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Hi!
> I think we posted at the same time. Adding this to make sure my video above is not missed>
I think we posted simultaneously again LOL!!
> Ya he isn’t thrilled with the MM lol.>
Yeah, most dogs slow down to get to it even if they love it. He seems think it is kinda OK but not as fun as a moving target 🙂
>Yea I thought Dublin was off. He has been sensitive a couple of times but usually it is when he bashes me running or doing in the house and I end up sayin ouch loud. He does the I am sorry pet me thing.>
Maybe he thought he hurt you? At least he cares. Maybe he is part whippet? They act like that too when they bash me or when I step on them… but then I give them a big hug and it is back to normal quickly LOL
Tracy
Hi! Hope you had a great weekend!
>>I think he was locking onto the reward throw, pacing with you to wait for it. So let’s try a placed reward for a bit – it can be placed straight for the Go reps and placed on a slight turn for the rear crosses. >
Ok! I’ll try this. I actually can’t wait to try!>
Keep me posted on how this goes!! We will get him leaving you in the dust!
Tracy
Hi!
This was a perfect choice to play! Whatever distressed him in the tandem turns did not show up today – there is plenty of handler pressure in this game with you very close (especially after the blind, when he is between you and the tunnel) and it was no problem. The hardest part was the 30 minutes it took him to chew each start cookie 😂🤣😂🤣 But overall, this went great! Super nice connection on the blinds and he seemed to have no questions about where to be. You can play the advanced levels of this game with a barrel or wing to replace the 2nd tunnel.
> If you have suggestions on which homework to do over the break I would appreciate suggestions.>
I think maybe doing a jump grid once a week or so would be great! You can revisit the accordion. You can also revisit the backside stuff but be sure to balance it with lots of go fast, take the front side (wind in your hair). Hopefully you will be able to get him to classes because that is always fun challenges!
Great job here! I am looking forward to seeing more Dublin!!!! And keep me posted on Brighton.
Tracy
Hi!
The backsides were definitely hard at first! He has a ton of value on the front side of the jump so was curling in to take the front. You ramped up your connection and had the outside arm going which really helped! You can angle the backside jump a bit too, with the entry wing coming in closer to you. That makes the backside easier to see and the front side harder to get to. He was MUCH better with it at the end of the session, so you can add more of your motion and hopefully fade out the outside arm a bit.
The countermotion went well – he was finding it very sus when you isolated it on both sides, so definitely keep working it so he is happy to let you be on the takeoff side while he is also on the takeoff side.
In flow, he was happy to let you keep moving – you were still on the landing side when he was on the takeoff side, so that was much easier for him than when you were also moving to the takeoff side. And the fronts and blinds on the landing side were looking strong!!The accordion went really well 🙂 He is looking balanced and powerful here – I think 6 feet is the sweet spot for jump 1 and 2! You cna keep this game in your training rotation and revisit it here and there, continuing to add more and more distance between jumps 2 and 3.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
The accordion session did go well! I think his brain was working HARD on the first couple of reps so his mechanics were hard – he seemed to be pulling from the front and not pushing from his rear as much. But then he started to get more comfy with the setup, and was much more balanced on the last couple of reps! Yay!
2 suggestions for your next accordion session:
– start him a little closer to jump 1, so he cannot put his front feet down again in front of it before takeoff. We want him to immediately push from his rear 🙂 so he might need to be less than a foot away from jump 1 to make that happen.
– go to the moving target/dragging toy as the reward here. His stays look fabulous 🙂 and the MM asks him to slow down and stop. So the moving target can ask for more power, which will come from his hind end.Tandem turns: this was off to a great start – he was responding trally well to the cues.
At 8:49, you were a little early on the turn and stepped in before he got past you. Normally that would be a non-issue with him! But strangely, it was an issue here… I wonder if he accidentally got stepped on? Or twisted a foot? Or stung by a bee? It looks like something upset him and since you didn’t do anything upsetting, I am guessing there was a blast of pain in that moment. Stepping on him or accidentally smacking his head or getting stung or stepping on a thorn…. all of those can get that response of “I can’t do this behavior but plesae give me hugs” which is what he was doing. Hmmmm!
