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Good morning!
She did super well on the 1st and 3rd rep here!
>>On the first clip (the forced front cross in review), the second run, I am not sure why JJ read this wrong. >>
I think that yes, walking past the takeoff side was part of it and also she as lined up facing straight to the front of the and jump. She got it on the 3rd rep, but on all 3 reps you can have her start position more angled so she is on a slice over 1 and looking directly at the backside of 2 (rather than straight over 1 and seeing the front of 2).
The threadles on the 2nd video looked great (and sounds like the verbals were in place too – super!) You can tuck in behind the wing a bit more, so half of your body is behind it – you can line ip your belly button with the wing š That way you will still get he threadle but also be one step ahead when she gets to the backside. And since she is so speedy, any extra step is a useful advantage š
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>>I am struggling getting those verbals out!>>
It is perfectly fine to do these without verbals for now as you hash out the physical cues!
Looking at the mission transition video:
The 2 lovely transitions were at 1:06 and 2:10! You had a very clear fast forward, slow forward, rotate transition and he of course produced gorgeous turns. Click/treat to you both!!!
You can decelerate sooner at :02 and :57 and 1:52. On those reps, your decel started more at takeoff so he was wider (he had already made a takeoff decision so could not adjust until after he landed.
The reps at 1:17, 1:32 and 2:01 didnāt have decel – you went from fast forward to slam-on-the-brakes-rotate which actually cued him to NOT commit. If that happens (he stops short in front of the jump) – you can assume it was the slam-on-the-brakes, reward (human error, sorry dude!) and then start again. Fixing it in the moment is confusing to the dog (you got another error at 1:19 and then he slowed down and got sticky) and also it doesnāt teach us humans to properly decelerate.
The Go lines were looking good- I think you were really emphasizing getting the toys thrown early so even if they were not all great throws LOL you definitely got him looking ahead!!!
Now that it is getting hotter out, shorten up his sessions til he can build some heat tolerance. You can see in the last part (1:45 ish and on) that he was hot, not really lining up and trotting at a distance to the start wing -you lose some of the crispness of the behavior when they are hot so short short sessions when it is hot out will help him build up tolerance.
Zig zag are going well – loved the crazy arm movement dance on the lead outs LOL!! Keeps us from accidentally releasing with arm motion. He was even happy for you to jog to position!
Good job starting back on 2 wings – He is getting very speedy on these so you will probably want to stick to 2 wings for now. The ones he missed were because you were late or he couldnāt really see the cues, and so there ended up being too many errors. Since it is a mechanics game, it is fine to stick to 2 ing for now as he learns his mechanics at speed. Leading out to the entry wing of 3 was where he was most successful, so a session of that will help and then you can take a step back a little further, then a little further, to gradually build it up to all 3 bars with you past the 3rd one.Nice work here!
TracyHi! This went great!!!
>>I tried the treat/collar-grab/treat setup routine you suggested and it worked great! The first rep shows this.>>
Yay! I thought it was really smooth: he was happy to line up and you had super clean transitions into grabbing his collar then letting go pretty quickly. Super nice!!!!!
>> I was late on all of my toy tosses though. I tried to look for the head turn on the get outs, but it went so fast that I really couldnāt see it.>>
Yeah, he was really fast so you got your throws in a quickly as you could LOL!!! You can move the wing further from the jump so he has to ‘get out’ more to find the jump – that will make the head turn more obvious and also buy you time for the toy throw or the cross.
One thing to add in the next session is a line on the ground from the edge of the wing going parallel to the bar. And keep your feet pointing along the line and not to the jump at all. That way the upper body cues and the verbal do all of the ‘work’ of the get out cue, and your are moving forward on the same exact line as the non-get-out reps (without stepping to the get out jump at all). That will give you even more independence on the cue (more distance!) and also it will make the crosses a lot easier. When you were taking one step to the jump, you then had to quickly change direction to get the cross. If you are moving forward the whole time, the blind cross in particular will feel a lot easier because all you need to do is turn your head š
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
>>so now if you want a low height you need to use the very heavy and cumbersome baby dog walk which is usually set at about 2 feet high when it is out.>
Bummer about not being able to use the big DW for this, but I think she can practice her safe exits on the baby dog walk too! It is a good skill for all dogs to have š It is not so much of a turning around game as it is a stop in the middle and hop off on cue game.
