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Good morning!
Backside slices: he is doing really well finding his backsides! You were doing a good job of trying to release separately from movement so he didn’t think the movement was the release. You can take several steps before the release (you were tending towards 1 or 2 steps, which is why he would sometimes predict the release and move early) and you can also mix in throwing the reward back while you are still moving forward for multiple steps.
There was really only one oopsie, on the first rep on your right – more connection was needed (he took the front of the jump) and you adjusted on the next reps and he did great!
One suggestion: rather than have him come round to the front side of the bump (where the 2nd wing would be) you can either do a FC and reward him closer to the entry barrel, or drop the toy on the landing side of the bump closer to the entry barrel as you move away. That will get him looking at the bump more than at you – having him getting the toy on the far side of the bump was beginning to pull him past the bump – he was not looking at it to go over it (like at 2:00 where he didn’t go over it at all).
Serp with motion:
>and you’ll see on the right he doesn’t have the value for me >
I think that was mechanics, not lack of value: the way you were moving through the lead out was enhancing the toy and not the serp line.
The first reps on your left were really strong – you were placing the toy then showing the serp line starting from the other wing. Ideally, you would place the toy, then start next to him and walk through the serp all the way about the jump starting on the non-toy wing to really show the line. You can have him sit then place the toy, or place the toy then have him sit: but either way, your lead out line should enhance the line by starting at the non-toy wing as you move through it.
On the other side, your lead out lines totally moved to the toy, which draws his attention to it. On the first one, you did something disconnected moving over the bar, so he broke then left. On the others, you were walking to his toy, then back to your position near the center of the bar or exit wing, so it actually drew his focus to the toy more and he went to it. He did better when you stopped moving, but I think if you had a clean line through the serp, he would have a lot more success: starting next to him then walking around to the non-toy wing and through the serp.
>and you can’t hear I don’t think but to get success I had to say touch. >
It is OK to say touch but then he really should touch LOL
>I could have been better on the dog training part for sure but I also don’t want to always have to be perfect bc that’s not real life ?>
You don’t have to be perfect, true! But the setup has to be clean and clear so you don’t get more than 2 failures. In this case, walking slowly through the serp line starting on the non-toy wing will be clean and should be clearer.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi! His tail does look longer than his whole body here LOL!
Great job getting the mechanics sorted on this one! It is hard for the humans because we have to be pretty perfect for the pups to figure it out. You were definitely getting the hang of pulling him around then flipping his nose away, so he figured out that it was the turn away you wanted.
One thing that will really help is if you line him up at your side each time, then send him into the wrap, then turn him away for a second wrap. That will make it smoother feeling than when you were starting with him facing you you, and he will also learn to approach the wrap by turning his head rather than coming towards you.
>I think that means anticlockwise is his stronger direction … as previously noted i find the whole left and right thing very mysterious>
I have met auntie lot of agility folks who think in clockwise or anticlockwise, rather than left or right, and that is perfectly fine! The second direction did look stronger but it might have been because it was second. 0so on the next session try anticlockwise first and see how it goes.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
The pool is a big help for the heat, I am glad he enjoyed it!
And yes, it was a good resilience moment to recover from the bin moving unexpectedly. That is exactly why we work resilience games: something weird happens and the puppy bounces right back. You responded with a lot of treats and he worked through it immediately, including wrapping it! I think he was slightly more hesitate wrapping it than wrapping the blue barrel: but by the end of the session, he was wrapping it as smoothly as the blue barrel. Super!!
Even in the heat, you can take a tug break after every couple of wraps to keep him driving more – and then a quick paddle followed by more wraps 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
>I’ll see if I can get Barry to watch other people’s dogs>
As crazy as it sounds, it can really help! Does Barry have any small dog friends he plays with, that will also retrieve a toy/ball/disc? That can be a fun and useful play session!
T
Good morning!
I am glad you are enjoying the bite size pieces of training 🙂 I had a conversation with a MaxPup alum at the US Open who said that they were surprised at how small the pieces were at this stage, almost like we were moving too slowly. But then he saw how quickly it came together when the pups were closer to 18 months old and then flew through all the levels – this dog is MaxPup class of ’23 I think, and was just selected to his first World Team 🙂 Now, a lot of us are not interested in international competition (currently not on my radar, I am too old and lazy haha), but we do want a long happy successful career (in multiple sports) and bite-sized chunks of training will get us there 🙂And I think you are already seeing how well Bokeh is putting things together – on the serp video, we can see the working relationship with you looks fabulous (happy, relaxed engagement), and the skills (stay, ignore cookie in bowl, serp from different angles, collect before arriving at the ‘bar’) – all fantastic! As you added harder angles, we could really see her understanding of the in-then-out of a serp.
