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Good morning! Yay for decent weather!!!
Looking at the lead changes on the zig zag:
>It looks and feels like I am over handling these. Rather than just turning my chest I’m taking a step toward the “jump”.>
Overhandling is perfectly fine for this 🙂 It is a weird game for the puppies (no visible easy line) so you can give as much help with physical cues as needed 🙂 You won’t always have to overhandle it but for now I think it went really well and accomplished the goal of getting her to shift her leads. It is not an easy game at all, so if the cues were too subtle or a little late, she didn’t always get it. But overall, the lead changes were a bit success! You can move the wings in closer so the wing is touching the bump of the previous jump.
>Should I position myself further up the line so that I’m handling from the end?>
Yes – eventually 🙂 You are 100% on the right track to that.
>Or should I be moving up the line, connecting and showing the line without so much zig zag on my part and also so much arm? >
Eventually yes, you will handle it as a serp but for now, she might need to see the big exaggerated rotations to help her shift back and forth.
>I started off with some tugging. We were then able to get 1 sequence done with toy reward, then it was back to the stuck release. >
Since we don’t quite know what causes the frozen moments, let’s take the tugging out of it for now as we rule out any pain issues. We know she has good tug drive so it is not something we need to worry about.
Question: do you do a physical warm up with her before working on these games? I ask because I noticed that she was moving more/less frozen later in the session, maybe because she was more physically warmed up. Using food, you can do a back-and-forth pattern game to get her moving and warmed up, then try one of the games.
You can also add in a release where she just comes to a hand touch: instead of a normal release word, you can present the hand and use a ‘touch’ cue and see how she feels about that.
>Her line ups are coming along – I didn’t have to lure her into position. >
YAY!!! That is super!!!
>I did alternate rewarding her for the line up as it seems that sometimes she is stuck waiting for the reward. Not sure what to do about this.>
Separately from a training game, you can play with stay releases and the flying squirrel as a bit of an experiment. If you think back to the sit-tug-sit game from MaxPup 1, you an do a sit-release-throw the squirrel game to see how she feels about releasing form the stay for her beloved flying squirrel 🙂 You might need a 2nd flying squirrel to get her to bring back the first one, but it would be a fast & fun way to isolate releases 🙂
>I did notice the bunny hop when we were playing after. Really hoping to get more insight with the x-rays next week.
>Since she has an appointment coming up, try to get every.single.thing on video 🙂 It is possible that at the appointment, she will be filled with adrenaline and endorphins, and might not have any sort of pain response. But if you can get things on video, you can provide a visual for the vet. I video things like going up stairs, running loose with a toy, etc. And I do video in slow motion because, well, I am obsessive about movement hahahahaha
Nice job with the zig zags! Keep me posted on how the other games go and if a warm up before training helps at all.
Tracy
Good morning!
>When I think of running contacts for my hounds I guess I think of it more like they would slow and collect to hit the contact and then continue moving through.>
That is where you can modify your stopped contact progression – maybe begin by teaching a stop with a target, then move the target further and further from the end of the board (and eventually fade it) so she is collecting but also not stopping.
> So not necessarily running full speed through them, if that makes sense.>
TOTALLY makes sense… we really don’t want the fastest breed on the planet running full speed on a tiny plank 😂 I like the moving-collection concept better – but unfortunately, just about every running contact class is all about getting full on extension with split rear foot hits. There is a Canadian handler named Kirstin O’Neill that has a running contact class that is well-received AND she has worked with a lot of non-BC breeders (terriers, Malinois, etc) so that is someone who might give good info for a grey!
https://www.facebook.com/kirstin.oneill.3
>And definitely agree that lots of repetition doesn’t work well with sighthounds. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in classes or training with others and my dogs are like “we’re done” on their third turn, and the others are still flying around on their 10th rep. It’s fine, but frustrating when others don’t understand and think there’s something wrong with my dogs..>
I think sighthounds are brilliant – “We have done it right 3 times… why are we doing it again?” They want us to get ourselves together without making them do it a million times hahaha and we also need to trust their incredible latent learning. Plus they are not built to maintain a moderate level of speed for extended periods: they are more about intense blasts of speed then they need a recovery. I personally think the other breeds should also not be doing 10 reps just because they put up with it – yes, they do it, but it is not good for their brains or bodies. Fortunately, our hounds don’t let us do that hahaha!
