[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>This was before dinner and the first time she worked the entire tunnel session for a toy.>>

So exciting to see the reinforcement strategies falling into place! Before dinner means she might have been hungry, but you were easily able to use food and toys here. SUPER!!! Keep slowly building this up like you have done, the results are already so worth it! I mean, the tunnel stuff is great too but the reinforcement strategies are just so valuable.

The tunnel work went well – easy peasy to run through the tunnel 🙂 The threadle turning away was harder, but she did really well. She had serious processing going here, but she was great – no frustration, just solving the puzzle! The only blooper here was caused by her eating something (a bug, for extra protein maybe?) then losing her train of thought while you were lining her up.

You can keep mixing in straight tunnel stuff and the turning away into the threadle will be even easier. And I am sure latent learning will kick in and she will know it more fully in the next session at home. It might show up at Fusion on the weekend, or not because it is a different environment and different tunnel, so you can start off like you did here to ask her brain what it “knows” on Saturday 🙂

>>For the backside slice, should that stay on a barrel and a bump (vs jump wing or wings & a bump) until I get more lateral distance?>

Good question! I think it depends on value: because the barrel might have more value (longer reinforcement history) at the moment, it might be easier to add a new variable like distance using the barrel. And when swapping in a wing instead of a barrel, the first session should be about value building on the wing to transfer the game to the wing-bump setup. Then let her tell you how quickly to proceed – if she says “The wing is easy, mom!” Then you can add lateral distance pretty quickly. If she is more like “what the heck is this wing thing” then you can stick to the easier positions closer to the wing for now. Let me know if that makes sense or if more coffeee is needed 🙂

Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>I know class isn’t in session now, and you are taking a break>>

We are still going! The forum goes on break on Feb 13 then we gear up for MaxPup 2 🙂

>>Paul is working with Chitlin. He is doing the games I’ve recently done with Kishka. He’s happy with the results. >>

This is so awesome!!!! I love it!!!! Yay for Paul jumping into agility alongside you. SO FUN! And the new training room looks fantastic.

>>I thought it might be tricky to work with Kishka having Chitlin there, but it’s working well. Today she managed to stay in her place (bed on a Klimb) while Paul and Chitlin worked.>>

Wow! Good girl, Kishka!!! And Chitlin is her mom, right? That makes is doubly impressive.

On the video – super nice session here! Most importantly, the placement of reward was spot on with her continuing to turn as she exiting the wings to get the reward. Placement of reward is really a key element for teaching these turns.

She was telling us she was a lefty today on this game LOL!! The left turns seemed a lot easier for her to start. She did get the right turns going well too – but if she is a lefty, it will be easier to start the sessions with the left turns so she gets into the groove of the game. I say “if” she is a lefty because things change day-to-day with teenagers and she might be a righty tomorrow hahaha!

Next steps here:
To be able to get smooth starts to each rep, it will be easier to line her up at your side, facing the Minny Pinny so she doesn’t start with a turn away.

And when she is lined up at your side, gently hold her collar (or she can wear a harness) so you can start saying the verbal before she moves… say it 3 or 4 times and then let her go to start moving. That way the verbal is separated from motion and it would be easier for her to truly learn the verbal (rather than just watch the motion).

Great job here! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>Axel has not had much enthusiasm lately>>

Is this overall or just with toys? If it is overall, you can rule out any pain issues (like a vet check to make sure his joints and soft tissues are all feeling good) or tick diseases issues with a blood test. Medical issues can cause a drop in enthusiasm for sure.

Looking at the video, a couple of thoughts:

I think he does like playing with toys, especially crazy ones that you swing around (the long toy at the end is AWESOME).

I think he does not like collar grab stuff or begin restrained by the collar or moved by the collar. He tolerates it but then when given the option to do it or not… he opts out. We’ve seen this in earlier games and I think we see it again here:

He starts off really into the toys and did well with the game. But it involved being restrained by the collar and moved by the collar. So when you wanted to do a 2nd rep of it, he got a little stressed (1:08) with big scratching/shaking it off. He as not as into the toy after that but he did play the game… and opted out entirely of a 3rd rep. Big sniffing.

