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Good morning!
The perch/pivoting is going really well – has he seen this before, or is he just brilliant (I mean, we already know he is brilliant 🙂 ) He is a little stronger moving to his right (coming from your right side) – it seems more fluid and he did more steps. It was the side both of you seemed more comfy with. He was able to do the other side, just be sure that you balance it and do that side the same # of times and possibly a little more.
Because he is small, I also wonder if using a smaller perch will get more movement. If the perch is too high, he has to have more weight in his rear and will often move less in this game. That rubber bowl is what I use for my 20” tall dogs 🙂 Do you have anything that is maybe an inch tall?
For the toy retrieve – yes, give him a reward for bringing it back: a 2nd toy or a cookie. It seems like he is reading the room and deciding if there is nothing available, he won’t bring it back. So we will give him a reason to bring it back, then we fade out the visibility of the 2nd toy or treats 🙂
Great job!
TracyWelcome!! I am excited to see you and Chaos!!! Have fun traveling and I look forward to you posts 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
>We have done a similar course before and I established that she is a bad guesser of obstacle names. Pretty sure we dropped out after the first couple of lessons.>
Many, many dogs are NOT super verbal – in fact, I am always surprised when a dog is great at responding to verbals LOL!! So we will work on the verbal skills with her to build the skill, there is one each week. And if the main thing she takes from the verbal-only stuff is that we would like her to process more than just motion, that will be a BIG win! But we aren’t only going to focus on verbals-only – I think you will find that all of the handling games will help with cue processing too, plus they are fun 🙂
>At least she tries – the others will not move away from me without my movement. I am their “engine”.>
Excellent point!!! She is motivated to try! And for the others, you can bring the obstacles in really close and maybe even put the Treat n Train out past them both, in the center – so they are more motivated to leave their engine and run to obstacles without you 🙂
She did well here! Good job rewarding the effort at 1:21 where she took the backside of the jump on your ‘over’ cue. The criteria is basically “not the tunnel” at this stage and it shows she was processing the verbal!
She seems to be the type of dog who wants to move & make a decision immediately, possibly before she gets the full info 🙂 To help her out and get her processing before she moves – line her up and hold her until you have said the verbal 3 or 4 times, and watch her head. If she is looking at the correct obstacle, you can let her go and reward. If she is looking at the incorrect obstacle, you can quietly say “that is not it” or something, then re-start the verbal (you are still holding her :)) She needs to look at the correct obstacle the first time to get you to let her run to it, otherwise she will flip her head back and forth to guess.
But don’t make this game the entire focal point of the class 🙂 Definitely balance it out with the handling games, which also have plenty of verbal processing challenges and she gets to run the whole time.
Nice job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
I think he is doing really well with the verbal game!!! Holding him until he indicated he was processing the cue seemed to help him.
You can use where he looks as both an indicator of what he is going to do and when to let him go: hold him til he looks at the correct obstacle then let him go as soon as he looks at the correct one. He was really getting the hang of this – I love how he looked at the tunnel at :45 after doing a couple of jumps! After that, he pretty much looked at the correct obstacle immediately when he heard the cue. Then letting him go affirms he was correct. And if he looks at the incorrect obstacle? You can quietly say something like “that is not it”, then take a breath, then start obstacle cues again. We don’t want to necessarily keep repeating the same cue because then he will swing his head back and forth til you let him go 🙂
The sequences looked lovely!! It looks like he was 100% successful because the verbals and connection were very clear. You also added some disconnection at the end and that went really well too. My favorite rep was at 1:25 when you were pretty much disconnected when he exited the wing but you were saying tunnel… so he found the tunnel. HAPPY DANCE! And balanced it by asking for the jump on the last rep – he got that nicely too. Super!
Great job here!! You can definitely add the next sequences (especially the #3 set with backsides and threadley stuff 🙂 )
Tracy
Hi!
Thanks for the update!!
Getting the backside is actually pretty normal at this stage – she might be double- and triple- checking the info by looking at you which will widen the turn. No worries, I would still pay it (criteria at this stage is basically “not the tunnel” when you give a jump cue haha) and move to the other games to help balance that and keep things fun 🙂Tracy
Good morning!