Looking at the videos:
The FFCs on video 1 look great – you can add a little more connection to her eyes before you release her, which should help her when you get into the bigger sequences and she is coming up the line with more speed. And when she gets to your hand for the FFC, you can use that hand to indicate the landing spot behind you without turning all the way to the jump.
2nd video: The first two reps looked like threadles here with you facing her: SUPER timing on the threadles! She read them really well. You donāt even need to move to the jump after she get to the backside; you can stay in position and she will turn herself away. The last rep was a forced front, so you can try it with less rotation (throwing her behind you while your feet face forward). The forced threadle is a little bit of a harder move but it is definitely more popular nowadays and she read it great!
>>. I definitely noticed that if i was impatient that JJ did not read this correctly.>>
Yes, if we move too early then the dog might pick up the wrong side of the jump. You had great timing on these though, she had no questions.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
Working this on the DW up ramp with the MM worked well (they also need to find the entry on dog walks!) You can do it on the teeter when you have a chance but it is a similar concept for both (but the teeter moves, of course LOL!)
This went really well! I hope she never sees those angles of approach on course, but sadly you might see the pink jump to the dog walk that she was doing here. So it is good she is prepared!
Since you have access to a dog walk, you can lower it to maybe 2 feet off the ground and have her turn around and hop off from the top plank – that is a great body awareness game to help the dogs out if they ever lose their balance and jump off.
Nice work here! Fingers crossed for good weather!
Tracy
Good morning!
I love the photo of him having a big sleep at the end! Learning if consolidated into the brain when they sleep, so he was learning there š
A main theme you will see on these games is that connection is key for him: when you are connected, he finds his lines brilliantly! When you are looking ahead of him and he canāt see the connection, he looks at you seeking more info about the lines.
On the serp versus tunnel, you can see the connection plays a bit role: when you were not connected and looking forward on the release when you wanted the tunnel, he knew it was not the jump but came to look at you for more info. When you were further ahead and nearer/past to the tunnel entry he found it but more connection will help build more independence so he wonāt need you to be as close to the obstacle.
On the serp reps, you were more connected plus you were more visible between the uprights so he had no questions. YAY!
So if you get 2 failures or more (like missing the tunnel) you can stop the session for a moment and watch the video to see what he is seeing. When I look at the video, I look first for connection and if I am looking at the dog clearly enough.
>>On the RC I wasnāt completely sure what you meant by putting a wing out.>>āØ
Oops, sorry for the lack of clarity! I meant for the wind-in-your-hair version of it, with the wing wrap followed by moving up the line to the jump. He did really well with the tunnel here! The rear crosses all looked really strong: you had connection and you were moving along a very obvious rear cross line, so he got it nicely!He had questions about the go line and it was a connection question š At 2:31, you were looking forward and pointing forward, so he didnāt see connection. That caused him to come off the line to look for more info. When you were closer to the jump he got it but to build more independence, add more connection.
>>On the ladder game, I didnāt realize he jumped over the last 2 jumps on the last couple of reps. Oops>>
The moving target adds more power for sure! What were the distances here? Since he had an easy tie sailing over the 2 jumps, you can add a foot to each distance and see how he does. If it is too big we can shorten it up and find the sweet spot š
Tunnel exit game: He gave great feedback about the connections too! For example, when you were not connected and looking forward instead, he was looking at you for more info and didnāt take the obstacles (like at 4:20). Compare to 4:33 where your connection was much clearer and he got it. Yay!
