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Good morning!
>We don’t play much unstructured fetch in the backyard, or anywhere, but I agree with you that it’s exactly what his behavior looks like.>
Certain behaviors can have one repetition learning – fetch/toy throws/tennis balls/frisbee all seem to be in that department 😂
>He’s not toy-obsessed. He enjoys playing with many toys much of the time. But I don’t have a toy he’s motivated to play with all of the time. And sometimes he prefers to work (play) for food.>
Most dogs, especially adolescents, really do best with variety and new stuff, so your 6 different toy session was a great idea!
>It was similar to what I posted here from yesterday. I was hoping a lower value toy would lead to more thoughtfulness. Skizzle was thrilled with the new version of the same game.;)>
It might just be a context cue of being in your yard meaning the toy indicates running around and not offering behavior like he would indoors (the indoor sessions are all about offering behavior, so the context indicates offering and not running around). You can mix food and toys together: food to jump start the offering in the yard, and toy breaks to keep the excitement level high.
He did well at the park here, finding the barrels with all the environmental distractions. At the beginning, he was offering “go that way” in response to the cues and not necessarily full wraps, but that is great because he was still with you enough to try the game. Then he was able to offer really focused/fast wraps with the toy and especially with food!
When offering the toy as the reward – he was engaging but the play was very short so it was hard to tell if he would stay engaged – you can play for longer and move away from the barrels to engage the play, keeping the toy moving so he can grab it before heading back to the barrels
The bark from your other dog was definitely hard for him. Two ideas for you on that, for when he is in situations where you might get barking:
– for a harder game like rocking horses, try to be further from the car or have the car closed up more if it is not too hot, so the barking is dampened a bit
– you can also work through the barking with easier games – set up scenarios where the other dog might bark (this can be at home, or in a park) and ask for very easy behaviors (like tricks or a cookie recall) with super high value rewards. That can help him work through the surprise/alert element of the bark nearby before asking for harder games.
>I felt like I was decently connected with Skizzle from the 1st barrel to the 2nd.>
Yes! Good connection! The only mechanics suggestion I have is for you to step to the barrel with your dog side leg on the first send – that will really help support the cue to go to the barrel.
>To do over again, I would’ve given him a couple minutes once out of the car here, with some pattern games before starting the session – to help him acclimate.>
Yes, great idea – that will get the first couple of reps on the barrels to look smooth like they did in the 2nd part of the session. He was playing with game at the beginning here, but his brain was definitely split: processing the environment and processing the cues.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
I am glad you are feeling better!!!
Video 1:
The running contacts game is going well with both the mat and the box. His rhythm and striding all look really good. My only suggestion is to use a ‘get it’ marker when you throw the reward instead of ‘yes’ to help keep him looking ahead and not at you. For the mat, try to mark when his back feet are on. You can add more distance away from them too!Video 2:
The cone wraps (rocking horses) are also going well! Try to do only 2 wraps or maybe 3 before rewarding. That way we humans are more likely to maintain connection and the dogs don’t lose focus because of the repetition.
You can add your wrap verbals to these now! And you can also add a little more distance between the cones 🙂Video 3: excellent start to the threadle/serp game! He is driving to the target hand really well and your reward placement is really good too! You can hand him the treat rather than throw it, so you don’t need to move your shoulders. When using the stay, be sure he doesn’t self-release when he sees the hand target. You can reward him for holding the stay (by throwing a treat to him) when you get into position and he doesn’t self-release. You can add the toy to this and also start moving to the reward to the ground (advanced level :))
Video 4: Parallel path – he is doing really well when you are close to the jump, almost perfect! When you were further ahead, he was having more misses by coming to your side rather than through the uprights. So you can add being ahead very gradually and keep throwing the reward like you did – he was really getting the idea by the end of the session so I know adding more distance by being ahead of him (and also being lateral) will be easy for him 🙂 And as you mentioned, maintain connection because that will help too!
Great job on these!
Tracy
Good morning!
