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Hi!
>Copper has started barking A LOT at me in both training and trial runs. >
There are multiple reasons why dogs bark on course, and some breeds bark more than others. Aussies definitely bark on course sometimes :). Here are some of the reasons:
– having fun, tons of excitement! Usually the dog is barking but looking at the line and not at the handler.
– frustration: late cues, or handler disconnection, or lack of understanding. Usually the dog is looking at the handler during this.
– collection: late cues or having to slow down (usually looking at the handler)
– frustration about errors: when the handler miscues and fixes, the dog perceives it as a punisher (because stopping is punishing, especially when the dog read the handler’s cues correctly. And fixing obstacles when the dog doesn’t quite understand. (usually looking at the handler)
And nipping is usually when frustration adds up: certain breeds get mouthy. We never want the dogs to get to the point of nipping the handler out of frustration – then the handler stops the dog, which creates more frustration.
>please let me know if you have other suggestions for how to stop this behavior.>
The main thing is to assume all errors on course are handler errors (even if you don’t believe it in the moment 😂 the video always shows it as handler error) and on handling sequences: keep going no matter what, no fixing. If something goes wrong, that is a signal to connect more or give earlier cues.
For weaves and contacts: if he misses a lot, more training needed before you will want to take them into the trial ring.
And, since we humans are not perfect… teach him all of the resilience games that little Bandit is learning 🙂 There is one coming soon in Bandit’s class that teaches the dogs how to self-regulate when something goes wrong on course.
>I could use coaching on the timing for calling next moves. For example, do I call a direction change or the next obstacle before a jump or right after he lands?>
The week 2 games work specifically on timing! For a big dog on AKC courses, you will want to be cueing the next thing when he is in the air over the previous jump. That way he already knows what to do when he lands from the previous jump.
With timing in mind, looking at the video:
For the first wrap at :13, you the decel and rotation all came at the same time (when he was about a stride from the jump) so he pulled off. You fixed it and he started barking.
Ideally the wrap cues begin when he is at the middle jump (jump before the wrap) and the first part of the cue is a forward-facing deceleration. That is the big head’s up to him that tat turn is coming. Then when he is collection and getting ready to wrap, you can do the FC and move the other way. Decelerating and rotating at the same time tend to pull dogs off the jump.
On the 2nd rep at :38 you had the decel more clearly distinct from the rotation so he committed nicely! But it can still start sooner (note the barking here too) – he did not quite have enough time to collection before takeoff (same at :57). At 1:40 you were accelerated for too long so he took the jump but turned after landing.
Compare that to 1:19 where you had an earlier decel and then rotated as he got closer to the wrap jump: that was really nice!
Working the wraps with a bar (even if it is a low bar, like 16”) will give you easy-to-see feedback on the timing – if you are late, he will hit the bar or turn after landing. If you are on time, he will collect before takeoff.
The other thing that will help the timing and help him bark less is to look at his eyes more and point at the lines less. When you were moving away from the camera at 1:05, for example, we can see what he sees: your arm is out pointing ahead of you and you are looking ahead so he is barking, checking in, and slowing down to be sure he is right. You can play with running the whole thing silently, just looking at his eyes 🙂 That will really lock in the connection!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi! These games all look great and he is hitting a new gear of speed!
The plank session was so fun to watch! The board probably did have more wiggle to it but that is a good challenge.
He really enjoyed the toy as the reward, and you did a great job asking for more in terms of how much to do on the plank. He cracked me up towards the end when he got on, ran across it, then did a victory leap off the end 😆
It looked like a great confidence booster for him!Well done with the lazy game too 🙂 Your lazy was really good 😆 and he did great. He REALLY loved the next steps with the tunnel and the sending – wow! He was finding lines and plenty of speed! I think you were both really tuned into the game so the kid noises didn’t eben register. Really nice!
It looks like you’ve graduated from the lazy game and can move to the sequences added yesterday.
Great job!
TracyHi!
The bigger distance lazy game went well! It gave him more room to run for sure – this is a game to revisit a we add more course work, and you can reward every couple of jumps or every 3 jumps instead of each single jump. That will get even more running.
The independence of the lazy game sure does make sequencing easier and faster! This is the most I have seen you hustle with him – he was really finding a new gear of speeeeeed!
Your connection and timing were really good, he seemed to have no questions and no judgement against you LOL Only one handling suggestion:
For the middle jump: you can send and peel away from it to set the turn. At :32 he ran past the jump before the tunnel and I think that was partially caused handler motion. At :30, you were facing the middle jump and moving almost on a backside line cue to the jump after the tunnel, showing extension cues. So he stayed on the parallel path to the backside which zipped him right past the jump.
