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Good morning!
Super nice teeter offering from Miss Beat here! She was very confident about moving that board!
I was going to suggest adding in tugging and then you did đ Yay! It made the mechanics a little harder because that is what arousal does to mechanics in adolescence. But that is exactly why we need to add arousal. She was great about sorting it out! You can keep moving forward with the bang game by moving yourself off to the side and letting her jump into position from the side (but still at the very bottom of the board).
I notice she seems to pay attention to bird noises so you can probably find bird noise videos on YouTube to play in the background to help her brain not feel the need to attend to the noises
>Sorta mind blowing that sheâs Speedstakes legal in a week. >
YeahâŚ. The age rules in dog sports are just, well, ridiculous. They can be even younger to compete in other sports and that is just nuts. You are doing a good job of keeping your eye on the long term goals and not pushing her too fast.
>Planning to do some NFC at 12â in October. >
Fun! That will be a blast!
>There are so many jump skills to train these days on low jumps that it seems to take a really long time to feel âreadyâ for full height! >
Yes for sure. I have taken a dual approach to it with my youngsters: the skills they will use first can go to full height first. So anything they might see on Novice Speedstakes gets prioritized for raising the bars. And anything they might see in Masters Series? Well, I take my time raising the bars there. And also, I donât enter baby dogs in Masters Series – as you said, there is just SO MUCH they need to know and that takes time.
>And then of course gotta teach obstacles. >
Yes, those other obstacles⌠but thanks to NFC/FEO, those obstacles can be incorporated into trials individually rather than having to have them all âfinishedâ.
> Iâm determined not to have a third dog in a row that canât do other obstacles passably!>
She is going to have amazing obstacle skills! It is exciting!!
> Iâm planning to sign up for max pup 4 soon!>
Yay! I am excited to be able to keep seeing her develop – gotta love the merle pointy dogs!!!
Have fun! Thanks for all the great work here in MaxPup 3!
Tracy
Hi!
>The whole session was about 4 mins. Iâm playing for a long time. I gave you the last two sessions with the thing to clamber on. And cut out my playing>
I watched the whole session because I like to see the beginning and also the in-between moments. I thought it went great!!
For games that are easier and in a less distracting area, a longer session is perfectly fine as long as you break it up with play like you did here. Harder sessions should still be shorter.
You had a really good setup to have the stool there to put stuff on, and a narrow hallway to limit options so you can get good offering. The mat also provides good footing. The setup/plan really contributed to the overall success here.
He did really well getting right back onto the toy even in the cookie spot! Yay! Then nice transition back to the object. He was easily able to offer front feet on it, but it was probably too small to offer all 4 feet or back feet. So for the next session, you can add a 2nd object next to it on the ground. That can create a big enough playing field that he can get all 4 feet on something very easily.
Using 2 objects might be harder for picking up and putting them down, so you can have them pre-set on the ground and start the session with you tugging several feet away. Then as you get the toy back and switch to treats, you can move towards the objects (which is also a cue to him to begin offering).
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
Thanks for reposting it, I must have scrolled right past it, sorry!!!
Wow, it was really windy!!! I agree, he coped really well.
He did really well here with the engagement too! The great outdoors has a lot of distraction and that wind can be very distracting, but he was fully engaged. Yay! Super! And I think he had a lot of fun too đ He seems to enjoy chasing you đ
Yes, you can decelerate a step or two sooner – because he is so speedy, you can start your decel as soon as you see him take one step towards you. That will show it to him on time, and then he will be more ready to pivot with you when you turn.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>She had no interest with the novel object. >
Perfect! We know her brain is aware of it so overall it was the ideal object and she did great. You can keep changing the novel-neutral objects, and use different simple games to incorporate them into.
>The problem I had is using a toy whee we n she came back to me- she just wasnât interested. So I switched to food. >
On the first video, you said something like âyou arenât going to tug when food is involvedâ and that seems to be correct for now đ She was not able to interact with the toy when there was food in the other hand. So it was smart to switch to food, because the goal of the session was to begin the stealth self-control games.
>Iâm not a very animated person and she was just indifferent with the toy.>
It had nothing to do with you being animated or not – I thought you were lovely here, trying to get her to play! The question was really more that the food is very high in value and so she was super focused on that. We can work on that separately, because we know she *does* like the toy too! A couple of ideas for you:
– tie that toy to another toy so it ends up being 5 or 6 feet long. That way when you want her to play with it, you can really swoosh it around for her to chase and grab. That will be very exciting!
