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Hi there!
These all went well – good job with the mechanics and she was all on board with offering the wing wrapping 🙂 Your cookie placement/rewards were strong throughout, I think the early ones and the late ones were good! Most of all, she was driving in and out of the cues – to your hand then away from you hand, which is exactly what we want. Nice!!!!!!!! You can also use a toy or a ball instead of treats, or an empty hand to draw her in (cookie in the other hand).
Well done!
TracyPerfect! Aaron’s method is turning out a lot of seriously amazing flyball dogs! He is an expert dog trainer, I knew him a while back in agility when I spent more time in Canada, and it has been fun to see him again in flyball. He bred my BorderStaffy.
I’m totally looking forward to MP 3, this group is amazing! MaxPup class of 2019 is turning into some seriously amazing agility dogs, and I have better training ideas this year. The MaxPup Class Of 2020 is going to be fabulous!!!
TI totally agree, you two are becoming a fabulous team!!! I’m honored to be able to watch him grow up 🙂
Hi there!
Yay for the RDW training! And yes, if you are using the mat training for the flyball box turn, I agree that it needs to look pretty different. But we do mark similar things – back feets even though the rest of the body is different. On the video, reps 1 & 2 were clicked for front feet so she nailed rep 3 as front feet… but didn’t get clicked. The next reps had a bit more confusion because of that but then you got several rear feet clicks in a row so the session ended up strong. So for the RDW, you can stare at the mat to obsess on rear feet only, then either call her back to you around the mat (not over it) for a tug toy moment, then reset & restart, or let her play a bit of back-and-forth and reward good hits as she is coming towards you. The back and forth over the mat is a fun element (I clicked her rear feet on the mat even when she was coming towards me, either with a clicker in my hand to reward near me or with the MM and she went back to it) but I didn’t use a mat in flyball for the box turn (only used it for the RDW).wrap blinds:
these are hard, they feel so weird at first LOL! Everyone wants to do them as spins which is what you did on the 1st rep. But then you got it nicely! It helps that her commitment is really strong so you can turn away and do the blind. As you got more comfortable, you started doing the blinds earlier. My favorite was at :53ish, when you started it just as she was arriving at the wing. You can even start them sooner, when she is one stride from the wing (throw a reward back to her at the wing if she questions commitment). The earlier you start, the better her turn was and also the sooner you can leave for the next line 🙂Slice blinds: going nicely too! Nice emphasis on your exit line connection too, she could immediately read the blinds. As with the wrap blinds – as you gain more and more comfort, you can push the timing up to start the blind as early as one stride before the wing. You were starting it as she was maybe halfway around the wing. Her commitment looks really solid, so I bet starting sooner will be easy (motion supports commitment on these) but you can also throw rewards back to her at the wing if she asks any questions.
Really nice work on these!!
Tracy
Hi!
Shaping sessions can go on for a while when the dog is doing all the work, so remember to set a timer so you can keep it to 2 or 3 minutes. Or limit the number of treats you bring to the session so you end it when there are no more cookies (maybe 20 treats). This was a 5 minute session, but I didn’t get the sense that it went on too long – he didn’t get tired or give up. So throwing in a longer session sometimes seems to be just fine with him, during these “thinking” games where he has to solve the puzzle to get the treats.Sitting directly in front of the plank (giving him just enough room to get on the board) will smooth him out and straighten him out on the plank. He doesn’t need to play this with you off to the side – I think your position was why he was a bit sideways. And being in front of the plank will also help him realize you want the plank – off to the side leaves too many options. Also, try not to help him out with verbals or hand motions – that will direct his focus to things you don’t want his focus, so be quiet and stationary (so hard, I know!! LOL!)
And he did a nice job sorting it out – He was definitely happy to get the target & cookies going, so he really was able to think about where to put his hind end and front feet , even with you off to the side. Good boy!!!! He persevered all the way through the session and was a super clever boy!
Good job getting some toy play between reps! Not so easy with all the food right there but it went really well. Nice work!
T
Yay! You are getting it! Nice! On the 2nd and 3rd reps, you started the blind really early (before he got to the wing) and that made it work really nicely. You were pretty late on the 1st rep (you made sure he was all the way around before starting it) so it wasn’t as smooth. Keep on with your mechanics of the 2nd and 3rd rep – trust his commitment so you can start nice and early 🙂
T
Hi! The footwork on the wrap and on the slice looked really good. Think about sending and running away more rather than staying near the wing. On the blind, you run towards the wing then directly away from it (back to where you started). This is what you were doing, it looked good! On the slices, you can show the difference by running away on a line that is parallel to the wing, to create the letter “L” with your running path. On your slices here, you were a bit too much like a wrap.
