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Good morning!
OMG the lightning in the background of the 2nd part of the video!!!! Eek! But beautiful!
Very nice session here! There was a blooper at the beginning – handler blooper š
He had a tunnel when you said over at :08 – sounds like you called him as he was exiting the wing wrap and then said over when he was already almost at the tunnel. So it was too late for him to do anything about it.
You adjusted your timing at :15 – that was great! You were not very connected (which is ideal for this game) but he was still super. Then you started being very connected so the rest all went great š
For this setup, you can add more speed and motion (but not necessarily more connection, for training purposes š ) You can also add the backside games as that is a different challenge too (backsides and threadley stuff)!
>Unfortunately my brain wasnāt working that well and I got my fast āoverā and slow ātunnel messed up.>
That is something I had to practice a lot without the dog to get it – I would walk around my house saying the verbals the way I wanted to say them on course LOL! Yes, I am a weirdo. But your wrap verbals sound very distinct and that is great!!!
Nice work here!!! Fingers crossed for good weather and not feeling under the weather!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Dot is really teething. She just wants to take toys and chomp on them. But, she will chase them.>
Poor girlie! Providing as much chewing outlet as possible right now is great. I also like to freeze toys for the pups (sometimes I will soak a hard toy in water then freeze it) as a way for the pups to chew on something that feels good on their gums.
>However, she doesnāt want to let go even if I just grip and donāt tug if she likes the toy.>
Do lots and lots of trading for either a cookie or another toy. And be sure that when she releases the toy, you donāt take it away immediately and ask for more āworkā – that is what can cause the pups to stop releasing the toy when we stop tugging. So follow the release of the toy with lots of rewards in the form of more tugging or a different toy or cookies. And to get her to release the toy, a lure/trade of a good cookie is great! The toy play is more important than whatever skills we are trying to teach, so if you end up spending most of the time in a session rewarding the release of the toy with more play or treats, that is great!
>Is there a game to get them to leave the toy in the ground? >
It is baked into a lot of the games like strike a pose (where it is dangling at first, then on the ground) and the stealth self-control games like the āfold it inā around a cone (the toy is eventually on the ground and they pass it to go to the cone). And eventually it goes into the SSC slice games but I like to have it happening in the strike a pose games and fold it in/cone game first. I donāt teach is separately at this stage because then the entire focus becomes the toy – which adds more pressure and conflict. Putting the concept into a game where she has a big reward history for doing other things can really help it along.
>Sheās jumping up constantly trying to get the toy in my hand as we go outside.>
Behavior is communication š so in that moment she is excited to play with you (yay!) but doesnāt know what to do instead of jump for the toy. 2 options to consider:
– you can reward her for moving with you and NOT jumping up for the toy with treats tossed (or hand delivered, depending on the surface) starting every step or two
– if you donāt have enough hands to carry stuff out and reward her for not jumping up, you can either have it all preset before you bring her into the environment, or have the toy tucked away so it is not visible as you move outside.That way she will either be getting rewarded for behavior you like, or she wonāt be releasing behavior you donāt like.
Resilience video: I am not sure the hackberries are a slice because they are so challenging but she was terrific!
She did well tugging to the start spot and doing the recalls in Hackberry Land! Super! And getting to run run run run is a good thing for her, definitely a game to play a lot where you can direct her focus away from things in the environment but she also gets to run run run š
She was definitely enjoying the recall & tugging. I didnāt see any prolonged holding of the toy here, probably because you were very quick to show the cookie to start the next repā¦ which also rewards the out of the toy.
Looking at the prop game – what seems to be happening here is that you are a little too close to the prop (the fence provides environmental pressure), so she is moving away a little to expand her field of vision: that way she can see you (and your motion & connection) and the prop. It is not a prop value thing, it is more of a herding dog ātrying to see all the thingsā question.
Move the parallel path game off of the prop and onto the jump setup in the concept transfer (provides bigger visual info for her) and put it somewhere there is more room for you to be a shade further away. I think that will answer her questions.
