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Hi!
Nice job on the opening FCs! Her commitment is looking really strong so you can decel a bit sooner and rotate sooner, that will help with the spins (see below).
The rep at :20-:22 was perfection with decel and connection 🙂
>> She was going out and taking the other wing instead of the tunnel.>>
In this case… she was following the handling nciely 🙂 She is making decisions and blasting to the line as soon as she sees the exit of the wing wrap. Definitely reward those moments!
Here is what was happening:
Freeze the video at :29 as she exits the wing: you had stopped moving to re-connect with her, which set up pointing directly to the off course line. Good girl! That is also pretty much what happened at :37 and 1:02.Now compare to :53, MUCH better position and line of motion to the tunnel. She was looking at the other wing a little because she had been rewarded there but she picked up the turn and got the tunnel. Yay! The same happened at 1:12 and1:21.
So the earlier you decel and rotate for the spin (before she arrives at the wing), the earlier you can run up the next line. Trust your connection back to her like you did at :21 and keep moving, that should take out the off courses here.
Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
I don’t think you did anything wrong 🙂 I think what was happening was that she was having a little trouble running through the box and passing the wing. Pretty normal for young dogs, because they kind of expect to take whatever that see 🙂
You broke it down and built it back up exaclty as I would have suggested:
– moved the off course wing further away
– rewarded the NOT going off course a lot
– dialed back your motion so she could more easily process the line
That really helped her and you were able to build the sequence back up. Super! For the next session, start where you left off with big distances and not a lot of motion. If she does well, you can add more speed and the higher level challenges 🙂Great job!
TracyWhat a fun run!!!! At this stage, no need to fix things in a trial – just let him rip! And no worries about being busy last week – we have catch up time built in.
Have fun!
TracyGood morning!
She was really loving the drive ahead here! The distance allowed her to open up and run, and the dish as far enough away that she could still run and get to it (didn’t have to slow down at the jump).
>>One of the things I notice about her, is she doesn’t really want to speed into the wraps. There’s a lot of trotting to them. So I played around with getting her a bit fired up, so she’d at least canter.>>
Because of the collection needed for the wrap, and the anticipation that she is going to be running to the jump, getting a lot of speed into the wrap is hard here – cantering is fine because she is setting up the collection.
I think she liked some of the revving up, like when you were giving her a little ‘ready ready’ moment and then taking a couple of steps to the wing. She was speedy there! I don’t think she loved all the physical stuff like at :22 – she was trying to move away from it. Yes, there was speed but I think it was more based in frustration so we want to avoid that.
We can build more speed on the wing wraps when you are using the verbals and not moving – that was the end and she was trotting. So you can isolate that skill and have massive rewards (highest value food or a toy she loves) for sending to the wing and coming back to you! That can make it super valuable which will get more speed too, without having to get her extra revved up 🙂
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
There is MUCH to be thrilled with in this video!! She was ignoring the massive amount of activity in the environment and OMG she is really hustling, I love it!!! So your new mantra is:Don’t run fast – run connected.
I think you were trying to outrun her to the wings to cue each one, but that sacrificed connection. That is why she didn’t get the wing wrap at :16 and also there were some zig zags on the other lines.
So yes, run! But make looking at her at the tunnel exits and on the exits of the wings into your highest priority. You might not be as far ahead but you will get great commitment and sending.
It is very fun to see her bring out her whippet speed here and still engage, eat cookies, play with toys, retrieve, and be overall perfect 🙂 Exciting times ahead!!! Great job here!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
Yeah, the weather has been gross and everything here (including my floors LOL) is a mud pit! Fingers crossed for warm dry weather ahead.
Wind In Your Hair:
Yes, use your arm to support the send, but I think the refusals are a combination of needing more connection and maybe being a bit too far from the wing to start (when there is a jump out ahead).First rep – no connection (refusal) followed by connection so he got it
1:03 – you were looking forward so he was unsure then the step back cued the jump which you were closer to. Same at 1:25. Great connection at 1:27! And 135
Line him up at your side (most of the reps had him facing you or milling about a bit) then establish connection then send. The last 2 reps at TW had that clean start and wow, it made a big difference on the commitment to the wing
Ticking the gutter was late toy throw happening as he was over the gutter. It should be when he looks ahead after the wing wrap. It was coming when he was between the uprights, so he was looking at you
>>I’m curious to know what you think worked better, the toy toss or the MM. >>
Both were effective! The toy toss is something that will ultimately be used on course when running sequences, so throwing it earlier here is good to practice. The MM already be out there helped him look forward and not at you, but it was a little too close to the jump so he had t decelerate. Moving it further from the jump so it is about 15 feet from the jump will help!