And you can compare the wing wrap cues at 4:47 (where you were pointing ahead and your arm was high, so he couldnāt see your connection) and he didnāt commit to the cues at 4:53 where you had. Lower arm ad a lot more visible connection, and he was perfect!So adding more eye contact as you move is a big help to him. And, especially since he is so small, try to keep your arm really low (pointing to his nose :)) so he can see the upper body connection and I bet you will see more consistent commitment and more independence on these lines.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>I felt like her energy level was lacking and she was not engaged or thrilled about practicing.>>
It might have been the difference in the style of sequence: these sequences has a lot of very tight turns. She started off fast and engaged, definitely running and happy! But then I think she slowed down at the end (came off the line slower at :58, slipped on landing of the wrap at 1:46 and then was slower on the last rep). It is possible that the wraps were a little more fatiguing (different muscles than all the other running) so you can mix the sessions up more: jut 2 or 3 reps of wraps total, and more of the fast fun lines.
Your connection was good here and she read the Iines well. On the spins on jump 2 where she was turning left: you can decelerate into the spin so she sees the info before takeoff, and so you donāt have to turn as fast. As you are decelerating, the FC will start before she takes off, and then you can do. The blind while she is in the air.
>>that I realized I should have ran closer into the tunnel so I had more room for the rear cross. However, you also said to get right behind her on the tunnel exercise of rear crosses so I was kind of doing that a little bit but I also felt like I was crowding her a bit too much.>>āØ
For rear crosses, you can set the line on the previous obstacle, depending on the sequence. So if the RC is on the jump after a tunnel, you will want to set it nearer to the tunnel exit. On this sequence, you can set it on by getting closer to the jump before the RC jump – you did that successfully and she rad it really well!>>The few times we wrapped the last jump I tried to decel better than the first lead out videos but Kashia still went wide so I must not have done that very well.>>
It was a tiny bit late on this distance. I think the timing of your decel will be perfect on the bigger distances like 20 feet. If the distance is more like 15 feet, you can start the deceleration as she is over the previous bar so she sees it when she lands and can collect sooner. It will feel earlier but will work well, as long as you donāt slam on the brakes š
I am glad to hear Kashia had a great time in the ring! Yay! No worries about not getting the send, it sounds like it was hard for everyone.
>> The competition teeter still has her hesitant. She doesnāt fly on it like she does my little one. Thatās definitely something we need to keep building on.
I am glad she did the teeter! Sounds like she just needs more experience on the big teeter – do you have access to full size contacts? I think I remember you saying you have people you sometimes train with, so hopefully you can get her on a teeter there!
Great job here š
āØTracyGood morning!
>>Watching her pounce on the toy at the end of the leash is making me wonder if I just need to experiment with some longer toys so that she doesnāt have to tug so close to me. Sheās always liked that long āoctopus tugā I have.>>
Yes, good one to try! She did great with the moving target game at the end of the 2nd video – really diving to the toy even after getting food rewards for the stay!
She has been most engaged with toys when chasing them in some way, and the moments where she has big feelings about them are often when you stop moving the toy and turn towards her. So a longer toy dragging or being chased, then thrown forward, might be the most engaging for her!
>>For the set point/ladder grid with a jump bar, do I secure it over the jump cup or rest it on top at 4in? >>
I think for the first sessions, secure it over the cup. Then if that goes well and she is happy with the height, you can set it in the cup for real š
>>And Iām laughing at your suggestion to have her sit in front of me. When I got her, all she wanted to do was sit in front of me. >>
Thatās right! I remember you saying that a while back. She has a ton of value at your side so you might be able to bring back sitting in front of you without losing value for being at your side.
Speaking of being at your side:
She has been consistently offering opinions about sends to wings if your transition is too quick and not connected enough, on this video and on previous one.
On this video from :15-:19, she was facing the other way as you started the send and you looked forward on the sending, so she jumped up. At :44, she was coming back to you and you tried to send and she jumped up: ānot ready, human!āCompare to slower, clearer transitions at :35 and :55 and 1:10, for example – you had a cleaner line up and more connected transition into the send, so she went to the wing easily. Yay! Definitely keep the clean line up before each send with big connection and then the jumping up opinions will go away :)āØ
The layering went well! You can move the jump closer, so it is maybe at the halfway point of the tunnel instead of past it to make it easier for her to see. She got it at the end, but you can add more lateral distance with the jump closer to the wing and then gradually push the jump further away.Good job with the mission transition game! She did best when you were connected more as you decelerated. And she did best when you were a little ahead of her on the decels! And that also means you can work on getting her to commit past you in decel – when you were decelerating but she was getting ahead, she was more likely to come off the jump. I donāt think that you slammed on the brakes there too soon, I think it was just that she was trying to figure out how if she was supposed to take the jump with you behind and decelerating.
