Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi!
>the challenges in this session were the same in the later session. One side is harder for him & me. >
The argument you and Lew were having here in the zig zag was about where to deliver the reward: you wanted to wrap him around the last wing, and he said he saw in the video that the reward should be delivered on the new side without the wrap.
He was correct 😂🤣 the reward should be delivered to the other side of the wing from where he was before it, he doesn’t have to wrap back towards you or away from you on the last wing. Trying to cue the wrap on that last wing is what made it harder for him to know what you wanted because there needed to be handling and timng and space for him to get there.
For example, when he was driving towards you, the reward at 1:12 was correct – a cookie for coming to the new side. He did figure out wrapping the last wing, but you don’t need to do that for this game.
> And patience on the stays. I’m going to add in some catches and keep working on those in general. >
Overall the stays looked really good! But definitely clarify the release: sometimes I hear an OK and sometimes his name, and at the end I think you were using arm cues as the release and no verbal. So be super consistent with the release cue and you can totally add in some catches too.
Have fun at the trial this weekend! Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
These games are going really well!
For the transition game: you can add a little height to the bar (another 2 or 4 inches), so he has to collect a little more before takeoff. This will give you more feedback on the timing – if the deceleration cues are late, he will turn after landing. I think you can start the deceleration sooner (for now, when he is halfway to the jump) as long as you don’t start the rotation sooner yet 🙂
As you do the deceleration and crosses, be sure to stay on the outside of the wings on the jump. You were tending to tuck in towards the bar a bit but motion towards the center of the bar is a rear cross cue and we don’t want him to ignore that motion because it means front cross here. You can also add your wrap verbals!
The turns away looked great! When you are facing him (lap turn) using one arm is easiest to use. When you are facing forward (tandem turn) you might find it easier to use both arms to get his attention on the turn cues – that is more visible than one arm when you are moving forward because our shoulders might block the outside arm from being visible while we are moving.
You and Rusty did a lovely job of putting the turn aways into the rocking horse game, and he was great about responding to the front cross cues versus the turn away cues. You can add in your wrap cues for the wings with the front crosses, rather than go cues – he is going to wrap a wing but when we turn this into jumps the wrap cues will be helpful because the go cues will mean to accelerate in extension.
>PS How many weeks is this class? What follows it? Will there be a break between? If yes, how many weeks?>
There are 8 weeks of t he class, with the last games being posted on September 14th, The last day to submit videos is October 5th. I will have the start dates for MaxPup 3 posted soon, it will be late October so we can get it in before winter hits 🙂
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hello!
This session went great! Only one suggestion: you can let her go sooner so she doesn’t glance up at you before the release, or start to buck. On the reps at 1:51 & 2:29, there was literally one second between the toy hitting the ground and you letting her go, and those were perfect! You can extend duration and add soft praise pretty soon, but for now a quick release is good.
For the next session, throw the toy even further 🙂 and add more of your motion, walking forward as soon as you release her to the toy. And if that is easy, you can add jogging forward too! You can also take the game outside and see how she does.
>Not sure why she started hacking when she did, I wasn’t pulling on the collar when I was holding it and she wasn’t pulling against it>
I think she got a piece of fuzz or something in her mouth during tugging? It started when she released the toy so I don’t think it had to do with the collar or anything.
The pouncing is adorable and hilarious! It might go away as she matures, or might not. For a bit of comedy, here is baby Hot Sauce leaping at the MM:
Here is my 15 month old gigantic puppy still pouncing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6LILut6S7YGreat job here!
Tracy
Good morning! It was great seeing you in the live class! And I love your energy during his training sessions: so fun!!! And great job breaking off to play tug in between the cookie sessions. That really keeps his excitement level and focus very high and happy 🙂
Sends to the prop:
He is really developing high value for the prop and going to it really well! The best part of the session had the cleanest mechanics on the send: your left leg and left arm moved together really well to send from :59 to 1:15, so his sends were pretty perfect.Your right leg was not as clear on the right side sends, so he was not as sure on that side at the beginning. You can take a bigger step with your right leg to match the right arm and that will help!
You can also add in the ready ready moment of engagement when you look at him and he look at you… then do the big send. That will help him know exactly when to start the send, and will be very helpful for adding more distance to the prop (which you can start adding :))
You can also try sending with the toy as the reward 🙂 That will be exciting but also maybe harder, because he has to leave to toy to go to the prop 🙂
He also did a good job sending to the platform – your right leg was taking bigger steps and your left leg was perfect again 🙂
He has value for getting onto the platform but he was barking a lot – it might be because he had to be stationary for longer instead of driving off the platform? And delivering the food to him on the platform might accidentally be chaining in the barking. So you can try to add tiny delays before rewarding, then release off the platform and reward. That can build the duration without the barking, if the barking is a frustration behavior.The wrapping went well on the cone!! He is beginning to really understand the back-and-forth pattern of it! He is pretty perfect when the cone is close to you.