>But, if she happens to get in there she runs to that bed, steals Sprite’s chewy and then runs all over so I can’t get her back. I removed the chewy. However, I can see the bed as a big draw!>
That would make sense as to why she would investigate it. As a fellow puppy owner (not quite 6 months old) at the moment, I have 2 things going on that help in this situation:
– when chews are out and the puppy is loose, there are always 3 more than there are dogs in the room. 3 dogs? 6 chews. So there is no forbidden fruit 🙂 and if the adult dog does give up a chew to the pup, the adult can choose one of the other available chews. Or if the adult tells the pup to bug off, the pup chooses a different chew. And then there is all of this glorious social learning where they hang out on beds peacefully and either chew or just chill (soooooo nice!). Also trusting that the pup won’t pee again is helpful.
– I have a big trade lifestyle happening where I can get things back immediately because I always trade for something good like a toy or treat or running to a different room to go get something to give the pup if. I don’t have anything with me. So the pup still does sometimes put stuff in his mouth (shoes! Thanks, Ramen!), I can get everything back immediately without the pup running away or me chasing him. And, it does not result in an increase of the pup putting things in his mouth because the trade is pleasant but it has a bit of a response cost, plus the trade redirects the pup to appropriate things which fill the need to have something in his mouth, and he is less likely to grab other stuff.
>She’s going in tomorrow for shots and I will ask about a UTI. She can go and then go again in 10-15 minutes. But, she holds it over night.>
It is worth asking – peeing then peeing again in 10-15 minutes to the point where it is regularly happening is unusual for her age.
> I’ve stopped running Sprite and Dot. I saw Sprite cutting too hard to get away from the biting and she slipped once or twice. I don’t need a new injury as she’s just coming back after 14 months! >
Yep, relatable! My pup is close to being the biggest/heaviest in the house so he only plays with the really big dogs who can control the action.
>I am playing with a flirt pole. But, it’s not the same as running and exploring in your own. The eating and swallowing of leaves is an issue.>
Flirt pole is a fun way to burn off some energy! How does she do on leash walks? A mix of leash walks and field trips or even meetups with other puppy owners can help a lot, even if it is not every day. Anything where she hears a lot of ‘yes!’ And not a lot of ‘don’t do that’ will help and she will stop eating stuff on her own, for the most part – you can condition a basket muzzle to help with the eating stuff and it is a good thing to have anyway (I have a cute purple sparkly one :))
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Good morning!
The rocking horses at going well! She is getting the hang of it and your connection is really helping. The best reps were when you did have your arm involved a little on the sending(1:05 – 1:10 and the last rep, for example). On those, you made a big connection then your arm traveled with her to indicate the barrel/cone – it looked great!
One hilarious moment was at :10 you stepped her right into the weave entry. She was like “ok!” even though I don’t think she really knew what it was LOL
>, I went “duh” and realized I needed to switch the toy in other hand when doing the rocking horses>
You can also have it in your pocket then whip it out after the last wrap – we don’t need to it be a precision reward for this game.
Keeping your mechanics the same – add a little more distance between the barrel and cone now.
>I understand your stance on training without the other dogs. And I am also having trouble leaving Roulez inside on the days that I have worked when I know that I can lose her at any moment. So please forgive me. I do realize that I can be creating an issue for Sazerac.>
Roulez definitely deserves prime time right now!!! She was hanging out very politely on the 2nd video (maybe singing a little on the first video :)) I think the other dogs are fine to have nearby if they are not running in and pushing the puppy out of the game LOL!!! And then when Rou got her turn, Sazerac should probably be in a crate or xpen so she doesn’t land on Roulez in her hopping around 😂
She found the prop for the out really well – you were using dog-side arm which is fine as long as she can also do the balance of not going to the prop when you don’t cue it. I use the opposite arm because it creates a bigger shoulder turn and then the balance rep looks really different.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
>I’ve notice I have a tendency to not consistently release from the sit. I use “wait” with my other guys to mean stay there until i release you (rather than just the sit/down) cue by itself. I can see a sense in sit always meaning stay til i release you, i just don’t know if *I* have the rigour to always use it like that.>
Great question! When I mentioned using the sit, I meant the position not the word 🙂 Yes, theoretically the verbal ‘sit’ cue means sit til released. But also yes – we humans really really really like our stay words so we can totally use a stay or wait too. However – with or without a stay/wait verbal, you will still want to release any cued sit position so as not to dilute it or confuse him about the release.
