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Good morning!
>I think my bright yellow tunnel was attracting the wasps. I’ve never left it out before because I had a male dog.>
That is entirely possible! Ugh!! But it looks like the early morning is safer? And cooler 🙂
She was terrific here! She was focused on her obstacles even with the toy in your hand (only tried to grab it once LOL) AND she was adding in lots of speed. You can keep building up your speed and adding more challenge for her, to maintain this momentum. She’s looking lovely! She is at the age when things can lock in really quickly, so I bet she has big leaps forward now (pun intended LOL)
>Looking forward to seeing you again in Max Pup 2.>
Yay! When you register, use this coupon code:
ROUMP2
It will reduce the cost to $75.
And of course if she ends up finding MaxPup 2 too easy, then we can easily put her in MaxPup 3! Fun times ahead!!
Tracy
Hi!
He was doing a good job reading the distances here! The set point and the first & last distances were easy for him. The 2nd distance (and 2nd to last distance) – yes, he thought that was HARD! He didn’t have enough room to add a stride so he took off BIG. Good boy! But the middle distance went nicely.
The hardest part was holding the stay as the toy went to the ground. It looks like he thought the toy going to the ground was part of the release – you made it clearer by carefully placing it, standing up… then releasing. That totally helped!
So using that super clear release and the moving target reward – add more distance for that 3rd jump. Start it 2 meters away from jump 2, then move to 3 meters and 4 meters then back to 3 meters, etc. He is ready for more challenge with the distances.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
He did well turning on the wing towards the correct tunnel entry! That is really hard and he was almost perfect (only one blooper at 1:16 where he looked at you and saw you facing the straight line to the other tunnel entry, so that is where he went (good boy!)The only trouble here was that your praise was too exciting 🙂 so it did pull him out of the tunnel. You delayed the praise and helped him with some tunnel cues (like at 2:14) which worked great! You can also straighten the tunnel out a little bit – it is kind of a dark, curved tunnel so he might not have been sure about completing it while turning away from you. So straightening it then dropping the reward right at the exit will really help him drive through it.
He was on his way to and through the tunnel at 2:24 but then there was an big eruption of praise from someone nearby that distracted him. You probably didn’t hear it in the moment, but he totally did!
But overall, a strong session to polish up a skill he hasn’t seen in a while. Nice work!
Tracy
Hi!
Finding the jump was the easy part here, he did that really well.
The root of his question was how you stepped away from the stay – he turned his feet towards you or followed you, possibly because he didn’t realize he was officially in a stay 🙂 That might be because you lined him up but then walked away briskly and without connection.You can try a different approach to it: line him up at your side, getting his feet to face the jump as much as possible. Then take a step to the side… let him hold the position, to really make the stay ‘official’. Then move away with connection to your spot bythe wing. That will really clean up the line up and lead out – which will make the release to the jump really smooth.
Nice job!
Tracy
Hi!
>. It’s hard, the picture in my head doesn’t translate to my body haha.>
This is totally relatable! We humans need the practice as much as the dogs 🙂
T
Hi! This was a fun session – the hose breaks really helped him stay cool AND have fun 🙂
To answer the question in the video: BIRD! Looks like bird tail feathers to me 🙂
Looking at the training:
You had lots of good go straight reps! He was really good about finding the jump and accelerating. I was going to
suggesting adding in a placed the toy so he can accelerate to it and not look at you – and that is what you did towards the end. Super! That was also a good stay challenge which produced a stay break, so you can have a 2nd reward to throw back. For the 2nd reward, it should be equal or higher value to whatever is out on the line so it is not a bummer to not be released forward. If it is a fun toy out on the line and a mediocre toy or treat that you throw to him, then the “reward” might actually not be a reward in that moment.The only other suggestion for the toy placed on the ground is to use a bigger/higher profile toy that is easy to scoop up on the run so he doesn’t splat himself trying to grab it when he is runnng.