– when asking for tugging, donât have treats in your hand, she is not quite ready for that yet (this is normal, most puppies canât tug when the momma has a handful of treats at this age :)) In a session like this where the kitchen counter is right there, you can have a small bowl of boring treats on the counter, so your hands are empty. See if she can tug with the treats on the counter. If she canât, move further away, while swinging the toy around so she can chase it.
We often separate food from toys at this early stage, but either having the toy play happen as far from where the food is as possible. Or, by using one or the other for now: for cookie recalls, cookies only. For toy races, toys only. And eventually we can merge the toys and cookies together.
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
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Tracy
Good morning!
He is so fun to watch, it looks like he brings such joy and zest to everything he tries.The session went really well! Very nice transitions from the toy to the treat to the green object. He was happy to put his front feet on it and you got some accidental back feet on it too. We can get his back feet stepping up onto it by creating a bigger field for him to move around on – is there a 2nd similar object you can add so he has 2 things to offer behavior on?
It will probably be too hard in terms of mechanics to have to put 2 big objects down/pick them back up, so you can have them already down and do the toy play a few feet away. Doing it outside can give you more room, if the weather and the deer cooperate. Then you can transition from the toy to treats while moving towards the objects – and you can start to reward intentional back foot offering.
>other than him knocking his prop onto his head and then slippingâI will stay further from the carpetâs edge next session. >
He seemed a little surprised when it attacked him đ You handled that really well with continuing the play even after the green thing attacked him LOL! So even though it was unplanned, it was actually a great resilience moment: bouncing back from something unexpected. Yay!
Great job here!
Tracy
That was pretty funny – it was like he had bubble gum LOL!!!
Another way to look at it though: the chewy or sticky treats might take longer to ingest so you can’t rapidly do another rep… but the length of time interacting with it and the high value can actually do a whole lot in building the love for moving/noisy things! I train all of my teeter work with cream cheese and stuff like that – it takes longer to eat but it makes a bigger impact than treats that can be eaten faster.
T
Good morning! These games went really well!
For the small discs, to encourage hind end – it looks like there are 2 discs so you can put them side-by-side and not on top of each other. He is not likely at this stage to be able to compress himself small enough to get all 4 feet on the small disc.
The large disc was indeed hard!! You saw him do it and then do the big shake off. This is really challenging, so you did very few reps on it, which was good. The upside down bosu ball is also very hard but he did really well getting on it!
You can use all of these to form a big play area: have the 2 small discs, big disc, and upside down bosu all next to each other. Then reward him for strolling around on top of them đIn the 2nd video:
It looks like he has seen these objects before and he knew that offering getting on them would pay with cookies đ He got all 4 feet on the small wobble board and strolled across that little teeter really well. I think both of those objects had just enough noise that he was thinking about the noise & movement.The cookie sheet did introduce the metallic noise he would encounter on a teeter (or during tap dancing haha) and he did well!All of these little obstacles can also go into the big play area I suggested above đ
He appeared to have no issues with the sound or movement, which is great. We donât re-visit them as lot here as part of the curriculum, but you will definitely want to put it on your calendar to play on these things once a week or so. That way he maintains his confidence all the way through adolescence đ
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>This weeks games are going to be hard since they all require getting up on something. Iâll work on it more later today.>
Watching her blossom this week – I bet she starts goat-ing around on everything and then you wonât be able to keep her off things LOL!!!! Start with easy low stuff and then make little piles for her to climb on.
If she and Sprite are doing well together, you can even use social learning: make a little pile or walkway of stuff and have Sprite walk around on it, rewarding her. Dot will be in the session too, with the freedom to follow along – and you can reward Dot when she offers to play along too but getting on the stuff, even if it is one foot getting on it. Social learning is super useful to get this stuff going.
On the fold it in game video:
She did SUPER!!!!!
Look at her look directly at the bowl when you cued it! Wow! On both sides! That is really great!!!
>Thereâs a big lag between reps trying to get everything set up.>
Yes, but that is fine and you were quick. You got her to tug during the in-between moments and part of the self-control we teach is for the puppy to let us adjust the set up between reps. We canât always clean loop stuff like this, so the pups learn to let us make adjustments while they wait sorta patiently or while they play tug.
