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He did really well on the blinds here!
As you finish the blind, try to look back at him a little more rather than use your hands as a target to drive to. The connection is what really solidifies the side change. When he is taller and going full speed with distractions around, he might not see the hand changes as well as he will see the connection changing.
>because the treat is in the hand that he is ultimately driving to. Is that ok or should I be calling him to an empty hand and ultimately rewarding from my other hand once he crosses my body?>
For this game, you can start having both hands empty so he is following the connection and side change (then pull out a cookie or toy after he finishes the blind). I think he will still be very successful because it is more of a connection game and not as much of a hand game.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! He did really well here!
He had no trouble with the extra motion of you running – be sure to slow down sooner so he can decelerate before he gets to you.
>As long as it is strictly on a lure, he does very well. As soon as it is following empty hand, not so much.>
I think it was a bit of cue confusion – here is what I mean.
Rather than have him follow an open hand, keep your empty hand closed as if there is a treat in it – this can be a closed fist, or your fingers touching as if holding an invisible treat 🙂 it should look exactly like it would if a treat was in it – except there is no treat in it. Air cookie! And then you can pull out a treat to reward after he finishes the pivot.
When you did have a treat in it, you had the back of your hand facing him to drive to then you rotated it to deliver the treat after the pivot.
Without the treat you had your empt palm facing him, so it was a very different looking cue and he did not follow it as well yet. He seemed to be reading it as a hand touch cue and then was not sure if he should follow it into a pivot.
And for now, the other hand can be empty too: what he was cleverly doing was following the empty hand but then cutting in front of you to get to the treat hand LOL! Smart puppy 🙂 Having both hands empty for now and pulling out the reward from a pocket after the pivot will make it a little smoother
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! Lots of good work here!!
Driving for the toy:
This hallway is so perfect for this game – plenty of room and carpeted so he doesn’t slip.
His toy drive is really high – and now his food drive is also high. It looks like the word ‘yes’ has taken on big cookie value, I think 🙂 As soon as you said it on the first rep, he stopped what he was doing and turned back. And on the next reps he was going to the toy but then got distracted by the treats moving in your hand. So for now, let’s take the visible treats out of your hands to maintain the toy drive and retrieve. He will be able to have them all together soon, but for now I think he is asking about which one he is interacting with you for (toy or food), You can have some boring treats in a pocket and do lots of tugging/throwing – and if you want to trade the toy for a treat, wait til he has brought it all the way back to you 🙂 And you can also do toy-only sessions.
Goat game: Really nice session here!! Great job getting him on the toy by swooshing it around! He was wondering if perhaps he could have a treat LOL but you made the toy really enticing and irresistible.
He was a fantastic little goat, getting right on the board there. Then you had an excellent transition back to the toy (and picked up the board so he wouldn’t think about food). Super!
Since this is going really well, you can add other things for him to climb around on – different textures, sizes, etc. – to create a big playing field for him to walk over.
Cone wraps:
Great job getting him into the rhythm with the bowls then introducing the cone. He did a great job working past the food in your hands – his food drive has definitely come up which is great! And he was able to ignore lots of cookies.I think he LOVED having the cone there! He was moving faster and seemed to be more excited by the game when the cone was there. And you got it further away with no problem. Super!!! And he definitely wanted to keep going at the end – a sign that it was a fun activity. But you were good to keep the session short and sweet!
Since this went so well – start the next session with the cone close to you as a warm up, then move it further and further away. I think a good goal for now would be to get it about 18 inches away with you sitting on the ground. This might happen in one session, or it might take a couple of sessions. We don’t need to get it further away for now, because we are also going to start to change your position in a session or two.
Drive to handler:
He brought that little ball back really well even with the cookies present here! Super! Future flyball dog, maybe? 😆 he almost brought the bigger toy back too, but the cookeis were too enticing. He drove to you really well, so you can move to the next step here too: as he gets to your cookie hand, slowly pivot (turning away from him) so he turns with you and stays tight to your side. It might be hard to do this with the toy in his mouth, so you can do a food-only session to get the pivots added: have him follow the cookie hand as you turn, then reward him with the cookie.Great job here! He is doing well with everything and we will be adding more on Monday!
Tracy
The website liked your post so much, it posted it twice! LOL!! No worries, I took the duplicate out so you don’t have extra stuff to scroll through. Stay warm!