He scooted between you and the cone at 3:12 when he saw your hand at the target but then went right back to wrapping. Smart boy! He had a few questions about it when the cone was further away, so you can
move further from the cone more gradually. When you and the cone are about one length of your hand apart, it is a good challenge for him and he is still very successful. So for the next session, start with the cone only a few inches away and see what he says. If he says it is easy, then you can move away from it by an inch at a time. That will add challenge and difficulty while maintaining success.His forward focus work looks awesome! I was laughing so hard that his little legs were already running before you put him on the ground at the beginning LOL!! He did great and has wonderful forward focus. A few things you can add to the game:
You can add in some countermotion and have him drive back more with the toy: since he is getting to the toy ahead of you (yay!), as soon as he is picking up the toy you can do a front cross and run the other direction. And if that is fine with him, you can do it just before he gets to the toy.
That way he can grab the toy and drive back to you immediately. And you can get even more countermotion by letting go of him to start driving to the toy and you don’t move right away – let him get a couple of steps ahead of you so he feels the joy of driving WAY ahead which will also make it easier for you to turn and be running the other way before he is even at the toy.
Since he is doing it through the tunnel, add the GO verbal (which also indicates get the toy since we have placed it on his line, but you can also use the ‘get the toy’ verbal too). The GO verbal will develop a powerful cue to tell him to drive ahead on course.
He is doing well with wrapping wings (we will be playing with this more in the class) – he seems to have a slight preference for turning to his left over turning to his right. That is good to know! One suggestion for these games is to keep the sessions shorter: even though he will keep running and playing for a long time, he gets a little tired (he had a big fall in the tunnel when his mechanics got off later in the session. So you can do 2 minutes, take a break, get a drink of water, let his breathing calm down… then go back for another 2 minutes. That will help his learning even more because he won’t get depleted.
Great job here!
Tracy
Great! The live classes can help sort out the games before we add the puppies to them. Keep your questions coming!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Ok, I’ll try niiiiice and try not to shout it. Lol.>
Ha! I feel that – quiet slow praise is hard for us humans 🙂
> I’ve no idea why my left leg send is so wonky. I have a bad knee, but i can step straight.>
I think maybe you were too close to the prop so your left leg was being careful not to touch it? But overall the session went really well!
> Is this prop too small? Sometimes shes close or nose touching it, but we just started.>
Nope, the prop is good! I think she is simlpy figuring out sends to it and figuring out where to look! Going past the toy in particular was HARD at first but she was really getting it by the end of this short fun session!
A few little details:
– when using food, you can take the clicker out and just use your x marker (like you used your ‘strike’ when using the toy reward). Clickers often get a lot of looking at us so it is easier to take it out at this point 🙂– your ready ready and send can be a bit more separated in time – they were happenign a bit close together at the beginning and it can be more like what you did at 1:18. You did ready ready ready, paused to see her engagement… then sent. Lovely!
– the sends with your leg were all really good! Add in using the dog-side arm into the send too. It is a bit of a bowling motion with the arm so there is more info than just the leg to help direct here where to look. Your left arm stayed way back (I think she even nose touched it at once point) and your right arm stayed next to you. So think of it like this – do the ready dance, and during that your dog-side hand can point to her nose. Then during the send, the hand can moe forward past you to the prop (along with your leg). This little swoosh motion can help her understand the send especially as you add more distance (which she will probably be ready for in the next session).
>Threw in a brief toss toy session. She sometimes brought the french linen tugs back. Sprite will give up a toy or chewy to the puppy, but i don’t like to reinforce stealing from a house mate. If they each have a chewy then Reese needs to mind her business and chew hers.>
She liked those harder toys, but when you were too quiet she just wanted to settle in for a chew. But when you encouraged her more with the 2nd toy, she brought it back really well! So you can definitely keep encouraging her, play a little tug, then throw the next one.
For the 2 dog version of this: you can hold one dog (Reese) and throw a toy for Sprite. Sprite brings it back, gets a bit of play or a food reward, then you swap: Sprite can stay on a station or be held and Reese has a turn to get the toy and bring it back. That way they are still using some social learning but not competing with each other for the toy.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Hopefully, I’m not sending too many videos!>
There are great – a handful of short, fun, successful sessions.
>No, she isn’t great about eating out of a bowl. I feed her meals in a bowl, but she is better about eating when we are training. Possibly because she’s getting tastier food – idk. She might actually see the bowls and think, oh yuck, there’s that puppy kibble mom wants me to eat.>
So we will definitely use more bowls in training, because the conditioned response will help her eat regular meals better 🙂 And you can mix in maybe one or two of the Really Good Treats into her meals to see if that helps, and try some of her kibble during training too.