So the best thing to do in that moment was do what you did… be finished. And in a day or two, move the wings somewhere else and use mind-blowingly delicious food and see if he is still concerned about being that close to you. I am about 10 months into knowing Dublin and I don’t recall him being sensitive like that… but also he is a full-on teenager and they do have extra-sensitive days 🙂 Keep me posted!
>Is tomorrow the last day to post? I might try to get something in at lunch if you can think of something you would like to see.
Theoretically yes, but I didn’t get into the site today until later because of vet appointments this morning. So if you didn’t train today, feel free to grab time tomorrow or later this week and post it 🙂
>We have our appointment with chiropractor after work.>
Let me know how it goes!
Tracy
Howdy!
ARE YOU USING PUMPKINS AS TUNNEL BAGS? This might be the greatest thing I have ever seen LOL!! Brilliant!!!!!!
And it is lovely to have the camping area pretty much to yourself! A fun way to safely work him off leash. Using the MM was great because while it of course did not guarantee total focus off leash, it sure did help a LOT! The regular tunnel sends were quite strong! The threadle side was also really good – having him a little closer to the entry really helped. You can add the tunnel threadle verbal now! And start making the angles a little harder too.
> I do have a friend camping next to me still and she was doing some things and he looked at her a little bit.>
There was one weird noise distraction towards the end of the tunnel video – he looked towards it but then immediately returned his focus to the game. GOOD BOY!!
He was nicely engaged on the 2nd video too – took him a moment to find the prop, but he never lost his engagement and ended up with really good hits. He wasn’t sure if he should go without you when you were not moving, so keep moving even if there is a distraction in the environment.
I think rewarding from the hand was getting a little too much focus on your hands here, so for this:
> Layer I can get a mat or something to toss the treat on. Or use the flirt pole and see if hell stay with me for that.>
Yes! Do both! He will love the action of it all 🙂 That will also keep him looking at the line and not at your hands as much.
Great job!
Tracy
Hello! Hope you had a good weekend!
It is a Monday and I am (perpetually) undercaffeinated, so let me be sure I understand the questions before giving the full answer 🙂
>I am switching my wrap verbals (dig/check) to be direction-based regardless what side the dog is on rather then having an additonal (turn) that means turn tight away from me over the jump and come back across the plan. Basically as you mentioned you have.>
Yes – these are considered ‘absolute’ verbals, meaning they are the dog’s turn side and have nothing to do with my position because as you mentioned: our handler position can be unreliable. I love them and the dogs are happy to not have to hope that I am in a visible spot LOL! Most of my front-side verbals are absolute, but I do have a couple that are relative to my position: ‘get out’ and my turn-away-to-layer verbal.
>I am also contemplating doing direction based with the backside wrap commands. Right now I have Zoom to do what your Dig does on the backside wrap and the command Wrap to do what your In does on the threadle wrap.>
I think what you are referring to are ‘relative’ verbals on the backside, meaning the verbals are relative to handler position: my dig dig dig is a push away from me versus the threadle wrap verbal, so the dog needs to know where I am. This is currently what I have with my dogs more experienced dogs, but I am also training some ‘absolute’ verbals on backsides. This will be basically “go to the left wing and slice” or “go to the right wing and wrap” There are still 4 backside verbals in each style of training, but the difference is that one set (relative) has handler position input and the other set (absolute) is about the dog’s direction only.