>We worked up to him being between my legs and taking one or the other. Unfortunately my tech challenged self didn’t get it recorded>
Bummer!!! Getting 3 out of 4 right at this stage is great!!
On the video – I think he did REALLY well here! He was not totally ready for you to be moving fast at the beginning but the slower motion with softer/minimal connection went really well. It is interesting that he tends to default to the jump when he is not sure, I guess it is the first thing he sees after the wing.
>I have to laugh at the one where he didn’t get the tunnel, but didn’t take the jump either. The wheels were turning, just not all the way getting to the finish line.>
That was at :23 and it was GREAT!!! He was like… “wait, I don’t think you said jump”. The spacing on this drill is tight so he doesn’t have a lot of time to process the cues. But he was indeed processing!!
And you can really see him developing the skill at 1:01 and 1:26, for example, where you were moving faster and less connected but he was able to find the tunnel. Super!!!
>I even tried to speed up a bit at the end and he did it. I did have a little trouble remembering to say tunnel slowly and over quickly. >
I think you did well with that!
For now, you can let this sequence percolate and move to the next ones – latent learning after some good sleep will help him too.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
I used the spin because I wanted the physical cue to be as similar as possible, so the dog can lock onto the verbal and connection. The FC and the spin both have the lower body rotation that is virtually identical – and so the dog can’t just watch our feet 🙂 they need to listen for verbals and watch the connection (or only verbals if we are softening the connection :))Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hello!
Once you got her to go around the upright, the 2nd head turn was lovely!
Nice job turning her away and nice timing of the click!She had a hard time sending to the upright, mainly looking at the cookie in your hand. The bowl game went well but I am not sure it is convincing her to send when you are standing (it does build value for the upright, so that is good!)
So 2 ideas for building the send:
– send with an empty cookie hand and turn her away with the empty cookie hand (toss a treat with the other hand). She might be a little too caught up with the cookie to think about the upright 🙂 Also, when is she training in relation to her meals? You might try feeding part of her meal so she is not as hungry, then training with food?
– based on how she approaches the wrap send games, I think the self-control ‘fold it in’ game will probably be the most helpful: it begins with the visual aid of a bowl or toy and builds forward focus to the upright… but then pretty quickly moves the visual aid out of the picture so you get her offering the wrapping after you cue the forward focus without cookies in your hand.
Let me know how that goes – I know she has done it before so now we can totally pump it up to get more wrapping.
>BTW, Sprite thought head turn gane was fun!>
Yay! I am glad she gets to play 🙂
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
Yes, she was really pumped up to work here – she was very happy that you are home!
This went really well – she was able to lead with her head around the tree really well! It seemed liked she had an easier time turning to her left?
You can ask her for a tighter turn by getting nice and close to the tree 🙂 By giving her a little less room (be about a foot away), she will collect more and wrap really tightly. You can see that starting at the very end, where you were the closest to the tree and had good timing of turning her away, so she was wrapping tight!And I am sure your 6lb Chi can learn agility! We have one graduating from MaxPup 4 soon and she is amazing!
Great job :)
TracyHi!
She really had an easy time figuring out which side of the apple tree to go to! The threadles made sense to her and that is great 🙂 She had one miss in the middle, but that was mainly because you were a little too far away from the tree 🙂
I think you need a second apple tree to have a full jump hahaha or you can add a barrel or cone to make it look like a full jump. That way you can show her the difference between the serp and the threadle positions.
Great job!
TracyHi!
Hope you had an easy flight home last night!
>My “upright” is my newly planted Apple trees. LOL>
Brilliant! LOL! She did really well with the backsides here on your right side – you lined her up in just the right spot to have that parallel path to the backside. Be sure to keep moving as you say the cue (like you did at :44) – of you stop too soon, she might not be convinced to go all the way without you.
When you switched sides to have her on your left, your left arm was pointing forward ahead of her which actually turned your shoulders to the front of the jump (so that is where she went at 1:04 and 1:13). She got it after that but you can also think of the backside push as more of a moving cue with you moving up the line the whole time, rather than a send without moving along that parallel line to her. You were moving when she was on your right side and that made it very easy for her.