At some point, we will also reinforce her for eating treats in training. Yes, weird, I know haha but works like a charm to build voracious food value in pointy creatures, and herdy creatures too.
Toy video:
She was absolutely brilliant at the beginning with switching toys – fierce tugger!!>I felt like I needed to help her out and did a lot of helping.>
It was perfectly fine to give her tiny bits of help (it was definitely not a lot of helping, it was just right). The camera bag is a good choice but it blocked her view of the 2nd toy. So it is possible that it was not on her radar to switch to the other toy (because she didn’t see the other toy). So you made it more visible: a lot more visible once, a tiny bit visible once… then she had it. YAY!!!!
I bet she sleeps on it and will have it aboslutely nailed next time. Then you can switch to a different object like a laundry basket or something. Or, stay with the camera bag and sit on something low instead of on the floor (we will eventually get you standing :))
She did really well with the bowls – smart to turn to towards the couch at first so the camera bag was not a distraction.
She was VERY CLEVER about trying to go over you and then behind you (my pups all go behind me at some point, it often indicates a side preference). Sitting with your back to the couch eliminated that and so she started offering going around the camera bag. For the next session, start in that setup (back to the couch). And since she might have gone behind you because it was easier t see the bowls, yo ucan push the bowls forward a bit so they are closer to the edge of the camera bag and maybe a bit more visible. But overall she was super keen to keep offering behavior for food, and that is great!
The driving ahead session looked pretty perfect! She was happy to stare at the toy even as you added a bit of duration during the hold. LOVED her little victory lap at the end LOL!!! I admit to laughing out loud 🙂 When you add more distance to the throw (which she is ready for) you should tie multiple toys together or put them on a long line so you can grab part of it before she takes off.
Next steps here: More distance on the toy throw (I am sure this will not be a problem). And, we can get you standing and adding moving forward after you throw. I think having her on a collar or harness will help when you are standing because it is easier to hold her.
And if the weather is ever cool enough, take this game outside for a couple of reps and see how she does!
Great job here, she is ready for the next steps in all the games 🙂
Tracy
Hi! There are two links: the first is for the PDF with the game’s description and video, and the second is the Field Guide link. The field guide for the prop sends is here (there is no field guide for the prop pre-game yet):
https://agility-u.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/MaxPup-Field-Guide-Prop-Sends.pdfLet me know if that helps!
Tracy
Hi!
She was a good girlie here and gave us really good info!She definitely likes tugging with you and the moving toy. She was focusing on it really well! She didn’t love the restraining where you were picking her up a bit or holding her chest – she seemed to be avoiding that a bit. But when you were holding her collar gently, she was not quite as wiggly about it.
When you were trying to add duration, she was turning towards you (you commented about this on the video too) – I think it was a combination of 3 things:
– dead toy, not moving
– you were praising/cheering which drew her attention to you
– same old toy 🙂So for now, we can do a couple of little tweaks to answer all her questions:
– to help overcome the dead toy ‘ick’ 🙂 you can get her lined up, throw the toy further and let her go right before it lands, then right after it lands (if she is looking forward, which I think she will be). That way the toy is not dead but she has more duration on the forward focus because of the distance
– you can also tie that toy to another couple of toys, so it is really long. Then as you let go and she starts to drive to it, you can start squiggling the toy and moving it so it is not dead 🙂 We can eventually delay moving the toy but for now, keeping it less dead will help! And you can praise while you are moving the toy, so she learns to keep focusing on the toy and not turn to you when you say something 🙂
– She loved the first toy for the first couple of reps. Then she loved the 2nd toy for the first couple of reps… but after a couple of reps, the toy was not as exciting. That could partially be because it was more ‘dead’ but also could be that she really likes novelty! So bring your whole bag o’ toys 🙂 and switch toys every rep or two 🙂 Novelty will make things even more exciting and keep her driving to the toy 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Hi!
>Hmmm, i cant use goooood. Thays my stay in put and I’ll bring food to your mouth marker. Other thoughts for prause? Thats the problem with multiple markers.>
Maybe something like ‘niiiiiice!’ or ‘smarty’ or ‘pretty lady’, anything said softly, said with a smile, and a bit drawn out. They understand the context and tone as praise even if they don’t know the specific words yet.
> Im a lefty, so maybe I train that somehow?>
I am a lefty too! Woohoo! Mine are evenly mixed between left and right, so I think it might just be luck of the draw. And if we default to working the pups more with our left side, I would think that would create righties because they would turn right (towards us) more often?
