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Hi! He did really well with all the games here!!!
Leash off/engagement on is going well. To help override that initial distraction impulse, take the less off and just get the cookie to him immediately, especially in new places. No need to wait til he engaged with you at the beginning of this training progression. That will help condition him that the leash coming off means amazing things are happening! He was great after that so we can really focus on that first leash-off moment.
He did really well with the remote reinforcement game! Nice engagement when the leash came off and total focus in the sequence! It looks like you had a cookie with you as you moved to the line here – you can now fade out having the cookies with you (leaving them with his water sprayer) to make it closer to the real thing 🙂 (If you didn’t have a cookie with you, great!!) Nice job marking the moment you were going to run back to the water sprayer. Definitely bring that to trials!!!
He was also really fast and engaged with the reward on you. That is pretty normal – it is definitely harder when the reward is not out there on course! And it is fine to mix things up and sometimes have it with you in a pocket, sometimes have it outside the course. When you do have it with you, you can randomly reward him on course. Choose something that will surprise him, like a reward for a jump! The dogs generally expect we will reward contacts and weaves 🙂 so surprising him is good!
Great job here!
TracyHi!
I can totally relate to being nervous handling the young dog! I just expect it now…. It doesn’t matter how many years I’ve been doing agility, I still get totally nervous when I start the baby dogs LOL!!! I am more nervous for my baby dog’s NFC runs than I am for running an experienced dog at a big event.
It sounds like you made it a really good experience for her and it will get less nerve-wracking, I promise (then you will get your next puppy and be a nervous wreck all over again 🤣😂)
On the video, think of things differently: At this stage in training, only one team member gets to run fast into turns. And since Lu has elected herself into that role… you need to slow down and show the decel, and wait for her to give you permission to leave for the next line.
What do I mean by permission? You hold the cue and don’t run forward again until she is collected to take off in the correct direction. The bloopers here were mainly from you running too fast, so she didn’t get the full turn info.
You were moving to the next line too fast at :07, so she correctly read it as a rear cross.
At :36, 2:54, and the reps after that, you got the cross before it but then accelerated into the wrap, so she drove forward to the tunnel. That also happened at 1:15 with the wrap to the left. You got the toy involved at 1:52, which kept you there longer and showed more decel and that really helped!
But then look at 2:13 – you got decel into the wrap jump and she turned really well, then found the last jumps through the box brilliantly! Yay!
You started the crosses earlier on the jump after the tunnel after that, so she correctly did not go to the pinwheel jump.
So how to run more slowly so she gets the info? When she exits the tunnel, you are supporting the line to the pinwheel jump. When she lands from the jump after the tunnel, cue the pinwheel jump & the cross (the early ones were finished before she landed from that jump).
Then, as you exit the cross, wherever you are positionally: decelerate towards the wrap wing. You can set up the spin but the decel is the most important part: if you are moving fast through the whole thing, the details of the handling info get lost in the acceleration. So you will want to decelerate into the turn by the right turn wing of the wrap jump – then hold that position, don’t move, don’t run forward, til she gives you permission to go by collecting and turning her head to the correct direction. That is your cue to run to the next line.It might feel weird at first but it will make a big difference in the info she sees! The decel before the turns will get the collection and help prevent the off courses.
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
>>Did pattern games in various places at Obedience trial today ( but they are quiet and boring) she had no issues and ignored all dogs. >>
This is great! Quiet and boring is the perfect place to start 🙂
>>I don’t know a chill for her. I can pet her but if I want her to chill I have to down her and then pet her since I get worried with lots of dogs around. What else should I try for chill?>>
Bear in mind that the ‘chill’ outside an agility ring is not actually going to be relaxation 🙂 It is more of a ‘just hang out next to me without obsessing on the ring or other dogs/people, and without demanding non-stop cookies or tugging’.
I agree that down doesn’t seem like a great option in a crowd of dogs. If she will put her front feet on your and tay there to be petted, that might be useful. You can also play the engaged chill game where we teach the dogs to be chill while we slowly fade out the pattern game up and down cookies. The goal is that she is able to stand in front of you, basically look at you, without needing rapid-fire treats. That might be the most useful one for you.
Tracy
>>She totally called me out the right side stuff 🙂>>
HA! Yes she totally made sure we all knew her feelings on the right side value LOL!!!!
Hi!