>Should I try harder? or use the wait cue? (Edith uses “wait” as a hold your position – e.g. if she’s in a stand, she stays in a stand til i release her – sometimes she can’t sit on the startline so I just use wait to get my leadout)>
You have a lot of options: for the sit behavior you can say sit and nothing else, or sit plus wait. Then release. Or if you want him to choose the position, you can use ‘wait’ and he can hold whichever position he likes (I do this too, it gives the dogs a lot of agency in a hard situation like the start line). But we still want to release it, because it was a cued stay position.
Let me know if that makes sense.
Tracy
Hi!
>“Check check check”. I will add that next time. I am really bad with verbals… I have expanded them over time, my first few agility dogs had zero.>
I think you are doing great with all the verbals, markers, etc! So many words nowadays!
>We were showing over the weekend, so not on video we took the pattern game on the road and I think that went well.>
Perfect 🙂 That is what it is intended for. And when you take it on the road, be sure to add a very chill session of it at home so it remains “neutral” and doesn’t get associated with the excitement of a trial environment. Getting associated with arousal can cause it to backfire a bit 🙂
> My handling preference is usually staying ahead of my dog and lots of fronts and blinds.>
Mine too! It is so fun to handle that way!
> For the get out, I feel like if I open my chest to my dogs, they should come into me? >
Fantastic question! It is a subtle change in shoulders that the dogs read with no problem. It mainly has to do with your outside/non-dog-side shoulder.
Yes, when that shoulder rotates back towards the dog (which also causes the dog-side shoulder to drop back), the dog will turn into you (FC, threadles, etc). The magic of the get out cue is that the outside arm pointing to the obstacle will pull the opposite shoulder forward ahead of the dog and not towards the dog (and the dog-side shoulder does not drop back) so the dog reads it pretty intuitively as a push away on the line. Crazy subtle to us humans but easy peasy for the dogs!On the videos:
Strike a pose looks great! Starting from the stay worked well, she is doing a lovely job with the stay! Nice job with the reward placement, and she seems to have no questions about coming in-then-out over the jump from any of the positions. Yay!
You are moving the serp hand into position as you release, which is probably part of trying to help her hold the stay. Since she is doing well, you can add in getting the hand into position for a few seconds before the release, so she doesn’t think the hand movement *is* the release. You can slowly put it into position then toss a treat to her for remaining in the stay.
The Shpile game went great! She seemed very happy to put her feet all over the various obstacles 🙂 Her arousal was a little higher because she was moving a bit faster – so it was not always a super smooth movement, but there is still huge benefit! As she rehearses in higher arousal, you will see this type of game get easier and easier – after the tug break, she was already smoother when moving around the pile. This proprioception management will really help when you start teaching all the skills that incorporate speed AND coordination (which is basically all of agility 😂 )
This type of game can be revisited with different piles once a week or so, to keep her skills sharp as she continue to grow and develop.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
>Well, this was interesting. She’s been fine training in the living room and she started strong. Then, decided to leave work and run zoomies.>
I love the interesting stuff and video is SUPER useful!!! Thanks for posting the blooper parts too 🙂
Looking at the video, working backwards from the kitchen session:
the prop sending looks awesome! You were sideways and backwards and she was nailing it. Parallel path? No problem. You can even bring in wingless uprights from the yard and put them on either side of the prop to transfer the concept. Engagement was quite strong too and she was able to alternate food and tugging easily. SUPER!Now let’s look at the living room and why she got zoomies. Bear in mind that zoomies are a stress response to something. So before I watched the video, I made a mental list of what could cause zoomies:
– pain? Maybe have her checked for a UTI, especially since she is still not housebroken?