Both are valid ways to train it! Here is what the absolute verbals will look like, in the early stages (these are early backside wrap sessions, to the dog’s left or the dog’s right, with the handler position not being part of the cue)
>I am trying to think of what might be a disadvantage of doing the backside wraps as direction based on but haven’t really coom up with any so far.>
Zero disadvantage! You just have to find people that are training it that way or are willing to embrace it so you have support 🙂 Most in the North America are not doing that (at least, not yet – this might change as courses add more distance and complexity, which is why I am training it). I am teaching it but haven’t decided if I want to put it into MaxPup as an individual lesson yet, because it might make people’s brains hurt hahaha! But you are very experienced and advanced with verbals, so if that is what you decide you want, then that is what we will train 🙂
Looking at the turn and burn videos:
DOL – very nice! Her commitment is looking good. DOR was definitely harder at first but overall she is doing well!! 2 suggestions:
– rather than change your position relative to the barrel or where the barrel is, start in the same spot each time but change the position of the line. That will get you progressively doing the FC earlier and earlier to add more and more countermotion. Changing your position didn’t add timing changes or countermotion as much when she was Dog on left. And when she was DOR,
she needed a bit more of a delay for the motion to complete the turn. When you changed your start position at 2:35, the line was suddenly right at the entry to the barrel so that was too great of a leap in commitment for her and she failed. On the next reps, you delayed til after she was at the line and she was successful. Yay! But keeping everything the same except the position of the line will help you stay really systematic and work up to being able to do the FC before she even arrives at the barrel.– On both of these sessions: When you take off to run and reward her, you can definitely be more exuberant and chatty and praise during play. Have a party with her! You were often thinking ahead to the next rep, so while you marked and tugged, the play was not interactive like it was at the end when you were finished 🙂 Being fully interactive during the play is a higher quality reinforcement so stay in the moment and play very directly with her rather than go into “what’s next” mode 🙂
Teaching collection went really well too! You can be slowly walking away while she is getting the cookie to give yourself more room and time for the blind rather than being stationary til she has it. Being further away will make the blind sooner which will make the decel sooner too! But since this went so well and she is also wrapping really well, you can take out the start cookie and replace it with the barrel that we added in the new game:
Great job here! Have fun!
Tracy
Hi!
I am so glad Benny is back to feeling perfect! I thought maybe you were on a relaxing vacation somewhere 🙂
2 dog play: he was perfect working and ignoring Kite. Thank you Kite and Igor 🙂
Thinking of other games and ways we can prepare him for ignoring other dogs, one important thing to add:
– being calm when Kite (or any dog) is working agility equipment and it is not his turn 🙂 This will be useful for outside the ring and then going into the ring. You can use the setup you have in your yard here, with the white fencing that Kite was behind.
Perhaps Igor can have Kite do a mini sequence (something with jumps or wings and a tunnel) while you and Benny are in the fenced area (pretending you are outside the ring, waiting your turn). Benny should be on leash, and you can be doing tricks, tugging, and pattern game. Can he ignore the other dogs while he is not working agility? Then after Kite or one of your others runs a “course”, you can bring Benny into the ‘ring’ as they are finishing. Can he play with you & a toy or eat treats, and move to the start line and get the leash off, all while ignoring the other dog?
That will build confidence and focus around other dogs even when he is not formally working. And when he is happy with the other dogs at home… practice this outside the ring at class 🙂 Maybe even you can practice entering the ring after the last dog has run? Ask your instructor, of course, and be sure the other dog won’t charge at Benny.
Backing up:
He is really getting the idea and I love how he ends up in a bow LOL I think the mat is the best way to help him have good mechanics. When the mat comes out, do an easy rep as the first one by starting him on it, then luring off a tiny bit, then rewarding a little backing up. This is what you did at 1:15 and I think it will be a great way to start each session. He got more accurate after this and was using his back feet independently. You can even start him on the mat for each rep – that way he won’t turn around to it instead of backing up 🙂Wing wraps – looking great! Verbals are sounding good too! Just remember to start the send with stepping forward with the dog-side leg, he gets mad when you don’t (1:38). Let’s add more challenge because he is committing really well and he loves this game.
When placing the toy on the exit for him to run past on the way to the wing: ask for a forward focus on the wing before you let him go to the wing. That way you know if he will go to the wing or cut in to grab the toy. You can hold him with one hand and point to the wing with the other hand (eventually we will add a verbal for this too, if you want). When he looks at the wing, let him go so he can wrap it then get the toy.
