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Hi there! You are off to a lovely start!
You can totally use your verbals in the lazy game 🙂 I think the dogs would sell us on eBay if we were not moving AND we were silent hahaha!!He did well here for a first time on this crazy thing! Yay! Try to praise a little less – he would look at you when you did, which drew his attention away from the line. Instead, reinforce more frequently – randomly toss it out there every 2 or 3 obstacles. And if he misses one, definitely reward when he gets it the next time around – like when he missed the jump after the tunnel then got it on the next time through – yay!
For now, keep the distances in relatively close- he will let you know when to spread them out yby going really fast, not touching the bars, and not looking at you like you’ve lost your mind hahaha!!!!>>Was able to do both exercises in one session without losing his interest too much.
Excellent! Less is indeed more!
He is doing well on the pinwheels! Be careful of your verbals – it isn’t really a go because we don’t want extension on the middle jump, we can a moderate collection – so maybe just over or a jump cue.
He was at his best when you went one step past the first jump to the pinwheel jump, then sent. When you were parallel to it, he went (good boy!) but not as fast – when you hung back (:44) and didn’t really step, he didn’t go. You fixed it nicely on the next rep with a good step and being omre more step past jump 1. So keep doing the one-more-step 🙂 It is setting you up nicely! Great job with your verbal markers when he commits to the middle jump! When you makr it, I bet he would love it is you then ranso he could chase you for the reward – his favorite thing (except maybe for gopher digging haha). You can also mix throwing a reward out past the middle jump as you move away.Nice job here!!
Tracy
YAY!!!! Always great to have you in class 🙂 I see Enzo has been doing well with the UKI home trials!! Any particular challenges that you found he struggled with? I am changing up the curriculum and it would be fun to add new things 🙂
T
Hi there!
I think hashing out the reinforcement will make the lazy game much easier – you can throw a charley bear or something obvious then call him back to you to get another treat to reset, that can help. It is also possible that the challenge was set up with a little too much distance to start with (considering the lack of motion :)) so that is what was causing some of his hesitation:
Video 1 – This is a really good start, especially the first rep. Keep turning your body, feet too, not just your shoulders – your feet were getting a little stuck, probably from trying to stay in the box 🙂
Video 2 – I think the struggle here had more to do with the rewards, he was predicting that the rewards would come in that one spot LOL! Probably because they had come in that spot already and he could still smell them. Pulling the the middle pinwheel jump in closer will really help too, it reduces the challenge a tiny bit.
Video 3 – In terms of the movement, you are a bit too sideways so I think he was confused about whether to go or to turn – keep turning your feet and I think he will find it easier. He definitely had questions on the middle pinwheel jump but I think it had to do with you being perpendicular to the jump rather than continuing to move.Video 4 – great job turning your shoulders and feet here on these reps, he was great! I think these distances are a couple of feet too spread out though, he is still not entirely sure. The continued turning of your feet and shoulders made a massive difference, though!!
Grid: I agree, this was hard! He was less comfortable on the tighter distances (15 and 18) and settled in at 21. He changed up how he approached the last jump on each rep, so we just have to show it to him again 🙂 He had some really nice jumping efforts in there and I don’t think the toy was too stimulating (he was balanced in the ladder element of jumps 1-2-3) – so at some point later this week, show him the exact same session, no changes. We are basically teaching him to read – he did a good job on this first session, but needs to see the book again 🙂 I bet he is much smoother on session 2 🙂
Nice job! Let me know what you think!
THi!
>>Question: is the second pinwheel exercise dependent on the first, or can that be worked on separately?
I think the 2nd pinwheel will be much easier of the lazy pinwheel is looking good – and it did (above) so you can try the real pinwheel 🙂
On the video:
He is doing a great job figuring out how to one-stride the big distance!! He had a little trouble on the ladder element of it (first 3 jumps) – dropped the bar on the 2nd jump (1st rep) and ticked it later on as well – so when you revisit this, if he hits or ticks a bar, do the exact same rep again. If he is clean in the jumping, you can consider changing something. If not, ask the question of the same grid one more time – and if he still has a question, make it easier (lower bars are the easiest way or less exciting reward). On the rep where he dropped the oxer – I think you were too exciting, urging him on like a racehorse LOL!! It distracted him – so be pretty quiet for now. And you can ask the question again by doing the exact same grid again – and see what happens. If he drops it again, then yes, lower the bar.Nice work here!!
