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Hi!
Be sure to connect after the start wing (or the wing before going straight to the tunnel, it was not always the start wing :)) On some of the reps, he did not take the tunnel because when he exited the wing, you were facing forward and he didn’t know which side to be on.
So, if he goes around the wing and doesn’t take the tunnel, you can assume it was a connection error, send him around the next wing, and reward. Big eye contact as he exits the wing will show him the line to the tunnel.
For the right turns – the first rep or two had late verbals but then it was hard to hear if you were saying tunnel and right, or just right? Either way, letting him hear ‘right’ before he goes into the tunnel will help a lot. And, matching the physical cues to it will help too – he was seeing a lot of acceleration straight, so he ws going straight. If you can turn your shoulders when he is still about 5 feet away from entering the tunnel so he sees it, you will have great turns.
On the left turns, your physical cues showed the left turn earlier, so you got some really good turns when the verbals happened before he went into the tunnel too (like at 1:25).
You were much better connected on the last rep and it looked great! Yay! The connection is key for him and also showing/saying the turn cues before he enters the tunnel.
Great job!!
TracyHi!
He was so funny, almost looked surprised by the toy reward on the first rep! But that type of surprise is good! This went super! Did you feel like it was more fun for you both? The expression on his face at the very end certainly seemed happy 🙂
You can let him tug for longer, and you can let him win the tug (running around with it can be a bit of useful decompression for him). And to get the toy back, trade for a cookie then toss the cookie off to the side for him to chase. Pulling on his neck to get the toy back might tip him into overarousal, but cookie trades will be great 🙂
At :47, he went around the cone but didn’t get rewarded… all of the physical cues (like lining up then letting go) indicated he should go to the cone, so be careful not to send mixed signals 🙂
Since this went so well, you can take this process into the other games as well – I think the tugging will be a lovely way to help him balance arousal! And being careful to limit failures and reward resets will help a ton too. He looked great here!
Tracy
Hi!
This went great! The main thing here was to balance arousal, and it looks like he was very successful (he is naturally good at arousal regulation!).
For the tunnel cues, stepping to the tunnel definitely helped and it was more stimulating! The pattern games balanced things out and he was very successful.
He only had one take-the-tunnel blooper and that is fine: we need some errors here and there so he learns the difference. But overall, super successful!! It was hard for him, he was breathing hard at the end (steam coming out of his ears LOL!) but he did great. Yay!!
Onwards to taking this outside when the yard is dryer!
Great job :)
TracyHi! Sounds like you are having a fun and busy weekend!!
>We have really been working on the pre-run engagement and having success. He mostly ignores the other dogs and is really engaged with me.>
Super!! He looked happy, relaxed, and engaged here.
>After one of our zoom chats where the fur tugs from tugawaycuwin was mentioned I ordered a few more and found the “fur flinger” is perfect for Wayne (I can use it for pre and post run engagement and shove it in my pocket)>
Perfect! They have a lot of good fur toys, I just bought a few more LOL!
He was really good in these runs! The behind-the-back starts worked really well – I especially loved that when you took the leash off, he remained engaged and didn’t start without you. That really allowed you to set up a nice opening line!
About the contacts: he considered getting on the a-frame here but then he was not sure. Do you have access to contacts that can be lowered, so he can confidently get on them in flow from jumps or tunnels?
>the Standard Course time was around 24 seconds and Wayne did it sub 12 seconds!>
Holy wow!! He could have done it twice and still been under course time! So fun!
Great job here!!!
TracyHi!
>I noticed a lot of knots in her shoulder muscles, so I gave her some amateur massages after the trial.>
Amateur massages are great! Have you ever done skin-rolling? That is what the real massage people have me do with mine as part of their warm up and cool down.
>Here are Frankie’s latest TSA games. We ran past the gate and then back in these. She had some distractions that got her attention here & there but I just waited for her attention to shift back to me and we kept going.>
She did well here! I think she is understanding the whole ‘leave the treats outside the ring’ thing and is also pretty resilient to any handling bloopers. Her early videos of this were filled with her looking back at the treats outside the ring like WHAT THE HECK and now she is very fluid!
>You will hear the monster-noises that is Bazinga not wanting to wait her turn too!>
She sounds like a rage-filled cat-dinosaur cross LOL!
>I’m trying to get her to bark after she gets her last treat before we go inside the gate too. I forgot to try it at the start line. I will add that in next time. TSA 1>Yes! I love the cue for it 🙂 And whether or not she barks will give you good insight into how she is feeling inside.