– too much failure? (I did not see that as a factor here)
– too much pressure in the environment or from you (I didn’t see that here either except for one detail, more on that below :))
– too much “activation” of the HPA axis lately, in terms of too much working and not enough decompression, sniffing, running around? Possibly! Puppies need more unstructured (but supervised) time and not as much structured training. This could play a role and she might need regularly scheduled do-nothing days except leash walks and running around in the yard (supervised/long line so she can play but doesn’t eat stuff)So what was the actual trigger for the zoomies here?
It was the grey bed in the corner (lower left on the screen).
I think you might be concerned that she will pee on it when she goes over to it, perhaps? So when she goes to it, you have a bigger/different response than usual (louder name at :37, then you went to reach for her when she was on the bed at 1:16) and boom! Zoomies.
There might be a history of unexpected things with the grey bed – looking back at the strike a pose concept transfer video from this morning – at 1:13 she was on the bed and you said ‘hey’ and pushed her side – she startled and jumped off. She didn’t zoom there but definitely slowed down.
So there might be a history of you interrupting undesirable behavior in a way that she is sensitive too – and it stacked up and tipped over into the zooming response. That would make sense, especially if you are working to keep her from eating things outside too.
So the answer is not working on more engagement 🙂 because that might add more pressure and we don’t want that. The answer is setting her up to not have to be interrupted for now 🙂 The grey bed can be removed for living room training and she can be in smaller spaces outdoors (6 foot leash) so she is not likely to grab undesired things (as puppies are known to do LOL). And build up to fast & fun games where she is on a long line and can run a bit but you can still trade a cookie for something she might pick up (because she is on a line and can’t run off with it :))
And for the peeing indoors – if she pees right before training, she should be fine to train for a few minutes without peeing again. But if she will possibly pee again and that is keeping you on alert, then definitely get her checked for a UTI,
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
He did really well here!>I see I was supposed to toss the treat before he took the jump, not after.>
Ha! Yes – the treat toss should be when he is locked onto the jump and before he gets to it, so he looks straight. I think the main tweak here is that you don’t need the clicker anymore: the click tends to get the pups looking at us, which we don’t want here. So you can just use your ‘get it’ marker and throw the treat.
>The left side was harder. That is probably from lots and lots of RZ zone on that side.>
Totally agree! He does a little better on your right here than on your left – it might be a bit of value balance if you have been working obedience, etc on your left – he will want to be closer to you. So be sure to add lots of value for moving away on your left too 🙂 I don’t do a lot of specific RZ work in agility anymore because the game has evolved and we don’t want the dogs defaulting to driving to us: stay on your line, dog! And we use decel and other cues for turns. So you can shift the balance by doing lots of thrown rewards in agility when he is on your left.
Great job!!
Tracy
The tunnel game is going well!! She is finding the tunnel nicely and seems to be having a good time too 🙂
The beginning was the hardest part, getting her going: you can start on an easier angle so she sees the entry very clearly right at the start, then work back to harder angles. You can do the same thing on the other side too – the first couple of reps are easy then build to the harder angles.
On that first rep, you can reward her when she came back to you through the tunnel – it is not what you planned but it was a tunnel LOL!!
>I purposefully didn’t do any collar restrains, instead lining her up as best I could with a cookie.>
Lining up at your side with a cookie went pretty well! Try to take a moment before sending her, so you are sure she is lined up and ready to look for the tunnel. And you can add in touching (but not holding) her collar or harness while you deliver the line up cookie. This can all build up to being held over a series of sessions – and doing it in the fun tunnel game can help her not think about it at all.