Tracy
Hi there!
Yes, it is so easy to do too many jumps and drill young dogs (any dogs) so the posting guidelines will help make us all more efficient 🙂
Nice job on the lazy pinwheel – you can actually move a little more, as long as you are not too helpy 🙂 I thought your arms were fine here. The 1st rep, 3rd rep and 4th rep all looked great – note your connection especially on the send to the tunnel. Compare it to rep 2: you disconnected and said tunnel to the tunnel… which turned your upper body to exactly where he went 🙂 Calling him back, sending to the tunnel and rewarding was fine. Remember to always say the cue to him and not the obstacle 🙂 You did it perfectly on the others reps, YAY!! Nice job!
TracyThis is a perfect place for your question!
For the striding grid, let’s leave the oxer at 6″/8″ until we see what he wants to do with striding. Then we can play a little with height – no need to build up height for a couple of weeks and even then, we will take it slowly. He is so young and we can challenge him with striding puzzles rather than height for now 🙂Hi Nelci! This will be fun! You should have received the first email just a few minutes ago – I didn’t send it until I had everything loaded properly.
I will post a new package each Tuesday and you will get an email when it is posted. And, you can click to get email replies to all of your posts 🙂
Can’t wait to see little tiny Grizzly!
Tracy 🙂
Hi – it was a little hard to see the reinforcement here, it was just out of the video for most of it. But yes, having a plan for reinforcement will help a lot and it will keep the session “cleaner”: if cookies distract from toy play, don’t have a cookie in your hand or pocket, just sue the toy. And a big cheese ball will work but the treat hugger is probably easier to throw.
She is definitely getting the idea here! Yay!
A couple of ideas for you for these games and as we move forward into MaxPup 4:
On the wraps, make sure she start specifically on one side of your or the other – I think it was a little unclear on some reps because she was in front of you already or sideways, so line her up to help set her up for success.For the Go, help her out with a few steps forward – after multiple wraps, she needs a little more help, even just leaning. But then remember to NOT lean on the digs. The slightly different body language will help. And, repeating the Go verbal as a long, repeated word a few times will help too!
Try to take a less-is-more approach to the sessions. This one had a LOT of reps… it is mentally a bit too much for youngsters to do this many reps. It is easy for us humans because we are not really moving… but the dogs are running/wrapping/jumping/tugging so they will be tired before we realize it (mentally and physically). So try to do maybe 10 reps per session, one session every few days – no more than that. It takes between a minute and 90 seconds to do 10 reps, which is a perfect length for a training session! And the shorter session makes it much easier to track rate of success. You’ll see that in play here in MaxPup 4, where the dogs will have more intensity of work, but in fewer sessions.
Nice job! Onwards to more fun stuff!!!
Tracy
Hi!
>>I was very uncomfortable being restricted from motion and handling.I could tell LOL!! I feel that, I like to run around a lot too 🙂
>>She obviously didn’t have an understanding of what I wanted , and I really don’t know how to fix it. Is it just a matter of more repetition?
Not more reps – fewer reps with calmer mechanics. You were trying really hard to produce the behavior but that caused the mechanics to get a little muddy, which was confusing. Here are some ideas:
I think changing the mechanics of the session will really help – stand up, stand still on the sends 🙂 Try not to run in then run out – that was a lot of motion and a lot of energy, so it wasn’t always clear. And the verbal digdigs can be quieter, almost whispered, to help draw her in. When she had too much leaning forward from you or really loud verbals, it propelled her straight. Part of what the dogs read on the “dig” versus “go” is our energy, so lower energy will help the wraps!
And, work these with less distance away. You were pretty far on some of them, which makes it harder because either she had a long way to send without your motion, or you used motion and that was too hard. So maybe 6 feet away – which should allow you to be relatively still on the wraps and add more leaning/energy/motion to the go cues. Physically, they were looking the same on some of the reps and the verbals were loud and chattered – so making it look distinct and sound distinct will really help: like a loud GOOOOO GOOOOOOO GOOOOOOO and a soft digdigdigdigdig. On the video, they were both similar: GOGOGOGOGOGODIGDIGDIGDIGDIG so it was harder for her to differentiate.