So you can decelerate like you did but donāt rotate: just face forward as you decelerate and then when she lifts off for the jump, you can toss a reward to the landing side of the wing. I bet she has a lightbulb moment on that and then it will be very easy to add the FC rotation into it as well (and you can throw her cookies to the landing side sometimes too, to keep the jump value high because chasing you is already high value :))
Separately, you can also work on her driving past you on the go with you further behind – so you can tay close to the wrap wing and accelerate, throwing the reward when she goes past you to the jump to pump up the value of leaving you in the dust š That will also help with decels from behind
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>Oh my gosh Cricket did an RC without a verbalāØCommand. You told me to lay off the rv with Taq but I couldnāt let is go so I practiced with mom!>>
Yay Cricket!!! And we want latent learning to kick in with Taq so a few days off will work wonders!
Looking at the video:
She is doing well with the get out game! And no errors of grabbing the jump when you didnāt want it. Super!!!!
You can turn your feet to the jump even less on the get out – you can move up the line like you did on the non-get-out reps and exaggerate your upper body more: BIG eye contact and lower opposite arm so she can see the whole arm pointing at the far wing of the jump.
That will help the timing of the BCs because you will only need to switch connections and turn and run the new way – when you were stepping to the get out jump a little, it made it harder for the BCs (and the FC) to be on time. They were a little late on the first few reps but you had a straighter line for your feet at 1:04 and look at how tight the turn was already! YAY!
You were a shade too early at 1:09 (she hadnāt really had a chance to look at the jump) so you pulled her off, but all you need there is to let her take one more step to the jump and then it will be perfect š
On the mission transition game: Your transitions were clear in terms of the acceleration and deceleration looking really different! You can do the decelerations sooner:
At 1:17, the decel was late (she was getting ready to take off) so she stumbled after landing – and then when the decel was late at 1:27 and 1:38, she went wide after landing, possibly to avoid stumbling.
At 1:47, you rotated sooner but didnāt decel, so she didnāt know to collect before takeoff.
Even though she is small, her decel cues can still happen at big dog timing! That means when she has exited the start wing, you can start your decel. So send her to the wing and run run runā¦ then when she exits the wing, decel but keep moving forward. When she gets close to the jump: rotate (you can wait for her feet to be in the air in these early stages).
I found a small dog video (my 11ā tall Papillon) working this skill with markers on the ground. It uses 2 jumps but the concept is the same: the red cone placed just past landing of jump 1 is the same idea as being just past the exit of the wing wrap. So I decel pretty early (when he gets to the red cone) and keep moving forward til he is close to the jump (blue cone) then I rotate. You can see that the timing of my decel at the red cone is the same, no matter if I am ahead, parallel, or behind him because he makes his takeoff decision at that spot, not too different from the big dogs : )
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Yes! The next MaxPup 3 will be in June (which allows this one to finish up and give everyone catch up time and a break :)) Stay tuned for exact dates!
Tracy
Good morning!
Rear crosses are one of the hardest handling moves because they are not ‘natural’ for the dog (or for us haha).
The key is to make the info look different from the first step around the barrelStarting at the end of the video at the backside wraps: when she exited the wing wrap, you were showing the line to the backside so she found it easily (and on the other side at 2:08) On that rep, you sent her past you (moving your arm forward when she was still behind you) which turned your shoulders to the front of the jump so she took the front. On the other reps, you kept your arm back til she was past you and that worked beautifully!
So now looking at the RCs:
The first several steps as she exited the barrel wrap looked the same as the Go line handling, so she committed to the same takeoff as the Go lines. The RC info started from the Go wing when she was a few feet from takeoff – so she looked at you (āsomething is changing!ā) but was not able to adjust takeoff until after she landed or she she doff the jump with the pressure coming into her (1:36)The placed toy will help (like at 1:29) but you want the info to match so she is not just going to a placed toy.
