressure on her I knew we went on too long. It felt icky and the last thing I want to drill or do anything that takes the fun away from the games.>>That usually indicates that it was either really hot or really hard or both… so as the heat comes up, dial back the length and intensity of the sessions and you will see even faster progress!>>
Poor Hola! 🙁>>She is coming out of a season and so it is useful to do sessions where it is all food only, or all toys only. And keep things short and fun! And break things down so there is no perceived pressure or difficulty – remember the 2 failure rule>>
Thanks, Tracy, hadn’t thought until yesterday how using food+toy causes conflict and takes away from the fun and the goal of the session.I do think Hola is still feeling some after effects of being in season. The girls actually played briefly this morning! Today we’re going to relax and do some nosework which they both love.
So much good advice, I really needed it after yesterday’s session. Thank you so much!
Patti
Don’t feel like you need to respond to all of the above (way too much info, sorry!) but thought I’d share in case anything might trigger any ideas for Hola’s adolescent period. 🙂
Hi Tracy,
I’ve always struggled with transitions and this little exercise was no different. The first part where she was turning to the right seemed to be sort of OK, but I/we had more problems when she had to turn left. Before I made it excruciating we went back into the house and came out about a few hours later with Gingji so I could try my mechanics again with her first. Tried again with Hola and left everything in for you to see. I look so awkward doing this, I don’t know how to break it down and fix it. It’s all me of course!
The only other exercise we did today, later than the above, was the lap turn. You said to use extra special cookies for the MCH so I opted for Goldfish brand Vanilla Cupcake Grahams. Oh boy…that was a big mistake, sweet cupcake cookies was all she could think about. The first part with food only went well, but when I tried to get Hola engaged with a toy for the rocking horse part it kind of fell apart. She got mad at me because she wanted cupcake cookies not the toy. I haven’t had this happen in the past, she loves toys but could only think about the cookies. Thinking about our past few weeks’ training she has seemed a little less excited about some of the toys in general and I’ve tried to switch them out more. I could use some help on how to work through this kind of engagement (or lack thereof) when it becomes difficult. I felt like I put too much pressure on her to play.
In the last week or two and afer watching videos I think I need to keep sessions super short because she seems to fade out quickly. She starts out strong and expends so much energy in the first part of anything, chasing toy, etc. I do let her run around before we start and relax some in between. She usually ends up with tongue hanging out the side of her mouth as far as it can go! It’s been very hot here, too. When we’re done training and come back inside she’ll sleep for a few hours. I don’t usually do 2 days in a row of agility. For example, yesterday they slept all day while I cleaned house and today we did these two exercises.
I wanted to tell you that while walking Gingji this morning I started listening to the Part 2 Engagement for Sport Dogs conference and what I heard from Dr. Murphy in the first part made so much sense for what I saw from Gingji 5 years ago when we were in the middle of moving. It was a real “A Ha!” moment! She had 3 nosework trials within one month when we were in the process of moving to Florida. Poor Gingji, those NW3 trials went from bad to worse and in hindsight I realize that it was a combination of too much too soon. What happened was that we were going back and forth from VA to FL while preparing the house for sale and moving. That was also when Topper was also in the midst of his DM which took so much of my mental and physical focus. I will never forget our 3rd nosework trial in NC, my van was jam packed with household items that I was taking to FL after the trial. The only room left in the van was a tight squeeze to get them into the dog crates. It makes even more sense to me now what a huge disruption in rest and routine that was for the dogs. It must have had an effect on Gingji that I never considered. I’m looking forward to listening to the rest of the recording.
Some of Hola’s changes in interest recently occurred after her 2nd season. In fact the girls used to wrestle with each other every day but haven’t done so since Hola started about 4 weeks ago (done now). They’re friendly and tease each other but no more wrestling which makes me sad. Hola is the one often glued to my side and won’t let me out of her sight while Gingji has always been more independent (I belonged to Topper, I’m sure that had something to do with it).
Anyway, I thought it worthwhile to give an update and maybe that will help going forward with Hola and how to approach her training and engagement. Hola is almost 17 months old already!