The set point is off to a good start! What was the distance here? Using the MM was good to get him looking forward and not at you – it can be a little further away to allow him to stride out over jump 2. The MM will often produce a calmer-looking approach because the dogs have slow down to get to it. And he does like it! The MM can often produce a more upward “hop” over the jump which is what he was doing here. Using a toy will generally smooth that out.
But mainly since his moving target game is going well – we are going to use that 🙂 Stay tuned for more coming tomorrow!! The moving target can be a toy or a MM on wheels 🙂
>>I think Mason knows that CheckCheck and SaySay are his wrap verbals, but he doesn’t know the directions yet. I’m guessing he just assumes I am always on the inside of the turn.>>
Yes, that is likely to be true. We tackle more of the turning away later in the class 🙂
Proofing is going well!! Especially the sequencing! He has gotten even faster!
>I noticed that sometimes I released him as I was saying the cue, so next time I’ll try to make sure the cue comes first. >
Yes – you were generally saying the verbal and releasing almost immediately. So, try to say the verbal 3 or 4 or 5 times… then let go of the collar. That will allow the verbal to really attach to the behavior by coming significantly before the motion. That way you can basically be standing still the whole time 🙂
You can also move the wing closer to the tunnel. See if he can still process the cues with. The wing about 2 feet away from the tunnel entry or even less!
>>on the last rep it looks like he jumped at the toy on his way to the tunnel. I suppose I need to keep switching the toy from hand to hand to make sure he doesn’t see it.>>
No worries – the tunnel cue was a little late (you were still saying the wrap cue as he was exiting the wing) so he might have thought it was reward time. As soon as you said tunnel, he went to the tunnel.
Smiley face game: I am loving his speed on these! So fun! And when you are connected? LOOKING AMAZING!!!! Also note that on the sends to the start wing here, you were smooth on the line up and connected on the send, so no refusals on the video.
>>I had a hard time keeping track of the verbals and had to edit out a bunch of my miscues. Also, my head was spinning from trying to remember the cue names, the timing of the cues, the connection, and where to point.>>
There is a LOT of detail to add to the handling indeed! You can begin to practice this without him, doing walk throughs on video – then checking the video to see if you are getting the cues out properly. That way when you run him, all the cues will be rehearsed.
And when you run him on these sequences: remember that all errors are handler errors 🙂 and the pups respond perfectly to what they see… that means you must reward him even if it was not what you planned. What you planned and what you did in the moment might be 2 different things 😁 so he is correctly responding to what you did. Stopping and re-setting will be frustrating.
The most important element of all of it is the connection. Motion is important too but the connection to his eyes when he exits the tunnel especially will be super helpful to get commitment. That was easier when he exited on your left side (stronger side for both of you, maybe?). When he exited on your right side, you were less connected and he had questions. At :05, you were looking ahead so he came in next to you (that is what the physical cues said, good boy!). You can either reward that or just keep going back to the tunnel then reward – no fixing needed because he was correct and you can fix the handling on the next rep 🙂 The motion was better on the next reps on that side but you can look at him more directly to smooth out the line as you cue the tunnel exit.
>>I’m thinking of ways to do some pressure slices with obstacles and incorporate that into a setup routine, but that discussion can wait for another day>>
No need to add obstacles or setups yet – start the pressure framework with the pattern games and with the silly sporty behavior, then it will be much easier to transfer to the real behaviors 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
Nice job with the set point!! He seems to be figuring out where all of his feet are quite nicely 🙂 A couple of ideas for the next session (this is something to do once maybe twice a week).
There were a lot of stay rewards, which is great!! Be sure that the connection of looking back at him is not associated with the release – if you lead out without looking then look back and release (releasing forward or throwing a cookie back) then the looking back at him becomes the release (which is what was happening here a bit). So either lead out with connection the whole time, or look back but pause/praise and don’t release immediately.
We was looking at you a bit here even with the toy on the ground. So, be sure to be all the way-out at the toy and for now you can even bend over to point to it so we can lower his head position.
But that brings me to a question: how is his moving target game going? That will help us get him focusing ahead and not at you 🙂 We add it in starting tomorrow 🙂
For the next session, you can move the cone out of the way so he doesn’t need to process it being there (teenager brains are busy enough hahaha) and see if you can video from the side so we can see his mechanics more. They look good from the front!!
Wind In Your Hair is looking good! Nice timing of the toy throws – he was really looking ahead and leaving you in the dust 🙂 Yay!
You can add more distance between the wing and jump now, and add more of your motion – he seemed to have no problem with you jogging at the end.
He did have a couple of questions about the wing wrap start – if your leg was back, he was not sure about committing especially if you stepped away early (like at :23, :57, 1:10). So use the dog side leg to step to the wing and you can also reward the wing wrap – he figured out that the frisbees was coming after the jump 🙂 so was anticipating moving to it. Rewarding the wrap a bunch will help balance that out.
