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Good morning! I think overall this went great!
Position 1: these first reps where you were moving fast and connected went great. Yay!!
Position 2: He was not as sure about sending to the wing without motion/on verbal alone when he was right next to the tunnel and the jump –
>We had a bit of a struggle when another training team showed up. Jackpot noticeably struggles in his start position. >
Was this position 2 challenge also coinciding when the other person shows up, at :50-ish? You were holding him there – would he have gone over to check out the new person/dog? You can use a pattern game or even tugging to help him stay engaged even with the new distraction.
When you were cueing the start of each rep, you added a little more motion and that helped a ton – he was still wildly successful with the jump versus tunnel part of the game.
Position 3 – easy because you had great connection and timing!
At 1:14 he circled the wing without a release and you noted it as worry on the video – concern about the other person? He might have been using movement to alleviate his concern, which is good! A back-and-forth pattern game can really help with that too: lots of movement but within the framework of processing the distraction and engaging with you instead š
Position 4 with the disconnections: SUPER! I am so proud of him especially for finding the tunnel, because it is NOT on the line as he exits the wing so he had to rely on verbals-only. Good boy!!
Great job here!! Let me know what you t think!
Tracy
Good morning!
That tunnel is DELICIOUS, according to Bazinga!! She is getting the idea of finding the jump in the face of the tunnel being right there. Super! And she is moving when you say jump and not needing a different release, which is also great.
When you cued the tunnel at :49, I think she was on jump autopilot and caught herself after she moved – I love how she came back to you and reset: ātry me again, human!!ā
She has the hardest time switching after she gets to do the tunnel or des multiple jumps. But she is starting to catch herself and process, even if it is after she has started moving. And that is great because she is having a lot more success and not getting frustrated by any errors. YAY!!!
I think at one point you said āyour brain is brainingā and that is the funniest thing I have heard in a while LOL!!!!!!!!
Since this is moving along really well, you can definitely add in the handling games where you are both moving to work the discriminations with motion!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>The off course at the end of that for real run caused by crap handling was a tiny bit intentional. I had to abort the handling plan for a blind because of having to stop and gather him after the visit. >
That makes sense! Sometimes we do just try to fling the dog out on a line and hope for the best LOL!! Pick was a good boy! And it seemed like he remained confident, so it was indeed a win š
> I think theyāre both a ways off from āfight to save the runā status yet and Iām quite ok with that.>
Do you mean fixing something? Yes, especially after an off course. Sure, if you can circle back around in flow and try to fix the handling so the pups think it is part of the course, it is doable. But stopping to fix? Not yet – not until after they are both incredibly fluent in the levels of the Find My Face game š
> Itās at a barn where Pick has never worked before, so it will probably be fully ājust like at homeā for both of his runs,>
Perfect!
> but Iāll start working on running with the toy stashed on my person at home. >
Also perfect! One thing I noticed with the sighthounds (BWs and full whippets) is that they did a lot better in the empty hands/toy hidden stage than in the ‘just like home’ stage. For whatever reason, they preferred to NOT have the toy in hand in trial settings and looked at their lines a lot better. That is exclusive to sighthound-types, though, which is why I mention it for Beat because you might end up moving to the ’empty hands’ stage very quickly – all the other breeds & types (terriers, herders, etc) all thrive with seeing the toy at first then we fade it out.
>Heās visited plenty of times when Iāve had a toy on me (usually worse at dirt trials and better on turf, which is why I gave him a shot at running for reals when we were on turf).>
Add in tracking the arousal-resilience-engagement games you play before the run and at the start line, such as pattern games and the volume dial game and even decompression before the run. Track what you did and how the run went – it might help unlock some useful trends!
> The set up that seems to be hardest for him is a long line towards a person where I am probably falling behind. Do you think he might feel an element of disconnect when he finds himself pulling away from me?>
Absolutely yes. He might feel distracted by the lack of handler visibility, a little uncomfortable with the independence needed on the line in that environment, or he might even perceive it as an error. All of that can contribute to the stress response of visiting. You can make up courses that set lines where you can drive him from ahead for now – then we can add in ways to help him love lines where you are behind. This can be placed toys on the line, or a helper throwing it, etc – hooray for UKI for allowing SO MANY options!