When you changed sides, you lined her up at your side with a cookie then took her collar, and I think that went better than the first side where you needed a longer arm to hold her because she was pretty far away. Plus, being closer stabilized her more: when she was further away on your left, she was a bit wiggly trying to go for the bowl before you released her. When she was closer to you on your right, she didnât seem to do that at all – but still drove to the bowl when released.
The bowl being visible is a distraction for the tugging but that is fine – and she did great tugging when the bowl was on the ground when she was on your right! Yay!
You can revisit this game and keep progressively working the bowl around until the self-control element is harder with the bowl being visible/accessible without having to go around the cone. Bear in mind that her brain is very young đ so she might be a bit impulsive about it, but that is fine – tiny increments will help build the behavior.
Great job!!
TracyGood morning! These games are going well, she is ready for week 2 games for sure.
Goat games:
Putting the cot down like that really enhances it, so she was immediately interested (yay!) and got right on it (double yay!) and you were able to get a reward in immediately (triple yay!!). She got her hind end right up on it – fantastic! And she was offering a stay by the end of the session.And great job using food rewards and tugging in this session: we want to be asking for simple mechanics when she is in a higher arousal state because it really sets her up to be able to use her body well when she is in a higher arousal state (dog sports!)
Stealth self-control session:
Cookie toss-recalls went great. She perhaps thought it was the easiest game ever LOLWhen you added the novel-neutral object:
Just like how the cot visible moving into position enhanced it and got immediate interaction⌠moving the little guitar into position enhanced it and got immediate engagement LOL!!! She was so funny, I thought she was going to play a tune.So a different way to set this up would be to have it already on the ground or off to the side and then bring her into the room and start the game. She was able to get back into the game really well, but it is possible based on how the object moved into position that she thought you wanted her to interact with it.
Prop sends:
>I donât think we did much better than last time, sigh.>
It was totally better! She hit the prop on out (all?) of the reps here. The difference was in how far away you were from it:
She showed the strong value when you were up close to it! Yay! When you added the send: this is definitely better! Is it hard for her to ignore your hand? Yes, there is a whole lot of cookie history there đ but she did really well. I think the distance got a little too big too quickly – the squares on the floor help us measure it!
When you were rewarding offering, you were one square away – easy peasy!
When you started sending, the more successful reps were 2 squares away
(:45, :56 and 1:31 for example)When you moved to 3 squares away, she still went to the prop but the hits were not as crisp and she was looking at you more. But she did hit the prop!
So for now, stick a little more into the 1 or 2 square range (probably 2-4 feet). We will build up more distance later on in the progression.
Great job on these!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Not a great training session this morning for either of us.â¨Even though we took a break between each exercise with some free tine and some crate time,it was too much for a 3rd exercise.>
The weird thing about dog training is that the pups are often learning just fine in these sessions that we feel are not so great. Latent learning is amazing! So we wonât really know the outcome of these sessions until you try the game again in a day or two.
But also, having watched all 3 videos: these were good sessions! One little tweak here and there will make them feel better in the moment, but overall they were strong and she did great!
>also, we usually train in the late afternoon/evening because of the heat. I wonder if having a morning nap first would have helped>
That is entirely possible – I believe dogs have circadian rhythms too! But it is fine to mix up training times because it begins to simulate real life agility which happens WAY TOO EARLY in the morning LOL!!
Looking at the videos:
She had a little trouble at the beginning of the prop video – she was engaged but the behavior was not as crisp, not quite hitting the prop. If you watch the first part of video 1 with your eyes closed and ears only⌠it is possible the background noise was creating the challenge – clanging bowl, upset dog. She was able to do stuff but it was not as crisp as it was without the noise distraction.
You made an excellent adjustment and the next part was pretty quiet (just normal outdoor distractions). She did well on the sideways sending when the noise in the background was not there!
So it is entirely possible that even though she did not look at or move towards the noise distraction, her brain was processing it as a priority over the mechanics of hitting the prop (we do know that puppy brains will do that).
Part of the sends to the props is a self-control element, in terms of leaving the toy and treats to hit this random prop. She did really well!
Stealth self-control:
I think the hardest part was finding the treats in the grass đ But that is a great way to start this game! She was getting the idea really well! Adding the novel-neutral item went perfectly: she didnât seem to pay any real attention to it (but we know her brain was processing it!). The only time she interacted with it was when she didnât see the cookie toss and thought it was behind the object. But overall, a great session. You can use other novel-neutral objects and you play different games as long as they are easy to and fun fun fun đ
Goat tricks: I donât think it was too much to try this and we got good info from her!