Great job!
TracyHi!
I use the MinnyPinny to teach the left/right verbals. Here is the Maxpup 1 start to them:
And you will see more of that upcoming here!
Tracy
I like the 4 times compromise LOL!! So the cue would be tunnel-tunnel, tunnel-tunnel… then let her go 🙂
Thanks for the video! The wrap verbals are going well – it looks like she will commit nicely as long as you didn’t move away before she got to the wing… but that might just be because she was starting from a standing still. I am betting that in the heat of a sequence, she will be happy for you to do the FC before she gets to the wing.
>>She had feelings about my holding her collar to start so I dropped that since she is sending from a bit further away.>>
She sure did have big feelings about it LOL!! I don’t think it was being held by the collar – I think it was because being moved into position by the collar was uncomfortable. No worries – you can use a line up hand cue or cookie lure to get her to be at your side where you want to start, then hold the collar so you can start the verbal. That way she is in the correct spot, but without being moved around by the collar.
Nice work here!
TracyGood morning! Happy Monday!
>>So we’d already done this exercise once but from the other direction. Are dogs like horses in that switching the direction can seem like a completely new exercise to them? I>>
1000% yes! Playing flyball really rammed the point home to me, because it taught me a whole lot about side preferences in dogs. And humans are the same way – I can write my name pretty well with one hand! And I am terrible at it with the other hand. The good news is that the dog can practice and learn. And same with the humans – we practice on our weaker side too. For example, one of my dogs is a righty and I am a lefty. So when he is on my right side having to turn to his left? We are both more likely to screw it up 🙂 So I teach all new concepts to him with him on my left first, so I am stronger and he can turn to his stronger side (to his right) unless he has to turn away – then I have to start on my weaker side so he can turn to his stronger side as he learns. Then yes, it can often appear “unlearned” on the other side but really it is a mechanics processing thing.
>>Ha ha ha well I’m glad I’m not the only one with those annoying moments! These dogs keep us on our toes, that’s for sure!>>
TRUTH!!! Haha!!!
>>So for a RC to her left, I should throw the treat/toy to the landing spot which would be the left side by the jump standard? Will she finish the RC if I do that or will it just be telling her that she was a good girl to jump ahead and bend left as if she was turning around the left standard to come back to me? It seems like I should reward her if she makes the correct turn towards the left but I understand you want me to reward her before that so she knows going ahead of me is okay. >>
Yes – throw it a few feet past the landing spot as you see her passing you at first, then eventually we change it to when she is lifting off. The turn will be the easy part once she is happy to drive past you 🙂
>>We did the backing up game again today. It’s her 4th session. Wowzer. She is FINALLY getting it! >>
YES!!! That is great!!!!
>>I’m just so used to things being quick for her that I could not understand why this one was so challenging or what I was doing to not make it clear to her. >>
It is good to challenge the smart dogs with the really hard things – they learn to sort out the higher level challenges.
>>She’d jump on the plank and then walk her front feet off. She never offered actually backing onto it……Now that I say that out loud to you I’m realizing she never actually “backed up”, is that okay? I mean she understood she needed to get her two back feet on it only but she didn’t really back onto it except maybe a few reps. Was that wrong? >>
It was definitely not wrong! It is the first piece of the puzzle. So for the next rep, revisit it and see if she remembers it. And if so, you can sit in front of the plank, pretty close, lure her so her back feet step a tiny bit off the plank, and see if she resets herself into position. You can see some of the other sessions getting posted: Bev & Chip (BC) and Kathy & Bazinga (Boston Terrier). Both of them sometimes turned around to get to position, and sometimes backed up into position. All gets rewarded! It is a good next step for Kashia.
>> So I guess I need to know is the concept backing up or is the concept just knowing how to put the two back feet on something?>>
The concept is basically to get her to get into her position at the end of the plank no matter what crazy things we are doing hahahaha so she gets rewarded for getting into position no matter how she does it 🙂
>>We are still struggling a bit with the motion override game. She enjoys it but she is still having a hard time sitting on the first command and sitting when I do more than a slow walk or walk in place. I was hoping she’d be to a speed walk by now but she’s not so I haven’t sent a second attempt video yet for that exercise.>>
You can break it down even more, like tapping a foot or swinging your arms a little. As soon as she sorts if out, the motion will be much easier to add.
Have fun!
TracyGood morning!