You can add more challenge to this game with more countermotion. Both ideas moving along behind him as he is sending to the wrap. First, you can move to the side very close to the wing. Then if he likes that, move behind him to create a full 360. Basically, it is this which also includes toy distraction challenges 🙂
I also drew lines in case my explanation doesn’t make sense, I need more caffeine today 🤣 Here are lines:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/13uP20_pEyCbOWIIvAEKzEGuByQolhfEYYDi9iGs_FIU/edit?usp=sharingBackwards sends to the targets are going well! He did well with this, especially eating the treats even though there was a toy and action involved 🙂 One small detail is as he is passing you to the target, move forward (countermotion) slowly – when you are quick about it, he gets distracted by wanting to go with your motion. So as you send him, you can slowly slide forward for now. It will be faster and easier soon!
Great setup for the moving plank! It was just hard enough that there was movement and challenge, but definitely not scary or anything. And there was a little bit of noise. He seemed perfectly happy to jump on when yo uadded more tip, no problem. I am sure his teeter behavior will be a 4-on because he is so small, so you can start considering it at this point by adding a small target at the very end of the board on each side. Have you thought about how you wanted to teach it (there are a LOT of ways to teach a great 4-on teeter). Based on what you want to do, we can attach a target so the reward placement is very clear & consistent, which will make it much easier to train in the future. For my Paps and pap mixes in the past – one has used a target taped right to the very end of the board and she ran to it and scratched at it (she only weighed 4 pounds as an adult so she was on the end of the teeter for a long time as it fell and needed something to do). One did a front foot target at the every end of the board, and one did a target just off the end of the board. All of these were designed to get their front feet to the very top of the board and weight shift into their rear, so they could ride the board down. Let me know your thoughts so we can add it 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
The lap and tandems are going well – she is very intentionally hitting the prop now. Yay! Even the hits that were not quite perfect foot-smacks were still very specific intentions to go to it. Yay!
>Here’s adding the prop to the turn aways. She’s starting to leap through the turns a bit. What do I do with that?>
She is really only doing it when turning to the right and there looks to be 2 things in play:
– on many of the reps, she is still eating/chewing the previous reward. The loop is looping too quickly LOL so she is still in food mode: hands are associated with food delivery, and there is food in her mouth, so she might be thinking you are delivering more food. Breaking the loop a bit to slow it down will help: after each reward, bring her back to setup, play a bit, then start the next rep. That should get her to *not* still be chewing.
– when she is turning to her right, I think the mechanics are a litte later/less smooth than when she is turning to her left. You can see it a little at hte beginning on the lap turns, and more definitely on the tandems at the end (like at 1:10 and a little at 1:20). At 1:10, you were drawing her across you and she was almost in front of you before any turn away cues, so she jumped up a little for the potential cookie.
So giving her the turn cues sooner (it is a fine balance of not being toooo soon) and more slowly for now will help: slower movement of the turn hands and keeping them visible at your side (for the tandems) will help a ton.
You can also add an interim verbal cue – word or noise. That can add an extra layer of “do this” to help her know what is coming so you don’t have to rely on precision timing. The name call can start the moment but then as she is arriving at the cue hand, you can say something goofy like ‘wheee’ as a temporary helper cue. It is too soon to add a ‘real’ threadle cue (and the context is a bit too different for now) but an interim cue can help her to turn without jumping up. Let me know if that makes sense.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Super busy work week, so not much progression into new skills.
New location! Very cool! The new location counts as new skills 🙂
Starting with toy play was smart! Be careful of puppy teeth getting close to your abdomen on a small-ish toy during the ‘strike’ moments LOL
He did well with focusing forward on the toy and driving to it during the ‘get it’ moments. He was interested in bringing it back but also a little interested in taking it for a tour of the facility 🙂 so you can add your movement to help him drive to you rather than catch him on a drive by.
Waiting on the cot was lovely, he was almost chilling there! It was interesting when you gave the ‘break’ release that he went to something he had his eye on. That also shows a nice element of impulse control while on the cot because he didn’t leave the cot to go to it until he had the release.
For the barrel wraps: he is doing well with these. Ideally, the jump is not right there as it adds a processing pressure to his brain which is not always useful in the early stages in a new place. You can start from a stay on the cato but I don’t recommend adding stay behavior at this stage – mainly because we humans put the verbals and motion in at the same time which dilutes the release, then suddenly the pups think the release is the movement. And in this scenario, the release can be the wrap verbal.