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Good morning!
Turn and burn is looking good to the right! It is a high energy game especially with the tugging – he was most engaged when you also took off and ran, dragging the toy 🙂 Keep inching that line around so you can be doing the FC earlier. He is really small (obviously haha) so move the line in small increments.You can also add in the wrao verbals here. Since he is likely to do the wrap, you can start saying your wrap verbal then use the arm & leg send to get him going around the barrel.
>He got distracted once because he heard something right while I was taking off.>
Yes – those sounds really stand out when the environment is quiet! He did come back pretty quickly so you can reward for that then do the next rep.
>he was happy to chase me (after he found his cheese, of course!) and happy to pivot and run back with me, but he wasn’t all that thrilled with chasing the thrown toy. I think he had food on the mind. Do you think the lotus ball may be good for this game? I still have to show him the secrets of the lotus ball!>
It is entirely possible that he was having food feelings 🙂 That could also depend on when the session was: after the turn and burn or anything where there was a lot of toy play? He might have been tired. Or at a time of day where he was particularly hungry?
I think you can try the toy again and use a lower value food reward (a less interesting treat and use it in a bowl so he can find it easily). And don’t have food in your hands or pockets – reload for each rep. And use a high value toy, with toy races as part of it: when you throw it, try to race him to it and if you win: party without him for a moment, showing it to him, dragging it around. Then when he wants to engage, you can engage and start the next rep 🙂
We can introduce a lotus ball, but he has such great toy drive and such a small belly that I think we can get this going with a toy first 🙂
Keep me posted on the rear crosses! Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
The prop game went really well! She is finding her prop nicely and you were adding distance bit by bit! Yay!If she misses, you can just keep walking forward, then turn and do the next rep – no need to mark or re-start. That way you can stay on your line at a bit of distance away and I am confident she will hit it on the next rep.
For the game, you can keeping adding distance. At this stage, you don’t need the clicker anymore – you can switch to your ‘get it’ marker, which will keep her looking forward even more.
>then something scared her. However, she was able to come back and engage with the prop!>
Yes, something worried her for sure! She was so funny when she was like “I AM BACK!” And smacked the prop LOL!!
One thing you can do when she gets concerned about something is switch to the pattern game. It helps her sort out whatever is worrying her, and dismiss the concern.
It is here:
Teach it at home first so she understands and loves it, then you can go to it in a variety of new places and circumstances. It is great for helping get through adolescence when she might have shifting opinions about things 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! February is definitely the worst weather month of the year for most of us. We have wet and cold here too 🙂
He did well with the barrels here (this is the rocking horses game coming up in class here soon). Nice job with your connections and verbals! Was that him starting to bark while he works? Doesn’t sound like Ripley or a Swissy 🙂 If he was barking – build in decompressions after each rep. Can be snuffling around for a bunch of treats, or licking some cream cheese out of a Kong to Toppl, or mouthing a toy/running around with a toy. The barking is generally an indication of arousal coming up so we can also build in arousal regulation throughout the session to help his body learn to do it. And it will also help him get to play barrel games without too much repeated wrapping, which we will want to be careful of at this age as his skills grow.
Tails is such a fun marker! Much more clever than my ‘catch’ hahaha. He liked that squeaky toy too and was bringing it back nicely! I like these informal approaches to retrieving because there is so much less pressure and so much more fun 🤩 It is all play here and that is what it is all about! And you build in ‘magic words’ like ‘ready’ which are super useful in the future too. He did well ignoring the songs from Ripley and the Swissy – they completely understand all the chatter and magic words 🙂
I think the last video of bridging him back down to a state of arousal that you want for daily life and not play/training was great! The patterns are so useful for this. Bridging down from back and forth to up and down is what I recommend (and do with my own dogs).