>On the send, she couldnāt do it on my left side. Dot kept going behind me.>
That was partially a disconnection question and partially a fence pressure question (fences provide pressure in the environment which is why they work so well :)) So having her on your left side and not being close to the fence will help.
But also, make big eye contact and have your hand back to her nose as yo start the send – that will provide clearer side info and she will move along your left side to the prop. On the sends, your arm was moving forward and she could really only see your back (1:23 and 1:53, for example) so she was moving to what might be the easier side and away from the pressure of the fence.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Looks like you hd a bit of a training party and that is GREAT!! And she seemed to do well with wearing her girl pants š
I agree, the backsides went well. Great job with the reward placement!! The only thing I would suggest is that she starts behind you from a stay or cookie toss, not from your side. Starting behind you will allow you to show the parallel path sooner so she can go past you to it, and it will also allow you to move your position over to get further and further across the bar. Starting with her next to you and close is more of a send to the barrel and we definitely want to add more independence.
She did really well with the barrels too! She might have been a little interested in her friends for a moment but overcame that and worked beautifully. You can add more distance between them, and start to rotate earlier to add countermotion to the commitment.
Strike a pose on the flat – easy peasy! You can go to the next steps – on the flat, adding a reward on the ground (toy or food bowl) below where your reward hand is. And, you can move to the concept transfer and add this to a jump.
The Shpile game was very nice! She seemed to think it was easy which is great. You can reward more – cookies for every step or two!! Nice job with the excitement of the recall and getting her to tug. Bear in mind that walking towards the pile is actually a cue to get on it, so donāt walk to it unless you want her to offer it LOL!! Keep revisiting this game so she can keep developing her mechanics: and change up the pile each time. Try to to make it weirder š but piling stuff up a bit so it is a bit more unpredictable and stuff moves a bit more.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>As soon as I took the leash offā¦I guess I shouldnāt have named her Carly (Simon) āAnticipationā lol>
Ha! Yes, it is a great name and she was living up to her name in a good way – she loves training and doing agility, so that will be great in the long run!
One thing you can do separately from being in the agility room or being around any equipment is to take the leash off the immediately give her a big reward for not moving away. It can be pretty instant at first, then over the course of a few sessions you can delay it a bit to let her choose to stay close and just offer engagement. That will help her understand to stick with you when the leash comes off and not offer all of the behaviors she knows š
The parallel path game went really well! She definitely has value for the jump but she also lined up with you really really well! Yay! You can see her actively choosing to come to you and not others the jump. You can use different value treats here: āboringā treats for when you are rewarding the jump, and great treats for coming back to you!
And you can add lining up at your side for the parallel path game and the barrel games too. The barrel videos were also really strong, especially the last video: SUPER nice transition from the āreadyā dance to the send to the barrel.
I think you are ready to try the Rocking Horses game with her! It involves her going to the barrels, yes š but also lining up next to you between the barrels so I think it will be a nice balance of obstacle/work focus and handler focus.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I saw that you are coming to LU for some workshops. I canāt do a working session with the new knee, but was thinking of auditing one of the workshops. Thoughts?>
It would be great to have you there!!
The Wednesday morning session will be useful for when she is ready for novice. But the distance and layering on Friday morning might be the most useful!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
He was definitely powering in to your hand cue here, good boy!!!! The angle of approach didnāt seem to matter, he was reading the cue really well.
If you look at what he did at :37 (coming in then turning to go back out without really touching the hand – I call it a sideswipe :)) That is actually where we are going next! We start to fade out the hand touch and just keep the in-then-out which is what they will do on course in a real serp.
Most pups start to do it on their own, based on the reward placement – so if he starts doing that, it is a good thing! If he continues to give strong touches to the hand, we can change the timing of the reward marker to happen just before he touches your hand.