He was wrapping really well and only had one little blooper:
At 6:25 he did not finish going to the barrel: you did the FC a little too early and not quite as connected, and there was a cookie on the ground (you can see him chewing it). A perfect storm LOL but no worries, everything else was super strong!
>, including me trying to think through verbals for this dog that will be consistent enough with my current competition dog. >
I am a BIG fan of using the same words with all dogs (I currently have 9 dogs and not enough brain cells to remember a zillion different words LOL). I will add new verbals to keep up with course trends or important things I need to add to training… but then all the dogs use those words to maintain sanity on the human side of things.
Adding catch – he seemed to have a grand time figuring out this new marker LOL!! A fun application of this is to let him assume a stay position near you, then you use the ‘catch’ marker/throw as you move away. This helps build up the concept of lead outs and lots of rewards the further we get away from the pups. He did well on the cato but you can quickly play with it on the flat so the concept transfers easily.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! These games are going well!
Lateral lead outs:
Baby level went well – he was able to find the jump each time. Super! One thing I notice is that he is looking around and then looking at you, so you can use a placed toy out past jump 1 to build more forward focus: release when he looks at it to build up a more intense forward focus on jump 1. That will really help as you add more distance.Advanced level: He was out of frame when he was on your right and missed the jump early on – I wonder if the wings on jump 2 draw his focus more than the wingless jump 1? You can test that theory and put wings on jump 1 to see if that makes a difference (and also work the forward focus to it with the placed toy).
He was looking at the jump more here when he was visible on your left so be sure to release him sooner so he doesn’t look away if he is sitting there too long 🙂Adding the FC and throwback went well when you were a little further over across the bar so he could see the front of it. No problem at all! Yay!
Get out:
He was super about NOT going to the jump when you didn’t cue it. Yay! Great job staying in motion along the line!
To get the response to the ‘get out’ cue more consistent, you can make a big connection to his eyes to help him get out as you also use the opposite arm.
On some of the reps, you were looking at the jump more than him on the attempts where he missed (or relaxed the connection too early) and on the super successful reps, you were looking more directly at him. That helps because the big eye contact along with the outside arm turns your shoulders to the line you want very clearly.Turn aways:
Super nice job with the lap turn timing! That looked easy and he read them really well each time. The tandems are going well too – one suggestion is to have your cookies ready (or use an empty hand). Right before the tandem (and some of the laps) you were switching the cookies into the cue hand on some reps, and that was delaying the info (especially on the tandem turns). Since we need the hands to be super visible, try it empty-handed so you don’t need to even think about where the cookies are 🙂 and you can show him the hand cues nice and early.Great job on these!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Omg, this blew baby Reese’s brain. So hard to leave the toy behind.>
I swear on the first rep she said,
“But human the toy is BEHIND me” hahaha but it didn’t fully blow her brain: she had much success!The best news is that she is very expressive which means she provides a lot of info in the moment 🙂 But I think she did really well! The session went great!
Don’t worry about speed (try not to run into the TV though haha) – you can see her getting faster and faster on each rep. We know the physical ability to go fast is there, so I am glad to see her thinking her way through the puzzle and getting it “right” according to silly human rules 🙂 instead of flinging herself at the toy or barrel, or getting frustrated/ barking/failing.
And you can also place the toy then move her to the barrel with food rewards (or tugging a 2nd toy) to help reinforce moving away from the toy on the ground. It will actually get easier when the placed toy is further away.
>I was supposed to do a FC and then blind. I just did a BC. No harm, no foul?>
Part of the instructions is to feel free to make up your own little sequences here 🙂 So the FC worked, the BC worked, you can do a FC then the blind, or a FC then a decel/pivot, etc. Have fun! Your connection looked good so she had no questions about where to be.
For the retrieve: this is percolating really nicely and click/treat to you for NOT doing a zillion reps. The retrieve will come organically over time with short fun sessions that basically teach her that bringing the toy back leads to far more fun than chewing on it or running off with it.
