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Good morning!
>Jump Set Point, Take 2. Jumps are a little more than 7′ apart (2 Great Mats), bars at 6″….might be a little long? >
I think 7 feet will be the sweet spot! 7 feet has been the right spot for the other sport-sized Berners who come through MaxPup, and she looks to be fitting that too 🙂
>We need to do the foundation work with the moving toy, so I went to a food bowl to see if that helped her get her head down. >
Letting her see you put the cookie on the food bowl definitely helped her look at the target. And by extension, the form was already better!!
She is stepping in to jump 1 well and organizing for jump 2 well. My only suggestion is that the food target is too close for now, causing her to have to stop all that momentum very suddenly. That causes her butt to go a little high over 2 (you can see it more clearly on the 2nd side). So, for the stationary target, put it another 10 feet away so she can power over jump 2, take another powerful stride, then begin to decel. Her stay is looking great!And you can also add the moving target by attaching a food holder to a leash or line (maybe punch a hole in a plastic container?) and after releasing her, slowly drag it forward. That can help develop the skill as you also build up holding the stay while the reward is in motion before the release.
>Also, did a few reps on the other side just to see if there was any difference and doing both sides is a habit that I need to work at.>
At :57 (first rep on the other side) she was a tiny bit too far from bar 1 and she tapped before takeoff.
She sorted it better on the next rep but I liked her position relative to jump 1 on the last rep the best – super nice step in! The target was a little too close on this side too, so you can see her hind end getting higher than her shoulders on jump 2. Moving the target further away will help that go away.And since she is 14 months old, we can start raising the height of bar 2 a little bit! Maybe 8 inches on the next session? She looks ready.
Looking at the Wind In Your Hair session: she was GREAT! On that first rep, she looked at you for a moment as if saying “what are we doing?” Then she saw the jump and BOOM! Game on. She found the jump very easily even without you needing to run hard.
So for the next session, you can expand the distance, add the wrap and go verbals… and add your running. I bet she loves it!!!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! This was a really strong session!! He is showing a lot of understanding of the cues, and he is FAST. I love it! Super fun!
>I’m struggling with leaving a toy on the ground>
Yes – he was having trouble ignoring it for sure. You can use a more boring target, like an empty bowl or big flat plastic lid? That can be a visual aid for him without being as exciting as the toy.
But also, your toy throws here were pretty great. The throws were timely and they were all in the right spot… so in the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ category, maybe we just continue having you throw the toy on these games 🙂 There will be proofing games coming that can help him come in to take the jump no matter what is out past it, so we don’t need to worry about a toy on the ground for now.
> plus Max jumps up and tries to grab the toy out of my hand. I’m always telling him no no no and I don’t want to do that. I’ll take any tips you have>
It is kind of a Papillon thing to bounce off of us as we set up to start, especially when he have a toy in our hand 🙂 And Camper pups do it too 🙂 I take it as a “Let’s gooooooo” sign up excitement, but it can be annoying sometimes LOL and I don’t want the pups to get hurt.
So rather than tell him to stop doing to or the no no no (I have tried it, that doesn’t work haha), here are a couple of ideas to help redirect hi to behavior we like better:
You can scrunch the toy up in your hand so it is harder to grab at, which theoretically should make him less interested in grabbing it. And, you can give him something else to do as he waits for you to set up. Waiting on a dog bed or cot nearby can give him rewardable work which is far better than bouncing off you or grabbing for the toy. Then when you are ready, you can call him into the rep.On the video: super super nice reps when you were throwing the toy. He found the jump (even when it was a backside!) and came in to take it. Your cues (position on the jump, serp shoulders with arm back, verbal call) were spot on, followed by great toy throws.
As the advanced level with the backside gets harder, you can angle the jump a tiny bit so the bar is facing him more as he approaches the backside, if you feel he needs help finding it as the distance increases.He is definitely paying attention to the handling cues, doing everything correct when you cued it (except for when the toy was on the ground). And when you changed sides to start him on your right side, you accidentally cued him to come in the gap between the wing and jump – at :49 and 1:22, you were rotated towards him (like a FC) as he came round the start wing so he was correct to come through the gap. He was paying attention, good dog!!!!! That is totally rewardable because it was a handler blooper.
Compare to :54 and 1:28 as he came around the start wing: you were facing the line to the jump and he knew to stay out on the line. Perfect for both of you!
And adding the FC at 1:09 was great too. Really lovely session – fast, fun, and accurate!
Great job!
TracyThis is looking great too! You are on your way to her being a 2-sport superstar!
She is committed really well to the wings and tunnel, including the FCs and the race track. My only suggestion for the handling here is that as you finish the FC and head to the tunnel, using more eye contact and less dog-side-arm will get a tighter turn. She was a little wide because as she came around the wing, your arm was parallel to your side which blocks connection so she drifted a bit to find the line.