>>She also appears to get a bit nervous when we work too long, or tells me in no uncertain terms that she doesn’t uNderstand.
Teehee, I like it when the dogs get mad and sassy, it means they are getting invested in our crazy game! Yay!! I don’t think 3 minutes is too long if the rate of success is high – but it was not here, so she was letting you know. Use your 2 failure rule: if she fails once, note it and maybe ask the same question again. If she fails twice… back off the difficulty, re-visit your mechanics, set her up for success. And the 2 failure rule is not 2 failures in a row…. it is 2 failures in the entire session! If you can reduce failures, you will find that she can work longer and her learning will be faster.
Let me know if that makes sense!
Tracy
Hi!!! On the decel – I love your exaggerated decel!! You can the toy into view as soon as she lifts her head generally towards you. She is definitely a doer, meaning she wants to go do the things (even if she doesn’t totally know them like the weaves LOL!) so getting in a ton of reward for acknowledging the decel like you did here is great! And letting her take the toy for a runabout is great too, because she seems to be one of those dogs that LOVES to run 🙂
Grid: she is definitely getting the idea of the grids, I think they are easy for her at this point. She added a stride in the last interval at 1:04, but I think it was just that the food bowl was too closer – you adjusted it and then she was back to perfect. Yay! She is being thoughtful in her work here, which is what we want. Woot!!!! You can add motion to all of your grids – the reward remains in the same spot, and you can lead out to the last jump – release – walk forward. Gradually lead out less and less so you are moving the whole time – and then you can gradually increase the moving to a jog then a run! Her performance should be the same… that will be hard 🙂
Nice work here!!!! It has been great seeing her blossom into such a cool agility dog!!!
TracyHi!
>>I was never good at RC. And somewhere along the way over the years, I used my dog-side arm to kind of sweep across my hips as a sort of “flip” cue for lack of better description. I remember we used to pull the dog to us and then flip them away on the switch lead path (or at least that’s how I learned it long ago). And since I’ve had very little opportunity over the past 5 years to train a dog, I guess I never re-learned correct execution. I can see my dog-side arm in that first segment coming across my body. Is that wrong? Should I work on not doing that?>>
Ideally, your do-side arm stays at your side – the coming across the body is what I mean by over-turning to the straight line, pulling – so yes, try not. I used to lay a leash on the ground for my running line to help me get my rear cross lines! That might be something fun to try!
>>The only thing I didn’t really get to revisit was the serp and threadle but he seemed to do well on the serp with motion. So then really just the threadle that I never had a chance to add much motion to and definitely no height except maybe 4″ so the bar didn’t roll.
Yes – the serp with motion was going fine, and that is more important than the threadle. So if the one thing that didn’t get trained a lot was the threadle… that is perfectly fine 🙂
>>All in all I think we got thru pretty much everything!
Yay! That is awesome!!!!
>> I just read rules for trials in June/July that you have to wear a mask pretty much all the time except when running your dog or are outside. Yuk…does not appeal to me. Seems like outdoor trials would be a better idea…>>>
Yeah, to be honest, I don’t see how any of the rules for June/July will work – there are massive gaps, there are areas of spread that haven’t been addressed, and way too much potential for things to go wrong. Plus, in the NJ/NY areas, June and July will be way too soon – I saw some trial listings for mid June in GA, but there case load is still going up, so I have no idea who they are going to make that safely work. And I totally agree – small outdoor trials sound like a better idea to start with – but not soon. I am supposedly co-hosting a trial in a covered arena (so sorta outdoors) in early August, in North Carolina… I have serious doubts that it will happen. I guess the only option is patience – that is NOT something I am good at LOL!
But yes – onwards to MaxPup 4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good morning!
>>For the one step send on the wrap vs GO, am I still starting out by holding his collar and saying my tight command before I take the step to send?
Yes, I like to do it that way – it emphasizes the verbal and helps set the pup up for success.
>>LOL…my “running backward” on the rocking horse thing was actually supposed to be the step back send!
The magic is in the deceleration, so it is easier to turn, step and go. Plus, the decel is a helpful for for the dog.