Thanks as always for your insight!
PattiThanks, Tracy! 🙂 🙂 🙂
I smiled at your comment about Hola being spicey. She makes me laugh. She always goes out with me to the field this way telling me it’s time to get moving whether it’s to do our homework or just to play. She’s so much fun. Hope we get to work with you in person some time like we did with Niki, Topper and Gingji!Hi Tracy,
I think in the rear cross exercise we did recently that you mentioned doing a backside wrap in advanced version. We had never done that in MaxPup1, so we worked on this tonight. Worked it inside around a garbage can a few times last week with clicker. Let me know if I need to change anything, and is there a hand signal I should be using? Not sure I was positioned correctly when heading to the wing.
Thanks!
PattiAdding on a few more that we did this morning and after lunch.
My timing really sucked on the verbal lefts & rights and I forgot to keep driving forward past the jump on the Go!
We need lots of work on the layering and rear crosses. 🙂
Hi Tracy,
Working on some repeats for the next several days before we try the two new exercises. Hola and I did Minny Pinny & Ladder Drill this morning. Hopefully Diamond and Rear Cross tomorrow.
Yesterday we did the Zig Zag and Hola didn’t have any problems when I left out the extra move on my release before I cued the turn. 🙂 Should I try this with less exaggerated arm movement next?
Here is Hola’s 2nd Ladder Drill. Distance between jumps still at 56″ & height 6″ but used a moving toy this time as you suggested. What do you think?
And here is the Minny Pinny with a toy. She did more “jumping” than trotting and I even thought her focus was good with the excitement of using the toy vs food.
Patti
Thanks, Tracy! Hola loved it! 🙂
Now I see those were reverse spins. I was thinking hard on how to do the blind on the wing and ended up with the spins, lol. You can even see me standing there thinking about it at one point. 🙂 So many different moves to remember! I was questioning whether my arms/hands were doing the right thing on sending and leaving the wings, and also on racetrack, but sounds like that was ok? I was really trying to focus on looking back and connecting. So happy that connection and timing was good! Yay!
I can’t wait to try more of the tunnel fun exercises in another day or two. 🙂
I have a question on the Strike a Pose proofing game with the tunnel. Do you have a verbal cue for serp? In the super advanced game around the clock game you were giving a cue on the threadle, was it “close”? Is that a threadle cue that you use?
We also need to train the backside wrap first before I try that. You suggested the word “back” but will that be confusing to her since “back” already means back up? Although I can’t quite envision her coming to a complete stop at a jump and backing up if I say that.
I’d like to see a thread in the forum on suggested words or your words for all the different turns. That might help me to use some of yours or give me ideas at least.
Thanks as always!
Patti
Hi again,
It was super windy and today we’re having 30mph gusts. Makes for lots of pollen blowing around.
>>and now that there is jumping involved, we definitely want fewer reps. There were approx 24 reps here which means approx 72 jumping efforts.<<
Oops, I know I did fewer reps than the last time on the Minny Pinny but I wasn’t thinking x3 (jumps), LOL! I’ll use my timer next time. 🙂
Thanks for the detailed suggestions on advancing the exercises.
I have a question on the Strike a Pose proofing game with the tunnel. Do you have a verbal cue for serp? In the super advanced game around the clock game you were giving a cue on the threadle, was it “close”? Is that a threadle cue that you use?
Thanks as always!
PattiHi Tracy,
We repeated rear cross and minny pinny today and added the new ladder drill. Believe it or not, the weather was cool and breezy today and you’ll even see me wearing a jacket, LOL! I think I’ve become a wimp after almost 5 years (can you believe it?!) in Florida.
Here is the Minny Pinny which we did first. I tried to be more neutral and hold her collar this time. Should I be using a toy for this exercise? I’ve been using food. She works for both food and toy.
We did the Ladder Drill next and I thought she did great! The jumps were 56″ apart and I had the bar set at 6″. Do you still think 56″ is a good distance for her? Remember we started at 52″.