You had a little decel at :44 and :57 so he got the jump (you can see him land long at :57 and adjust to find the jump). But I think sending to the middle jump then peeling away down the line to the tunnel will give him collection cues for the middle jump and set him up on a perfect line to the next jump.
The 2 backside reps at the end looked great! He was fast and balanced in both directions – super! Your connection really helped with that too, just lovely!
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>There were some surprises, some good ones where he did some things awesome that I thought would be difficult, but also some less happy surprises. 2 of the runs, he decided I has wrong right near the end of the course and went straight instead of doing the thing I was asking him to do. >
I am guessing that it was just a bit of rustiness after the time off. Frustrating, yes! But a lot of brilliance without the benefit of the full year to prepare.
>We struggled hard with threadle wraps. We apparently do not have that skill in the way it was presented this past weekend. >
The threadle wrap skill has gone completely wild lately – it is like the judges have been trying to find ways to shove them in at opposite ends of the course.
>All of the threadle wraps were off the line in the opposite direction to where we were heading next and each time I thought he was committed but then he pulled off. I’m guessing he sees me leaving and chases me. >
That is another spot where I am guessing the injury layoff hindered the prep – he was still learning the new level of threadle wraps in the trial setting. So commitment was a little harder than normal. That will also get easier as you get the experience under your belts.
>We had 1 amazing run where we had a refusal that was 100% my fault because I was worried about a section leading up to the weaves and he did it so perfectly I didn’t cue the weaves in time. All the rest of it I got him his cues in time and he responded exactly as I would have expected and it really was awesome. >
That is fantastic!!!! So close to perfection!!!
>Overall though, he did feel more consistent throughout compared to other times, so hopefully we are getting there.>
You totally are! And I am very impressed with how well you did on really hard courses without the benefit of the full year to prepare. Wow!!!
>It made me happy to see all the shelties doing awesome things at tryouts!>
I look forward to seeing Aelfraed out there in the next year or two 🙂
>He weighs just under 20 lbs but is definitely more front end heavy, although his back end is improving as he grows up.>
A 20lb dog can do a fantastic 2o2o but the 4on is also terrific. He is right on the cusp! Either way we will focus on the weight shift and getting him to the end of the board.
>He definitely enjoys ice cream as long as you have the correct flavour (he’s a bit more discerning than Lennan) of strawberry being the best but vanilla also being acceptable. >Oh, I agree with this: strawberry for sure over vanilla.
>He really is crazy for bread though, especially with butter, but will also accept plain bread. >
There are a lot of bread opportunities though: white bread, bagel, croissants, baguette…. Endless rewards LOL!
>So far he has been very clear that he will not accept help when on equipment. He says he will do it himself. He wants us to be close but not help. >
You can try having a target with a piece of bread on it at one end to send him across the board to… and then he can run back to you across the board. A helper can place the bread then move away so he sees it but doesn’t feel over-helped LOL!
>but something new he will not accept any help. He has since figured out how to turn on the box, at home, doing it for himself.>
It is really interesting to see how different dogs approach these puzzles! Some dogs get melty and need all the help. Some dogs (AELFRAED!) are like “leave me alone, I will figure it out” LOL!
Onwards to more fun!
T
Good morning!
>Played with the teeter, two feet on for reward with me out of the picture. She caught on quick.>
Another puzzle solved, according to Jazz 🙂
>Tried to get her to back up on it, had minimal success with back leg movement, but not much and not onto the board. I’ll raise the drop a little bit for our next session. >
Since we are also sorting out *something* that hurts in her hind end…. I bet the lack of backing up is part of that. So let’s leave it alone for now and focus on front end behaviors. She was happily offering all sorts of brilliant things so we can avoid anything that might possibly be ouchy. She doesn’t seem concerned about any movement or sound!
She also did great on the plank – it was wobbly and she was great at balancing while going across it.
Next steps: raise it a little more 🙂 If you can get it a foot off the ground, we can teach her how to dismount it from the middle. This is super useful for learning how to safely get off the dog walk if she loses her balance.
>Chiro isn’t in agreement with the other vets initial diagnosis of iliosoas tendonopithy. The area of Jazz’s discomfort doesn’t line up with a soas injury. >
The iliopsoas ouchiness usually comes from somewhere else at her age (since there has not been any repetitive overuse or traumatic injury) so your Chiro is really helpful in keeping that open as an option. Yes, her psoas might be tight or a little ouchy, but it might just be something related to what the actual cause is.
>Definitely needs US to get proper diagnosis. >
Totally agree. You’ve already got x-rays so the U/S will be ideal to really see whatever might be happening.