T
Good morning!
>We’re still finding our groove with that too~ Integration with my 2 older dogs & overnight potty trips sometimes make for full days & nights, lol!>
It sounds like it is a busy time but everything is going well! And those overnight potty trips will soon be a thing of the past and you can sleep 🙂
The games are going really well!
Driving ahead/focus forward:
>I tried to use a toy at first but she wasn’t feeling the love.>
Great job getting Sunnie engaged with the hollee roller toy! Moving it away and throwing it got the engagement – having your hand in your cookie pocket were drawing her focus away from the toy (you can see that reaching for the treat at :27 pulled her off the toy).
So at this stage try to play with the toy without any food present (other than maybe pulling out a treat if you need to get her to let go of the toy).
Since she liked it a lot when the toy was moving, you can tie a longer toy to the hollee roller and use that to swing it around for her to chase. I think she will really like that and be very engaged with the toy!
>That is why she’s sitting on the treadmill, lol! She does get cookies there so perhaps initiating toy play there wasn’t my best choice! Now that I’m writing this out!
She may have said screw the toys, I know you give me cookies here!>Ha! Yes, that could have totally been part of it! The toy was not really moving in that moment so she was in cookie mode. As soon as you got the toy moving, though, she got right into it 🙂
Prop game:
I agree – it was great that she smacked it immediately when you put it down. SUPER!!! She is definitely showing value for it, which is great!The sending when you stepped/pointed was a little harder – she had to leave your cookie hand and was thinking about it. I could see her calculating 🙂 But she did it and you got your rewards in nice and early!
And on that very last rep, she sent beautifully from your left side and hit the target really well! I think that last rep felt weird because she was looking at your right hand (cookies were in it) and kind if bumped into you before doing the beautiful send.
Her biggest challenge is moving away from the treats in your hand – she is totally on the right track here! Keep sending with an empty hand, and mixing in getting the treats thrown early and sometimes rewarding from your hand again. She is really locking it in!
Blind crosses:
She is reading the side change really well and you are really emphasizing connection which helped her see it. Feeding from the opposite arm made it crystal clear for her!To be able to get far enough ahead to get the binds – the cookie toss to start was very useful. That gave you enough room and enough time to get the BC done 🙂 Do you have a longer hallway (anywhere with carpet or mats so she doesn’t slip) where you can send her away to the treat toss even further? That will allow you to add even more speed to this 🙂 And you can try it with a toy crazy toy and not treats to get her driving to the toy as well.
>his weekend we are going to get slammed with a snow storm, expected is another foot or more on top of what we already have! This winter is crazy>
Watching this storm develop has been BAD!!! This whole winter has been gross. Feel free to play lots of games to tire her out LOL!!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>The problem I created was arousal without the ability to think. It’s a huge obstacle with her Aunt because I can’t even get the leash off at a trial without her flipping onto a non thinking zone.>
I don’t think you created it, it is just a matter of finding the right tools to help her out. How old is she now? We do have things that can help her! You should play all of the arousal/resilience games here in MaxPup 1. I am also going to add a game that addresses the leash off situation directly. Stay tuned!!
>For forward focus I think I can stand and use a toy. I’ll see how hard she pulls my back.>
See how it goes – or maybe someone else can hold her as you throw? That is fun element to add, if she doesn’t mind being held by other people.
>For the wobble board I’ve named it her teeter command since I’ll be doing a 4 on. When we play games should I just be silent and have her get on?>
For now, yes – silence is golden. When she can reliably get on and hit the position you want, you can add the teeter cue.
Toy races went really well! The first rep was perfect! She looked at you a little bit on the next rep and then when you were in ‘cheat to win’ mode with the cookie tosses. That might have been because she was watching you move and the toy was not as visible. A bigger toy might help that (easier to for her find when it is not moving). And just revisiting it in a coupe of days to see how latent learning kicks in 🙂 She was driving ahead really well and NOT going for your feet, so that is a big win.
She was also grabbing the toy and immediately turning to you to bring it towards you – that is a big win for the retrieve! Super!!!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
She did really well offering front feet on the inflatables! It is hard to tell about her back feet because the inflatables are over-inflated here. That is good for adult dog training but she probably doesn’t feel comfy balancing on those yet because they are really unstable. She did offer getting her back feet on one of the round discs then decided it was weird – plus the other disc was far away, so her front feet there and back feet on the other probably felt off balance.