>We tried with ready treat but it was too tempting to go to today lol!>
Really interesting, I guess it grew in value LOL! Since we are going to want to use it for some things, you can separate it from this game and teach him that the way to get it to open is to do things that you cue, rather than running to it (or smacking it, my dogs always go through a phase of smacking it LOL!!) It can be something like sitting on the couch with the Ready Treat on the ground and ask for a treat or a hand touch. He is a smartie and will figure out to ignore it in order to get it š
The backing up to the platform is going great! Look at him using his back feet so nicely!!!!! And there is good distance there too. And the cue! You might have surprised him the first time you added the cue here but then he nailed it the second time.
You can go to the next level now, which adds backing up onto something that moves/wobbles a tiny bit. It can be a wobble board with a bunch of towels under it or an inflatable that is under-inflated. We donāt want a lot of movement to start, just a tiny bit. It is a good foundation for the teeter!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
It is great that you got to train with friends in a new place! Perfect!
>I must tell you I giggled every time you said Shpile in the video lol! >
Ha! That is good, it was not entended to be entirely serious š
The session went well – she was happy to interact with the pile and that is good! Teaching her brain to deal with her legs is the goal š You can keep changing the configuration of the shpile each time you revisit it to keep challenging her.
>She did decide sheād rather go back to the Shpile than tug after the recall. We are struggling going from food to toy at times.>
The energy that you used for the recall and the tugging was great! It is possible that the toy was actually a little too small for her to grab – what I mean by that is you started with it long and when she got to you, shortened it and lifted it so she didnāt really get a chance to grab it. So try keeping it long and you can even tie it to another toy so you donāt have to bend down.
Plus, she is probably teething and that makes tugging a little harder right now – no worries, it will come roaring back when teething is less painful.
The strike a pose game went well! It think she found the threadle correctly on all but one rep (she ended up on the front for that one rep because it was what he saw most after getting the start cookie). For the next session, you can replace the cone with a toy on the ground or a manners minder, so she zips out to the reward without you needing to move at all! That will help us add motion.
>I donāt know if my darn feet are doing the right thing. Should they be facing the reinforcement cone?>
The feet will make more sense when we add motion š Ideally, the feet always face the direction of the next jump which would be towards the reinforcement cone you had out š But when stationary, the feet are less important and it is the upper body and arm position she is mainly reading.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Should always do a quick rewatch video for mechanics and not go from memory lol.>
Or use the field guide! Those will have the mechanics and are easier than re-watching the video.
He did well with the tight turns but he did have a question – I think he was confused about where to look: at the cookie hand? or wrap the upright? He was not sure if the hand movement was the cue to wrap, or if you tossed a cookie. Three thoughts on that:
– clearer markers! In this game, a click for the head turn followed by a ‘get it’ for the tossed cookie will help (you were doing some of that). In other games, be consistent about using a clear marker for ‘cookie in hand is available’ versus ‘get it’ versus “yay” and just throwing š
– make the hand cues look different. If you have the cookie in the send hand, you can make it look different than the hand looks when you are tossing or delivering the cookie. It can be something like the cookie is in a closed fist and you are pointing with your index finger (our hands definitely don’t look like that when we toss a treat)
– send & turn his head with an empty hand, toss reward with the other and a get it marker.
Backside slices – he did a great job finding the correct side of the barrel!!
>Heās going so wide on these. My position? Timing?>
Two things were happening:
– by starting with your hand on his collar or with him next to you, he was going wide to get a look at the full picture (seeing it from further away broadens his view). So, start either with a cookie toss or from a stay, so you can be moving up the line ahead of him. That will allow him to lock onto the barrel sooner.– also, move over so your line is to where the bump/bar and barrel meet – you were blocking the line so he had to go a bit wide to see the barrel. You can see it clearest at 1:55 where you were really centered on the barrel so he was going wide to find the line. Being on a parallel line further over will help him stay on a parallel line and be tighter to the barrel.
The toy placement was really good so it was great to see him beginning to default to coming over the bar. Yay!
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning! Really great job on these, it is very fun to see her sequencing!!!!