The long green toy came out: game on! You told him he could have it (“all yours!”) and then when you tried to re-engage him, he said “no thanks”.

He is MUCH more tolerant of collar grabs than he has been in the past!! But also it is entirely possible that because he doesn’t like the collar holding or being moved by the collar, that it bleeds over into his engagement when he recognizes a context where it is going to happen…. So he avoids it and avoids the pressure of coming in close to you in those moments (like at the end when he didn’t easily bring the toy back).

So what to do about it?

Keep building up the collar grab as a life skill (it is a good safety skill) and pair it with food food food 🙂 But for now, don’t use it in a sports context and definitely not with toys involved.

You can replace the collar grab with a stay (even if it is a stay on a platform) or a cooke toss start or even a short, light leash (two feet long or so, and maybe on a harness so it is easier for you both). For moments when you want to restrain him, the light leash might be far better for him plus it will help you be able to be standing up, which also reduces pressure.

And if you must use a collar grab or restraint for something…. Use mind-blowingly delicious food (rotisserie chicken or steak nom nom!), or do one single rep and then go do something else.

Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>I think it’s mostly excitement/pay attention to me barking. She does do an alarm bark at times but less so than the high on life chatty barking.>>

High on life chatty barking is great 🙂 Also good to re-direct so she is not talking all the time LOL!

Backside slice video: super nice! And she was great about going back and forth between toy and food in the same session. Super!!

She was strong on all reps – only really looked at you with a question when she was on your left and you were moving more to the center of the bar (but did not have the same question on the next rep). Great job with your connection and line of motion here.

You can add in starting to move up the line before she looks up at you (after cookie eating :)) – that can help her learn to drive past you to the backside.
Also, since her stays are going well, you can use a stay to add the Lala as the release to the backside.

I bet she can also be successful when you are moving faster, but it might need to happen in a bigger space where you can start further back so you don’t end up with no place to run to or stopping short when you get to the jump.

Great job!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
Nice work on the games here (the videos have the opposite titles :))

Looking at the stays:

>>I realized I need to do this with set-ups on both sides.>>

Yes, breaking it down into a simpler line up and shorter stays on the right side really helped – he caught on pretty quickly!

Left side is also looking strong.
On both sides, be sure that you are marking the ‘catch’ moment or releasing him forward before you move your hand – the hand was moving either a little before or simultaneously with the releases, so he was watching your hands – and we don’t want it to become a release

For the arousal game – he also did well! The moving tricks where he is also standing had the best results because they were easiest to do fast and accurately. When using food for this game, you can get the trick then run a couple of steps, then hand deliver the treat. That will really amp up the arousal in a good way! And hand delivering it will make it even more interactive (also in a good way). This is one of the last things I do with my dogs before I go into the trial ring 🙂

You can also do this with a toy! The toy will help him regulate his arousal too because it is probably more stimulating 🙂

>>Follow-up question regarding MAXPup2, in a number of the exercises in the current class, we have not yet worked the Advanced level exercises. Will this impact what we can do if we take MAXPup2?>>

For plenty of the gamesm it will be just fine! Fr some of the games, you might want to come back and brush up some of the advanced stuff to make the MP 2 version of it easier 🙂

Nice work here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>Yes sometimes West will trade for tug but sometimes he feels bringing the ball back should be paid with food, but at least he is bringing it >>

Perfect! My motto is “Balls Are For Bringing” so as long as he is bringing it, I don’t mind if he prefers food or toys as the reward 🙂

>>So I have another intersection between flyball and agility question: West is learning a box turn and I don’t really know how to train it but a local team with great trainers has a clinic where they help people like me learn….>>

Super!!!! Who is your local team? Fun!!