> Maybe the find my face game might be more crucial than getting the toy out of my hands?>
Both are useful. But he does need to know how to cope if something unexpected happens and the find my face game is soooo useful for that! Then we get him playing it as we fade rewards to outside the ring.
Let me know how it goes!
TracyGood morning!
>he comes charging to jump on me, which with his size is pretty dangerous. He often comes with an open mouth and he is going towards my face which makes it extra scary!!! Sometimes he nips at me. (He might go for my boob or butt)>
Alrighty then! I know he loves to run free on the beach but I agree – it is a safety issue. So the place to start is stopping all the rehearsal of it. That means no off leash privileges at the beach – think of it as kind of like taking away the drivers license of a teenager who has crashed the car. Putting him back on leash after it happens might not prevent the rehearsal so I think a full stop to that is important. Side note: it is basically the same behavior you see in agility, so similar neural pathways. We donāt need those to continue to strengthen, so we have found that not allowing any rehearsal of it anyway is a great way to eliminate the behavior everywhere.
A parallel example is dogs that charge dogs on the other side of a fence in the ring at a trial. That behavior is usually seen elsewhere in life, such as fence fighting with the neighborās dog or lunging on leash on leash walks. When we stop the rehearsal of fence fighting/leash lunging, the incidence of the charging at the ring gating in agility reduces almost immediately and then it is far, far easier for training to take hold and eliminate the undesirable behavior entirely.
So while thankfully he is not aggressively charging at other dogs, I think we should use a similar approach of not allowing rehearsal of the behavior anywhere to help eliminate in the ring.
Plus, OUCH! He could easily nip somewhere or ht you hard enough to accidentally really hurt you, which is definitely not what we want.
But since he will need a lot of exercise as an athletic young dog, leash walks on the beach are still great! And he can be offleash to run around anywhere that he will not charge you. You can also add in active fitness stuff like cavaletti work which are fulfilling for his brain and his body š
He did a great job with the find my face game! He was looking for engagement when something unexpected happened (you disconnecting/turning away) but he kept all of his feet on the ground. Yay! He did spend some time looking for a treat that got lost but then re-engaged. Good boy!!
This game can go with you on leash walks (just randomly play it and toss treat) and you can add a bit of tugging before it to add a little bit of arousal.
>and then used it after a REALLY bad/late cue for a tunnel after the dogwalk.>
It is not quite ready to go into course work yet, because he did pummel you here. The number one thing for now in course work is to keep going *no matter what*. Doesnāt matter if you think he made the error (he probably did not LOL) – keep going to another line then reward as if he was correct. That falls into the ādonāt rehearse the behavior anywhereā.
You will have to ignore all the seminar presenters and instructors that will want you to stop and āfixā his error – it was probably not his error and any indication that he was incorrect might lead to you getting pummeled. The indication here on the video at 1:41 was when you stopped moving, turned your back – and when he came to you, you said āwhere is your tunnelā – he did not know where it was so he jumped up at you. Yes, he sat and got a cookie, and then the pattern game changed his arousal state – but we really want to eliminate that initial jumping up at you. So keep going no matter what, reward, then reset the next rep without any indication that something was wrong.
On the next rep here: he went to the tunnel on the line you set at 2:38 – rewardable! The tunnel was not visible on the video, but he went where your line sent him. I thought it was what you wanted until you indicated it was not correct. Was it the DW contact? So be super clear about what you want and reward his effort so you donāt get the jumping up.
>The May 4-6th dates will work for JAG. There was a meeting tonight and several folks were asking for the datesā¦so it should be fun!>
Awesome! It is on the calendar! Thanks š
Tracy
Good morning!
You and Bokeh rocked this game!