Your connection overall is looking great and your timing is looking strong too. Normally, timing is a little late with young dogs at this point, partially to support commitment and partially because we donāt know what they are going to do and we donāt really trust them LOL!! But your timing is looking really good!
Seq 1:
I think the FC and the BC 3-4 went really well. My only suggestion is to get in closer to the tunnel on purpose, so you donāt get too far ahead and end up waiting for her. What happened when you were too far ahead was you decelerated to let her exit the tunnel, then exploded forward into the FC and BC. That motion explosion my counteract the turn cues of the crosses, so youāll get even better turns if you move in closer to the line of the tunnel so you donāt have to stop moving, and then you can decel into the FC or BC.>ried it with a blind on 3 on that first sequence and it actually felt good (those tight blinds in Max pup 3 were very challenging for me!) so I was happy with that.>
It looked great – very nice connection and that really showed her the line. She read it really well.
She sent really well to 5 (nice turn!) and found the 5-6-7 line nicely with you staying in motion.
>but still got a bar on one rep.>
That bar was at :30 – things got VERY EXCITING as you accelerated/turned forward and started cueing the tunnel with loud exciting verbalsā¦ so she accelerated and hit the bar. That is a pretty common young dog thing and it is actually something I work on in jump grids: setting up a simple grid and then I add lots of motion and sometimes yelling GO GO GO or TUNNEL lol!
On the next rep, you were more connected (1:03) with less explosion of motion so she did great – and we can look at showing her the loud verbals and big motion over the bar. I bet she was just surprised and can keep the bar up even when exciting things are happening š
2nd sequence – I am so proud of her for committing to the 1-2 jumps that well so you could have perfect timing! You nailed the timing. Yes, the BC starts as she lifts off for 1 (1:20) and it was finished and re-connected a solid stride or so before takeoff for 2. SUPER! It was adult dog timing and she did great. And she balanced all of that extension with being able to turn really well on 3 in response to your decel and sending. Then, right back to big acceleration. That is one of the superpowers of these BorderWhippet types (and whippets) – the ability to be in big extension, collect for amazing tight turns, then land facing the new direction AND in big extension again. It is a huge advantage on course š
>Another NFC run at 12ā at a trial tomorrow. Just one run, and I wonāt bother with a start line stay and I might try to trust her on a few more extension lines.>
Fun! Keep me posted, canāt wait to hear how she does. I am guessing it is UKI, so you can bring in a helper to throw the toy on those big extension lines. And then have a 2nd toy tucked into a pocket so you can get her back quickly after the other toy is thrown. That is how I worked the big lines with my dogs: a helper comes in to surprise the dog with a thrown reward, then I got the dog to bring it back with a 2nd toy š Gotta love the UKI NFC rules!!!!
Great job here, have fun today!!
Tracy
Good morning!
Bummer about the bad weather and double bummer about the Blue Jays last night! Onwards to Game 7!
>I thought we were going to warm up slowly and see how far we gotā¦lol. He said, letās go!!!>
He was HILARIOUS!!! And brilliant. He was on fire and did SUPER well wrapping the barrels – you might have to run away from them to get the toy reward involved (like a turn and burn) so he doesnāt take the motion of indicating the toy as an indicator to go to the barrel.
You can add your wrap verbals to this game now, if you didnāt already have them added (I didnāt hear them but wrap verbals are quiet and might have been hard to catch on video).
You can also bring the barrels in a little closer and see how he will do if you didnāt run as much, and just sent: so it would be one-step send, front cross, connect, one-step send. That way we can get more distance going too!
And the tunnels looked fabulous – a real grown up tunnel! Yay!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! I am sorry that you were hospitalized and I hope you are feeling better!!!!!! And I am glad Carly is better too. Sounds like October was a hard month.
We have time built in at the end of the course for any catching you will want to do š So no worries about being behind, we will catch you up!