Nice work!!
TracyHi!
Yes, Purina is lovely! The event was a little messed up though LOL!!
The concept transfer for the serp is going well overall! I see what you mean by her being stronger on the slice approaches and the wrap approaches are harder. I think that the food bowl is just a bit more salient on the wrap approaches – it is right there 🙂 Shaking the hand helped a bit and she did have a lot of success! The wrap angles are fortunately not that important 🙂 so I am really happy with what she is doing here!
>She does better when my arm is more fully extended
It is hard with a small pup – ideally your arm and torso would form a 90 degree angle, with the center of your chest facing the center of the bar. But with a small dog, you can dip your shoulder downwards so she can see the hand easily. It is like agility yoga 😂 and I think it will make more sense when we add add motion.
I tink she is also ready to see the threadle concept transfer we added last night – it builds very easily off of this 🙂
>I’ll need to come up with something else that is high value and doesn’t upset her system.>
Poor girlie! How does she do with small chunks of chicken or turkey? Or freeze dried stuff, like salmon or beef? I often mix kibble in with a bag of really good stinky stuff, so it has the smell and a bit of the flavor but is easier on the GI 🙂
>Question: Will the video lessons and the forum be available for viewing after the class ends? I plan on using the time between Max 1 and 2 to continue to work on things. Hoping that I’ll have access to the materials during the break time.>
It is lifetime access – it is all yours to view for as long as the site is alive (hopefully another 20 years or so haha) and everything can also be downloaded.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
>I do not understand sequence #2. It says to threadle your dog to #4 but I can’t figure that out at all. I looked at your video in slow motion and put on my thinking cap and everything. All I can come up with is: if you send your dog very wide around #3, then his natural path is to the backside and so you could argue that you had to “threadle” him in with an “IN” command. >
Yes – it had to do with the line from the 3 wing to the 4 jump. The way I had it set up, a post turn/send to 3 would set up a parallel path/natural line to the backside and therefore a different cue was needed to get the front. With the current trends in course design, I want the dog to stay on his line even if it takes him to a backside.
>Seems like spinning #3 would have the same impact.>
This depends on exactly how it is set up. And feel free to assess what you have set up and make handling plans, even if it is a little different than the demo. The actual line on the ground takes priority over the map 🙂
A spin would have to be really decelerated to get a tight enough turn based on where I had it set up, so a threadle can keep me moving better. At :52 on the demo video, you can see the dog adjust his line to the front side of the jump.
Looking at the video – your set up had the wing a little further over where indeed so it was not exactly a natural line to front or back of the jump, and a good spin should get the front side of the jump.
Rep 1 – you can begin giving him the push cue as he is approaching the wing, so he adjusts his line before he exits the wing to head directly to the backside and also so you don’t have to move as much to the backside wing of the jump.
Begin the FC (on the landing side) as he arrives at the entry wing of the jump so you are finished & reconnected sooner to get the send to the wing. The delay in the FC either pulled him off the wing or blocked the jumping so he hit the bar. The FC at :27 worked best!On sequence 2, think you did use a threadle verbal but he would benefit from the dog-side arm swinging back too there. At :40, he went to the correct side of the jump but was looking at you the whole time.
The send to the wing at :49 tightened the wrap so the front side of the jump was more on his line. You can add a wrap verbal there if you were not already doing so (hard to hear it on the video)
On sequence 3 – sending to the 4 backside from further away makes the FC of BC on the landing side of 4 even easier. I think the ideal spot for you would be where the wing and bar meet on the side closer to the tunnel. So use your connection and verbal like you did here (I think I heard the verbal!) but don’t use as much motion to the backside entry wing.
The FC worked at 1:08 but you were on his line a bit, so he went around you and kept the bar up – gold star for the bar!!! And gold star for the bars on the blinds too – your work over the summer is really paying off because I think he would have been hitting those bars 5 months ago.
And good for you for trying the BC at 1:13 and 1:18 and 1:29 – I know it is not your favorite handling move! I feel likeI should reward you with sushi or something LOL!!!!