I think she was a little surprised on the very first rep, but then after that you had just the right amount of connection as you moved up the line.When she was on your left, she was also doing great after a quick check to see what was in your hand LOL!!! So for both side, you can keep the dog side hand empty and drop the reward in with the other hand.
We can really see independence developing already: there were multiple reps where we can see her moving to the backside without you needing to be that close – clear daylight between you and her! Very cool! So as you revisit this, you can move up a parallel path that is increasingly further across the bar – and keep the great connection you had. You also had your push backside going here which is great: you can say it multiple times rather than once, so she can really process it as we add more independence. It also helps maintain connection: say push push push push to her eyes as you move up the line, until you see her heading to the backside.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
Serp: He is coming in really well to the target hand on both sides and seems to have no trouble at all with the āpressureā of being that close to you. Super! You can get the reward on the line but extended away from you so he can move fully over the jump bump.
Since this went so well, you can proceed to the next steps: a reward target on the ground on the line (can be an empty food bowl that you plop the cookie into, or MM, or a toy, whatever you think he will drive to on a marker without you needing to move). And you can also show him the threadle version of this – I think that will be very easy for him.
The head turn game went really well. Excellent mechanics of the nice low hand to catch his attention and turn him away – he was really turning his head into the turn nicely š You started tossing the treat from the other hand (rather than the turn hand) and that seemed like it was easier mechanics? And using the toy as the reward was fun to see: the toy brings more excitement but he did not lose the precision of the turn. SUPER!! You can move this game forward to the advanced level of marking the head turn as he approaches the upright for the first time – then if that goes well, try the 360 backside circle wraps š
Threadle wrap foundations with motion: also very nice! He seemed to be perfectly happy to come to the hand cue then turn away, both in the turns and the full circles.
Since this was very easy for him, you can move forward to adding something to wrap around – posted yesterday!Great job here š
āØāØTracyGood morning!
>He likely has teething stuff happening. Heās been extra chewy the last couple of days. His teeth seem to be very slow growing and it seems some teeth still are not fully grown in yet. He also possibly has a couple of adult teeth that are fully missing. He is 7.5 months now and the vet recommends an xray at a year old if teeth have not grown in to check that they are just missing and not impacted.>
Interesting! And good to know. Maybe the vet can get the x-ray earlier than a year if the teeth are not where you want them? We donāt want pain to be an issue at all!
āØ>. When I offered other toys after he turned off the first, he seemed interested when I first offered but wouldnāt fully engage so that seems to indicate more something with teeth I think? >
Entirely possible and something to keep an eye on for sure!
>He has been extra interested in his food the last 2 days though, where previously he would turn off food when teeth were bothering him. He does seem to like to change things up on me, lol, so not a huge surprise if heās not being consistent with that.>
We can probably file some of it (all of it? LOL!) into the Joy s Of Adolescence file š
>I will get him a lotus ball as it seems likely it will be helpful for him. I have to acquire one as my other dogs never needed it, so hopefully we can try that out next week.>
He might like the regular one, but they also make ones that are fur-covered! My toy-driven dogs really love that one.
>Just to clarify on adding distance and speed to rocking horses. Is this done separately or at the same time? >
I think for him, add the distance and let him sort out the speed. He might need to think about it at first but then he will be flying.
>Am I running between the barrels but also still sending? >
There are 2 variations in th advanced level:
– yes, you can be sending and not running. That is where you will only want to add little bits of distance so the sending stays easy enough for him to go to the barrels.>Or, doing the running reps and building out distance to send in separate sessions?>
There is also the option of you moving more so you can show him the earlier FC rotation – it is like a moving version of the sideways sending. The dogs like the movement but the rotation getting earlier and earlier is challenging.
>His stay is not stellar yet. In fact, he was doing well with it and then turned anti-stay which seems typical for his age>
Probably because of a combination of 2 things: the other games where he goes and does a thing are more valuable! Plus, adolescents just need to move more in general.
So add movement into the stay games (I know, sounds weird LOL!!) All of the rewards involve movement by either throwing a reward back for him to go get, or releasing forward to chase you.