For the up and down game, you can have the up and down cookies placed on the outside of each foot, so there is still an element of back and forth movement rather than being stationary. That will be super useful as he enters adolescence as well as in harder environments.
After he finished here, you can also give him a decompression of some sort. You might already be doing this 🙂 If you are able to, a nice pack walk or something is perfect. Or if you need to settle in to your workday and can’t do a walk, you can let him have something to chew or lick.
When my other dogs are aroused when I am training the youngsters, I also give them a bridge down and a decompression, rather than leave them stewing in their arousal. For example, I had 2 adults “helping” me train something with the young dog where I asked the adults to run back and forth and bark bark bark bark. So after the training, I had the adults also do a pattern game then a decompression. It was much quicker because they are adult and those neural pathways are easier to access. And doing so has brought so much more peace to daily life in the household and they are all managing arousal at events really well too.
>We’ll head to a trial tomorrow where we’ll have space in the covered arena for some training. Any suggestions for what to think about working on there?>
Fun! You’ve got lots of things to choose from, of course. You can aim for balance: for every fast, exciting session, balance with a calm, settling session. For example, you can take your up and down game, and slow it down to the ‘engaged chill’ where he is standing in front of you, not actively offering behavior, taking in the environment, and relatively stationary.
You can also take him closer to the ring during a walk through and practice little bits of what you might eventually use while waiting for a run: some tricks/hand touches/etc for a toy, pattern games with treats, hugs & kisses 😂, etc.
One thing I also love to do at this age is the leash off, engagement on game… but with 2 leashes so he can’t go anywhere if he makes a mistake. He is wearing 2 leashes, both of which are hooked around your wrist (not dragging and not under a foot). Take off one leash by unhooking it from his collar or slipping it over his head – then reward very quickly! At first the reward will be basically instant 🙂 Then you can start waiting to see if he orients towards you when the leash comes off – then reward. That begins to condition leash off as an engagement cue, which is such a nice relaxing thing to have when moving to the start line in competition 🙂
Keep me posted! Have fun today!
Tracy
Good morning!
The rain gets in the way of the fun! We have a whole bunch of it here too, but I have whipped out my rain boots and still getting the dogs out to do little things. Everyone, old and young, is happier in the house when the young dogs get out even if it is a walk in t he rain LOL
The rocking horse game looked really good, both the forward send element and the more advanced rotated sends! Super! There is more room to spread the cones out, so you can stand in the middle and she can do all the work 🙂 It is probably a good game to take out in the rain too – there is not a lot of movement from either of you, so it won’t be too slippery but also a good way to get out between raindrops and do stuff.
>I tried the toy in the middle, but she kept trying to jump up to get it rather than work. So, I went back to food.>
A couple of ideas on that! Overall, the toy use went well enough that we can tweak a few things and get it involved – partially because the tugging is just a fun interactive thing to do, and partially because it allows us to pump up arousal a little to help install the arousal state she will be in during course work.
When you are working on new or unfamiliar or weird-feeling mechanics, you can start with food because the mechanics are easier for sure. But with comfy things, add a toy back. Here are some thoughts on getting her to NOT leap for the toy:
When delivering it, say your strike marker then move the toy. The toy moving was happening before the marker – that is something we all do, but for now to help her ignore the toy, you can be hyper precise about that particular marker.
And with that in mind – leave the toy scrunched up in one hand and don’t switch it back and forth. The switching draws her focus to the toy, and it is confusing about whether the toy is available or not. Because sometimes it moves before the ’strike’ marker, so she was thinking maybe it was time to tug when you switched it. You can see that at 1:13 for example.
She was pretty good about releasing the toy/cookie trading – just remember to slowly lift the toy and not whip it away as that will cause her to be more interested in grabbing it 🙂
Great job here! Fingers crossed for dry weather ahead!