Instead, you can exit the FC the dog-side arm pointing back to her nose, extended to her and kind of perpendicular to your body – that way she will see your eyes and front of your shoulders. That will bring her in nice and tight!
Since she moves fast, you can tuck the toy into a pocket (like the front of your hoodie) or under your shirt. The reward doesn’t have to be immediate here so it might be easier to have your hands free and not have to transfer the toy from hand to hand.
You can also add more distance between the tunnel and wings, to let her really run run run! And hopefully the weather is good so you can take it all outside.
Great job here!!!
Tracy
Good morning! I am really happy with how this looks! Remind me how old she is, so we can decide about bar height?
One suggestion for jump stuff and for agility handling stuff: you can wrap her feet flyball-style when working on turf. I have found that my BWs and whippets have a harder time gripping turf, and they also sometimes shred their feet on turf… so wrapping them makes a huge difference.
And her tugging at the end looks great – you can let her ‘run through’ the toy by you letting go of it just as she grabs it, to protect her neck from cranking around as she stops with it. Then you can have her retrieve it to you, which builds that skill too!
Great job 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
>But this is clearly not enough because even after several years of trying and being open to training them, I am NOT getting better with verbals and it’s been very frustrating. >
Totally agree that it can be frustrating!! And the science behind learning/memory says that walking and saying the verbals quietly will not be that effective, so I have changed the practice process to try to fit what the science tells us:
>With the movements I feel like I can picture that easier in my head and then just DO it (even when I was still learning them), but the words this really hasn’t been the case. I feel like I need to make the pairing a bit more automatic- do the movement AND the words>
State dependent memory for the win! If we learn/rehearse in the state closest to what we are going to be in when we need to recall/use the what we have rehearsed, we are better able to do it. So running and doing the handling and saying the verbals as we would say them during an actual run has been incredibly effective for this. In the CAMP and MasterClass stuff, doing the walk throughs like this is a priority and it really helps. We run the course for real with connection, handling, verbals… without the dog. And video it! Then we run it with the dog – and video. Comparing videos tell us if we are on the right track.
Everyone (myself included) has a love/hate relationship with it. We HATE it because it is energy-expensive to run the sequence or course a few times without the dog. Exhausting on a full course! But we love it because it increases the success level for timing, verbals, connection. And then that becomes much more automatic and we can reproduce it easily at trials.
So definitely try it with the puppy sequences! It should be less exhausting to run without her, because the sequences are smaller 🙂
> (and make sure that the verbal comes BEFORE the physical cue from a cleanliness of training perspective?)>
Yes to this on the training exercises set up specifically for the verbals/mechanics. For the sequences? The verbal and physical cues might end up being relatively simultaneous and that is fine – don’t drive yourself crazy about verbal-then-physical on sequence work because then everything ends up late 🙂
Here is an example from a while back (edited more recently but I think this was from 2022)
> I like that this might serve a dual purpose to teach her to ignore words and cues not directed at her while I have her on a boundary or scatter feed while I do the walk through!>
Yes if she can hold the boundary. My dogs can hold the boundary when I half-ass it. But when I run it for real with my invisible dog? They always join me. Part of it is because done correctly, the cues are compelling and enticing. And part of it is that I have not put enough reinforcement into ignoring me that completely LOL so I leave them in a crate or in the house while I am doing it.
Let me know how it goes!
Tracy
Hi!
>Had to get creative about the pill bug setup, but I think this works.>
This was creative and it totally worked!
>That first one was funny too when she had no idea what the game was and went “WHEE! I’ll just send to this weird looking ginormous jump wing over here.”>
Ha! Yes, that did appear on her line so she was being good!
>I could feel when I wasn’t turned back far enough with my right arm on those where she cut behind me, totally my fault. (>
Yes, and it is all rewardable because she is following the cues she sees. I think extending your arm back to her (elbow locked, finger pointing to her cute nose) will open up the connection as you run. When your arm was more bent and at your side (like at :18 and :36), she had a hard time seeing where to be – she was sorting out if she should follow the motion (moving laterally to your left) or find your right side. When you had your arm further back, it was clearer to her (like at :49 and also later in the video, like at the end).
Getting her around the full circle was hard and that was where you got a bit of jumping up – she might have thought arriving at your side was what got the reinforcement, so staying with you as you continued was weird? You can slow down and reward sooner (a few steps after she gets to you) then vary the timing of the reward so that you can get more duration and she will keep moving with you with no questions.
Putting things together that the end looked really good! She did super nicely doing the side changes and going around the full setup!!!
Great job!
TracyGood morning! It looks like NJ is delivering some good weather as you get settled in! And he did really well here!
He was trying to be b overachiever and send himself, so a cookie reset and line up at your side for each rep made it easier to add challenge.