>She gets her final vaccine today (rabies) so may be a bit sore for a day or two.>
Hopefully it goes smoothly 🙂
>I saw the notice for Max Pup 4. I’m hoping that there will be a Max Pup 2. If so, do you know when that would start? >
Yes, that MaxPup 4 is for the pups who were in MaxPup 1 Class of 2024 🙂 We have Max Pup 1, 2, 3, 4 and then everyone is ready for CAMP. The MaxPup 1 Class Of 2025 will have a MaxPup 2 that begins in January (exact date coming soon) then MaxPup 3 will be in the late Spring – and MaxPup 4 will be September 2026, probably.
Great job here!!
TracyHi!
So happy to see you here!!>This course may be a bit advanced for us but Djinn is a very eager and quick learner.>
Djinn is fabulous and we will meet her where she is, and move forward from there 🙂
>She is very motion sensitive so we will have to see how that goes with getting closer to trials!>
That is pretty normal for adolescent dogs 🙂 Is she sensitive to your motion, other dogs’ motion, or all of the above?
>not many fenced areas and cows>
Cows! So cool!!! But yes, that adds a little challenge.
I am sorry to hear her tummy is having an off day but her tugging looked great here! You have really fun tricks in the volume dial game here: spin, touch, down
She tugged really well except for when you were tapping her – she was letting go a lot when you did that, so you can try without tapping and see how the tugging goes.
>apparently we need to work on her letting go of the toy>
When her GI is back to normal, you can trade for a treat if she will go back to tugging when food is around.
Also, you can let your hands go passive (one on each side of her mouth, so she can’t keep tugging) and wait: when she releases the toy, you can reward that by giving it back to her 🙂 Here is a visual:Since this went so well, you can take it outside – since cows might be accessible, start as far as possible and have her on leash, and see how she does with this game!
Great job! Keep me posted!
Tracy
Welcome back and thank you for your questions and video!
>Will have tons of questions about jump height and jumping form as this is my first big dog,>
Since you are the expert in conditioning and rehab and all of that awesome stuff… how do you feel about her physical development? If you feel she is balanced and muscled up and strong, we can begin bringing up the heights. I like to show the dog a new height with the set point that we did in earlier MaxPup classes, then some one jump extension stuff, then that accordion grid… the tools are all in place and I think it will be a straightforward process with her.
>And Pick is showing inklings (maybe?) of being able to handle himself in trial environments. There’s been some back and forth about whether he has a new home, but I guess he’s staying (also said with a huge ?)>
I am excited to hear that he is doing well! You can totally do all of this stuff with him too 🙂 I really like him and want him to also be a super agility dog like his merle sister will be 🙂
T
Welcome back! I can’t believe he is 2 already! Great seeing you last night in the zoom chat!!!
Tracy
Welcome back to you and the BEST CHIHUAHUA EVER!!! I am very excited to see Grace do the grown up stuff! Have fun with Anastasia!
T
Hi!
This went a lot smoother! Yes, the food in your hand was a bit distracting so you can have the big pieces in your pocket and maybe one small piece in your hand for now – we can add back carrying more as she gets more fluent in this game.
Also, disconnection is causing the leaping up – at :23 you got a big leap when you turned your shoulders forward and pointed ahead. But compare to all of the reps where you didn’t get leaping: you were very connected! Yay! You can use your hand to send, but think of it as following her nose and not pointing ahead. And if she leaps up to shoulder height… take it as communication that you can connect more 🙂
>also she bounces a lot like Gitchi and Roulez and Voulez>
Yes, the genetic component is real 😂 but that is why we want to teach her at this early stage to drive to the barrel and not jump up.
Nice work!!
Tracy
Wow, he is confident on that tall plank!! Nice job balancing and turning around! The sit looked awesome too! Because of the height, you will want to avoid too much jumping off at this age while his joints are still developing – you can lift him off, or put a table next to it so he can hop off with less height.
>me realising i hadn’t bothered to teach him a down yet, so couldn’t get him to down on the plank. haha>
HA!! That is so funny! I am sure he will learn down easily then he will be able to do it on the plank 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