I agree, she is really fun!!!!And the camo hat works great 🙂 She did really well here!!
>She quickly figured out the game with the new prop so we did some forward sends.>
Yes, she absolutely figured out the new prop right away. Super!!! For the sends: Try not to do more than one step to the prop 🙂 You don’t need as much distance for now, because we want to isolate that one step rather than multiple steps or accelerating to it. I think she is also ready for you to do a sideways step and a backwards step!
>>I think the ready game sort of freaked her out.>
I think she was not sure if it was praise & play, or getting ready for the next rep. So you can clarify it by using a bit more muscle tension, bend your knees a little rather than move around a lot, ask her if she is ready ready ready…. Then step to the prop. That way she will see that the ready dance is about getting ready to send (not getting a reward or playing).
>>Question…how particular should I be about foot hits? On the hat, or is in front of the hat close enough? >>
I think if you are sticking closer for now, you will have better hits especially on your right side (that seemed to be the harder side for her). You don’t need to reward the misses, but it is important communication from her: If she misses the hat, it gives us info that it is a little hard. If she misses the hat twice? You will want to make the challenge easier to set her up for success. And when she misses, no need to mark it as a miss (she knows LOL) – you can just call her back and start the ready game to send again, or make the game a little easier for the next send.
Nice work here!!
Tracy
Hi!
>>Julee is an easy dog and bc I didn’t get her for sport , I feel like her and I just well- Screw around a lot.>>
You might not have gotten her for sport, but you’ll still want to have that solid foundation (not as much screwing around LOL!) for when you decide she is an awesome sport dog and want to do sports with her 🙂
>>clearly we had errors it was actually me I was dizzy literally.>>
OMG this might have been a hard game for you being foggy and dizzy LOL! I think the session went well, though. The errors were small handler bloopers and paying her was the right thing to do. She gave you important information:You need to do more training with her on your right side 🙂 The work on your left side was pretty perfect but she really was not quite as strong on your right. Is that because she is a righty? Or because you put a lot more value in working on your left? Both? Doesn’t matter why as much as it is good to know 🙂
All of the reps where she was on your left side looked great – you could even pivot FAST and she was tight to your leg with no questions.
She is not as strong about staying on your right side. Even at the beginning, she offered lining up on your left. When you tried to pivot fast, she lost the connection and couldn’t quite sort her mechanics. No worries!
Just pivot more slowly and give more connection like you did at 1:13. That was lovely!
Same with the FC when you go from your left side to your right side: Make more connection when you do the FC then pivot slowly when she is on your right.
And I agree that it was still a fun session – it was short, lots of rewards, we got great info from her and everyone left happy (and maybe a little dizzy :))
Nice work here!!
Tracy
Hi! The video is marked private – can you set it to unlisted so YouTube lets me watch it? I am looking forward to seeing him!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I think I’ll try just setting a timer first.
Timers are great!
>>He seems to never want to turn down a training session but I really like to give my puppies full brain resting time,>>
Yes – some dogs are so motivated by food, toys, or “work”/play that they will also appear ready to train. My 9 month old puppy doesn’t want to leave the training area, he just sits in the corner waiting for me to come back LOL!!! But being motivated and being ready to learn are 2 different things so we want to make sure the pups have limited training time to maximize learning.
>> if we do outings that day do you also train? On days with no outings do you train multiple times that day? Just getting some ideas of how to juggle all the things…>>
It depends on how much brain bandwidth I think the pup used. Going to the vet and having a nail trim? Yes, that is A LOT so I won’t do any hard sessions for training, maybe just focus forward for a toy. Or if it was an extra extra lot, busy day, etc? I don’t need to train, we can just play. Depletion is a real thing with puppies (their brains burn a lot of oxygen and glucose!) so rest is actually one of the most important elements of learning.
Yes, I might do a few sessions a day especially if nothing else is going on – maybe a little in the morning, a little in the evening. I mix it up so they don’t get on a training schedule (demand behaviors can result from that). I tend to not train later in the evening, because they are tired by then and getting ready for sleep.
>As for food being high value: ALL FOOD is the BEST FOOD. His regular kibble is a little less exciting but it’s tiny and he can’t find it when tossed. I seriously haven’t found anything he doesn’t go nuts for. Yesterday he jumped up on the table to get a, what I thought was boring, chew I placed there>
This is good to know! Cheerios are a great kibble replacer and easy to see. I also like chopped up pieces of green beans, so the pups gt a good crunchy snack and not a lot of calories to burn 🙂
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi!
