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Hi!
Absolutely fantastic session here! He seems to really under the in-then-out of the serps. His stays looked great and your releases were super consistent. I agree that he figured out that it was about the jump first then the bowl – good bowl!!!Since this went so well, onwards to the next steps! A few suggestions for that:
– because we are going to be teaching him the difference between a serp and a threadle, you can put your hand in serp position here, wait a few seconds, then release him. This will come in very handy when we add the threadles!
– he was very successful from different angles here, so you can add the hardest angle of all: ask him to sit right in front of the reward bowl, then cue the serp. That cues a tight turn and is also a great impulse control challenge.
– speaking of impulse control, you can add more challenge by having a treat in the bowl before the release, or even putting his favorite ball on the ground/in the bowl. That .ight really increase the challenge of focusing on the serp cues and ignoring everything else.
Great job here!
TracyHi! This session went really well! She seemed to be really targeting the prop on the get out and not waiting on the cookie throw. Super!! And she had no questions about sticking with you when you didn’t cue the get out… but she was super cute heading to the prop on the way back to the start spot. Extra credit 😆
She is shifting her leads away to get to the prop and that’s exactly what we want. You can take this game outside if you want, or you can move to the other games.
Great job here, especially in a new spot and having to be quiet!
Tracy
Good morning!
I am glad you got your equipment outside! I am hoping that we get a nice long spring in terms of good weather, and don’t skip directly to a gross hot summer.
He did really well with the lazy game! We definitely want him to look for his lines and NOT at you, and he did a super job here! He was really driving to the jumps with very minimal looking at you by the end. SUPER!! This is a good game to revisit, especially after any handling that might encourage handler-focus. He loves his momma 🙂 so we will keep the value for looking at the lines really high.
Since this went so well, you can add more distance between the jumps – move them 3 feet further apart and if that is super easy after a rep or two, move them another 3 feet apart. And you can also add in levels 2 and 3 of the lazy game.
He does love slamming the teeter! Yay! He was figuring out the backing up – I think the angle and height of the board might have been what was hard at first, along with the narrowness of the plank? It is definitely a hard game. Have you decided if you want to do a 2o2o with him, or a 4on? He might be big enough to do a 2o2o if you wanted that but you can also do a 4on with him. If you want the 4on, as the backing up progresses: you can have him back up to the 4on position.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
OMG his coat is the cutest! Was the grass wet? He kept holding up a back leg when he was eating his treat. It was a different back leg each time so maybe something wet was feeling weird in the grass.
I agree, he did great with the plank! Very confidently moving back and forth, and building up speed. He found the cookies really well without excessive chewing 😂
Since this went so well, time to elevate the plank more! Do you have blocks or something stable that can get it to be up to a foot off the ground? And you can have him jump on from the side then jump off from the middle (for balance) as well as turn around in the middle.
>I’m back to my old habit of mostly clicking vs. “get it” – will continue to try to use my words.>
The click was good info so he definitely knew what you wanted. The ‘get it’ gets more helpful as we work on getting him to look forward, so this is a good place to practice it.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
He was so good with the tiny wobble board! You can ramp up the balance challenge by asking him to move from a stand to a sit on it 🙂
On the 2nd video, he was definitely surprised by the noise so you can split that a bit: stuff some towels under it so that the sound is there but much quieter. And do one or two rep sessions with the highest value treats: favorite toy/ball or his entire meal 🙂 Fewer reps/high value will help create incredible love for the teeter.
>When we are with Jess, I have him load low from the side and move forward and Jess controls the drop which isn’t a lot but it doesn’t slam.>
Sounds like a variation of the bang game – the bang game has a lot of variations LOL!! And it is a great way to work the end position. We have a couple of variations of the bang game coming up in this class too (all will fit with what you are doing with Jessica and we will use the same target you are using in your training at UDog).
For the teeter in the basement: he did well!! The noise is pretty quiet which is a very good way to start it. He interacted with it pretty well for the food rewards but when the toy came out: game change! The excitement level increased dramatically and he was not thinking about it as much… we don’t really want him thinking hard about the teeter 🙂 So for the next teeter party: use the toy from the start. He will tire faster because the tugging is so energetic, but 30 fantastic seconds will be completely worth it! Side note: the teeter has a lot of impact on the joints and he is really young, so we are really going to minimize movement until he is a bit older. But we can do PLENTY of other stuff to develop his teeter skills!!
Great job!
Tracy
Awesome! And you can also use a super high value treat – do just a couple of reps for chicken or cheese and I bet she will like it 🙂
T
She might not even realize she is doing that 🙂 You can also play with start positions that don’t have the crouch – a down is great and also a stand is a possibility. That can help her be super solid in terms of not moving and also not crouching.
Tracy
Good morning!
Keep me posted on how it goes!Yes, there will be a MaxPup 2 starting for this group when are done with MaxPup 1 🙂
Have fun!
Tracy
Hi!
>I wanted to ask about whether we should practice the games some before videoing. >Nope! You can get the first reps on video because usually those are helpful! And then we can also track how things progress through the session 🙂
Tracy
Great question! I train all my small dogs with the front foot targeting right at the end of the board – it is a VERY effective method and I am glad Jessica is using it for Brioche. I also teach small dogs to scratch that target at the end, to give them something to do as the board goes down and to maintain the weight shift. The teeter game with backing up will not get muddy – you can have him back up to the 4-on position right at the end of the board. Reward him for getting his front feet on as well as his back feet.
T
Good morning! Welcome back! Great job in Chicago: those courses had basically ALL the challenges on each of them!!
I am glad the ultrasound came back looking good! And I am defintiely interested in learning more about how the biome changes will turn out!