It was HILARIOUS on the first rep of the other direction when she came in perfectly then went back to where the bowl used to be. Ha! Behold the power of reward placement! But that also gives her a nice resilience moment: something unexpected happened, and she was not concerned or deflated at all. She was perfect on the next reps. Fabulous!
The concept transfer to the wing went perfectly: she was like “this is so easy, is it supposed to be hard?” LOL! You were easily able to add the verbals, a bit of countermotion (running away) and worked both sides. You can add even more ountermotion by doing the FC and running away on a 90 degree angle – instead of back to where you started when you sent her, you would be running to the left or right away from the wing.
>I was very happy in class that all our foundation on the barrels transferred well as we were the only one not doing the foundation on wings.>
Oooh, I love this – generalizing behavior is challenging for young dogs so to be able to go to a new place and do the thing like she does at home is amazing!! And it frees you up to be able to work on other things in that environment, like processing the challenges of the people/dogs/etc in the environment. I am sure she did great with that too.
Nice work here!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
This session went really well! A nice mix of warm up wraps, stay rewards, going straight – super fun and also showed us that she has a lot of understanding of a lot of skills!
I thought your connection was strong on the straight lines and wraps and that really helped. And I was super glad she did not hesitate to release and was happy to tug. Yay!
On the left turn wraps (dog on right) she was watching your handler motion – if you tried to leave early, she would not go over the bump. She was a little stronger on commitment on your left side (right turns) but my guess is the you almost had toooooo much decel by standing completely still so she was too ready to turn 🙂 We can test the theory: instead of a stay, add a wing wrap or a short tunnel before the jump – send her to it then decel at the wing of the full jump so you will be moving into it, and let’s see if more momentum helps her commitment in commitment at this stage.
Yes I think Fast Track is perfect – you can fly through it and focus on the advanced levels. It will end when she is about 11 months which is perfect for moving to the next stages of foundation training. And if it suddenly is way too easy (a lot of things can happen between now and mid-January!) then we bump you over to MaxPup 2.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Nice tugging! She was really loving the toy! On the rocking horses, overall she is driving to the cones really well! And when you were connected to her and not using your arm to point ahead, she doesn’t even need to look at you: she just zips to the cone. Yay! So definitely keep your arm back and eyes on her eyes.
The toy in your hand sometimes made things unclear, so be sure to squish it up and maybe stick it in a pocket so your hands are free. You were switching it from hand to hand and it was dangling in front of her sometimes so she didn’t know where to look and went for the toy. When the toy was not dangling or switching, she knew exactly what to do 🙂Tunnel rocking horses are also going well! Like with the cones, when you were connected with your arm pointing back to her, she knew exactly where to be. But if you were not connected, she would have to guess – you can see that at 1:21 where both of your arms were kind of at your sides, so when she exits the wing she only really saw your back and had to guess. If she ends up on the wrong side, assume it was lack of connection and reward any, then connect more on the next rep like you did at 1:34.
Her stays are going well! Rewards and releases were looking good too!
For the decel, try to stand totally still – don’t step forward to turn your shoulders (standing till is hard for us humans LOL!) She was really good about collecting to turn!
She did have trouble seeing the thrown reward – so use a toy 🙂 On the straight lines we do want her looking ahead and not at you, so a more obvious reward will make that happen 🙂
Great job! She is looking great!
Tracy
Awww that is so cool! It was a joy working with Wager in those early days. He passed on a ton of info that has helped a lot of dogs AND he turned into a fantastic agility dog too 🙂
T
Hello!
Good news… he loves toys and loves getting them as rewards!! And you are definitely keeping it fun to bring the toy to you.
I think letting him win the tug game and keeping the toy is great – he definitely did not wan to bring the toy when you moved towards him or tried to entice him by moving away, so he might think that you will take it and he is in independent toy play mode at this stage.
(No worries, though, because the desire to play is fantastic and we can totally shape him to bring it back!)
I think the first step is to get him to come towards you (with or without the thrown toy) and interact with you, so you can do a retrieve-version of the two toy game. Using toys with the same value (identical toys, or very close) you can throw one and then after a couple of seconds, you whip out the 2nd toy and start to play with it. Focus all of your attention on the 2nd toy (wiggling it, running around with it, running away from him with it) and then when he comes back to interact with the 2nd toy, he can win that one. Then you go get the 1st toy and repeat the process.
Another option is social learning. Is there another dog in his life (probably not Frank 🙂 ) that you can play this game with? Have a couple of toys and the dogs can tug/play together with you, the toy, and each other. Ideally the helper dog has a GREAT retrieve so Barry can see how much fun it is easy bring the toy back. I do this all the time because I have good helper dogs who will bring the toy or ball or frisbee right back, so the puppy follows their lead and brings it back.