>I’m trying to decide between doing FEO as our first run of the day or just doing the first run for real since she has been doing really well with the first 2 runs of the day. Maybe just surprising her with FEO when the FAST course is not one of our favorites.>
Go for it! She will give feedback about whether a real run first thing is the way to go. She has been successful with it. And you can always change your mind at the last minute, if the environment is hard for whatever reason.
>She has 2 more QQs for her MACH4 and then I can drop her to 8 inches. >
I think she will like 8 inches 🙂
>Our only other thing to work towards is her Agility Grand Championship (we need 26 FAST, 22 Premier STD, 22 Premier Jumpers and 9 T2B Qs) but I’m not sure I want to make that a “goal”. I want to keep things fun for her that is really my priority.>
I think if you keep things fun for her like you are doing, and keep her fit and sound – the AGCH will happen naturally without needing to even chase it.
> If I do work towards that, I think I would want to drop regular JWW and STD. I don’t like doing more than 3 runs with her in a day. She seems to have spoken about that.>
That is a great plan! If you don’t need the JWW and STD, you can save her for the other classes. Plus Bazinga will be running those classes pretty soon and that way you can focus all on her 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Hooray for the weaves!!! Are they easy to throw in the car and take different places?
>We did the TSA game today and I’d love some advice. She gets so amped up during this game that she’s started being bitey. She’s grabbing at my clothes and biting the leash so wildly that she’s a menace! Hahaha Is it too much for her? Maybe she doesn’t need it whereas Frankie does need the added excitement?>>
I think it is good to rehearse the ‘up and down’ of arousal regulation, and that is why the game is useful. Plus we get feedback from the dog – she really wants to do more tugging! She keeps reaching for the leash even in the in between moments. So you can ask her for calmer behaviors and then let her tug on a tug leash or a toy. She regulates really well when you do that, and it will help direct her teeth to the leash/toy and not your flesh 🙂
>Really the runs were a mess because we were both so discombobulated with all the wildness.>
The runs were not too bad at all! It was that 3rd jump – you needed to be further up the line (longer lead out) to be able to connect and push in to get it. Being a bit behind pulled her to her left, and she had to go slightly right to pick up the jump.
>tried running the course with her again later after she calmed down and she took all the obstacles like a pro. (We both did better).>
Did you lead out further? Canine arousal also shifts human arousal, so if you were more relaxed it is possible you led out an extra couple of steps.
>We have a 1 day trial next weekend (that I think I’ll be able to go to) and a 2 day trial the following weekend. Then the Boston Terrier Nationals!!! That will be fun! There is a tunnelers fun run that she’s going to love!>
OMG BT NATIONALS!!!!!! That sounds like so much fun. Where are they holding it?
>I have an FEO progression question with weaves. What should my criteria be for attempting the weaves in the novice ring with a toy? Once she is comfortable doing 6 weaves at the field where we take training classes? Should she be doing 6 weaves with an obstacle before and after at home and at the training field? >
I would say yes to both of these. You can add an obstacle before and after, even if the weaves are not closed up yet.
Not for AKC novice – you can get her in there with the 6 poles 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Welcome! Thank for the video, it was really fun to watch! These games will be GREAT for helping build up arousal regulation and finding that sweet spot that works for you both! The skill of going around the cone is easy peasy for him, so let’s look at setting him up for arousal regulation success! He is a very cool dog!!!
A couple of things to tweak in this setup:
– for now, don’t have the other dog in the room watching the training, make it about you and him only. Having the pressure of another dog watching intently draws bandwidth away from the part of his brain needed for arousal regulation. It splits his attentional state and I don’t think we need that yet (it might not outwardly seem like it divides his attentional state, but it is extra input the brain has to process and filter out, so let’s remove it).
– let’s have you standing up! Sitting low to the ground makes it harder to line him up, and that was a source of frustration.
– does he play with toys? If so… let’s get a toy involved. (if he doesn’t play with toys, let me know and we will do other fun things). Using just food is not doing the trick for arousal regulation – I think he needs an outlet to party with between reps. This might seem entirely counterintuitive – but lining him up for a cookie, doing the rep, rewarding with a hearty game of tug, letting him win the tug for a few seconds (and maybe run around or rip it up a little LOL)… then call him back to you using the food with the pattern game we did in MaxPup 1. Then line up next to you for food, repeat the process. The outlet for the arousal followed by the pattern game for arousal regulation can make a huge difference. Trying the training as a tight loop using food only is actually not useful for arousal regulation for many dogs, and I think he falls into that category. Toy play paired with pattern games is a great outlet and balancer.