>>At flyball, West has been turning on a board and sniffing at a Velcro ball but after a week of turns in a box for running contacts he could no longer get on the wall he just turned in front of it>>

It could be any number of reasons – was the set up of the board the same as it was here in your video? Or did something change (location, ball added, you moving away, etc)

I train a box turn and the feet-through-a-box for RDC at approximately the same age range for my dogs, and it turns out fine. With 2 of my dogs, I trained the box turn using the same mat I used for the RDW (the “rear feet” criteria was similar but the context was very different) and they both have gorgeous box turns. A couple of ideas for you:

<>Any OMG that-is-the-worst-thing-you-can-possibly-be-doing thoughts?>>

Ha! No! Definitely all good, nothing bad happening here 🙂 I would need to see what your handling is on the flyball wall board to see why he might be stopping on the ground in front of the board – it might be that you are too far away and he is anticipating driving back to you? Common flyball error is moving the handler away from the board too quickly, so the dog loses confidence driving to the board. See below about the ball as a helpful focal point.

>>And I see the similarity in the mechanics of both turns so I see why he is confused- I think this is another instance where he is going to sort it out in context if I just keep going- so I think I’m asking – do you see any red flags here?>>

No red flags, per se, but we can definitely help him!

For the RDW box – work it away from a wall so that he can work the skill in a way that looks very different from the wall work for flyball. I usually sit when I am doing the box stuff for the RDW and I am standing when I do the flyball stuff.

>>maybe some methods don’t emphasize turns in the box like this>>

I personally think ALL dogs in agility and flyball should do the turns in a box game you were doing here because it is fantastic for collection and turning and both sports. I have done it with my 2 RDW & flyball dogs and I am thrilled with their ability to go from extension to collection.

For the flyball box turn – when he was sending to the wall board on your video, where were you and what were you doing? You can be using some countermotion to get more ‘snap’ off the wall board. I start near the wall and indicate it for the dog, then move myself away. Because I train alone, I have the toy placed behind me so the dog drives off the board to the toy on the ground (or a manners minder for the foodies :))

The other thing for the wall work in flyball – you can add the ball to the wall as a focal point and that makes it incredibly different from any RDW work. When you say sniffing at a velcro ball, what did you mean? You might need to lower the board to get him grabbing it more reliably then raise it up again. The ball as focal point is perfect as long as he doesn’t smash himself into the board (but he doesn’t seem to be a smasher). I just added the ball to the wall on Tuesday!

This is the exact level I am currently working with my baby Whippet, so I will try to get some video so you can see what I mean (all the video so far is of the wall board so you can’t see the handling). With the baby whippet, I am training it without a mat so it is a slightly different progression.

I love obsessing on flyball box turns so feel free to ask questions, and if I don’t know the answer, I will ask my flyball gurus 🙂 I am using a different method with my youngsters and it is super easy and fun – and it comes from the fastest team in North America, so I figure it is fine to use LOL!!!

The rocking horses outside looked awesome!

>>West thought the same barrels from the living room were really scary outside >>

Teeangers… LOL!!! It will get easier as the weather gets better because you can be outside and in new environments more frequently.

You did a great job cuing the barrel wraps and using your verbals. I think you are saying “counter” as your left wrap verbal and that is brilliant! I love it!
He was committing brilliantly. He had only one question: at :19 he jumped up on you as you sent him to a left wrap. That happens when we are not connected enough. If you watch that section in slow motion (:18 – :21) you will see that your dog-side arm was moving forward before he was arriving near you/passing you. Compare to :02 when your arm was back and connection super visible until he was passing you – it was still hard for him on your right/turning to his left, but that extra connection really helped him at :02! And you made a great adjustment at :27 to hold the connection longer to get him sending past you into the left wrap. Super!!!

Each dog responds differently when the connection is unclear. Some sniff, some grab the toy, some go behind us, some jump up on us 🙂 It is all the dog’s way of marking the moment as “unclear connection” so you can take the feedback and crank up the connection like you did at :28.

And yes, even though the verbals were not perfect at the end, you were smart to finish when he was successful! You both looked terrific 🙂

Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>What is the last day to submit homework? (I scanned the course overview page but couldn’t confirm the exact end date.)>>

The last day is Feb 21! I know I put it *somewhere* but now I can’t find it either LOL!! Sorry!