And speaking of balls and frisbees – you can use them to get the retrieve as well. A few balls and discs build a nice retrieve because when he brings the first one towards you, you throw the 2nd one. Just be careful with the balls/discs: roll them rather than do high throws or bounces, so he doesn’t break himself chasing them 🙂
Nice work here! Keep me posted!
Tracy
Good morning!
He looked great in the minny pinny! Since this is looking independent and he is bouncing, you can revisit it periodically. To keep it spicy 🙂 you can use this distance between the bars but also sometimes shorten them for a more collected bounce, and sometimes have a short distance then a long distance (or vice versa). That way we are adding in bit of ‘reading distances’ challenge that the seems ready for 🙂
Tunnel rocking horses is going well too! He is exiting the tunnels pretty straight (only a slight look towards you) and that is a big goal: to keep him blasting out. You can try gently curving the tunnel just a little! That will be a good prep for what we add in the next round of classes too.
I love the distance between the barrels on the rocking horse game: it added a lot of speed! I REALLY like how he would exit a barrel behind you then drive pat you to the next barrel. YES! He is most proficient with the FCs (been doing those the longest) but the spins are going well too – just reember to connect back to him so he can ee the next line really well. He had a little question on the spin at the beginning when your rm was more at your sides he didn’t see the connection as well. And he did great on the race tracks/post turns, maintaining a parallel path to your path. He is reading all the different handling really well and that is fantastic!
>Apparently we’re not ready to put threadle wrap into this game.>
That was definitely hard! On the first ones, you were behind the barrel instead of next to it or past it. That would need him to drive past you to the TW and he didn’t recognize the cue. So let him sleep on it 🙂 and then on the next session, you can send to the first barrel from further away so you can be at the 2nd barrel and decelerated, showing the TW cues more clearly. And be super careful to keep your feet facing forward on the TW line and have no step towards the barrel – that is what sent him to the other side of the barrel (the FC side) at :34 for example. Then at the end he was just in FC mode so it was fine to reward and take a break.
He is doing well with the stays here! You can transfer this game to do stays in front of anything at all – he did a great stay in front of the barrel, so you can take him on a stay tour of the facility here: stays in front of a jump/tunnel/contacts/weaves (building value for the stay before he truly knows how much fun these obstacles are :))
Great job here!! So many exciting pieces coming together!
Tracy
Hi! Bummer about the weather! Definitely keep videoing the sessions -you are really good at analyzing the videos!!
Thanks for the AlphaFlo suggestion. I will definitely look into it!!! The horse people are WAY ahead of us dog people in this respect! We didn’t need to use stem cell for Elektra but Dr. Canapp is great about answering questions or researching things if he doesn’t already know. I am glad Wager is feeling great, because Wager is one of my favorites <3
Keep me posted!
TracyHi! This sounds good! And if you feel you want feedback, you can hop in at any time. I will keep you posted about the future MaxPup 2 dates!
Tracy
Hi!
Ah, a perfect sniffy walk with all the leaves on the ground!!! He is very cute and definitely loves using his nose. He is such a cool pup, able to use his nose for stuff like this and trained scent behavior, but also quite the driven, engaged teammate for the agility training to. Love it!
>This is actually a 2+ mile walk we do four to six times a week. >
Perfection! And I bet it ha a lot of variety depending on the time of year, weather etc.
>He is also in training for human remains detection so he actually gets a lot of sniffing in a wide variety of environments.>
That is amazing!! Fascinating work. Canine olfaction is truly amazing. A littermate to one of my whippets is training in human remains detection too and it has been fascinating to watch him work.
Thanks for sharing the sniffari!
Tracy
Hi!
Yes! This is looking really good, he is totally getting the idea! You can add in meeting him more at the end of the tunnel to see if he will drive past you to the threadle entry. And for balance, you can mix in some GO GO GO where he exits straight to the thrown toy.He had one moment of trying to grab the toy –
Hiding the toy behind your back might be accidentally enhancing it more, so I liked the last rep where it was tucked away under your arm – that was perfect!Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
I love how he came into the session really excited and offering wrapping!
Great job with that first reward placement – those early placements are key to helping him finish the wrap even with you fully facing the other direction. By the 3rd rep, he finished the wrap by himself. Super! Click/treat to you for nailing the reward placement at the beginning which drove the rest of the session the right direction.
Adding the full serp then releasing with countermotion was no problem. He nailed it on the first rep (nice job shifting your connection to the landing spot after you released).
After about 3.5 minutes, he was not as easily able to hold the stay and was mor locked onto the toy – that is usually an indicator to take a break and let him run around or decompress for a moment. You did get good reps (you mentioned something about smoke from his brain at about 5.5 minutes LOL!) so you can use the 2 failure rule to guide you about session length at this stage: when you see that 2nd failure, take a break them come back in a short while. Rather than 7 minutes straight, this session can be two 3.5-minute sessions with even more success (with a run around break in the middle).
Nice work!
Tracy