>I decided to have this done by Dr. Canapp so I’ll be cancelling the 4/22 US appointment in Sacto and making one with Dr. Canapp. >
Hopefully they can get you in soooooooooon. What has been working best for getting in fast is tagging him on social media. It is possible that when he gets tagged, he (or his schedule people) see it and bump up that dog into an earlier appointment. I am pretty sure that is how I got my Elektra in so fast – mid-December appointments became possible dates a month earlier after social media tags. I can work the social media end if you don’t want to.
And since I am currently collaborating with him on a series of podcasts feel free to tell him that I sent you. Whatever it takes to get little Jazz sorted out ASAP!!!!
>The good news is that the discomfort wasn’t as intense this visit, so things are improving.>
That is GREAT. And when you get the appointment, hopefully your chiropractor can send notes from the appointments? And I can go back through MaxPup 1 & 2 to find the videos where were seeing possible ouch moments.
>I’m still in a holding pattern on my treatment plan. Should have an idea of what to expect after visits on Monday.>
I am hoping you get lots of answers on Monday, I am sure you are ready to move forward.
Keep me posted! And we will keep moving forward with the foundation games here!Tracy
Good morning!
The lazy game is going well! He is looking for his jumps and not coming off the line, even when he feels a cookie should have been thrown LOL!! So let’s continue moving forward – adding the tunnel and more motion, as well as moving forward into this week’s games. The handling games will help us sort out the middle jump striding – he had some questions here on how to bend on the middle jump (we might need earlier timing or use a brake arm, or both!)
He hit the first bar on each side: I think that was because he was set up a bit too close to it and had the verbals happening at the same time. You can start him 8 to 10 feet away from jump 1 so he can get a nice big stride into it.
>To me he did better once I added the verbals.>
He did great with both! On the reps without verbals, the energy is lower and we are not helping. But he still did great! Adding the verbals adds more energy and excitement – and we can see that in his increase in speed 🙂 Love it! So you can totally be using verbals now and we can revisit the lazy game if he starts to get too handler focused.
He seems confident with the height of the DW. For a 2o2o, the MM is creating the behavior by being too big of a target 🙂 Let’s start getting it out of the picture.
To progress to the next steps, I think a smaller target that he has to stop at without food in or on it will move forward into the complete behavior. I have used stuff like plastic lids as the target, a couple of inches from the end of the board for 2o2o. And the MM can be 10 feet or so past it, so it is still in play but we are fading it out. That way he can stop in position with a lowered head and you have a variety of options for rewards: you can release forward to the MM, you can hand deliver a cookie to the target, or you can throw it back to him. Mixing up the rewards will help him perform the behavior independently without you needing to be at the end of the board.
For the teeter – same thoughts about the MM getting replaced by a plain target on t he ground. The MM is actually pulling him onto his forehand as the board drops, rather than encouraging a weight shift back, so he is stopping a little early on the board to tip it. So for the teeter, you can work through the games coming up here that get him driving across the board and shifting weight and we can fade the MM out of the picture.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
This game is good to work from the handler perspective because it is all about connection & sends (and you mentioned recently that sends were a pain!).
On the one-step sends, you had really good connection and no arm flings so he of course did it brilliantly.
>When he made an error on the wrap I felt it was him and tried again but realized I lured him through the gap unintentionally with my toy so I hid it after and he was still amazing.>
Was the at 2:12? Ummm…… Not dog error LOL! You never finished the FC – you stood still halfway through the cross and dangled a toy without a marker… so he was not necessarily wrong to keep going. The cue was vague and no marker should mean no toy. And not being fully rotated could be the cue for the middle wing. It was a grey area for him so he had to guess.
The verbal was the wrap verbal but that won’t necessarily override physical cues at this stage.
On the next reps at 2:36 and 3:06 and 3:35, you finished the FC and he did the wrap really well.
>I went silent on one because I didn’t know what to say lol!>
Which was the part where you didn’t know what to say? I think you got quiet on the soft turns that were wing-to-wing. You can use your left/right verbals for those.
Nice work here! You can keep adding distance and that will end up adding more and more speed 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
>We did the part three and I had my first class fail… forgot to start the video. >
Oh no! I have done that too – eek! But it sounds like the session went great. You can move forward to the next steps.
And I love the photo – she is looking so grown up!
Tracy
Good morning!