When changing your position, say the verbal 3 or 4 times while still holding him, then let go so he can process it before he moves.
He had trouble with the right turns away from you but easily did the right turns away from you (and right turns towards you).
So to get the right turn away, moving over to be more centered on that bar was very effective! It was still hard for him but he had really good success. You can start the next right-turn-away already in that position to re-establish success, then gradually make it harder and more centered.
He reset really well after an error when you brought him back to middle for a cookie. The provides useful info for him that the rep was not quite right, but he was going to get another try immediately and reward was still available. He did really well not get frustrated on a really hard skill session!
The tunnel turn game is going really well too! He just needed one more step to the wing on the very first rep, but then got it after that and ran the very smoothly and fast! His commitment is looking great! Your verbals were mostly spot on – I think you were getting them a little mixed around at the end but they were pretty perfect before then. And he was flying, super fast! Love it!
The Left/right verbals can be sooner – you were saying them as he was entering, so try to get the verbs going when he is still 5 or 6 feet before the entry (you can lay a line on the ground as a visual aid to anticipate when to say them). He was turning well because that was his natural line, so rehearsing earlier cues will help when the lines get crazier 🙂
The Go cues can also be earlier, at the 5 or 6 foot mark (you were saying them when he was in the tunnel). To help get the straight line the wing past the tunnel exit, earlier go cues will help but also you can send to the wing and tunnel from further away. That way, you can be ahead of him when he exits the tunnel and lay on the connection 🙂 When you had your arm pointing high or were not connected, he didn’t know where to be, specifically. You can see this at :36 as he exited, you were pointing forward/looking forward which blocks connection and turns your shoulders to the wing right next to you, so he curled in. On the last rep, you had low arms (yay!) but no connection, so he knew it was somewhere out there but was not sure where, exactly,
Turning your head towards him to make connection will set that line beautifully. You had that happening better at :55 and he went to the wing nicely! Yay!
He had one leap-at-your-head moment at :29, when you praised him for being a good boy. That is good to know (that praise is very stimulating) so yes, praise him… but be presenting a reward at the same time to avoid head-leaping. When you praised while pulling out a toy or treat on the other reps, he did not consider head-leaping. Looking ahead to his trial career: you can start teaching him to go find his leash as part of the praise, so he has something to do with his excitement when things go well 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! This session went really well, she had a ton of success. YAY!!
I will keep bugging you to say the right or left 3 or 4 times before letting her go to start moving on the easier rep – it is good mechanics to rehearse that will set you up for more good mechanics when things get harder.
She did really well from the neutral position – you had the verbals going then a little bit of body help (lean), which is good to help her be very successful! NICE!!!! You will be able to fade out the subtle physical help and she can get it on pure verbals.
>The collar holding wasn’t the norm>
Pulling back on the collar might be more of a habit than you realize (we all have these habits floating around in mechanics). It was happening a bit here too, causing her front feet to lift up off the ground when she was at your side. You were pulling back and bending your elbow which contributes to this, so keep your arm straight/elbow locked (you probably need to lean over a little) and don’t pull back – we don’t need her to pull forward all on this as it changes the weight shift. You can go to one finger holding the collar because that makes it harder to accidentally pull back and up.
She looks ready for you to add in having her turn away from you on the left and right verbals: you standing in front of one of the bars, and saying the word that sends her to the other side, versus saying the words that cues her to take the bar in front of you and turn away.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
He was a really good boy ignoring the neighbor dog!
>’m feeling good about his threshold and teamwork in these! He seems to be doing well? No screaming or throwing behaviors.>
I think he is doing great 🙂 And the teamwork has immediately improved – you two looked relaxed and like you are working together. You both have some space to breathe and reset in the session while he is noodling with the toy, which makes the session smoother and happier in general. I really love how he is getting more relaxed about the toy play. Note that after the last rep on the jumps, he tugged with you, took the toy to the side for a little play when you let go… but then stopped to watch you. Then he brought the toy to you when asked and lined up for the next rep. I mean, that is a small detail which makes a huge difference.
>I did 6’ between jumps and raised the second bar 4” on this one. I missed the note about moving the toy until after we did this session so I left it still again!>
I think he looks great here! The jumping coordination looks good and the stays look good (great job rewarding it at the end – it was a happy surprise and that is very motivating for dogs!)
So when you revisit this again, adding the moving target will be good and if he is happy with that, we raise the bar on jump 2 again (another 2 inches). We are adding more to this skill on Tuesday, which will add more variety too.Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
>You see things I never noticed. I did not see the extra small steps he was taking to keep his balance because he found it slippery.>
Video is really helpful because I can compare the different footings to his previous videos too!