So to help her see the difference between the Go and the RC lines:
On the Go lines, do what you did here which is send to the wing and take off up the line, staying on the outside of the wing.
On the RCs, stay closer to the start barrel so you are not ahead more than a step when she exits it. And as soon as she exits the wing, you can be running forward to the center of the bar until she passes you (which will be near the bar) and then you can cut in to the new side.
Start this with her doing a right turn on the RC, as that seems to be her side preference and it was easier for her in this session. Then you can do the left turn RCs in a separate session, emphasizing the RC line starting as soon as she exits the barrel wrap (same as you start the backside info here š)
Nice work!
Tracy
Oops! That is because I forgot to post the recording – this week has been nuts LOL!! It is posted now so you should have no trouble seeing it.
Tracy
Good morning!
He is looking great on these!! I love seeing the first reps because it is fun to see the pups respond to the cues š
>>I felt like we had better connection than other sessions where we played at the drill one day and filmed the next. Is he learning how to learn? Am I learning him?>>
You might have felt the pressure of the camera being on LOL!! I also film first sessions as those are generally the most important š
For the wraps:
The timing of the very first rep was your best timing for the deceleration! You started the decel as soon as he exited the barrel wrap so not surprisingly, that was his best turn.
On the other wrap reps (:12, :17, :23), you were later: he was more than halfway to the jump so the turn didnāt really happen until after he landed. So keep the timing of that very first rep!
The GO reps all looked great!
On the āoutā game:
>>I was very unsure of the verbal cues for the NON-OUT line, so I didnāt use one, but it felt weird.
Saying nothing is great here to see if the pups can follow our line. You can also use his name. Eventually it will be a āgoā verbal or whatever cues the next line on a course, but for now the name or silence is great.
>>And on the FX I did not use a verbal because I wanted the handling to be pure. >>
A wrap verbal on the FC is fine to because both the out and non-out reps start with it, so it is not tipping him off as to what comes next š
For the out cue – we want your footwork/line of motion to be basically identical to the non-out reps. You were stepping to the jump when he was successful so he was reading motion to the jump. For this skill, we want to create as much independence and distance as possible without stepping to the jump, so try adding your outside arm to replace stepping to the jump. That can really exaggerate the upper body cues and will help you not step to it.
For the āoutā reward – yes, throw sooner and also throw to the landing side of the jump. Have the toy in your hand so you can have it flying very quickly and he doesnāt get rewarded near you for the out cue.
More about rewards:
>>Should I have tossed the reward sooner on ALL of these?>>
Yes š Mark and throw the reward pat the jump the instant he turns his head to it, for two reasons:
1. we want to mark & reward the decision to turn to the jump
2. Everything between the marker and the reward gets built into the behaviorā¦ so if he is looking back at you when you throw it, you are also reward & building in looking at you which we donāt want>> Iām struggling with Reward vs Lure where the late throw is a reward and the early throw is a lure (sort of). Can you explain the desired goal/timing?>>
The timing of the throw is not early or a lure here, because we are rewarding the specific behavior of looking at and that first step to the jump. It is a timely reward š Waiting to see the dogs get to the jump is a late reward at this stage š
Donāt worry about luring, it is not a dirty word LOL!!! Technically, a lure is when we place something out to help create a behavior, in advance of beginning the cues for the behavior. We do that all the time! This can be a target or an object to shape on. Or it can be a toy or treats: People donāt call it a lure anymore, they call it a āpre-placed rewardā or some suchā¦ but it is the same thing and it is fine because it enhances where we want the dog to look and go, while jump starting the behavior. In the past, there have been ābig nameā agility people who have been on anti-luring crusades but the reality is that there is nothing wrong with helping the animal get the behavior (and *not* helping can create a lot of frustration sometimes!)