– be extra super clear with the reinforcement and the line up. The session was all good til :50 when you didn’t give him any info about the line up, so his arousal tipped over into frustration and we got cone biting, hitting, etc. Standing up to play between reps, the pattern game, then a very clear line up can help the arousal remain optimized and eliminate that frustration!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think, especially about getting more toy play involved 🙂
Tracy
Woohooo!!! I think Spotlight will LOVE the Wind In Your Hair game 🙂 And the proofing game will be fun too!
T
Hi!
>. Can I raise the height of the bars? Both were locked in at 8″ this week.>
The first bar will always be low, it is just a stride regulator. The 2nd bar can go to 10″.
The pill bug games went well! One suggestion is to not have the toy dangling from your hand – based on it being highly visible and then when she arrives at it, you are delivering it to her. So it seems like she is thinking that the game is to go to the toy. This works fine for the outside circles, but it would be even better to get her doing them with connection and not a toy target. Targeting to the toy is what is made the inside circles so hard: she was coming straight in to the toy. So if the toy is out of the picture, you can use connection to get her to bend around the tunnels and it will be a lot easier. You can do the inside circles at a slow jog/fast walk to establish the turn, then eventually crank up the speed again 🙂 To reward, you can whip the toy out of a pocket or use a food reward in the moment, with tugging in between reps.
Nice work on the tunnel exits too! In the moments when you were super connected, she was perfect! Connection is definitely a big cue for the youngsters – so if something goes wrong, assume it was a connection question and use less arm to cue the obstacle and more eye contact as you run.
For example, she had a little zig zag exiting the tunnel straight at :05 and :26, looking at you first before going to the wing – try to be connected to her on the tunnel exit to get the line and not pointing forward. The connection turns your shoulders to the line you want.
>I think Ellie is starting to know her wrap verbals, but I really doubt she has any idea what left and right are. She and Mason both went wide on the right turn out of the tunnel, so I’m curious if there is something I’m doing to cue the drive forward out of the tunnel when I really want a right turn.>
That was a timing question from her on the reps at :37 and :47 and :57 and 1:07. The right verbal was late, happening either after she went into the tunnel or just as she was sticking her head into the tunnel, and your running motion was forward. So the last thing she saw/heard was forward motion which is why she exited straighter. On the left turn exits – the timing can also be earlier but your physical cues were already showing the turn before she entered, so she turned well! The ideal timing is that she sees/hears the cue when she is still a solid 6 feet away from entering the tunnel – you can put a line on the ground to give yourself a visual of when to cue the turn.
> The race track to the right took a few tries to work out the bugs, >
This was a connection question (if she jumps up at you, it is her way of saying ‘more connection please!’):
At :38 pm right turn race track – you were disconnected with a high arm and looking forward as she exited the wing, so she jumped up then was not sure which side of you to be on for the tunnel cue at :40 (you had turned to look forward and it did look like a BC cue, so she changed sides).Compare to :48 which was more connected to the wing so she got it really well! Then you broke the connection to the tunnel so she jumped up at :51.
The rep at :58 – 1:01 had great connection all the way through, so you got a great line there! And the last rep with the wraps was super connected so she read it perfectly.
It was fun to see Mason, he definitely remembers the skills and was great to give yo ua test dirve on the course 🙂 He basically did the same things Ellie did, which is good because it indicates where the handling can be clearer in terms of connection, or sooner to get the turns.
>I can’t decide which dog to work first. Having Ellie first avoids her tiring herself out from screaming in the house during Mason’s turn, but having Mason first gives me a chance to figure out my handling with a dog that isn’t learning things for the first time.>
Is there a place that Ellie can be, in the house or even in the car as long as she doesn’t bake, where she can be calm and not scream? That is a good skill to have (relaxing when it is not your turn to run agility). I think you can mix up who goes first, but finding a spot where she can chill while waiting is a good thing for sure!
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>She has a lot of value for the wraps, the tunnel not so much (oddly). I also think she might have been a bit reluctant to leave the toy/treats…much quicker to access reinforcement if you wrap? >
I agree with your assessment – the wrap probably has more value, it is easier than the tunnel, plus it is closer to accessing the reward. The tunnel is further from you and the reward PLUS she has to lose sight of you, so it makes sense that she would want to stick closer to you.