Nice emphasis on connecting on the exit line!!
And nice job getting it done with ChiChi, she will for sure let you know if you were wrong haha!T
Hi!
He did well targeting the mat! He isn’t quite sure about the MM, as you mentioned, so it was not exactly as reward for him. So since Sue lent it to you (thanks, Sue!!!), you can work it separately from the mat – just get him eating from the MM without it moving (I toss treats into it for a while til the dog isn’t afraid of the device) then add the churning wheel sound with high value food, then eventually the bee;ing sound. He is really very food driven so I bet he gets happy with it really fast!
But no need to work on shaping anything with it til he flies to it when he hears it – in this session, he was offering lots on the mat but wasn’t going to the MM for reward, so the mat behavior deteriorated. Keep them separate for now til he thinks the MM is a magical, amazing thing 🙂T
Hi there! Nice commitment to the wing here! I think we can make the whole thing more revved up – you can start with your hand in his collar, a bit of ready ready ready… then let go, cue the around with verbal and step. And when he is at the wing – take off and run run run 🙂 You were a bit too stationary so he was not driving. Running to get him to chase you for the reward helps with the commitment and makes it super fun – especially when using food rewards.
Tracy
Hi! He did really well on this pill bug! He checked all the boxes: ran without jumping up, ran fast, stayed on the side you wanted. Nice! You can reward across the body (rather than from the dog-side hand) to added connection but overall, really nice!
Hi there!
On the first video, chase da momma with blind crosses: she was fast and really seemed to read the blinds beautifully. Yay!
On the pill bugs, she was doing well here too – you can start to fade the highly obvious toy and just keep your dog-side arm back and give great connection. You can then present the toy and drag it or throw it as a reward to keep the toy engaging – I think she did really well going back and forth from food to toys, and if the toy is dragging or flying, she will be even more excited to engage with it 🙂On the wing wraps – she is definitely building value and offering lots – terrific! You can now start to call her back (and reward) to reset between reps – I think sometimes she isn’t sure of where the cookie went or what to do next so you can totally clarify that with a reset/restart for each rep. This is especially important as you add the backwards wraps. She got hesitant because she wasn’t sure of when to start & stop, but that is an easy fix with resetting and restarting her.
For verbals – what are your wraps verbals? Use those on these, the value is in place and she is ready. You were using break or go, and those aren’t as applicable as the wrap verbal(s). For example, when you were doing the 360 wraps (big countermotion) you can send ehr to the wing with a directional verbal rather than break (she isn’t in a stay and also break doesn’t give much info about what to do at the wing).
She did really well with the 360 wraps! Those are the hardest ones! You had good connection and good treat placement, which really helped.
Try to never ever say ‘oops’ to this dog… she really deflates. For example at 2:05, you tossed a cookie, she got it, but didn’t finish the wrap (she doesn’t have to finish it after a reward), you ‘oops’ed her… she was all like, “huh??” and it took a while to get her lined up again. I don’t think you realize you are using oops but it marks that something is wrong – and something totally wasn’t wrong and even if it is, just call her and reset happily, like you did when she was wanting to offer the wing before you were ready.
I think she had some trouble seeing all of the thrown treats, so maybe try something bigger or more obvious like a Charley Bear or white cheese? The timing and placement were really good so it was just a visibility matter.
Overall, she is doing great on her wing wraps, pill bugs and blinds! Nice job!Tracy
Hi there!
The tight blinds on the wing are going well! I think the slices towards the end were easier than the wraps but the wraps are off to a good start too! And yay for using your verbals 🙂 Starting a bit further away and leading out less will give you more motion coming into it, which will help him a lot in terms of committing especially to the wraps. You can also use the wing instead of the wingless, to give a bigger visual. And better commitment will help you turn sooner – right now your timing was fine because he needed to commit but as you add more motion, he will commit sooner and then you can turn before he reaches the wing.
Nice connection and rewarding on the exits too!Box & MM session: great job clicking for hind end! You can incorporate reset cookies into these sessions, so you can get more of a ‘start now’ and less wandering into it from him. So you can line him up next to you, gently hold his collar, get him stoked (ready ready ready!) then let go – you click for hind end in the box, he gets the prize, you call him back for a cookie, reset him, and do another rep. That will get a little more giddy up into the behavior, and you can send from different angles as well – the reset cookie will allow you to move to different positions.