For the reward timing here, you are marking the decision that we want from the dog which is to look at and turn to the jump, rather than waiting for a giant lump of behavior of going to the jumpā¦ which in this case often results in the dogs looking at us when they get to the jump and the toy is still back near us. By marking and rewarding sooner, we get the best of both worlds: the pup has clarity about what we are training AND we train them to look straight over the jump and not at us.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
Strong session with the serps versus tunnels! He is reading the cues really well when he is on your right. It was harder when he was on your left, so you can move the jump away from the tunnel by a foot or two and see if that helps on that side.
For your mechanics on the release, my only suggestion is to get your arms and shoulders into position and *then* release a couple of heartbeats later. That way he can see the cue before having to process it while moving (so he will be more successful, especially when he is on your left) and also it will protect the stay. You were moving your shoulders/adding connection at the same time as the release, so two things happen when we do that: he is going to start releasing on that movement
(I was typing this at :22 when he did self-release on the movement) and also, he wonāt process the cues before moving and will be a little less successful. Adding that gap in time between showing the cue and the verbal release will help smooth it all out šOn the ladder:
He thinks the re-connection is the release. It was indeed that on the 1st two reps. Rep 3 you reconnected but didnāt say the word and he left on the re-connection. You had the gap of time between the connection and release on the next two reps, and it was much clearer! So you will want to always have that gap of time t keep the verbal separate from the physical cues – you can even add in a bit of praise šFor his next ladder session, add in the moving target to help lower his head. He did great with the moving target on one jump later in this video!!
Good job on the RCs! The right turn RCs needed to be visible a little sooner, but that is easy to do by adding the wing wrap before the jump. That will give you more time to show the RC line (to the center of the bar) and he seems ready for it!
I think the target placement here was good so you can totally keep it there when you add in the wing before the jump too. He is still learning to move to the target there but it will make it easier in future RC sessions.
On the zig zags:
The oopsies here were handling-related in terms of how he is reading the cues – because he is so small, he is cuing off of your feet more than your upper body. If your feet were moving forward and your upper body cues not as visible, he was a good boy to stay on a parallel line.
So with that in mind, you can reward him even if he goes past a gap and on the next rep, add more lower body help of stepping towards the gap to push him to it, or rotating towards him to pull him in to a gap. He was very successful when you used a bit of extra footwork on those last 2 reps! Super! And you can keep the reinforcement flowing while you sort out what cues he needs š
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
She is looking good on the bumps and I am glad she liked the moving target! The moving target can quickly become the release when it goes to the ground (as you saw) so build in a bit of a pause after putting it down and before the actual release. And you can also throw back a giant treat after you put the toy down.
Right at the end you were saying that 4 feet might be too big of a distance and 3.5 was goodā¦ and that is exactly what I was typing in that moment LOL!!! So stick with 3.5 feet for now š
>>Had some feelings about lining up to sit (weāre working on that separately and inside)
Yes, probably just the pressure of sitting that close to a relatively big visual of 3 jumps like that and you at her side. You can see if it helps her if you are on the other side of jump 1 and facing her in the line up? That might be a little less pressure because she has a little more space around her.
>> We did a few sits and lead outs to the moving target (no jump) and then I switched to cheese for the get-outs going the other way since she had already done the ladder grid at lunch and going left is the harder direction.>>
Perfect! And this is a newer, harder skill so starting it on food is a good way to go.
She was so cute on the first rep on t he get out video: correctly going straight but looking back and forth like āHUMAN THERE IS A JUMP THERE DO YOU NOT SEE ITā hahahaI think she really liked this puzzle though: after she took a bit of time to get her treat at about :49, she exploded back to you and then was fast and perfect on the rest (including looking straight down the line even though there were no obstacles on that very last rep). Super!!! Onwards to the advanced level!!
>>Had a hard time keeping my feet pointed down the line on some of the get outs, but donāt think I crossed the leash on the ground.>>
You were good! Your feet were very well-behaved hahaha
>>For the Zig Zag part 2, should I use a bar with Lift or the small jump bump?>>
The bumps for the zig zags – but you can add the bars in the set point and ladder because she has seen those already. I don’t think we have looked at bars yet on those?
Great job here š
āØTracy