On the decel game:
She is coming to your side really well – and having the ‘x’ marker happen later (as she arrives at your hand, or when she pivots with you) is a better use of it than doing it as soon as she starts moving towards you.She did well getting on the toy right after all those treats! SUPER!! And she was pivoting with you really well. You can pivot more slowly: as you increase the speed of this game, the pivot is slower because it cues collection.
Speaking of adding speed: you can take it outside so you can get more distance into it, move faster for the first couple of steps as she moves towards you then do a big decel (pivot when she gets to you). If you are late or pivot too fast, her butt will swing out wide 🙂 so early timing and slow pivots will help maintain the collection.
For starting with a cookie toss outside, you can use a towel or large bowl to toss the treat to so she can find it really well.
>I tried both dogs with toys. Reese chases Sprite and tries to grab Sprite’s toy! Lol. I may play woth the French linen toy as it’s easier to grab and less “this is fun to chew.”>
Ha! That is pretty funny (sorry Sprite LOL) You can try alternating dogs (I hold the collar of the dog that is not being sent to the toy rather than use stays at this stage). And yes, the less chewy toy is great or evne try a harder toy that is easy to carry but not as enticing to chew?
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
>He has been SO hungry lately,>
Growing! I have also found that my intact male pointy creatures eat soooooo much, growing or not! They are like food furnaces.
>Thanks for the feedback – he is excellent with toys and bringing them back, so I can move it outside. >
Perfect! If the weather is ever nice again, take it outside 🙂
>I’m in no hurry with him. To be honest, it would have been better if I’d gotten him in a year or two when I’m feeling more confident with Muso.>
I have found that the best way to lock it in with the adult dog is to… get a puppy. It distracts and relaxes the mind enough that everything settles into place with the adult dog!
T
Hi!
> I don’t think he’s really super fast lol but then I’m used to Dreamer hahha.>>
Fix is speedy, he just doesn’t know how to use all those legs yet 🙂
Looking at the wrap game:
> So I used a deck mushroom as a prop and he did try to cheat a couple times!>
The deck mushroom is hilarious! He did well gteting into the rhythm of it – you gave him a little reminder each time to jump start it then he did great.
Because he would sometimes slide between you and the shroom when you moved it further away – keep it close for an entire session. Then in the next session, start with it close to get into the rhytm then move it away by half an inch 🙂 We can gradually get it further by working it out little by little but it doesn’t have to be in the same session.
> I also tried a little play away from the bowls in between but he kept going back to the bowls. He really loves this toy but I could get out the flirt pole and see if he’ll play with that instead.>
The presence of the bowls is paired with food and is the cue to keep working the bowls, so that is why he couldn’t play with the toy. To get him to play, you can make a quick transition into the play: scoop up the bowls and the mushroom , put them on top of the conveniently located dog walk, then whip out the toy and play. I think the flirt pole is a great idea!
He did well driving to you, it was easy peasy. And he was happy to pivot with you too! Try to get your hand as low as possible to keep his chin parallel to the ground as you reward so he doesn’t look up… but don’t create any back pain from leaning over too much 🙂 You can add more of your running and decelerating, he seems ready for that.
About the stay: It is ok to mix in some stays with some cookie throw starts!
One thing about the stay – when he does sit, don’t pop an immediate cookie in his mouth. Many dogs perceive that as “rep over” and they stand up when we move away. That is what was happening here. He did much better holding the stay when you cued it and moved away without giving him a cookie as soon as he sat 🙂 He also liked it when you threw a reward back to him for the stay!
Great job here!
Tracy
Yes, it is high 90s here with ‘feels like’ temperatures closer to 107. WHAT THE HECK!!!! So I have to get all of the dogs out and exercised very early so they don’t bake… and since we are entering Big Event Season for agility and flyball, they do it in smaller groups so they don’t do something like run into each other and get hurt. They are happy and muscular and I am exhausted (and sadly not muscular LOL)
>For the a frame – I hadn’t thought of using a towel. I’ve used a cut up yoga mat before.>
I am the queen of not investing in expensive training props LOL! So for the a-frame, I went to the dollar store and bought 3 light colored towels for 3 dollars: beach towel, large dish towel, small hand towel. That way I could start with the big towel then had 2 more to fade down to. The final fading was a piece of duct tape LOL!! Those fancy mats are expensive and the towels worked great 🙂
T
Hi!
>This made me snort cuz yeah, I’m still a bit traumatized by her level of “engagement” – LOL>
Yes, I can relate LOL! And then we swing to the opposite for the next dog, but the next dog is like “why are you being so calm?” LOL!
>The sad sounding dog in the corner when Chaser came into the ring was Bella. She hadn’t gotten to say hi to Tina or Chase yet and was having serious FOMO.>
Poor Bella! But she was adding a lovely distraction for him, so we are grateful for her sad song 🙂
T