>I actually havenāt been working on it at all recently and definitely not in combination with other things.
You can protect it by playing with the stay as a separate game š
Tracy
Good morning!
The platform game looks fun and definitely helps with a nice tuck sit. You can eventually fade out the chutes. And the tight sit work is something we all re-visit throughout their careers.>For the 360 game, I just used a cone because my barrels are so big.>
The cone works well! I use cheap pop up laundry baskets from Walmart. I think they were $2 LOL!!!
The 360s went really well!!! This is a hard game because of all the countermotion and I think he was super!
You can line him up to start with a cookie – he knows the toy is involved and is very excited, which makes it is a little harder to get the lineup. Plus, you can start adding the backside circle wrap verbal – and the way to do that is to have him at your side, hold his collar, say the verbal 3 or 4 timesā¦ then let him to go star the wrap. The cookie line up will make it all easier to begin that process.
>He seems to much prefer wrapping to his right.>
Yes, he seems a little stronger to his right but I think he did well on both sides. A big click/treat to you for a session that was really good: you were gradually progressing the skill by changing where you placed the reward. Super!
The right turn reps all looked strong.
When you switched sides, you were too fast on the first rep to the left but when you slowed it down to start like you did on the right side, he did really well! I think you did a lovely job progressing it gradually – for the left turns, keeping your motion a little slower worked well and the food rewards were very effective! Then going back to the toy at the end was lovely.So for the left turns, moving a bit more slowly totally helps. You will be able to crank up the speed soon enough š
Great job!!
Tracy
Aha! Here is the reward on the ground. Super! (And be sure to reward stays like I mentioned above so he doesnāt think hand movement is the release).
He did really well here, especially on the harder angles! Since the MM helps provide line info, as he is coming in for the threadle, you donāt need to close your shoulders to point to it – you can keep your shoulders open and move parallel to the jump so he doesnāt rely on you pointing to the bar after a threadle.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
He did really well here too! Yay!
For these backside slices, you can add a wing to the entry side of the backside – that will give him a bigger visual to go around as we add more challenge to the game.He did really well sending to the backside here, so you can move to the next level. Rather than step and send, we will have you set the line from further back with the parallel line motion. Start him from a stay facing the line to the backside (at least 10 feet away) – then you begin moving forward *then* release him with this backside verbal. That way he can see the line of motion before the release and will stay on his line to it. Your line will be towards where the wing bar meet.
When he can do that, you can start to add lateral distance and independence by moving up the parallel line further across the bar, bit by bit. That can help us teach him som really big independence on his backside lines!
Great job!
āØTracyGood morning!
Strike a pose:
He was really good with his engagement here even with the distractions in the great outdoors!!He was reading the serps cues really well! When you changed sides – it was 100% correct based on what you were doing: showing a threadle cue so he threaded and took t he jump. Be sure you reward all of that so he doesnāt get confused.
He is ready for the next steps where the reward gets placed on the ground before he begins the rep, so he learns to come in then go out all by himself:)
He did a great job holding his stay – just be sure that your reconnection and hand movement is *not* part of the release. I think he might think it is, because your release and hand movement/looking at him are coming at the same time. So mix in a couple of things to solidify the stay:
– get to position, put your hand out, look at him, praiseā¦.. then release
– get to position, put your hand out, look at him, praiseā¦.. then throw a reward back to him.That will help him know exactly what the release is.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I used to think I was a decent trainerā¦. So many errors on my part. >
You are an excellent dog trainer! The hard part about puppy training is that it is not as systematic as we want it to be. I feel like we are all basically re-learning mechanics every time we get a puppy because we are also learning about the puppyās specific needs and preferences. Our adult dogs have trained us already:) so it feels easy but those mechanics might not apply to the new puppy.
>Toys are tricky now as she only likes a few and it changes, But, Iāll see what else I can find that she may actually play and tug with. Dot likes chase better then tug so far.>
I think the tugging will get easier when the teething is less a part of the issue. For now, chase and grab is a good way to go and we will gently and gradually get more tugging.