Tracy
Good morning! Hooray for good weather, finally!
The rocking horse game looked GREAT!! Your connection was lovely throughout and that really helps support her line. And you got the directionals in the right spot too! The more you practice with the directionals, the less you will have to think about them. You can add more distance between wings now, and add the advanced level 🙂
She also did well with the stays outdoors – it is harder when the pups are more pumped up, but it will really help for the future when they need to do their stays while being pumped up 🙂
The next steps are to get you to be moving away and not facing her. I think part of the reason you felt like she would going to blast off the board at any moment was because you were facing her and rewarding from your hand.
So two things to add, to switch things up and start to get the distance and duration:
– ask her to sit but start slowly moving away and turning away
– While you are doing that, reward by throwing a treat back to her (or a toy). I use a ‘catch’ marker then I throw it. The catch marker doesn’t mean she has to catch it 🙂 it just means a reward is being tossed back to her and she can move to get it.That will help her learn to stay in the spot while you move away – do short increments at first but she is smart and I know she will figure it out really well. Plus, that will allow you to fade the platform – it is helpful but we need to plan to fade it out too 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
Yes, turning off can be a sign of stress, for a variety of reasons. Adding in decompression during the training and before he turns off will help! That will also keep the sessions short, which is very helpful with young dogs. What kinds of decompressions do you see him liking the best?
The other thing to be sure of in training is a super high rate of success – be sure he is getting a good reward on most or even ALL reps.Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi!
The GO reps looked great!
The first wrap rep at :17 was lovely too – nice timing of decel then rotation. Same at :49! On those reps, you decelerated for a few steps then as he approached the jump, you did the FC. Lovely commitment and collection from him, you can really see him bending as he came around the wing at :49!
On the blooper reps, you were a shade too early on the rotation at :26 (he was still pretty far from the jump for a baby dog) so a couple more steps of decel will help.
Then at :32 you slammed the brakes 🙂 and turned which pulled him off the jump.Because we don’t want you to have to be perfect 🙂 and we want to expand his commitment: Rather than reward when he doesn’t take the jump, or resend to the jump from up close (which doesn’t help your timing or his commitment :)) – in the blooper moments you can just keep moving and send him back to the wing to start the next rep seamlessly, and adjust your timing. Then you can reward for taking the jump either from your hand after the FC or by throwing it to the landing side of the jump.
>It’s going to be 80 today and he got a little hot. It was just below freezing 2 weeks ago.>
It has been a WEIRD winter!!!! I am ready for spring!
Nice work here!!
TracyGood morning!
She was great with the straight line versus get out here!!
Well done on all the straight line reps, she was really good about NOT grabbing the jump even on the 2nd side when the start wing was really close to it!!!
For the ‘get out’, draw a line number the dirt closer to the start wing to help your feet stay straight. Your upper body (connection, arm, eyes) were great but your feet were magnetically drawn to the jump, so a line in the dirt will keep your feet on the same line as they were on for the straight lines past the jump.
On the other side:
>Right side was wonky at first, but I also had a floating arm. My get out cue somehow morphed into go out on the right side too.>
I think the arm was good here in the video, but on this side you can add more connection very directly to her eyes. That will help her shift away even more. And yes, the verbal shifted to ‘go’ for a heartbeat but was back to ‘out’ at the end 🙂
I agree that she did well with the zig zags! Yay for the stay!!! The quicker you cued the lines, the quicker she did the lead changes 🙂 so you can totally cue as quickly as possible. Because she is still growing, you can revisit this every couple of weeks to see how she does as her body continues to change. When she is in more of her adult body, we can add shorter distances to get the lead changes even quicker.
Looking at the decel/wrap video:
>The first tight wrap I tried she ended up pushing to the outside of the opposite wing. I knew I was getting pretty close to her line if not almost on it, so I think that’s why she went far out.>
Excellent observation, I agree completely. If I wanted you to cue her to the backside, that is exactly what the line would look like 🙂 Also, the delivery of the verbal was loud and long, which is a forward cue and less likely to be interpreted as a wrap cue which is quieter and shorter, almost choppy sounding to match the deceleration.