We finished up with Rear Cross Foundations again. The wing for the wrap was about 20 feet away. Should I move it closer so I can be closer to apply more pressure? Should I try this with placing a toy out on the turn that she can go to rather than rely on my bad throws? So I’m not sure how well this went but it felt a little better than last time. On some of the reps I don’t think I was headed towards the center of the bar. Am I supposed to be using the Left and Right verbals here? I wasn’t sure and I think I only did it once.
I think the weather is going to slightly cooler for the next 2 days, hoping we can get some more practice in with the tunnel exercises.
Patti
>>WHAT?!?! Did you post the bad ones? LOL! I only see good ones here.>>
LOL!!! Thanks, Tracy, you’re the best! Maybe it is just that this feels awkward with a new youngster, after all Gingji will be NINE this year and I haven’t done any agility at all in about 5 years! So thank you for making me feel better.
These were the sessions, I only took out a couple of clips on the tunnel turns exercise because they looked about the same as some of the others. I know bloopers are the best way to show you where we need help.
All that said, We are on a rest day today, tomorrow is nosework, and then we will get going again. Love this class and the exercises.
Rather than showers after running around in this stinking hot weather, I’ve been hitting the pool, LOL! We still need to teach little Hola that swimming is fun. Gingji LOVES her pool!
Enjoy your weekend!
PattiHi Tracy,
I did these 3 exercises at various times during the day yesterday. I don’t particularly feel like any of them went all that well. My timing is late, I can’t run fast and I don’t think Hola understands the Go or turn cues. In the exit turns exercise I think everything sounds the same, and later I changed my tone of voice for “right” which was a little better. Is that what you would do? Are there some simple exercises I can do every day or every other day to help her understand the meaning of right, left, go?
I also wanted to ask you what week in MaxPup1(?) that you had the reverse wrap exercise. Is that the one where the dog is going around the backside of the jump while I continue forward and they make a full circle around ending in the same direction I’m going? I don’t think I ever made it to that exercise, and what are examples of reverse wrap cues to use. I use “Push” for backside wrap (slice?).
Anyway, you said to post the good, the bad, the ugly, so here it all is (mostly ugly), LOL! 🙂
Find The Jump (Repeat)
I think I needed to stay back at the tunnel longer so she could drive past me more? Try staying even more lateral by the wing?Tunnel Exits/Turns
I think all the constant turn and go cues I’m saying must be confusing and all sounds the same (blah blah blah).WIYH2 (Rear Cross)
Making my cross too soon or maybe she’s not out ahead of me ahead enough?We’re going take a break for a few days and see how to improve on these before adding anything new.
Patti
Hi Tracy,
>>I think she was chewing something while in the stay (watch her head LOL!) so it is possible she still had food in her mouth.
I saw that, too! I wasn’t using any food so she must have been flossing her teeth with beard hair, LOL!
I’ll make those changes you recommend on the Minny Pinny and on the Send to Serp jumps. Thanks!!!
So today we went out mid-morning (HOT!) and did the Zig Zags and the Find the Jump out of Tunnel.
I’m stumped on the Zig Zag when she has to turn left. She was able to do it once with three wings, but after that wouldn’t turn in. I don’t know if it’s something I’m doing differently than when she’s turning to her right or what, so I need your advice on what to do to help her. Maybe she got too hot but I don’t think that’s the problem. How can I break it down to get her to turn in on that side? Do more reps using just the 2 wings? After watching the video is it the way I’m moving after releasing her? I’m not sure what to do.
We also did a few reps of Find The Jump
Looking forward to your advice.
Patti & Hola
Hi Tracy,
Here’s a re-do of the set point exercise. I increased the distance between jumps to 56″ from 52″. No change to the bar height of 10″. Let me know what you think or if there’s anything else I should be doing.
Send to Serp Repeat – this went better today! I used a toy in between some of the reps on this and on Minny Pinny which kept it more exciting for her. Oops, after watching my video I realized that I forgot the Check/Dig balancing part. I’ll be sure to add that next time.
L/R Minny Pinny Repeat – mixed it up so there weren’t so many reps in each direction before switching.
Thanks!
Patti