This might be enough of a challenging behavior that we don’t want to do it after any other self-control sessions so retrieves can be standalone games, or part of a simpler game like a simple turn and burn, throw the toy, run the other way and see if she brings it back 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
She is definitely getting the idea of backing up! Yay! You did a great job of keeping your hands stationary until after she backed up, and that made a big difference. She was moving back onto the mat really well with all 4 feet by the end. You can gradually add more distance, but form & understanding is ultimately more important than distance so no need to add a lot of distance right away.
>If mom doesn’t throw in at least one blind that makes the crowd gasp we have not had a good run!>
Ha! That is 95% of the fun of blinds – making the crowd gasp LOL!!
This session also went well 🙂 She really liked it when you ran before the blind.
I didn’t think any of the blinds here were late, no gasping required LOL! You did them all when she was about halfway too you so she easily changed sides. Can you do them sooner? Sure! But the other thing to do is make a bigger connection back to her, with your new dog-side arm back and out of the way so she can see your eyes better.
After the pivot, when you throw the reward: you can run to it as well as part of the ‘go’ cue. And you can try throwing a ball or toy and see if she will drive to it (might be easier if you don’t have treats in your hands).
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
Bummer to hear about the cold – hopefully the meds have kicked in nicely 🙂
Wrapping – he did well with the new object! No problem with you standing up or as it moved further away. One suggestion is to break things up and either toss a treat away or play tug each time you want to move the object or the bowls. Two reasons for that:
– Each time you move things, it draws his focus away from the wrapping and into the gap. It was in these transitions that he had his questions and errors).
– It builds breaks in from all the back and forth for cookies and keeps the game more exciting 🙂
I loved his immediate engagement with the wobble board when you put it down! He is getting really good at offering behavior and was also super happy to put all 4 feet on it. Next steps for this involve getting it on a slightly noisier surface to add a little bit of bang sound (just a little) and also get him playing tug on the board, so he rehearses mechanics in a higher arousal state and also starts to weight shift on it.
Backing up –
Since he is so little, feel free to sit on something while you shape this. Standing up was hard – kneeling worked but sitting might be most comfy and will make it much easier to keep the reward low so he isn’t looking up at you (see below).I don’t think he understood that we want him to step back onto the mat – he seemed to think it was something about looking up at you and shuffling back to do so, somewhat incidentally.
Easy tweak: You can work the concept with just front feet at first. Start with all 4 feet on the mat, then lure just the front feet off and reward him when he puts his front feet back on. When he can do that several times in a row, you can lure all 4 feet barely off the mat, and reward when he steps back onto it.
And this is where sitting will help – you can sit on something and keep the reward at his nose level, approximately. That way, he doesn’t lift his head up to where your hands are which is what stops the backing up.
Plankrobatics:
He was happy to offer front feet here when the cookie was stationary (feeding in position). Super! Better placement helped him get all 4 feet on but you can also reward by releasing him to a tossed treat (then he can run back to get his all of his feet on the board).>Left turns are definitely weaker.>
That might have had something to do with how fast you were moving and how he was trying to look up at you rather than think about mechanics. You can take out your full movement and use a cookie lure to see if he will turn both ways in a smaller spot on the plank, by just having him follow a slow cookie hand in a circle.
And with all of the cookie-based games: add in lots of tugging to keep them fun and lock them into his memory with higher arousal states 🙂
Great job on these!
Tracy
Good morning!
This is going great! She is driving happily to the cone and committing, and you’ve got your verbals attached and fab toy play with cookies mixed in. Super!!! I also like how we can see the beginnings of how she is going to be fast AND tight turning. Happy dance!Do you have several of those cones, to pile them together to create a tall cone to wrap? Or something taller for her to wrap around (large cone or barrel for example) – that is a good next step to start moving towards an actual wing and so you don’t have to bend over as much.
For next steps, you can keep adding countermotion by doing the FC to run away sooner, and tweaking the exit line slightly: rather than run back towards your starting point, you can run on more of a 90 degree angle away from it (off to the side). That will challenge her to maintain her commitment even when she sees you already moving the other direction. She looks ready for that challenge!
Great job 🙂
Tracy