>Iām having knee replacement surgery on November 14th.>
I hope that all goes smoothly, I am sure it will! We have had other folks get knee replacements during MaxPup and we have been able to modify the games to suit the needs of the new knee š We can have you doing things sitting and standing as you recover š
>What happens in every training session is that Carly starts running in circles and cutting behind me. This starts as soon as we enter the training room. So now, I put a leash on her before we walk into the room. But as soon as we start playing the training games, for example, on the Parallel path games, she will ping-pong back and forth without connecting with me. Iāve tried calling her name as soon as she gets the tossed cookie and she will come but only after making a quick circle around me.>
We can definitely work on this – it probably makes it hard to feel like you are having an efficient training session!
I think the behavior comes from being really excited to train with you and stimulated by the training. And she seems to love the work and the training! So overall this is a good thing – even when it might be annoying š remember that she is really excited to train with you š
Putting a leash on her was very smart! And just to be sure I know what is happening: once the āworkā begins, she keeps doing the work work work work work work even when you are trying to reset her to come to you and line up, etc. If that is not correct, let me know (and get a video if possible, that is helpful too!)
A couple of ideas for you:
– We can play with reward value. What I mean by that is the tossed treat for the work (parallel path game for example) can be relatively low value (like boring kibble :)) and the reward for coming back to you can be amazing – cheese, chicken, favorite toy, etc. And only do one rep of the āworkā (one kibble for one pass over the jump setup) then have a massive party for coming to you by showing her the incredible rewards you have available. The goal is to begin to shift the value in the training session away from work only, and to the nice balance of coming back to you for being reset for each rep.
– We can also teach a fun line up! One of my young dogs lines up between my feet and he loves to do it. He LOVES to work, so the lineup predicts that I am going to ask him to work – and so he lines up every single time and doesnāt obsess on doing the work/training game without me. Now, with a new knee and the recovery, I am not sure I want Carly between your feet because she might trip you up and I donāt want you to fall – but we can work on having her line up at your side, with a hand target cue pulling her back next to you, then lining her up into a sit:
– We can also give her a āstationā behavior, like hopping up onto a cot or something to break the cycle of ping-ponging that you described. Getting up on a station will allow you to reset her with focus on you, and I think she will like it because it is very rewarding! I toss lots of treats onto the station and I have also put the manners minder up on it š I donāt think I have video of it but I can grab some if you like! Dogs love to station because it is work š and we love it because it re-focuses them and gives us a moment to be ready for the next rep.
– in week 9 (coming on Tuesday!) we have an arousal management game which also helps direct the pupsā focus to us! And it will be great for when you are recovering rom the knee surgery because you donāt need to be running around for it š
Let me know what you think! I will send along more ideas after I have more coffee š
Tracy
Good morning!
>Well, found out we canāt use any kind of cheese for rewards. After using it for the Threadle slices yesterday she woke me up at 3 this morning needing to go out. Poor girly.>
Oh no, poor girl!! Maybe small chunks of chicken for when we have to throw treats. But also, we can really look at the stay as the start behavior because it does not require a tossed treat š How is her stay going? We might use it instead of a start cookie if she is doing well with it! And we can use manners minder as the start spot too!
>I use āin-inā for both sides of my Threadle slices. Is it too soon to add them? If not, Iāll add that when we work on this again.>
Do you mean āin-inā as threadle slice to the left and threadle slice to the right? Then yes, that works! I am unconvinced that we need separate verbals for threadle slice to the left and to the rightā¦ our position and the jump bar provide the info for that. But a different verbal for threadle slice and threadle wrap – yes, that is something we need. So many words!
Connect a bit more especially on your right side. You were looking ahead which was creating a conflicting indicator: line of motion said backside, line of shoulders (and the go verbal) said front side based on where your chest was pointing. On her stronger side (your left side) she was able to get it but the other side was definitely harder.
Your line of motion was great! So we can look at giving her more connection.
A good example of the connection being too far forward is on the rep from about 1:08 to 1:12 – you were looking forward so she was coming in to you and looking up at you to figure out: front or back?