>I see at the 1:17 mark as you said I did not give him enough of a verbal, or physical turning cue before the jump before. I did give him his verbal soft turn cue but my body overrode it. And he did take the line I showed him.>
With the big layering training we do, the dogs are generally trained to stay on the big line unless otherwise notified LOL!!! So it was a good off course moment 🙂 When there is a lot of forward motion, I have found that the brake arm helps me support the soft turn verbal when motion might send the dog long onto a big line.
> I was way too late as he did jump that in extension right to the tunnel! Would you suggest using a brake arm approaching 3 to help with collecting?>
Yes, that will help! And also, starting the cues sooner: no later than landing of 2. He has a nice big stride, so his decision on how to jump 3 is being made as he is landing from 2. So if you start the cues for 3 as he is in the air over 2, he will see them when he lands and have an easy time processing them.
>we have a workshop in a dirt floor horse arena and a fun trial on turf in a familiar venue. >
FUN!! I am jealous of all your fun trial opportunities, what a great thing for young dogs!
> Still getting his striding on his running AFrame, decided he didn’t need to run down today, jump from the red! 🤦♀️ >
He might have felt it was faster LOL!!! Ah, young dogs LOL!!!
> As you say, good one day, not so good the next, adolescent dog 🤷♀️. >
Right! Teenagers… LOL!! But I agree, he is totally fun and doing GREAT! Tracy
Good morning!
Sounds like things are moving forward really well (plus the weather is probably improving too, which helps with conditioning too!)>Harmony only found one area around the left shoulder that was sore. She believes it was just residual from the chiro appt.>
This is something to keep an eye on: residual soreness. He shouldn’t be sore from an adjustment 2 days later, so we want to keep an eye on if the adjustments are big adjustments (and why those would be needed) or if something else is happening. For now, it is just something to track: when the soreness is found, relative to agility or chiro, etc.
Keep me posted on how he does with the fitness stuff! Did they give you a calendar of how much to do each day? I found that always helped me not do too much or too little 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
>Venture only runs on grass at home or at this location for his weekend lesson. Due to rain, we haven’t been working in the yard. When we lowered the jumps to 12″, he stopped avoiding them. >
OK this is good then, making it sound more like the environment and less of a physical issue. You can keep bars at 12 til he is more comfortable, then put a few at 14” and gradually put all at 14”… then a few at 16”, working up to all at 16”.
>He is very distracted working outside at this location – couple of horses on one side of the fence and a husky dog that he would really like to play with in the back yard next door.>
That is definitely distracting, along with all the normal outdoor distractions. The plus side to this is that it should make tria environments seem easier!
>He saw the chiropractor just last week – right rear foot seemed sore (as I typed this, thinking might need an exam for this) and L1 was out – common in his line, joys of long backed dogs. I think I will also see if we can catch up with massage therapist this weekend to see if something is tight.>
Definitely follow up on that right rear to see if there is anything. Have you ever done skin-rolling with him? I have absolutely zero skills when it comes to massaging my dogs, so they have me do skin rolling. This is gently lifting the skin up and rolling down their back and sides, rolling the skin between my thumb and fingers. The dogs love it and it is a great warm up – plus I can feel where they are tight because it will feel literally tight (or even a bit crunchy!)
>Ven is running Preferred 12″ this weekend for his AKC debut. I chose that because I expect his attention to be split in a new place. Thinking I should keep him at 12″ for a few more trials – planning 2 ASCA trials and 2 AKC trials over the next couple months to gain experience running in trial environment and in new locations.>
I think this is a smart plan (and it is exactly what I do with my dogs too :)) And I left Hot Sauce in the 12” (rather than 16” regular) preferred division because it worked better for her brain and body.
Keep me posted on the weekend! Have fun!
Tracy
Hi!
>Yesterday we had a lesson that included running a course outside on grass. Venture was avoiding all the jumps set at 16″. >
Hmmm – to start figuring this out, what is his current 16″ experience including in new locations (or outdoors on grass?) How did he do on 12″ jumps?
>I haven’t found anything physically wrong with him
Out of curiosity, what have you had checked? The things to start to look at would be patellas (exam where he is lying on his side, so he can’t use strength to lock his knees :)) spine/hip rads, soft tissue soreness in the psoas or shoulders. How if the tick situation in your area? Tick illness can also cause jump avoidance.
>but it was quite warm, about 80.>
That could certainly be a factor, especially at this time of year when he is not heat acclimated. It will be no problem in August!
> I’m starting to wonder if asking him to jump a full inch above his height at the withers is realistic for a breed that carries a lot of bone/weight. He’s 27 pounds and right at 15″ at the withers. Am I overthinking this?>
I think a 15″, 27lb dog can jump 16″ successfully and if he is not, we can try to figure out why. But also, you can build up confidence and get lots of experience on him at 12″ too! And if he spends is whole career in 12″? Perfect! Plenty of great competition and title opportunities there, so it is a winning situation for sure!
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