She was happy to get onto the mat but had some trouble getting back into tugging. My guess is that the toy needed to move more and not be as close to where all the good cookie smells were. There were probably also residual cookie smells from the previous session even though it was not as recent (dog noses are amazing). It would have been interesting to see how she did with the toy if you were standing and if you moved to a different spot, away from the clouds of cookie scent (poor starving Sazerac hahahaha). That is something to try in the next session!So overall: these were good, useful sessions! You both did really well đ
â¨Tracy
Good morning!
>Lennan unfortunately needed many trips to the rehab vet over the last 4 months. Sometimes we have to go to the downstairs section and Lennan thinks the elevator is very scary so I have previously requested to take the stairs. His appointments earlier on were in the upstairs section but while we were there I requested if I could take Aelfraed on the elevator and the staff were happy to help.>
Wow, that is a really cool story!!! I hope Lennan is feeling better too and gets back to playing soon!
Combining the collar hold with driving to the toy was great fun! The transition at :42 was spot on lovely: play play play collar throw play play play đ Same at 1:43 and 1:51 (the last rep) – super! And you did a great job of moving yourself into position rather than moving him by the collar.
He also did well with the cookies! The cookie moments might be something that you only get 1 or 2 reps of in before going back to play, because he starts to think about the collar holds more. He does best with you reaching for him when it is embedded in a game and he doesnât think about it at all LOL!!
He sometimes sees to lose his grip on the toy when it moves back and forth quickly – he is probably getting a whole mouthful of new teeth đ You can see how he does in terms ofkeepign his grip on it if, after he grabs it, you move it back and forth less and let him pull back on it more. It is a fine line, figuring out how to play tug with puppies – he likes the chase element but also wants to grab/pull.
Pop send video: I agree, he was very pumped up! He did well here and really drove to the prop. SUPER! And he drove nicely even when he was more pumped up from tugging and the ready game (and from being outdoors). He seemed to be slightly stronger on your left side? Perhaps it is a side preference for turning to his right, or a learning history of being on your left more? But the difference was very subtle.
He did bark a bit but I think it was more of a âwoohoo!â bark and not frustration.Since this went so well, you can re-visit the sideways and backwards sending outside when you have a moment. His understanding here already sets him up for the next step in the game, so re-visiting it does not need to be a high priority for now.
Great job!!
TracyHi!
> Not sure why the first direction was so hard for her. I felt like the angle and everything was about the same for both sides, but first side I had to open it more, second direction I was able to add challenge and close it up.>
I think the first side was a right turn coming out of the tunnel (right to left on the serp) – and that right turn was HARD to make when she was going really fast from the tunnel. She was not really expecting it, so a strong name call before she enters will help lock her onto the handling after the tunnel (it is not really enough of a turn to use a directional, but a loud BEAT and maybe her middle name too before she enters the tunnel will help direct her focus to the handling at the jump). Angling the jump helped but jumping the slice to her right was hard! The big help you gave her at 1:02 was great to get her to take the jump – and excellent reward placement there too, throwing the toy towards the next jump because you were using a serp cue. The last rep on that side looked great!!!
Plus, she might have been VERY excited to train and if the right turn on the tunnel exit was the very first thing… yep, she needed very strong tunnel exit cues because she was on fire and running fast fast fast đ
>. Left lead is her stronger side, and I figured having to switch from left TO right lead (second direction) would be harder since itâs going to the harder side, but I guess not for her?>
She said going from the left turn on the tunnel exit on the other side to the right turn to the last jump was indeed easier. YAY!! And your handling was really helpful to get that right lead shift. You got too much shift to the right at 1:50 with a big outside arm cue, but the other reps were clear serp handling and she did great!
Great job here! I am interested to know how she does exiting the tunnel at top speed to the right, with you having called her a lot before she went in!
Tracy
Oops, I left out the best part! The league at Close Enough is NOT the AKC League. It is independent – so Max does not need to be neutered. My mixes run at league there, and the boys are intact đ Plus, you can use toys and food in the ring, repeat stuff to train – it is a really lovely supportive place.
> I would take a discrimination class if you offered one (I know you are busy).>
That is a great idea! Maybe that can be the ‘winter camp’ this year!!!
T