So it is just one suggestion to give her more info: Look directly at her as you move up the line š That will have your line of motion and your shoulders both supporting the backside line. At first do it quietly, because āgoā will indicate the front of the jump.
Then yes, add the verbal:
>s I want to get the verbal added before going to the harder positions. I use the same verbal (push) for both sides. OK to add that now?>
Yes – as soon as she can do it pretty well on both sides and you can reliably predict you will get the backside, add the push (backside slice) verbal. It is useful to have a verbal because you can say it directly to her cute face. I always remind myself to talk to the dog and not to the obstacle š and that helps me stay connected.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
This went really well! She IS paying attention to the verbals!!! You were pretty disconnected (on purpose haha) and she was processing the verbals really well – especially the tunnel verbal. Getting the tunnel when cued was great because it was not on her line when exiting the wing wrap, so she was really listening to the verbal. SUPER!!!! Progress being made!!!!!!
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
>Sorry it is so hard to hear on some of the videos ā outdoors with the wind blowing does not work well with my iPhone.>
No worries! Usually it is the quieter verbals (turn verbals) that are hard to hear, but that is good because we want them to be quieter. Although a MaxPup student wears her ear buds which videotaping outside and the sound is amazing, I am going to try that soon!
>Iām still wondering about #4. I think if I had seen that with Patt in real life, I would have done a Japanese. That way I would carry him to the backside and be out of the way on the jump to tunnel. Might have to try thatā¦>
Yes! I love a good blind cross on the takeoff side! It also takes out a lot of the discrimination option which is why we didnāt really suggest it here. But it is challenging and fun!
>that I got my new 10ā tunnel and it, of course, lives in the barn because it is all new and beautiful. >
Of course! New fancy obstacles live indoors for a while š
>We did the āJump-Tunnel Discriminations Around The Clock Verbalsā and I was astonished. Possibly because of doing the first weekās work, but at any rate, Casper was GREAT at this.>
Yay!! Yes, you will see these games improve with practice. I think the easier version of this game is the first part, and he did great (jump closer to you). The harder version is the 2nd part, where he has to find the jump on the other side of the tunnel. Many dogs really struggle with this one!
This is where the handling all kind of looks the same (you were facing the wall the same way for most of it) but he did really well! And on one rep, your motion said ājumpā but mouth said tunnel so he took the tunnel (:58). You did end up with the weaves at one point but I think they were visible when you changed sides and he might have been guessing you were changing the setup.
But overall, a very high rate of success! Super!! This will help as you move into the handling games too.
Nice work!
TracyHi!
>and for now I will stick with walking them on leash when we go to the beach with an occasional stop to swim. If there is any jumping on me, I will put him back on leash and get walking again. He will likely be annoyed if Artie is allowed to continue off leash. Does that sound like a reasonable plan?>
What is happening when he jumps up on you? Give me the details š That way we can plan to have it not happen in the first place. Putting him back on leash is for if it happens, but it would be better if it did not happen š
>His default behavior is to offer a sit. So if we are playing tug and I say giveā¦he will release the toy and wait to see what is nextā¦.if I donāt throw it, I am pretty sure he will offer a sit. I will test this tomorrow.>
Does he have a stay verbal? I build my freeze off my stay verbal.
>I would like to do some handling because he is so different from Artie!!! (I would also like to do a Masters handling with Artie.). I wasnāt sure if I should ask for something like crazy commitment or distance/layering or discriminationā¦..any suggestions?>
It can be something like New To Masters Handling – young dogs that are just getting up into Masters and are faster/bigger strides/still learning all the skills. That way we can look at timing and handling options. I don’t think crazy commitment or discriminations are as useful – and distance/layering is built into everything nowadays š
>Also, have you started to plan your 2026 calendar? Will you still be able to come to JAG in early May? Just figuring if you are, that Ringo would get another opportunity to work with you then. yeah!!!!>
Yes, I think that would be great – which dates do you have in mind? I think May 4-5-6 would work best!
Thanks!
Tracy