He did well on that very first rep of decel! That is usually where we see the dogs kind of fling themselves over the bar then realize we hadn’t moved LOL! I love it when the first rep goes beautifully! All of the right turn reps went really well – he did hit a wing on one of them but that was a product of the exaggerated decel which kept you close to the wing as he exited it to get the toy. That will not be an issue when you are running away sooner.
The left turns seemed harder on the decel game – he turned well but his feet did not seem as organized. There was only one or two left turn reps, so be sure to start dog-on-right when you revisit this to see what he sorts out about those left turns.
Winding down the arousal at the end was lovely to see! It helps his nervous system get into the habit of resetting itself. How is he when you go back to normal life in the house after you do the post-training routine?
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>Looking at him worked like a charm. Why do so many people tell you to look at the dog’s line though?>
Oh, this question has a zillion answers LOL!! Part of it is the very very prehistoric version of agility where we were NOT supposed to look at the dog, we were supposed to look at where we wanted the dog to go (yeah, didn’t work).
Then along comes Greg Derrett who told us to “keep your eye on the dog” which is great! But he really never explained it fully so we didn’t quite get it right either. I mean, he was 100% correct but he didn’t tell us that it was very literally looking directly at the dog. So it didn’t quite work either.
Then along comes OneMindDog that talks about connection (yay!) but also talks about looking at the line in front of the dog the whole time, drawing the line, etc etc… So basically we were attempting to run dogs and looking at a spot on the ground 3 feet in front of the dog’s nose (or 7 feet depending on who you talk to) the whole time. Yeah… no. That didn’t work too well unless you could run faster than the dog and be in the perfect position all the time. Nope!
The rest of the Europeans were like, “just look at the dog’s eyes directly like there is a string from your eyes to the dog’s eyes”. Works like a charm! But most folks are still stuck in the prehistoric times of the 2010s hahaha
>Tried the “choose your own stay position” thing with him and he did pick a stand for a rep.>
Interesting! He is really good at arousal regulation on the start line so it will be interesting to see what he does when you give him the choice.
>I’m not sure if I like how he plays with the Wild Ring when I throw it. He likes it, but I feel like the unexpected bounces when I roll it sometimes cause him to overrun it and I don’t like the impact on his front end as he’s trying to chase it down. Same thing happens if I toss it like a frisbie because it drops to the ground faster as opposed to floating along for him to catch. He hasn’t done it yet, but I’m also wondering if he could get his foot through it by accident as he is grabbing for it.>
Good point! We don’t want him to splat himself. That is why I don’t bring discs into agility training – my dogs LOVE them but my throws are awful.
Looking at the videos:
Kaladin:
He did really well here!The first sequence went really well! Only one small suggestion: Don’t block the backside wing after the blind – choose a line that you can see when looking back at the jump before the blind, so the wing is clearly visible to him when you do the blind. Blocking the wing adds strides which adds a couple of 10ths of a second.
You were more connected here on the way to the layer but at 1:02, 1:42, 2:17 (did not take 3) and 2:40 you were still looking ahead. Your parallel line of motion supported the layer along with verbals, but just adding a bit of connection to him will really seal the deal and get even more speed.
>And not staying connected and doing a late blind gets you an extra oak tree layer. LOL!>
Ha! Actually… that was a parallel path that set the tree layer! The timing was good, it was the line motion. You can see at 1:04-1:06 you are moving parallel to the bar of 5 so motion supports the tree line. By the time he saw the new connection, he was already tree-committed 🙂
You got your head turned sooner for the new connection at 1:45 and did a FC at 2:22) so he did not go to the tree but the key will really be peeling away towards 6 when he is on the way to 4. That way there is not parallel path motion into potential/accidental layers 🙂
The serp worked well – you had your right verbal and decel and arm happenng, so he was very clear on where to go.
Lift:
> I was thinking 2x/week, maybe 3 super short sessions was probably going to be plenty for the under pressure games with Ms Lifty.>
That should work nicely! And she will let us know if we should do it more frequently or not.