>>What is this voodoo training you are teaching us? 🙂>>
Ha! Connection is a powerful cue, and the dogs really don’t read our hands that well – they read where our shoulders are pointing, so using where we look (at the dog, usually) and keeping our hands out of the way can really help.
> >This comment blew my mind! I had never thought of it like that or it’s never been described to me like that!!I always remind myself to talk to the dog and not to the obstacles – this helps me keep the connection the dog needs to see and points my shoulders and feet in the correct direction. The obstacles usually ignore me when I talk to them 🤣🤣
The other voodoo is the arousal stuff – but that is actually just neuroscience LOL! So it is more nerdy than it is magical 😁
>>What really blew my mind was when my adult son opened the door into the garage and my PWD stayed focused on me and did not even acknowledge my son!>>
That is so cool! Yes, optimized arousal can make distractions fade away entirely. Your PWD is an adult, so it is easier for him. Wayne is an adolescent, so his brain is still developing and he is still learning arousal regulation, so it might not be as easy.On the video – he has a lot of toy drive and plenty of good tricks!
And he loves his line up cue – so keep your feet together when you don’t want him to line up LOL! The hand touch is not as strong of a behavior when he is excited and the opportunity is there.For the drop: you can set up a ritual of tugging then trade for a cookie while he is still tugging. That will keep arousal nicely balanced and make it fun for him to let go of the toy. You can toss the treat to the side to both reset for the next trick and help him not jump up for the toy. It looks like his toy drive is strong and he won’t have trouble getting back to tugging after eating a treat.
He did really well with the tricks (snappy responses!) when the treats were in the picture more than the toy! But the toy brings the arousal and speed, so working with both in the same session is great.
The more you experiment with this, the easier it will be to figure out what works best in different environments. The tugging then tricks-for-treats worked great here! But you might need to use treats only, or tug only, in different environments. So bring this game to different places and see how he does.
The remote reinforcement game went great! I love your “get a prize” marker 🙂 and you kept the game very exciting. It seems like he has no trouble working with you without food in your hand, so you can try this game with a toy. And you can also try the newly posted versions of it, building up to the jump!
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
>>Shuld I be trying the decompression after training sessions at home?>>
Yes, you can add it right after training, or as part of the weekly routine – it depends what kind of decompression you want to do. A snuffle mat is great for right after training. And a nice long walk can be scheduled any time.
>I really noticed a difference in her commitment on the pinwheel today after sleeping on the lazy game last night.>That is super! It might just be a skill that needs revisting every now and then. She did well here on the video – you can start to delay the rewards, now, to be sure she takes the jumps and is looking forward.
>I swear she is listening to your videos! Yesterday on our walk and before we started the Lazy game, she decided she loves tugging on the leash! >
Ha! She has decided that she is a grown up agility dog now, and leash tugging is part of that.
>I’m going to keep going with it so we can use it as a forever toy when we go into the ring but I am terrified about teaching her the impulse control needed for this activity!>
No worries! Work it into your remote reinforcement game, to include tugging on it, letting go of it, putting it back on and ignoring it during the actual run 🙂
She did really well with the pinwheels when you added them into the tunnel discrimination video! She totally had it!! She dropped the pinwheel bar on the last rep – maybe a bit fatigued or the turn cue was late? But she still had great commitment to the jump.
One suggestion: You can set her up on a slice angle for jump one and release her with a wrap verbal, so she jumps in collection. She dropped the bar on the first rep because she might have thought she was going straight and tried to adjust in the air.
Nice timing of the threadle cues for the tunnel! She had time to process it and set up the turn really well – and you didn’t add any extra shoulders pulls, so her line was perfect and she didn’t have to look at you at all: she just ran directly to the tunnel entry. Super! She understood the difference between your “go tunnel” cues and the tunnel threadle cues brilliantly in both directions. Really great session!
>>One more question. What are some ideas to train a lineup so I can position her happily? Maybe the sit between the legs as part of her action tricks?>>
I just put this together for the current MaxPup 1 class, you can skip to the line up section:
Here is a between-the-feet line up video with more explanation:
It is a fun game for the dogs and can totally be part of the tricks! One of my dogs turned this into a fun weaving between my feet trick 🙂
Great job here!