>For threadle slices – do you use all open arm (thats the inside arm being open & behind, right?) or still use some cross arm threadle slices?>
I haven’t used a cross arm for threadle slices in a long time – I used to use it if I was behind or it was a crazy line into the threadle slices, but course design in UKI has evolved to the point where the open dog side arm is all that is needed. It is a relatively big movement back, like pulling open a door. If I did Premier with those threadles or regular AKC with all of the tunnel threadles, then yes – the cross arm would still get used.
Looking at the threadle wrap videos: I think the key is setting the line by turning away from the jump… without getting so far away from it laterally that the jump is no longer clear as the place to turn back to.
I think ideally for her you will want to be relatively clsoe to the jump, probably not more than 3 feet away from it, but turning away from it to set the line you want her to take (and so she doesn’t read it as a front side cue).
So the decel & turn away will make a big difference. You can see this at the beginning of the 2nd video: on rep (and also on rep 4)1, you were pretty close to the line to the jump but your first steps up the line turned you away from it so she got it. On the other side on rep 2, you pulled a bit to your left while also decelerating, so she got it. That was a little far from the jump so she looked at you. Compare to rep 5 on this video where you were really far from the jump so she had a big question.
The reps on the first video didn’t really have the line set close to the jump. Either you turned away by using a ton of lateral distance (reps 2 and 3 on the first video) which makes it hard to turn back to the jump. Or on the first few reps on the other side, you didn’t turn away at all so she would look at you then was like “what’s with the hands and name call when your motion is saying front side” then she was getting mad LOL!
You had an accidental TW at 1:27 – you decelerated near the wing and stepped away to your right (watch your right leg): threadle wrap!
So being close like that with decel and turning feet and shoulders slightly away should get both the threadle side and the turn away.
> were my mechanics better?>
Lift said your mechanics were better, except for the accidental rear cross at :45 where you were hovering too much and pushed her to the right. But she forgave you because the next rep was a lovely wrap 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
Getting the backsides on one jump is actually harder than in flow because they are sitting there staring at the front 🙂 The dogs both did really well! The main thing here is to be sure the opposite arm is pointing to the entry wing of the backside not the exit wing. That rotates the shoulders to the line even better and shows more connection, and both Artie and Ringo read it well!
When you were pointing to the exit wing (especially when they were on your left side and moving away from the camera), the read it as a front side cue.
For example – it was hard to see from behind at :35 & :37 but based on your shoulder position the opposite arm was pointing more to the exit wing and not the entry wing
When you were pointing it to the entry wing at :50 and then at 1:04 for Ringo – a subtle but clear difference, so they got it easily. YAY!!
I grabbed a couple of screenshots to show the differences. On the reps where you indicated the exit wing, both dogs went to the front of the jump. On the reps where you indicated the entry wing with the clear outside and connection: both dogs got the backside every time. Yay!
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1rTPYtnjz7ArIBx5eeXAgn5NQETSqIxuMJx41BY8yXnU/edit?usp=sharing
>Looking at this video, I realize I need to be a better partner for praise and rewarding efforts!>
They will be happy to get all the cookies and toys 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
Yes, threadle wraps are hard but they are also very popular… a threadle wrap or two showed up at the recent AKC nationals. When that happened, it means they are on the way into regular courses so we all need to get ready 🙂
I think Kashia has more value for driving to your hands, which is why she was figuring it out! And Kastella has a ton of value for driving to jumps, which is probably why it was harder for her.
Working this on one jump really helped – the dogs have a lot of value for going to the front side of the jump so it takes a bit of training to show them this fancy new move 🙂
The hardest part is the the dogs have to following hand and subtle motion cues to get to the correct side of the jump, so there are two things we can do to help them:
On one jump:
You can leave them in a stay and lead out past the jump – then lock them onto your hands, rewarding when they get to your hand, then flip them away to the jump. And reward again 🙂 That will build up a lot of value for coming to the correct side of the jump.Then as you add motion – still try to be ahead of them instead of parallel to them to show the cues. To help the cues override the visual of the front side of the jump, you can turn your shoulders and feet away from the jump, almost pulling them away to get them locked onto your hands… then flip them back only when they get to the correct side. I think this will be important for Kastella in particular, so you can really exaggerate it for her at first.
For now, you can use their names to get them to see the cues to come towards you (and not take the front of the jump). Then when they are both consistent with it, you can add a fancy verbal 🙂
They are off to a good start! Keep me posted on how they do!
Tracy
Welcome back!!
> Still putting the finishing touches on my “stoplight wings>
Ha! I love it! They look great!
He was doing a great job of finding the first jump at the beginning of each rep and also whenever he was done chewing 🙂 He was definitely looking for the jumps! But I agree with what you noted: the chewing was interrupting the flow. He was not losing focus – it just took a while LOL!
A treat he can slurp down will be better for sure and then both of you can keep moving. Another option is throwing the lotus ball for when you are going to reward more than one jump in a row: you will have to reload it between reps but it will help randomize when you reward and can carry smaller bits that need less chewing.
That will also make it easier to add steps 2 and 3 – because he is looking for the jump so well here, I bet it will be easy to add those.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
She did a great job here! She was very happy to send to that middle jump – that included going past you when you didn’t lead out much and when you were not moving much, I am really liking how she was setting up her turns!!
>Now looking at it, should I have done a bigger send and less walking?>
There are a lot of different ways to be lazy 🙂 You can lead out less and then just kind of wander through the pinwheel. Or send more and walk less. Anything that feels pretty lazy will be correct.
She looks ready for adding the tunnel in too!
You can also add in throwing rewards back for the stays – that might have been the hardest part for her because even the lazy game is exciting LOL!
Nice work here!
Tracy