> so she was pretty amped going into it and a bit high coming back into the house which rolled right into being excited about dinner. I think more of the arousal was at the anticipation of dinner though>
This is entirely relatable. I, too, get really excited about dinner LOL
This was a lovely stay tour in the backyard! Super! She did great! Letting her choose her position can take some of the pressure off the start line which already has a lot of pressure built in. When you take the leash off, if she is facing the wrong way, you have to turn her around LOL So before the leash comes off, you can use your movement to get her facing the right way, then take the leash off, then cue the stay so she chooses her position and is already lined up facing the jump.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
>That turn off the running DW was aided by the walls of the building and the absence of other reasonable choices>
It was the a-frame turn that caught my eye! It would have been easy for him to really go forward after it but he turned really well!
Looking at the video:
I think this setup showed him a lot of things that he needs to learn about!> Casper is running a giant oval shape instead of lines>
Yes, I see what you mean. It looks like there were 2 things happening:
– the 1-2-3 line was hard for him to make those soft turns especially at the beginning where the distances were bigger. He was jumping relatively straight over 2 – was there something visually exciting past jump 2?The line was tighter when the jumps were pulled in closer later in the video, but he was still not bending well over 2. In a perfect world, he would add a stride. Since he is not going to add that stride on a shoulder turn, you can work the 1-2 line with both hands on the wheel 😜 and cue 2 with 2 hands (beginning at liftoff to 1). He might not always need it when he discovers how nice it feels to add that stride!
>I did not include the reps where he dropped jump #1 or #2.>
You can include those so we can see what is happening. My guess is that he was going straight then trying to adjust over the bar (and it did not work out for him). The 2-hand approach can really help show the striding, as in “Please add more strides on these soft arcs, Casper”.
– on the 4-5 line, it looks like he was deliberately widening the line in order to see you better. The layering concept was probably a bit of a mind-blow for him, because he couldn’t see you all that well. And Border Collies will often widen the line to expand their field of vision. Later in the session, that improved dramatically so it is possible that he was figuring out that layering does indeed make sense. The jumps were slightly shifted but that would not be enough to tighten it up. So for this – staying in motion more and just using m ore verbals will help. Being too quiet will cause him to need to see more motion, which can cause him to widen the line.
>The #4 jump in your demo looks like a “gimme” but for Casper it is a send and he dropped it a lot.>
It is a send on mine too – looked easier possibly because the dog is more experienced in going past the tunnel so he had fewer questions. For dogs that are still learning to find a jump on the other side of the tunnel, we see commitment questions and bar questions.
And that was the jump where the bar came down on the video – part of it was him not being super organized in his jumping. I am sure his thought bubble was totally “This is legal? Really? Wait, what?!?!” haha! And part of it was that you were not showing a lot of motion or using verbals a lot there, so he was not entirely sure of how to jump it. You either were stationary then did a sudden acceleration (like at :27) or were very decelerated (:41, :53) both of which contributed to the bar down (or so much decel at 1:17 that he didn’t take 4 at all).
>Maybe my path isn’t good – I think I’m standing around too much. I tend to minimize going north if I’m just about to turn around and go south.>
That is part of it – the actual line of travel was good but the standing still too much made it harder. You don’t have to go all the way to the South Pole if you have to get back to the North Pole, but go as far as needed and then keep moving (no standing around). That will help enormously! And some verbals too will help, even if it is just a GO or jump verbal to support the line when he can’t really see the motion as well.
>On your setup, the backside of 6 is the continuation of the 4,5 line – mine wasn’t until I adjusted it.>
The blind you did the backside was really nice! Just be sure not to block the wing of the backside.
When going to the backside on the other side of 6 – yes, it was a tiny bit of a push on this setup which turned into a BIG push because when he was wider at 4-5, that set a different line 5-6. On the first rep of it at 1:42, you turned your connection forward a bit which turned your shoulders to the front side of the jump. And Casper is more likely to hone in on the front of a jump based on his experience.