I think the rep at 1:13 had you a little further across the bar so that allowed you to clear the line more – the was the best BC. The reps at 1:18 & 1:29 had you more in his way.For the BC, you can send to the wing and give the big connection and loud verbal push cue… but maintain a parallel path to his path as you move toward the exit wing. That will make the BC easy for you both!
Sequence 4 (with the threadle wrap) – nice job warming up the TW on the wing!
On the first rep, he could not keep the bar up on the FC at 1:45, you were too much on his landing spot there. But he got the TW nicely!
The next rep went much better in that you gave him more room after the FC. This is a spot where you can ask for more independence with the backside push verbal and not moving as much to the entry wing – let him find it on the parallel path so you can get to a better FC position (and maybe even try it with a BC there 🙂 )>I was amazed that he did the threadle wrap between the tunnel and the jump.>
What a good boy to get the TW on the jump next to the tunnel! WOW! The spin on the wing set it up nicely – you were clear with your come-flip cues on that rep. On the next rep, you were actually too early on the flip cue: he had not had enough time to get on the correct line when you flipped him back out to the jump (2:16) – compare to 2:24 where you did the ‘come’ cue long enough to see him change his line – then you cued the flip. Beautiful!!!! Nice timing there.
>Btw, the “shadow alien” is actually a ladder with a tripod bungeed on it.
> Ha! That’s hilarious!!
>I’m wildly busy for the rest of this week and showing Sat/Sun, so I don’t know if I’ll get to the next week in the next week.>
No worries! We have the 3 extra weeks at the end built in for people to work through the stuff. The course is front-loaded for the folks going to the US Open.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
>For the next session, should I stand or sit?>
Whichever is comfortable and won’t accidentally give her physical cues 🙂
>Over-thinking thought of the day:
I’m wondering if I’m confusing her with her startline by lining her up & saying “jump”. I always release her with a “break” verbal at the startline and it is almost always a jump. If I use a tunnel at the start, I think (I bet) I just say “tunnel, tunnel” so she may be more used to that.>This is not over-thinking at all! Clear release verbals are great. I think that jump and break are both verbal releases, so either are fine. The dogs know a variety of releases (I bet she knows ‘tunnel’ as a release too :)) so you can choose jump or break. I usually use break on a line of jumps where I want him to take the line directly to me. And I tend to use the obstacle name for lateral lead outs.
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
Great job looking at the hard spots here! She did well!>Went back on the things causing us an issue: getting to the jump beyond the tree. I ended up moving it in closer to make it easier.>
The tree sure makes things interesting for the line there 🙂 Trying to cue with a hand and pulling away was pulling her off the line. Moving the jump in closer helped a lot, and you were supporting it ,ore with more and connection. Super! Also, you can angle the jump a bit so that she sees the bar more clearly when landing from the previous jump and going past the tree.
>Having to manage that jump slowed down the rest of the course especially on the line with the blind (or RC) to the tunnel.>
Sending to it did make it harder to get the BC, but you seemed to trust her more here and the blinds definitely started earlier. She saw it coming and did not have to make a big adjustment after landing. You can keep playing with how early you can start the blinds on these lines.
>The other issue was the tight right turn out of the tunnel. I used weave poles instead of jump bars so there was a bit more space between jumps and tried to cue earlier: still late but a bit better.>
Your timing was definitely earlier which really helped. You can add a name call before the right verbal – that might tighten it up even more. You can add in moving the jump back to the original position and alternate a “go” exit (to take that jump) with the tight right turn exit.
For the BC on the jump after the tunnel on that sequence, you can move through it sooner by starting the blind and moving to the next jump as soon as she has exited the tunnel and is looking the correct direction (towards you :))
> Had some trouble getting her in the tunnel if I tried to not move past the 4 jump. This is not on the video. She reads decel well, lol. So we broke it down and I ran to the tunnel a few times.>
She does indeed read decel well! You can try leaning forward as you decel, to help support the line to the tunnel. We will keep working on tunnel sends so she won’t need as much support for them 🙂
Great job here!!
Tracy