So to help get all 4 feet on – the inflatables should be under-inflated and put them all next to each out (touching) so she doesn’t have to stretch to have front feet on one and back feet on another.
She did a great job offering getting on the wobble board! She got all 4 feet on but like the inflatables – it was too hard to balance. She is only 6 months old, so it is normal that balancing on it would be really hard!
>I can’t tell if she was a little worried about the wobble board. I>
I don’t think she was nervous about it – it was more that she was leaving her back feet on solid ground to stabilize herself to offer behavior on it. Smart girl!
While she is developing the core strength to control the movement of the board, you can shove some blankets/towels/dog beds under it so it moves but is a lot easier to stabilize when she is on it. Or, you can flip it over and just put one towel under it so it moves, but moves less.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Watching this back apparently Aelfraed was not happy waiting his turn to be in the ring! In case you couldn’t hear, lol!>
Ha! Aelfraed has BIG opinions LOL!!! He was probably saying something like “Shelties should have ALL the turns!! No sharing!!” It is fun that you two can train together!
>I definitely have a tendency to end up with my hand pointing at the ceiling, lol. One day when dogs can levitate, it will really come in handy, lol.>
Yes this is so true to all of us, it is like we are handling a giraffe instead of a little BC. When the weather warms up, I have another ‘keep your arm low’ game for you but it involves water and I don’t want your hands to freeze 🙂
>I do need to keep in mind to keep going even when she breaks her line! Good advice. >
One of my philosophies on helping dogs stop grabbing us is that they can’t grab us if they can’t get to us, so keep moving 😂 Plus staying in motion helps eliminate the frustration (Canine Road Rage :)) when there is a handler error, because the opportunity to earn reinforcement is still available. I have found that dogs prefer this to stopping and rewarding, because they already understand that agility is a game of movement – so stopping means something is wrong.
She will outgrow the road rage as her brain develops from adolescent to adult, as long as we don’t rehearse it and accidentally develop the neural pathways that trigger the behavior.
On the video:
Your connection on that first run was perfection! And she agreed because she found the line and didn’t really have to look at you for more info. SUPER! One little head check on the wing-to-wing soft turn but that was tiny. You were basically saying all of the verbals directly to her cute face and that worked brilliantly.
You repeated it on the 2nd and 3rd runs here, nailing the connection and by the 3rd run, the soft turns had locked in and she had no questions.
The dog-on-right side (her left turn) was a little harder as you mentioned – you were not quite as connected at :35 so there was a small road rage moment But you kept going as if it didn’t happen so she immediately got right back to work. That was great and you were able to reward for what you wanted.
Throwing the ball past the next wing was a great idea – it helps because it focuses her forward on the line even if you are not perfectly connected.
It might have been easier to start the dog-on-right rep from the tunnel to get into flow, so that is something to consider as you add more distance between the wings and the tunnel. I think she is ready for that!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>FYI. I’m tunnel-less at the moment (wasn’t paying attention to the needed equipment)…but should have one in the next couple weeks. Good thing, because I have tunnel exercise envy – watching this week’s games. Pretty sure Skizzle will love it.>
I think he will definitely love it! For now, you can simulate a tunnel by putting several barrels together or cones or even roller suitcases LOL! And he can run around the outside. For the proofing game, you can use that tunnel replacer to show him the difference between the wrap verbal and a soft turn (left or right verbal where he would not come back around the original barrel but continue to the next one.
>My knowledge of a dog’s jumping form is novice, so it’s nice to know we’re ok at this point.>
It is easiest to watch his jumping using the slow motion setting that YouTube has on the setting icon. Otherwise it is hard to see because he has quick feet! Mainly we are looking for his head to be lower than his shoulders and his spine should look a little rounded. Plus he will be efficient over the bar, meaning he will be sliding right over it without a lot of air between him and the bar. It almost reminds me of a dolphin leaping through the waves 🙂
The first video was great – he held the stand stay perfectly and had the dolphin form over the jumps. Super nice!