The wraps are looking fantastic so we can build up the tunnel send:
For now, after you say the tunnel verbal, take a step towards to the tunnel to help her go to it. And, more importantly… throw the reward to the exit of the tunnel. The rewards here for the wrap and the tunnel were close to you, which is part of why she wants to stick near you 🙂 So if the reward for the tunnel is thrown way past the tunnel exit, I am sure she will be very happy to leave you to race through it. It might take a moment to get the toy back 🙂 but you can trade for another toy. Changing the reward placement for the tunnel should get her driving away really nicely.
Great job here!!
TracyGood morning!
She did great here!
>I was really surprised that she didn’t jump on me.>
Does she sometimes jump up when you are running? Your connection was super clear here and you had good timing on most of the reps so she seemed to know where to go and had no trouble keeping her feet on the floor 🙂
I saw a tiny bit of jumping up potential when you were late in the earlier part of the session – at :53, for example, the blind was late so there was a little jumping up as she got to you. It might be a bit of frustration and a bit of her not decelerating because she was less sure where to be. Compare that to the blind at 1:02 – great timing and connection, she did not consider jumping up at all!
Later in the session you were a little late on two of the blinds (1:19, 1:39) but she was happy and relaxed, working at a very high rate of success, and didn’t consider jumping up. Yay!
At 1:10 you got pretty far ahead so she was not sure which side of the tunnel to find you on – she chose the other side based on your motion, and that was a good choice. You rewarded her (yay! Excellent reward, because it was a bit of a handler error there) and then adjusted your position to be more visible on the next reps, which went really well.
>Should I try to reward her coming into my side as straight as possible or does it not matter?>
You were getting your rewards in before she got to you, so she was coming to your side and not curling in front of you – that is great! She doesn’t have to be perfectly straight at your side but we don’t want her to be curling in front of you.
Since this went so well – yes to adding the toy for more excitement 🙂 And also yes she is ready for the double pill bug 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>Grids moving target add learned that the power of saying “D” which is Chata nickname when she’s running amuck has some effect on julee as she left to look for D who wasn’t actually there I just said the wrong dog name lol>
Ha! I am glad I am not the only one who uses the wrong dog name LOL!!
Set point is going well –
Nice job using your ‘between’ position to line her up for jump 1. And her stay is looking great with the toy moving on the ground. These things make the skill training so much easier!She is percolating good form on the step in to jump 1 here – since she has to load in from her rear, it took a couple of reps to really push off. On the first couple she was lifting from her from a bit but then at 1;45 and 2:35 she was definitely pushing more from her rear, producing better form. Yay! Revisit this in a few days to see how she is locking in the form, but overall this was a strong session that we can build on with future grid and challenges.
Wrap proofing: this is definitely a hard game! I think you made it a little harder because the angle of the wing is a little skewed here – you want the wing to be more on the side of the tunnel (near the tunnel bag, with you facing the wall that has the blue tunnel scrunched up on it, on the left side of the screen here) so when you are lining her up, you are both facing the wing and not facing directly to the tunnel. She will see the tunnel when she exits the wing but she won’t see it when you are lining her up. That will also make cueing the tunnel easier because it won’t be as far and also you can add a little handler motion to both skills. She had plenty of good reps here, but when adding the advanced levels you will find it easier to put the wing on more of the angle especially for cueing the wrap when she exits the tunnel.
Smiley face game:
>Mixed my words up first round. Ooops>
That is relatable 🙂 You might need a brief walk through to get the words going for each rep – so many words in agility LOL!!
This game went really well! She had a question about the wing on the first rep – you had really good connection on the tunnel exit but not enough decel at :05 and a little too much motion towards it, which pushed her past it. You had clear connection and decel going on the other reps and she did great! If she sees you ‘pushing’ in towards the wing as she exits the tunnel, she goes a little wider (responding to the pressure of the motion, like t 1:54) so you can decel and handle the wrap from wherever you are when she is exiting the tunnel. And you can add more distance between the tunnel and the wing for a little more challenge too!
Side note – I know I am a pain in the butt… but the sooner you can get her feet wrapped for working, the better! She is changing her striding (holding herself tight through the core to short stride rather than shifting into her rear) and slipping when coming around the wings, so we want to give her better grip so she can work good mechanics and not compensate for losing her balance.