>>you must spit out your coffee watching some of these!
Never! Dog agility is complex! And just when we get it figured out with the dog and become a smooth team… we go get a puppy and start over LOL!! I feel that pain haha!!
On the videos:
the 10″ set points anf the oxer are starting to look comfortable. The 12″ set points and oxer are going well too, he is definitely reading it and sorting it = not comfy yet but getting there 🙂 So here is what I suggest for coming weeks – hang out at the 10″ set point and oxer, but add motion: lead out to the jump, release and walk forward. Then gradually add more motion – jog, run. Then lead out less, and go back to walking – then build back up to jogging and running. Basically, we are asking him to keep sorting it out as we add the major distraction of motion.
Then, start to revisit 12″ – stationary at first, then adding motion.
This should take weeks, at least 🙂 but we have time on our side so might as well use all of the time 🙂 Full height jumping, imo, is only used when cycling “up” for competition (then we go to back to lower height for a while, when in between events). Since there are no events on the horizon, there is no need to try to cycle up quickly.Rear cross video:
>>Should the dogs be able to read a RC on body motion alone or does it need a verbal too?Yes, the dogs should be able to read RCs based on body language, The verbals help but at this stage, the body cue alone should do it (because you are physically “in the picture” and not miles behind :))
Also, any time there is an error in sequencing like this clip – assume it was handling and reward him – either immediately or ask for a trick and reward. That will allow you to work through a number of reps, as needed, without lowering his rate of success and potentially causing frustration or stress behavior. In handling, if we do it right, they do it right. And when we do it wrong… youngsters will almost never do it right. So – reward lots 🙂
On the first rep: You started on the good rear cross diagonal. Keep running forward, though, towards the center of the bar so he can drive ahead and commit. At :06, you pushed in too soon to cut behind him, so he (correctly) pushed off the jump – it looked lik you were pushing to a backside wrap. Here is an opportunity to reward him, rahter then turn and re-start.
After driving forward on the RC diagonal, the timing of the cutting in behind him will be later – he will be closer to the bar.At :15 and :27 you adjusted by pulling toward the straight line and slowing down as he took the jump after the tunnel – then cut in way back behind him – he read it but was unsure, and you ended up way behind (and he didn’t take the next jump at :29). Driving forward on the diagonal will both help cue the RC and keep you from getting too far behind.
You can see his questions more clearly at :35-:36-:37. He reads the pull to the 2nd jump – then you push in too soon, so he for a moments jockeys back to the right (as if going to the backside) then comes back in to the front And on the other side – at :50 and 1:00 and 1:09, he turns to his right first then curls away on the flat to find the RC (at :51) and sin’t able to find the RC at 1:01 (turns towards the straight line) (I would still reward him, partially because he was trying to read the info and partially because rewarding by you will help him try to sort it out when info isn’t perfect :)) At 1:10 he jumps straight on the 2nd jump and turns to the new line on landing.
So, we need to change the info a little bit to clarify for him. The emphasis should be more on the rear cross diagonal – both moving along it towards the RC jump. and also staying on it a lot longer. The RC diagonal goes from the wing you are passing on the jump after the tunnel, to at least the center of the bar of the RC jump (2nd jump after the tunnel). Go in deeper to the tunnel, in this set up, so you don’t have to decelerate. As you are passing the wing of the jump after the tunnel, run alongside that rear cross diagonal towards center of the next bar, staying connected to him but NOT trying to cut in behind him. When he is almost at the RC jump and committing to it – then you can cut in behind him.
I think what is happening is that you are decelerating and turning to face the RC jump, which makes it look like a straight line – then trying to cut in way back (close to the jump after the tunnel) – so it is causing some questions.
Let me know if that makes sense!On the mini pinny with the distraction – he definitely struggled to to ignore the distraction, so keep using physical cues (like the shoulder turns) to help him out. I think he also needs a verbal cue to know when he is supposed to go to the distraction – he got praised but wasn’t entirely sure, so a “get it” cue of some sort will help clarify that – particularly because I don’t think this treat dispenser beeps at all. The turns and verbals will all be solid as soon as he has more understanding and practice on when to ignore the device, and when to go to it.
Nice work! Enjoy the rest of the weekend!!
Tracy