You can also turn the box over at this point so it is a little raised, making it a bit more of a challenge because he has to step into it more.
RC on the wing – nothing wrong with luring here 🙂 The hand signal for this cue can always look like there is a cookie in it, so you can have a cookie in it for a while 🙂 He was happy to turn to the wing, but he was not all that excited about driving into your hand – that is pretty normal 🙂 My Voodoo did the same thing 🙂 So, we can get him really excited to come to your hand (so you can then set him up to turn around the wing) but mixing in rewarding from your hand when he arrives, and also throwing the cookie straight back behind you when he gets to your hand (or a ball, or whatever her likes). That will put some value on driving hard to your hand even when the wing in there, because that wing has some nice value now. And, to keep things exciting, I really liked your cookie dance break at about 1:30! He isn’t ready for toys in the picture with all the food yet, but that dance party got him pumped up (rather than getting into a cookie sleepy moment) and that is exactly what the toy play is intended to accomplish. Nice!!!
Well done!!
TracyGood morning!
Lots of good stuff here!
BC on the flat – overall looking really good! A couple of ideas to help prep for when it goes into sequences –
A smaller detail, but it can become really important – I would put the cookie toss away on a verbal get it cue, to give a permission to leave to get it. Otherwise, tossing or putting down toys/treats is not the cue to get them. I couldn’t hear if you were saying anything but it sounded quiet 🙂
The single blinds are looking great, nice attention to the detail of connection & how to reward!! That opens up the connection so nicely. When you do the double blinds, which simulate running a course, run with your arms back the whole time and act like you have a reward in each hand – mainly so the connection on the first blind can be as good as the connection on the 2nd blind (or on the single blinds). Here on the video, on the first blind with the non-toy hand (dog-side shoulder) your shoulders are closed forward (like at 1:33) so even though your head is turned, the forward shoulder will block her being able to see it and she won’t pick up that blind. Running with the arms back behind you and making the big cross-body connection (as if you are going to reward, even when you don’t) will help make very clearly connections.RC on the wing – looking good too! 2 little tweaks –
make sure you present the cue (magic cookie hand extended towards her) before you release her, otherwise the cue gets muddied and she might think you want a wing wrap rather than the RC.also be sure that the hand/foot draw a line straight back then turn her away, rather than towards the wing and turn away simultaneously, which is what you were beginning to do in the reps here. That can muddy the cue by cueing the jump before she is turned, so it might end up looking like a throw back (rotated wrap cue) rather than the lap turn/RC on the flat cue. She might also start to anticipate and take the jump on a slice, which we don’t want, so you can give a cookie from your hand before turning her away.
BCs on the wing – starting on your right, looks really good! You can start her further away, which will give you more time to start them sooner so you are starting them before she gets to the wing – which gives you more time to finish them and reconnect before she zips around the wing 🙂
For whatever reason, starting on your left is less comfy for you, so keep working the mechanics like you did until it becomes more second nature – I always tell myself to turn away from the dog, or you can try to pick a spot in the correct direction to turn towards to help your muscle memory get happy with it 🙂
Nice work here!!!
Tracy
Hi! You can totally adapt it! And take your time working through it – the MaxPup 3 stuff is probably fine for 9 and 10 months old. The MaxPup 4 will be too advanced for 9 or 10 months but by the time we get to it, the pup might be ready!
TracyGood morning! You function beautifully after being awake for 24 hours! And yes, I agree that flyball is a great foundation for a well-rounded sports dog (and helps some life skills as well, such as recall to me no matter what craziness is happening around you or how many balls are on the ground LOL!!)
The video looked good – nice job with the mechanics of turning her away and also the balancing in the step backs. She sometimes anticipated and did a wrap rather than the rear cross, but that had 2 causes – one, lack of patience on her part LOL! She was moving before released so was not yet seeing the come-to-hand element of the cue. Now that she has so much value for the wing, you can mix in setting her up further back in a stay and tossing rewards back to her for the stay element (patience is a virtue hahaha)
Second, on a couple of reps, you were stepping to the wing (mot straight back) as you were drawing her in and she in those moments was also anticipating a bit. You can help the hand override legs in that moment by mixing in rewards for coming to your hand, or have her come to your hand and reward straight back by tossing the treat out back behind you for driving to you – that can help reduce the anticipation and build value for the hand cue of ‘come in’ to balance out the great love of the wing.
Nice job!!!!
Tracy