You were better at 2:06 in terms of being more connection but it didn’t register as a backside to him (based on his learning history and his line expectations on course, he doesn’t really consider backsides). You can get super forceful with a bigger connection directly to his eyes and even throw out your opposite arm to point to the backside wing – this should really emphasize it! You had some of that happening (BIG connection) on the last rep and definitely more convergence. I thought your line of motion was good on the backside at 2:06 so the bigger connection will really help and that way you won’t have to converge as much.
Nice work here! I am curious to see how the next sequence goes – these were all left turns, so it will be interesting to see if side preference is playing a role (and if the right turns will be easier).
Tracy
Hi!
OMG! Is he a Koolie, or a cat LOL!! Lounging on the table and in high places…He cracks me up!>We’ve been home for almost 2 weeks and I think it’s the longest Vibe’s been here since I got him.>
He has certainly got a lot of travel under his belt already! For summer 2027 if you want an epic road trip… the DASH Open in Rhode Island (2nd weekend of July). Vibe will be able to run too! I mean, Rhode Island is just a short hop from California LOL!
>It’s like watching water boil so I’ll post when we’re a bit farther along.>
Haha!!! As long as he is not bored, all is good 🙂
The tunnel rocking horse session went GREAT!! You built it up beautifully and had great connection throughout the session.
Speaking of connection:
When you are warming him up on one wing or working on circle wraps, you can add some disconnection 🙂 On those 360 degree circle wraps, we want you to eventually be able to continue looking forward and not at him (as a prep for a blind on the exit, for example). So on the wraps where you are walking through it: keep looking ahead as he passes you to wrap so you are deliberately disconnecting a little. Keep half an eye on him to see if he completes the wrap – but I bet he will if you start this with walking.He did great with the wing-tunnel-wing reps! Yes, two little bloopers but both were mainly because the cues were right on the edge of his current state of independence in terms of distance and countermotion. For the distance, you can be behind him on the sends but face forward til he is almost at the wing then stroll out of it rather than blast out of the wrap. Same concept for the countermotion: as he passes you, still try to leave for the next line nice and early but do it at a casual stroll 😂 rather than running. You can crank up the speed more and more as he gets more and more successful.
One other thing I notice is that the toy really seems to be a true reinforcement now – he is really driving to it, whether it is from your hand or on the ground. And even better: brings it right to you when he gets it from the ground. Happy dance! Your foundation training and carefully building it up is really paying off!
>He LOVES playing in the hose now (like Ripley) so I’ve been breaking up our sessions for hose play breaks frequently.>
Very fun! This is great!
Nice work here! Stay cool!
Tracy
Hi!
>I still don’t have a job so this work has been helping my emotional state so much. The job I am waiting for might still come through sometime this summer. Keeping fingers crossed.>Ugh that must be SO HARD!!!! Fingers crossed for the job to come through!
>I have a larger jump bump and also pool noodle but the pool noodle I think is under 4 feet in length.>
I think the larger jump bump should be great!
>The pieces he was eating was what came out from his tugging vs shredding. Silly guy. He had eaten lunch so I don’t know why the fuzzy pieces were so appealing 🤣. Still decompressing maybe like a snuffle mat?>
Yes – some dogs decompress by shredding, especially in the middle of a work session. Several of mine do that. A friend of mine was running my Contraband today, and he was decompressing by shredding his toy and ended up with a Santa beard of fuzz from it LOL!
>Don’t have limit for working spots on max puppy 2? Trying to figure out options and how quickly I have to sign up to get spot.>
There is no limit! So you have plenty of time to sort things out. And if you want a working spot but lack of a job is holding you back, no worries – we put you in the working spot and pay later when the job situation is sorted out. It is stressful enough nowadays and puppy training is what keeps us all sane 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
I love your energy with the recalls – so fun!!!! That definitely contributes to his success!
And it looks like your instructor was adding some good distractions. Dublin was perfect though. Yay! You can add another dog to it – just standing there, then walking, then eventually they can do side by side recalls. The other dog should be very nice though, in case Dublin has to go visit 😂He looks fantastic!