Nice work here!
TracyGood morning! This went really well!
I think the 6 foot distance suits him really well. Hooray for such a great stay and forward focus on the treat! And the start position relative to jump 1 on the 2nd and 3rd reps here was spot on (the first rep and last rep might have been a little too close, but it is a game of inches :)) His form is looking good and he is quite a powerful young man!!!! So the next step, when you get back north 🙂 is to add the moving target to this. When he is happy with the moving target and maintains these lovely mechanics, we can start to change the height of bar 2 (and also add complexity in coming weeks too).
Great job here! Safe travels!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I wasn’t running with her. I sent her and called it in a stationary pose. >
It is possible that either her natural inclination is to exit tunnels straight for now (which is a good thing, the way course design is evolving!) or the verbals didn’t reach her ears early enough 🙂
>Yes, my motion kept her on the right path. >
Super! Since she is young, she might not have realized that turning on the exit of a tunnel was something that could happen 🙂 She is super smart though, so I bet she locks in that understanding pretty quickly.
>She is doing amazingly well, I think, for her age. At times I know she is working in arousal and have to simplify so I get her thinking again. >
I agree!! And it is normal that teenager dogs sometimes have arousal shifts that we have to help them out with 🙂
>I did add a third jump to the grid with one of them at 16″. She is powering over it just fine. >
Great! We add games with a 3rd jump to challenge both the mechanics and also ‘reading’ the distances. Those are good for her age because she can get a lot of education without anything that is too hard on her developing joints and muscles.
> We had a tough March with a terrible fear stage. She was terrified when I took her inside at the McKinney,TX venue. Several people told me that a lot of dogs are afraid in there. After seeing her reaction there, I didn’t dare take her anywhere near the rings at Nationals.>
Poor girl! There was probably some travel stress that played a role in it (even if she appears relaxed, her body is feeling the effects of stress hormones like cortisol) and it sounds like a hard venue!!
>> She seemed to spook with the recorded “go”. So, we slowed training down to a slug pace and just worked on tenacity and resilience for three weeks.>
The recorded voices as well as the buzzers and judge calling numbers in FSAT, gamblers, snooker can be HARD on dogs. You can get a recording of these things and play it quietly in the background of training sessions. The volume should be very low to start so it is barely audible. Then you can gradually increase the volume over a series of sessions, building up to her being able to completely ignore the sounds even when they are loud and nearby. Doing this gradually will make it easy!
>This week I presented agility equipment again and she was on fire for it. >
She really loves her agility! That is why we can help her ignore challenging sounds/noises by pairing them gradually with the fun of moving and doing obstacles 🙂
> I don’t see myself staying in front of her.>
I don’t think being able to run faster than her is an option… but stay ahead is a huge advantage. So we can prioritize obstacle independence so she sends to a line and stays on the line while you scoot over to wherever you want to be next. That will make it easier to stay ahead even on those big courses! And of course, we will make sure she understands and loves rear crosses too for when you get behind 🙂
Have fun!
TracyGood morning!
I think this was a really strong session and yes, she was using her rear really well here (good head position too). And holding her stay really well to let you get out ahead and place the reward on the ground. So much good stuff!!
Lookin at all of the reps here: I think starting her from the sit position produced the best results. Rep 1 was my favorite – that seemed to be the sweet spot in terms of line up. Rep 2 was also really good – she was a little closer to jump 1 but did really well. The other sit rep was rep 5 – she was a little further back from jumping 1 and tapped her left front foot on the ground before takeoff. She might have been a little too far from the jump on that rep, or a bit of fatigue, or both.
The reps that started with a down were harder because pushing up from the ground puts her weight forward and there was not enough room to balance back fully onto her rear (she did try, though, which is great!)
On the first down rep, she tapped both of her front feet before takeoff to jump 1 (front end use more than hind end). She was trying to push from the rear on the other down start reps, but it was hard and couldn’t quite get the same power into the set point as the sit reps. On the last rep, she couldn’t quite get her rear over the 1st bar and ticked it.
So I think the sit starts produce the best form on this grid (and that will be the same for future grids). And you can still use a down stay as her start behavior on sequences, because she will be set up 10 or 12 or 15 feet fro the first jump and has more room to move out of the down and into the stride. That way she will approach takeoff using the form she is using from the sit here.
Great job here!! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