The threadle wrap foundations are going really well! 2 small details:
You can be moving forward as she gets the start cookie, then decelerate as she is on her way to you – that way she reads it as a cue to come to your side and won’t shoot past you. Threadle wraps have decel in them on course, so the decel is good for human training too LOL
>My mechanics got a little wonky when she was on my left, so I ended up just standing still for the U turn. I ended before I got crazy & wanting a perfect turn! >
I thin the decel will help! And also, you can think of your hand as leading her through the turn away, so the hand movements can be slower and right on her nose. When you did that, she was very successful. When you were too quick or your hand moved forward too much (like at 1:21), she was not quite as clear about what to do.
>I probably could have ditched to LB and tried using 2 hands as you suggested above, but I forgot >
No worries! You can definitely try it with empty hands next time. She is ready for that. And we build on this game soon 🙂
>chose the lotus ball tug to get her interest in some food play lol & so we weren’t doing too many reps of the threadle without some play. Any suggestions on my toy play? >
I think the lotus ball tug read more as “time to eat!” than as a tug toy, which might be why she was grabbing for the lotus ball part of it. Separately from training anything specific, you can teach her that tugging on the LB toy is what gets you to open the LB on it and give her the cookies 🙂
And you can mix in tugging with a crazier toy – anything furry or fuzzy that she loves. After just one rep with food, start throwing and dragging the toy so she can really chase it. You might need to go into a different room or hallway to move her away from food smells – it is hard to tug sometimes when there are a lot of food smells! And doing this after one rep with food will help her not get stuck in food mode.
Great job here 🙂 Keep me posted on the tugging 🙂
Tracy
Wow, she was a spitfire here! Barking, tugging, flying and also finding that wing brilliantly even with you moving the other way with the toy (and the Manners Minder sitting right there!) And great job with your verbals!
On the 2nd rep, you were blocking her line to the wing so she was not quite sure where to go but the wing was visible on all the other reps so she was perfect. You can definitely add the rocking horse game and lots of running – I bet she will love it.
Also, I think she ight also like tugging as part of the pattern game! The video above began with the toy in her mouth so you can incorporate more toy play: tug, a couple of pattern reps, back to tug, a couple of pattern reps, and so on.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
What a good girl at the trial! The trial noises were particularly challenging and loud, and she was able to work through it. I love how she assessed the environment then returned her engagement to you – perfect! There were a lot of dogs barking a bit frantically, which probably added challenge.
What type of treats were they? She was definitely interested in them but you can also go up in value in harder environments. That way they are very enticing plus many times that are easier to track visualy and by for (like a piece of cheddar cheese or a crunchy cheese ball :))
Great job here!
Tracy
OMG I can relate to this – my whippet Ramen does that but so far does not put holes in things. Yesterday I was standing on steps and he jumped up from the ground and grabbed the shoulder of my shirt. That’s what we get for encouraging athleticism LOL!
T
Good morning!
This was a lovely session! He is very food-driven but was able to move away from the food and have complete engagement with you. And when you delayed a bit and asked for the sit… he got more engaged and excited to do behaviors. SUPER!
You were already asking for sits, hand touches, spins. And you were consistently clear with the ‘party’ marker. So you can start to use a couple of behaviors in a row (you did a down to stand at the end). And you can be asking for behavior while you walk away from the cookies too.
At this stage, I also like to add the leash: the pup is on leash, I put the pile of treats down, walk away, take off the leash… and he is stays with me and is engaged: party! The begins to simulate what he will need to do at the beginning of a run in agility and the higher levels of obedience, so it is good. To start showing it to him now!
Great job :)
Tracy
Good morning!
>For the resilience game would it be ok to use my training space or should I work somewhere else? >
You can mix it up all – as many different places as possible! It can be something as simple as right outside a door, or a hallway – changing the environment from being what he is used to into something different can be subtle so he still gets the experience of the differences.
He definitely was a bit startled by the first cookies marker: everything was so quiet, he was concentrating so hard… but then he was fine and did great in the session. You can start adding in asking for a trick or behavior or two before using your cookies maker to run back and get the treats 🙂
The threadle wrap foundation went really well! He seemed to have no questions about turning away from you in either direction. Yay! Adding the movement also went well – my only suggestion for hen you are moving is to let him get nice and close to your leg & hand, then cue the turn away. When he was further away and you were moving, he didn’t quite read the cue to turn away. But he was perfect when he was close to you!
We build on this game soon. Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
These are great! I think you have covered all scenarios except maybe remote reinforcement?
A question about Tails versus Catch & Heads – for Tails, it sounds like he should move to get the reward which could be thrown (or placed for Tails). For Catch & Heads – is he also allowed to move? That reward might end up behind him. So it might be a little redundant – which is not a problem because he will of course read context as part of it. And I love that you have Heads & Tails LOL!T
