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Hello and welcome back!!!
I’m excited to see you two work through these games!!!
Have fun đ
TracyHello and welcome back!!! I’m excited to see her work!
The Sniffspot sounds great – you can fit these games into any dimensions, but working in a larger space will super fun and add a little spice to it all đHave fun!
TracyHello and welcome!!!
I think your connection with her on course is super strong already, so we can use this time to really crank up the commitment and trust! Have fun!!
TracyHello and welcome! I’m glad you are here, and I’m excited to ‘meet’ Kashia. I LOVE Brittanys!
If you have any questions about using the site or loading stuff or online training, feel free to ask here or email support@agility-u.com. Jeremy is our support guy and he is great.
Have fun!
TracyHello and welcome! Happy New Year! How is she 15 months old already?? I love it!!
Have fun here – the competition track should be perfect for her!
TracyWelcome! This should be a great way to build communication with your baby girlie!!! And I believe she is related to two of the demo dogs (Voodoo and Jitterbug, who are not in the week one games but will appear in the others đ )
Have fun!
TracyHello and welcome back! I’m excited to see you two work through the competition track!
Have fun!
TracyHello and welcome!!! I’m so excited to watch you and Sieger here. I think you’ll find it complements the MaxPup classes nicely đ
Have fun!
TracyGood morning and welcome!!!!
Yes, the photos show up from other accounts linked to gravatar. I sent info on how to load or change it in the welcome email this morning.
Have fun!
TracyHi!
>>I forgot to thank you for offering to let my friend join the class late. She ended up deciding to do an independent study class instead since her pup is already doing sequences.>>
Yes, thanks for referring her! She ended up doing an independent study MaxPup 2.
Strike a pose is going well! He was coming in over the bar then going back out really nicely in both directions đ Yay!!! And he got onto his toy at the end: SUPER!!!!
>>The only issue we had was that putting an actual treat in the target bowl before asking for the nose touch was too hard, so Iâm using an empty bowl and then I toss the treat into it.>>
That is fine to do! You can also use the Manners Minder as the reward target. That will help with the threadles too! You can also work just a hand touch to the target when there is a bowl with a cookie on it on the ground nearby – it is a good skill to play with!
>>The only other thing I noticed is that my pose doesnât look all that much like I think it will when Iâm running. >>
I think you did a great job with your upper body cue – it was very clear and you held the position as you dropped the treat in the bowl. You can make it more âserpyâ by pointing your feet to the reward target (the direction youâd be running towards). That will also transfer well to the threadles (pointing your feet to the exit line/reward target there too).
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>>Iâm laughing this morning watching the video. She can only stay if she belly punches me first⌠>>
1. My question is should I try and get rid of this? >>I have no problem with it as long as it doesnât hurt and doesnât include biting! My year old BC mix does it too and it is pretty hilarious. My whippet clacks at me when I cue a sit⌠then he does his sit. I find it all entertaining and I also know to let them do their thing before I lead out.
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>>2. I took notes on your comments. I am as impatient as my dogs. I NEED TO WAIT BEFORE TOSSING TOY.>>Just a heartbeat of waiting needed. I say that to myself too ALL THE TIME: say the word THEN move the reward. It is hard for us humans LOL!
>> I canât believe you did not mention the fact that I used 4 different markers for the same behavior⌠arrg. I need to tell myself before I start which cue and be more consistent.>>â¨
There were a couple that were not quite in the right place but most were fine đ>> I am torn about the throwback if I should use a different cue for food VS toy and a different cue for thrown back VS anywhere.>>
In the spirit of NOT needing 10,000 marker words, I use the same word (âcatchâ) for throwing food and toys back to the dog. I mean, they see what I am doing so there is no question from the dog. I donât ever proof to a crazy level (like throwing a toy but saying a cookie word and expecting the dog to NOT take the toy – that seems rude LOL!) so I trust the dogâs understanding of context. And my dogs have no questions about it.
I have a different marker for thrown ahead (get it) and like âcatchâ I use it for food and toys. And also like âcatchâ – zero questions from the dog.
The only different food versus toy markers are when they should drive to me hands to take the reinforcement: I want the dog to know if coming in HOT for a toy is happening, or coming in gently for a cookie, so I use different words (âbiteâ for a toy and âyesssssâ or âsnacksâ for food).
>>Get it- is treat thrown (forward or to the side- could be back)>>
It can be, but since there is movement involved, I like to differentiate between move forward (get it) and stay there/look behind (âcatchâ).
>>Is it bad if I just use âget itâ for the treat (meaning it will be thrown somewhere) >>
I think somewhere is too vague. Part of the joy of markers is that they indicate clear placement (like look ahead for it) so if it can be anywhere, that dilutes that value.
>> Lucky for my agility dogs so far I rarely use verbals (because I would obviously use the wrong ones) but I want to do everything I can to help Taq run as fast as she can.>>
You will have plenty of practice with Taq! And plus, you can use the verbals with the adult dogs just to practice them even if they donât know what they all mean đ
Tracy
Hi!
>>I tried removing the pillow and the wobble board became a little too intimidating.>>
Yes, it was a big leap for her to have no pillow so it ended up being a session more about getting her happy on the wobble board, so that was really good! She was confident with getting on it and turning around and assuming the position for backing up, and then was able to do a little front end backing up with her back end staying stable, then some reaching back with her hind end. Super!!
For the next session, you can split the difference: have a the wobble board a bit propped up (about where it ended here, that worked well!) and I bet she gets the backing up going again really well. A little bit of latent learning will kick in and she will be backing up onto it again.
Great job!
TracyGood morning! Happy New Year!
>>I had things going on and then was course building for 4 days plus 32 runs!>>
All good! I am sure you were a little busy and also that Taq got to do some good stuff in the crazy trial environment đ
The 2 perch sessions went really well!! You are starting to get some independent foot movement on the perch – she did best when the rewards were tossed to the side and she then offered pivoting back to center. So definitely keep going that route! When you were waiting for her to offer it when already on the perch, she offered a tiny bit of movement. When she was pivoting back to center after a tossed treat, she had a lot of steps! Yay!
You donât even need to reward in position – you can do a session of clicking then tossing to the other side, so she moves away, gets the treat, then pivots back to center (then get a click/treat toss to the other side).
Try that for a session and then I bet we can add something for her to step over as she pivots, like a bar taped to the ground so it doesnât roll.
Stays are looking really good too! She was PUMPED UP (occasionally punching you in the gut before she sat LOL!) but still had lovely stays.
Adding duration went well – try to have your toy hand in a natural position (you had it curled up by your shoulder) so that way the toy hand position doesnât accidentally become part of the cue. You will want to be able to walk away moving your arms, so you can add that in here in tiny bits – small movement then a bit more duration then reward, so she doesnât think the movement of your arm is at all related to the release.
The same thing applies for walking away without connection then re-connecting. If you disconnect then re-connect, always praise and/or wait a few more heartbeats before the release, so she doesnât pair the reconnection with the release and self-release by accident.
She figures things out so quickly that these little details will make a big difference! Plus also be sure you say your marker then wait a heartbeat then throw the toy (rather than throw as you say the marker, which might make movement part of the release).
Great job here!
Tracy