Have fun!Tracy
Hi!
>>I do not no what is wandering around in my yard at night, but they dogs have gotten very distracted out there. She was better than Biscuit with the sniffing, but still a minor lapse of reason.>
That is a great distraction to work through! You can use your pattern games to get her attention off the sniffing, and the volume dial game to get her ready to run the sequence. It is a different distraction than she will see at trials, but still a great opportunity to work through them as if they are trial distractions.
>>“Whippets don’t bark”, >>
Wait, people actually think that is a thing? My whippets and my part-whippets definitely bark LOL!!!! And they are not aloof 😁
Looking at the videos:
The first sequence went well! I can see why you added the lead out: starting with her at jump 1 put you caught behind the jump, so she thought you wanted the other end of the tunnel. A short lead out or starting on an angle will help that. The ending line looked GREAT!!!!
A couple of extra steps on the lead out in the 2nd video set a good line but when you pointed forward, she thought you wanted the jump (the pointing ahead of her turned your shoulders to the jump). So a softer/lower arm with a little more connection to her eyes will smooth that out.
You used a low arm and big connection to cue the backside at jump 3 – nailed it! Lovely! And excellent connection on the FC there back to the tunnel.
She did a great job on the ending line there too!
On the 3rd sequence, I see what you mean about the sniffing – when she does that, you can do some tricks for rewards before lining her up, to help increase her arousal state and increase her focus.
At :20 here, you had a softer lower arm and a little more connection to the #2 tunnel and she read the line smoothly. The backside push and the FC after it both looked terrific again!
And this was her best ending line yet – big strides, forward focus, lots of speed. Super!My only suggestion is that you can use the manners minder on the end of the line so she can get an immediate reward and not wait for you to get there (and she won’t run off with the MM :)) You can have it really far away and let it sit there the whole time, even when you add the RC sequence to this – that way she learns to go to it only on cue and not simply because she can see it.
Great job here!!!
Tracy
Hi!
Yes, the lazy game is basically a game to teach the dogs to please please take the line even when our handling is mediocre or just plain bad LOL!!!Tracy
Hi!
The hands-free driving ahead went great! He ate the cookie, drove to the toy and even brought it back. SUPER!!! You can add more distance on the throws, and add your movement too so he can see that you will be moving up the line as well.The blinds also went well!
>I am thinking-it-through slow.>
Better to think it through and have great mechanics like you did here! He thought you were very clear, and he was happy to wait the few seconds you took to sort it out.
> I think I also switched hands on the second one, which I will try not to do in the future.>
Looks like you changed hands after he got to you after the blind, and that is fine – it probably felt better to tug with him with the dog side arm because he is so small 🙂
Looking at the wrap foundations – I had to laugh at the beginning when you were like “c’mon we are doing a thing” and he was like “oh! Ok!” Hahahah! So you can show him the treat before placing it in the first bowl to get him started 🙂 Once you got rolling, he did great! He had a little question moving to your right side when you did the quiet cookie placement, so good job going back to slightly more visible hand movements. I felt that you split the difference there and he was very successful: rather than have the big obvious hand movements that you did at the beginning, you had smaller quieter movements to place the treat. That will help him bridge the gap to when we fade out the visible hand movements.
>>Probably my third attempt – the previous tries, he ditches the game in the first 20 seconds (boring).>>
You can do super short food sessions with crazy high value treats! Small bits of cheese is usually a good one. They might not make a noise when they hit the bowl but the value will be very motivating and less boring.
The other thing to consider here is that, since he loves toys more than treats, you can play this game with 2 toys. Even if the mechanics are not as smooth, he will stay engaged longer. The smaller dog on the demo video did not have a ton of food drive when I started this game, so you will see her working the early parts of the progression with 2 toys as I was building up food value. She is now a total pig for food LOL!
Great job here!
TracyHi!
He liked the driving ahead game! Having you run with him is great for teaching him to accelerate on big straight lines and he seemed to be happy with the GO verbal after the first time he heard it. Turning and running the other way is great for countermotion and we will definitely be adding that soon too.One thing I notice here is that he is sensitive to the pressure of you being close to the line, so he turns away – rep 1 turns to his left, rep 3 turns to his right – both of which were opposite what the handling would indicate. On both of those reps, you were close to him and decelerating before he got to the toy (which pressured into his line), so it is possible he is reading it as a natural RC cue. Since it is not a RC cue, you can stay a little further away and also keep running forward until he gets the toy – then turn and run away from him on a 90 degree angle in the direction of the correct turn, rather than do a FC to run the other way.