The first parallel path (cookie rewards) was a really good session! She was fast and accurate, finding her jump. YAY!! And yes, there was a good noise distraction that she overcame. Plus, the session was short and you broke it off for tugging. A click/treat to you both! Keep revisiting this here and there, with you adding more and more lateral distance.
On the retrieve video: I am not sure she was retrieving to you as much as you had very fast hands to catch the toy as she was running past with it. Then when you reached for it on the 3rd rep, she was like ānope!ā And went the other way LOL! Smart girl LOL!!
So to get her coming to you more and not trying to go past you – use a 2nd toy as a reward. When she picks up the thrown toy and turns to head in your general direction, only one step or two – you can be running the other way and whip out toy #2 to engage her with. She might drop toy #1 at that point but that is fine for now: getting her driving to you is more important>No hackberries were harmed in the making of this video. So this is huge progress.>
Excellent! These were lovely sessions!
Great job!!
Tracy
Good morning!
The Ace bag makes me smile every time I see it š š
This went great too, he was finding the line to the backside very well and the verbal is added. Super!!!
As you add more independence where you are further across the bar on the backside, you can toss the toy down to the landing side behind you so he looks back for the bump even as you are moving past it. I think he is ready for you to be moving up the line to the 2nd position (center of the bar) and further over to 3rd position (far side of the bar). It might need to happen outdoors or at your training facility to give you enough room.
It is possible on the front side balance reps that there was not quite enough room for him to see the difference in your line: it still looked enough like a parallel path line that he was going to the backside. So having a low hand cue really helped, and you can also save the balance reps to where you have enough room to really change the line and move away from the parallel path.
Seems like he got your hand (hard to see but seems that way based on your reaction at :41 when you were reaching for cookies). The transition of letting him keep tug while you reached for cookies was probably part of that – a little moment of disconnect and a ouchie re-grip!
You made a big adjustment which was fantastic and much cleaner after that, to help protect your flesh: at 1:09 after a tug reward, you did some outs and then a cookie toss to make the transition into the next rep. It was even cleaner and smoother at 1:50 – 2:13 for example. This adds extra focus to that transition out of tugging and I think it is great for protecting your hands!! He has improved a lot with this and seems to be hand-gripping a lot less, so definitely keep going with those clean mechanics!!
Great job š
Tracy
Good morning!
This is the advanced level where we mark turning the head as the pup approaches the upright: I like how he was immediately offering the head turn as he approached the upright! Good boy!!!
You can mix in helping him turn away from the second wrap (like we did in the first level), so he completes the circle and isnāt anticipating the cookie placement when you click. And you can also give him an arm & leg step to the upright so he knows that he has permission to start. Without the cue, he was sometimes lining up at your side and waiting. But with the cue, he was lovely and smooth on the way to the wing like on the last rep, that was lovely!!
He looks ready for the next step, where you are doing the 360s with your movement: a backside circle wrap.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
Good session here! I agree – she seems to know that it is about getting her front feet on the perch. And she was thoughtful about it, which I love!
So why was she having trouble with it? I think the perch might actually be too small to let her be able to put both front feet on it in a comfortable stance. She could get one foot on it comfortably but not the 2nd foot. If you look at where she had one foot one (like at 1:44), the 2nd foot was either up in the air or on the ground next to it. When both feet were on, she had to squish the together a bit – and that probably is what her brain was devoting all of the bandwidth too: getting feet on and staying balanced.
Easy solution: you can make the perch bigger by just enough than she can get both feet on very easily. This can be 2 or 3 inches – do you have another perch like this and you can duct tape them together? We donāt want it to be massive š but it should be wide enough that she can easily step onto it without having to think about it too much.
I think the height of the perch is really good – we just need a little more room for her front feets. š
Then it will be pretty easy to get her hind end moving by tossing treats to the sides so she can circle with her hind end back to front.
Nice work!
Tracy