I think your verbal is “way” so you can deliver it like waywaywayway instead of WAAAY WAAAAY WAAAAY if that makes sense 🙂
The other reps had a much better running line! Yay! The next step is to decelerate sooner: when she has exited the wing wrap at the start, you can start your decel even if she has not passed you yet. Keep facing forward until she is very close to the jump (almost taking off for it), then do the FC. That will help her commit in collection without you needing to be there at the jump too.
And excellent job with your connection and reward delivery after the wraps! That really got lovely tight drive around the wrap wing of the jump.
Great job!!
Tracy
Good morning!
Really nice session with the Go versus RC, in both directions! He read all the cues really well. I was watching what your line of motion was doing as he exited the tunnel – the GO reps were all spot on in terms of the cues were you showing him. The left turn RCs had your feet already showing the line to the center of the bar, so he did super well! On the right turn RCs, your feet were still facing straight for one more step – so even though he did read the pressure and RC when you started it, you can add in getting on the line to the right turn RC even earlier 🙂The Out versus Straight went well too! I love that he never grabbed the jump when you were cueing the straight line.
For the ‘out’, you can be more dramatic with the cue. When you did that with BIG connection, he had no trouble finding the jump. You can see it clearly on the 2nd side. When he was not a sure (like at :23), it was because there was not enough drama in the connection – the big drama of looking very directly at him is what turns your shoulders to the line (along with the outside arm), and when you were non-dramatic 😂 at :23, your shoulders never really turned to the line.I think he is ready for the advanced level where you add the cross at the end!
Zig-zag grid: What a good boy holding hi stay on the mat!!! Love it! You can work on fading the mat by making it smaller and small til it is the size of a post it note 🙂
He did well with the bars and the lead changes. He was slowing down as he got closer to you but that was because you were facing him (which does cue collection). Eventually we will have you facing away, no worries. I think the next step for him here is to use weave poles instead of jump bars because those will shorten the distance which will ask him to do the lead changes faster!
The wrap game is going well and he gave you great feedback about timing! All of the go reps looked great, click/treat to you for mixing them in a lot!
About the decel and timing: I thought the timing of your decel was best on the reps where he did not take the jump 🙂 You were decelerating a little after he exited the wing wrap, and before he passed you. Your rotation was too early for a baby dog, which is why he did not take the jump. Your timing was ‘grown up dog’ timing 🙂
So definitely go into the decel at that same timing – but keep facing forward/moving forward slowly until he is most definitely going to take the jump in collection. What does ‘most definitely’ look like? Because he has quick feet, I’d say ‘most definitely’ is when his front feet lift off the ground. That is your cue to do the FC.
You won’t always need to wait to see that, but it will get commitment in collection for now with timely decel cues. And you can add in throwing the toy to the landing side of the jump as you do the FC, to pump up the commitment in collection value.
Now, if you are early by a heartbeat and he doesn’t take the jump:
Rather than throw a reward when he doesn’t take the jump or resend to the jump from close to it (which doesn’t help timing or commitment), you can keep moving and send back to the wing to do the next rep. Then throw the reward to the landing side when he does take the jump.He did take the jump on the other reps because you ran forward longer and decelerated later – you can see those turns were a little wider! So we will work his commitment understanding so you can go with your natural instinct of good deceleration timing.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
I am glad you tried the chair – this went great! He is SO FUNNY – everything he does is so fast LOL!! He literally exploded backwards on that first rep 😂
My only suggestion is to keep your hands low the whole time, so he keeps his head lower. You can do that in the chair by leaning forward and putting your elbows on your legs and letting your cookie hands dangle. That will get even more backing up because you can flick the cookies further back and faster (while he is still moving) – while also keeping his head down. When his head comes up to look up at you, he stops backing up o having the cookies tossed low and while he is still moving will help that.