Tracy
Hello and welcome! I am excited to see you and the boys!!!
That was an impressive run – great job navigating him through tight spaces! And the layering looked GREAT! Wow!!! I am also very impressed with his turn off the running a-frame… exactly zero of my dogs would have been able to do that.
I am looking forward to your posts!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Today Dublin turns 8 months old >
Happy 8 month birthday, Dublin! I can’t believe he is already 8 months… but also he is ONLY 8 months. He is doing so well with ALL the things and is already a fantastic teammate. What a good boy!!! Remember this:
Throwback to Baby Dubs!!!!On the video:
I agree, he did great with the decel game. Stay? Lovely! Drive forward when cued? Perfect! Decel and collection when you didn’t move? Perfect! He seemed to have zero questions, even with the arousal from the toy.One suggestion for this game: be sure to be connected back to him when you want the drive forward. If you are looking ahead and arm pointing at the line (like at 2:43), he questioned if he should drive to you (or change sides like a blind) or go straight. You were clearer at 3:28 with connection so he had less of a question. You can point your hand back behind you towards his nose to make even clearer connection on the straight line.
Do you have a jump bump or something bigger for him to go over? He is a little young for much by way of the bar, but if you don’t have a bump or pool noodle you can use a 4 inch bar for this.
Countermotion: easy peasy although at one point it looked like he thought you tossed a treat into the grass haha!!
>Not sure why he wanted to eat the fuzzies he pulled from the toy that were on the ground lol. >
Is that what he was looking at? My dogs LOVE to shred that type of toy – it seems to be a kind of decompression for them (repeated mouth movements like shredding/chewing, mouthing can indeed be decompression) but I try to direct them towards less expensive toys to shred 😂
>I will add some movement next time. >
Yes! Since this went really well, you can release him and point backwards… and then begin to slowly walk forward towards him before he passes you. Remember to keep looking behind you and pointing behind you as you do this: it might be hard!
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
Super nice Biathlon run!!! He did really well with the TW and also the turn into the weasel – I think he believes they are a STUPID but did them anyway hahaha 🙂
One thing we can focus on this summer to shave off bits of time is convincing him to drive ahead of you more and leave you in the dust on the bigger lines (without losing the tight, technical work he does really well too)For Lift –
The med should be somewhat regulated in about 8 weeks, and it is designed to make her be able to learn more easily without her nervous system overriding the cognitive side of things with the reaction side of things. So in coming weeks, you can start giving her other things to do before the things you will see as potential triggers. That can be partially management and partially alternate behavior, like running to a mat or station.Lift layering: Looking at the differences between run 1 and run 2:
On run 1, the send to 3 had a lot of decel and a quiet ‘jump’ verbal (and disconnection, which she could see) so she turned at :22 and picked up the tunnel.
On run 2, the send had you facing 3 & 4 more, lower arms (clearer connection), and the verbals were louder and more urgent: GO JUMP and JUMP JUMP JUMP. Followed by a strong parallel line.
That made run 3 and run 4 really strong! The timing of the blind on run 4 was spot on – I liked it better than the timing on run 3, which was a little later so her turn was wider. Your running line was strong on both! The strong line plus lovely timing and connection on run 4 made it really easy for her to see the backside. Yay!
Kaladin’s turn:
This was a good camera angle at 2!
Note how as he approaches 2 at :08, you shift your connection and start delivering your verbal cues out towards jump 3 and the tunnel – which turns your shoulders directly to the tunnel 🙂 He saved you there based on the verbal (GOOD BOY, EXTRA CHEESE AND FRIZZERS!)The same thing happened at :37, but you turned more so he came in and took the tunnel. Good boy! Keeps you on your toes about the connection 🙂 At 1:08 you ran forward more and faced 3 longer so it was a smoother line into the layering but I think the answer to get it more independent is simpler: look at him and not at the line. Yo can see his questions when you did the other side at the end – he took the line, but added strides and had a little zig zag at 1:39-1:40 to figure out the line.