The countermotion game is going well! Great job with a SUPER clear indications: arm, leg, verbal, connection shift! Perfect! Her commitment looked fabulous and this is a ridiculously hard game (you two made it look really easy 🙂 )
All of the reps were spot on with connection and sending. There was only one connection blooper: at 1:23 you didn’t quite get the connection on your left side and it looked like you wanted her on your right. Good girl Bazinga! Good job rewarding her instantly. And you know it was a legit response from her because the toy was in your left and she still moved to your right side.
You adjusted for more connection on the next rep at 1:27 and nailed it 🙂 So yes, we humans sometimes have connection bloopers but because you are sooooo good about quick reinforcement and then you make immediate adjustments, she is able to maintain her drive and confidence to commit. I am sending you a cyber high five!!!!!
The double rotations are harder for us handlers and you nailed it at 1:33, she had no questions. Happy dance!
You almost had a little disconnection at 1:37 but your motion supported the line and she got it. Super! And that allowed you to set up the rotated send after it. Yay!
You can start the next session revisiting where you ended her to see if she remembers it 🙂 and then you can move to the next steps and add the race tracks 🙂
>>I moved the teeter into our daily yard just because I was feeling stressy about all the things in the bigger field I didn’t want her to get into. I didn’t want to pass that feeling onto Bazinga about the teeter.>>
That was smart – being stressed about the environment will make it harder for you as a trainer, which definitely can be passed to the pups!!
She was great here, figuring out how to get the MM to click. She gets an extra gold start for figuring out that bopping your hand might also get the MM to click (I am *still* laughing about that, she is so clever!!). She was backing then jumping on sideways here, but then by the end had some good reps of backing up fully too! I don’t mind that she was was backing up to the side then hopping on – she is looking for her 4-on position and that is GREAT!!!! Nice timing with your clicks!!
Great job!
TracyHi!
Motion override went really well! Wow! Interestingly, he was better on your right side (most of the dogs are better on our left side, probably because we humans work with them on our left sides a lot 🙂 )
He was still really good on your left, it just seemed that there was a tiny bit more delay on that side before the response- that might have been because you were more connected when he was on your right and connection is a key element to him.You added a little more motion and some arm swinging at the end, he was still terrific. YAY! So in the next sessions, you can add faster walking, jogging, running. Have fun! Great job!
TracyGood morning!
He seems very confident with the teeter. He offered plenty of good reps here! I think he was not 100% sure if what you wanted was backing up or just getting into 2o2o, which is why he was offering turning around too.For more backing up, he might need you to start the session with you closer to the teeter and with the board lower, so he immediately offers the behavior. You can start with him in his 2o2o, release forward just enough for his back feet to come off. Then it will be a lot easier to step back onto the board (with less room to turn around to get back on it, which is definitely easier LOL!)
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
Awwww, good baby dog doing his first set point! You can leave the distance a bit wider for now, I would prefer him to extend a bit and not compress as much for now. The reward target is great – it should be another 6 feet away from bump #2 so he can stride out to it (and be sure you are up at the target and not closer to the jump).
One thing to focus on is lining him up straight to the bump (you can use a cookie lure at your side) so he is facing straight. He was a little sideways here so for future jumping skills, getting him nice and straight will help.
>>I tried a placed ball for wind in hair, but he didn’t see it. So tossing (the heavier toy) was a better result. This is a good one for (me) practicing verbals! We added distance; next time will try jogging.>>
Yes, the placed toy faded into the background for him so throwing it was definitely better! You can try lining him up facing the wing then letting him see you throw the toy, then sending him around the wing. That is similar to a game in MaxPup 1 and is a lovely impulse control game too! If you train with other folks, you can have them toss the toy or drag it for you.
>>We used a cookie for set up on set point and that worked well. >>
Yes – cookie line ups are very helpful and you can add it to lining up at your side.
>>Since I don’t want to use the collar to move him into position, I picked him up. He tolerated that ok.>>
I think he kinda tolerated it because of his intrinsic interest in playing the game… but I don’t think it something to keep doing. Dogs generally don’t like to be picked up to be put into position and it adds tress/pressure and then they start to avoid it (you can see him really flattened on the ground at 1:23 as you were going to pick him up). And when he is leaving if you are trying to line him up with a cookie, or toy, we definitely need to get him happy with that.
>> I have been working (only a little) on a set up position; maybe I should move that to a higher priority.>>
Yes – before trying the discrimination again which relies on a line up and collar hold, you can work up the happy game of lining up at your side, collar hold, driving forward. It goes back to some of the MaxPup 1 games like toy races (no sits or stays in those, just line up, quick collar hold, toy throw and go), so that is something you can do to pump up his value for lining up and being held.
For the next session of the proofing game, you can make the toy a little less obvious for the wraps! But hold off on that until you’ve got the line up and collar hold in a happy place where he moves to it and you don’t have to go towards him to get it.
Nice work here!
Tracy