The blind crosses are going really well! Think of the toy placement as part of the cue, not just the reward, so get the toy visible to him as soon as you do the blind. The toy placement is what opens up the shoulder and that is the main blind cross cue If you watch the session in slow motion, he doesn’t switch sides until you have shown the open shoulder and the toy. Since he is a powerful critter, you can let him run through the toy (he grabs it, you let go, he keeps running forward). That will be better for his neck and for your shoulder 🙂 and give you a chance to then ask him to retrieve it too 🙂
>Going to try the first stealth game later. He’s a dog who sees everything (no surprise), so it will be interesting to see what he says about the game.>
Sounds good! He will definitely be aware of the stuff in the environment in these games – that is not the stealthy part LOL! The stealthy part is teaching massive impulse control without the dog realizing we are teaching impulse control LOL!!
Great job here 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
>>you’ll see in some of the videos he was able to get on the toy and some he couldn’t stop thinking about his food which is something we will keep working on for sure.>
What type of treats were you using, maybe they were too high in value? But for some dogs, ANY treat is super high value LOL! So you can separate the toy play by moving away from where you were using treats (a different room is perfect!) and start dragging or throwing the toy. That can get him further from the cookie spot and cookie smells, which will help with the toy play.
>>I think I trained for too long, quantity over quality happened today>
One way to limit training time is to turn on a song and train for the length of the song… and that is it 🙂 Then you can take a long break and come back to do another game later in the day or the next day. That will help get the quality because we don’t need the quantity 🙂
The hand touch is going well with the get it cookie toss! You can help him maintain the strength of the touch by looking at the target (not at his cute face) as you present the target. And you can add a little challenge by tossing the treats on different angles, so he approaches the hand target from different angles too! We build on this game in week 3 🙂
>>I don’t think he minds the grab so much as not being able to lunge for the cookies immediately, lol>>
He looked super happy here, which is great! This session was starting to make the collar hold a fun thing and not a frustrating thing. I added a couple more games for this too:
Nice work on the decel foundation! He came into your hand really fast on the first one and didn’t really collect. But on the next reps when yo were stationary , he collected really well! Yay! So now you can add the pivot – that will help him keep his butt in tight to your leg if you decel then pivot slowly, with your hand nice and low like it was here.
On the prop game video: I agree, this went really well!
The transition into the send will be easier if you start with a big of engagement by having him in front of you while you do a little ready dance (talking to him and being engaged, getting him into handler focus) and then sending him to the prop with your arm and leg. That will give him the clear cue about when to look away from the cookies – that was the only thing that he seemed to have a question about.
You can also move a bit off to the side, to give him more room to turn to you. When you were right next to his line to the prop, he is turning to his left a lot even when your send should indicate a right turn. Giving him more room will help that a lot.
His response to the YES! Marker is adorable and hilarious- it is like it is a joyous New Years Eve celebration every time you say it. So fun!
He did well getting on the bag for the goat trick! He very emphatically SMACKED it a couple of times too, which is awesome and adorable 🙂 You can create a pile of different things for him to get on, climb around on, etc, so he has a lot of experience on different surfaces, things that wobble, etc.
For the forward focus game:
He was looking at it very clearly when the toy landed, so you can release him to it the instant it lands. You started doing that on the 2nd and 3rd rep and he was great! The toy play at the beginning was really strong! And he was not too mad about the collar holding. He is at his best when you get in there and play as soon as he gets to the toy.He did well switching the toys but it might have been too much ‘ask’ in that session especially after the other sessions. Tired pups are not great with toy switching 🙂
Bear in mind that this is a high energy game for the pups, I think things went on too long and he was getting tired. You did about 40 seconds of tugging after rep 3 then did another rep – he went to the toy but just kind of chewed the end of the toy. Getting tired! That was at about the 2.5 minute mark, which is a nice long session, so you can end the session there rather than change toys – that is a can of worms to open at a different time 🙂 He was having a little trouble going back and forth between toys and then kind of clamped on the new toy at the end, which is generally a sign of a tired pup. Nice job ending on a positive with trading the toy!!
Great job here!
Tracy