It would be interesting to see how he does when you look directly at him on the jump 2 here (and jump 2-3 on the first sequence that Lift did and he did at the end). That exaggerates the shoulder line without you having to run in as much. An outside arm to support that is perfectly appropriate here too!
>I haven’t trained a stay that is for a position the dog chooses. I also haven’t done much with a stand which I think might be something she would choose over a sit.>
Agreed about many dogs including Lift potentially choosing the stand, or at least give us info about her arousal level based on what she does.
> Pretty sure she won’t flop down into a down if she doesn’t want to sit because that’s just weird (Sorry, Larry!).>
Also agree! It is weird for any dog besides a Border Collie 😂 unless we have built a TON of value for a down (I have not done this with the whippets LOL)
> Did you train that with a prop like a Cato?>
Nope, I didn’t use a Cato for any start line stay behavior. I only want to use it a a last resort because once we add it in… then we have to fade it out and THAT is the hard part!
> Or is it that dog is moving around and you wait for a pause in a position and reward the pause? Then add “stay” cue later.>
I use a superstitious stay cue (meaning, I am not sure the dogs need it but it helps with MY arousal regulation haha). So I get the dog into a generally good position in front of a jump (at my side, for example). Then I say stay, wait til the dog chooses – and then I lead out. Also, they learn that choosing SOMETHING where they stop moving gets rid of me faster at the start line haha! Knowing the stay verbal by itself is not really needed because the dogs recognize the concept and usually just offer some sort of stay (they do look surprised at first that the stand is acceptable).
I teach it separately as a concept using some play away from agility stuff: a bit of the ol’ ready dance, then I say stay and let them settle into any position. Then I either throw a reward back, or lead out then release & reward (or throw back). This is stuff that has roots in MaxPup 1 and I am confident she will recognize it immediately 🙂
On the video:
Her session went well! Question – after all this arousal and being on the edge of frustration, how is she *after* the session? Tired, potentially cranky? Or hyped up and struggline to stop moving? Or happy and feeing good but able to relax? This will tell us how much & how frequently we can do this, based on how it works her nervous system. And it is definitely working her nervous system and arousal, because we are seeing the barking/spinning/boinging. She is still very successful with the behavior you are asking for, YAY!!! You can work this with other skills too (it all works together nicely) but we might need to give her 3 or 4 days off between sessions so her nervous system can reset.Great job here!
Tracy
Welcome to you and Grace (also known as the Best Chihuahua In The World!) Glad to see you both here!
>I’m noticing she is locking on to the next obstacle earlier – which has, a couple of times, been an off-course trap. Maybe I’ll need those reverse spins!>
This is good! Small dogs need BIG commitment. It will serve you really well with what she needs to do on course. We will look at what she needs to help avoid off courses: spins, perhaps – but brake arms are easier most of the time and not as hard to execute.
>We are seeing more tunnels under dogwalks and Aframes since this is now allowed by ANKC, so the judges think they should. And more backsides…>
Sounds like your course trends are similar to our course trends, which are coming from the European/FCI style of tunnels under contacts, layering, backsides, threadles.
I agree that she did GREAT with this first game! Bear in mind that this is basically a blind exercise for a small dog like Grace – the tunnel blocks her view of your feet & motion, and her head is too low to see your upper body above the tunnel. It is much harder for her than it is for a large dog!
>Missed jump 4 the first time and came inside along the wall of the tunnel. >
On that first run, I think 2 things where happening: she is newer to the skill, plus it looks like you pulled away slightly to your left and she saw that before losing sight of you behind the tunnel.
>Toy lure fixed that. >
Yes! Was there something else out there, or only the reward you were throwing? The rewards were spot on!!! And that allowed to get you back up the line very easily.
The other thing to consider is leading out less from jump 1 and running closer to jump 2, so you can accelerate along the line to set the layering 2-3-4. That will help her propel onto the line and get you to where you want to be even more easily.
Great job here! Let me know how the other side goes!
Tracy