Great job here!!
TracyGood morning!
>This is SO cool!! Thank you for sharing that tid bit! >
I mention it because a lot of people get worried when the dog sniffs during work… but working breeds sometimes need to sniff to clear their heads and solve the puzzle. My now-2-year-old is half Malinois, so he was definitely putting himself into problem solving mode like Sunnie did here.
Looking at the videos –
You did great on the harder side here! I would not have guessed it was your harder side. What made it challenging was that he had to chew the start cookie then she came FLYING back to you after the start cookie so it is possible you were surprised on the first rep! But you started to expect it and then your timing got really good! You can keep building up the distance with this game, adding in the advanced level and taking it to different places you might have access to.Looking t the turn and burn games:
She was VERY into the tug toy at the start of the first one here!
One thing to add is having her wear a collar because that will smooth out the beginning of each rep. By lining her up in a sit with a cookie at the beginning, she might have thought she was in a stay – and that made it harder to get thing going at first. Having a collar on her will take out any stay confusion because you can have a finger on the collar start your verbal wrap cue while looking at her – then let go so she can start wrapping the barrel.
>This tug has a lotus ball attached to the end (it came like that). I would like help with my logistics using this tug as a reward.>
Your logistics of presenting it were lovely! You have 2 options for this toy: you can use it as a moving lotus ball lie you did here, where she is getting the end of it and opening it up to get the treat.
Or, you can use it as a tug toy where she tugs on it – but having the treat in the lotus ball part of it will always lock her onto the cookie. So since she was interesting in tugging, you can do this game with a long fun tug toy without the lotus ball, and see if she will tug on it (and not be looking for food – I think she will!) Use a big crazy toy and let her chase it and grab it for tugging.
Looking at the left turn video – she totally wanted to turn right here so adding the bowl definitely helped. The next step to build it to the turn and burn game like the right turn side is to have the bowl be out there almost at the exit line, but the bowl is empty – it shifts into being a visual aid only. Then as she gets to the bowl which is almost at the exit line, you take off and present the fun wild toy. She might ask ‘where is the bowl cookie’ at first, but then she will sort it out immediately. And then we can fade the bowl out entirely by just having it keep moving around the barrel until it is hidden.
There was definitely something in the barrel – a Lab nose is never wrong LOL!! And since she was trying to figure out the left turns, her nose caught wind of *something* LOL!!
Great job here! Let me know how she does with those left turns on the barrel!
Tracy
Good morning!
>She has no interest in food or snuffle when she’s running amok with the toy. It’s like the Tasmanian devil. But, I can try to react less and see if it helps.>
You can still put it down, eventually it will become interesting.
Another option is to channel her right out the door into the yard with you – just says something like ‘let’s go’ and run for the door, then go let her run around with a ball or something. Lots of options!Backing up is going well! She only didn’t really back up when her feet were already on the mat – she was like “I have already arrived, human” hahaha
So be sure to step a little further away each time so she can find the mat and be somewhat straight to it as well. You had a lot of reps where her front feet came off but her back feet stayed on, so you can be a little furtherer away to get her back feet off as well.Nice work!
Tracy
Hi!
He is definitely getting the idea of the RCs, reading the pressure of the line as the turn cue the new direction. YAY!!And I love that you were using a toy as the RC reward – he was joyful with it and I am super excited to see him playing with the toy even though cookies were also used in the session. Good boy!!! It was so fun to see him scampering about with his ‘prize’ after each successful rep ❤️
Since he is doing so well, you can keep adding distance – and as you get further back, start right next to him like you did on the very last rep here (1:29). That allows you to show the cue sooner (because he gets ahead of you sooner) and you were also able to go faster! Yay! And be sure to throw in a couple of balance reps where you go straight and do NOT do the RC, just to be sure he is watching the cues and not guessing that it will be a RC 🙂
Lovely work on all of these!!!
Tracy