I am happy with his form in the 2nd video too. Plus, there must be something that feels great about proper form and movement because he was VERY keen to play this simple game!! FUN!!!! We want him to love jumping, especially jumping with good form 🙂
Since he was very keen to play, he also wanted to release on the toy movement. Nice work rewarding the stay after you put the toy on the ground! Two other things you can add to the stay maintenance:
-Be sure to throw rewards back after you start moving the toy, so he doesn’t release on the toy movement.-And, move the toy for 4 or 5 steps before releasing him so the release is distinct from the toy starting to move.
>Maybe next time we can try a bar at the lowest cup for one of the jumps.>
Yes – he is old enough and doing really well, so you can add a bar at 4 inches (unless you can add it at a lower setting) for the next session. It might take him a moment to adjust, so keep rewarding even if he touches the bar.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
This session was terrific: he was VERY happy to focus forward on the treat and then drive to it, even with you running. You can definitely keep adding the Go cue and even repeat it a few time like we would on the agility course: “Go Go Go Go” until he reaches the treat.You can also do this with a toy of course, and the next steps for now are to keep adding more and more distance on the toy and treat throws.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
Yes, adolescent brain days are definitely a real thing! It is possible that at this stage she needs 2 days or more before you repeat a game?
The pill bug game went great! It is deceptively hard! You were really emphasizing connection and that really helped her know where to be.
>Should she be running parallel with me, or should I be encouraging her to pass me? >
On the outside circles, she can be moving with you and turning with you, which is basically what she was doing. Super!
For the blind cross timing, with her speed you should probably do the blind as soon as she begins moving towards you so the blind is finished and reconnected while she is still several strides away from you. When you did that (like at 1:34) th blind went well! When you were later than that (1:55) she either hit your leg or shot past you.
She is SO FUNNY when you drag her by the toy LOL! !
>I only have these two tunnels so I’m not able to set this up for the more Advanced Level. >
You can use a barrel or a couple of barrels squished together as a tunnel replacer!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
Mojo was great here too 🙂 He was focusing forward really well then going to the cone when released. You had a nice loop going where you sent to the cone then lined him up again between your feet. That made for a smooth transition into the next rep.
You can keep moving the cone around the wing – he was happy to wrap with it almost all the way around the wing so now you can keep moving it closer and closer to you so he has to pass it on the way to the wing.
This game is also good for adding a gentle collar hold too. You held his chest a bit and he was fine with that, so when he is at your side you can gently touch/hold his collar as you indicate forward focus, then let him go to drive to the wing.
Nice work!
Tracy
Hi! He did super well with letting you reach for his collar here!!! He did the full session of you reaching towards him *without backing away* and that is HUGE!! You can keep building on that in this incremental way, adding in getting more and more of a hold on the collar.
He did well with the lining up and then going to a tossed treat? He really loves the line up so this game is super fun! You can add more holding of the collar to this game as well.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
He did really well wrapping with the pop up crate here! He kept wrapping even as you were getting it fully expanded LOL!! Super!Since this went so well – onwards to the next steps! I think he is ready for you to begin working towards standing up. You can use this pop up crate as the wrap object, and start the game with you sitting in a chair. Then if he gets into the rhythm like he did here, shift to standing up. That will lead us nicely into upcoming games!
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
>Arousal – I am so scared of that word at the moment. I will focus on Rou being Rou and not her Aunt who simply cannot trial because she loses her mind. >
We have really good tools nowadays to help with arousal and prepare yung dogs for trialing! Also, arousal is our friend 🙂 We need relatively high levels of arousal to be successful in sports, so we are going to help her work in higher arousal without losing her mind 🙂
She was super on the wobble board!! Since she is so confident with the movement, you can see if she will change positions: stand to sit, sit to stand, stand to down, down to stand.
You can also get her tugging on the wobble board – tugging really helps her shift her weight to stay on it and we will want the weight shift for the teeter eventually.
She was a forward focus star on the wrap game! You had a look verbal added here – you can also add a hand cue (pointing to the line yo want her to take). She was looking forward beautifully and did a GREAT job of ignoring the bowl to go to the wing, even when the bowl was almost all the way around the wing! Yay! You can keep moving the bowl further and further around until she has to pass it to get to the cone.
Since we are discussing arousal – this is a perfect game to use a toy because it builds impulse control on the toy into the game right from the start! I am glad you did it. To get a better hold on her, you can try it standing up. I can imagine that kneeling and holding her was hard because she is so strong, but standing up might make it easier?
Great job here!!
Tracy