The combo games went well! Since he is able to do each skill, we can now add more independence to each element 🙂

Looking at the turn aways: he was nicely able to turn away (yay!) so now you can fade to our any rear cross line of motion and emphasize the connection shift/hand cues. That way you can add distance and be further away (and we can work it up to layering eventually too!)

So as he exits the wing wrap, let him see you look from his eyes then down to your hands, then use your hands only to cue him to turn away over the jump (feet go straight towards the jump). This is hard so he might need to see this a few times on the flat, without the jumps there. On the last rep at 2:28, your line was perfect for this next step! So now you can get more turn away with the hands before he takes the jump.

He was also good about finding the ‘out’ jump so you can add more challenge there too by moving straight and not towards the out jump – the ideal handler path is identical to the path you were on when you went straight past the straight-line jump.

He did get a little caught in the ‘out’ jump vortex when coming around the wing (turning to his right) towards the out jump – so you can change it up after an out and have him do a FC exit on the wing (turning to his left) so he is a little further from the out jump and more on the straight line. I think the question was that the wrap verbal still had him exiting the wing towards the out jump, so he was going to where he just go rewarded. That will be easier when you have more space between the jumps so the off course jump is not as close 🙂

One other thing you can add is a reset cookie after an error – you can call him back, line him up with a cookie, then get ready for the next rep. That will give him a focal point to come towards in those moments and should help him start the next rep cleanly rather than offering different options to figure it out 🙂

Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
Strong sessions here!

It looks like latent learning kicked in and he did really well with the circle wraps here!

The MM was a good challenge for him to work through – You can put it on the other side of the wing so doesn’t have to run past it when he is on the takeoff side (and it is there when he finishes the wrap where the landing side would be. I think he needed to work it on right turns first (left turns were a little hard for him, he appears to be a righty, so when in doubt he remains engaged and offers right turns. You can see the right turn circles n the last part of the video were very smooth!

His only other question on this first video was about when to start 🙂 You can add in a line up next to you by having him come to your side, get a cookie, and then you can cue him to start when you are ready. That will help get the left turns more solid because you can start the cue (rather than him slipping away and offering the right turn LOL!)

Outs are going well too!
Because they are hard, you can reward anything that is out-ish 🙂 at the beginning stages. He went to the out jump really well when you were rotated and stepped to it, so as you add moving forward it might not be as easy because the behavior has to override your lower body moving forward. On the very first rep (dog-on-left) and on the first rep on the other sided at 1:14 (dog-on-right) your feet were straight and he went out *almost* to the wing but not quite all the way. You can totally reward that as you shape the behavior (reward by throwing the treat like you did, that was perfect). That way he gets more and more sure that we *do* want him to ignore your feet and move away based on the upper body cues, verbal, and connection. That will get you even further ahead when we apply these to bigger courses.

Great job!!! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
It is weird that a post disappeared! I will try to figure out what happened.

She definitely likes the chicken! Yum! The get out went well!!!

When she was on your right on the 2nd rep here: that was perfect! Your feet continued going straight (towards the next wing) and the upper body did all of the work to cue the out (connection, arm, etc). That put you way ahead and that is what we want 🙂 That allows her to chase your line more which gives her more speed, plus it will put you in better handler positions on bigger courses.

When she was on your left, you were turning your feet to the out jump and that delayed your motion, so definitely keep moving up the line with your feet straight so you can continue to stay ahead.

Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Perfect!! I am glad it helped!!!

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>Still struggling with this, getting my cues right.

These super independent backsides are hard for sure, but totally worth it to have in the toolbox!
He definitely has more of an independent backside when you keep your dog-side arm back and make the big connection. That is part of why I use my outside arm on these: to keep the dog-side arm back and really show the extreme connection.

You can see this happening in these spots and he got the backside really well:

1339 video at 2:47 and 3:39
1340 video at :23
1341 video at :21 and :42

When you try to send with the dog side arm and show the extreme connection (looking forward a little), you got the backside when you had a big lead out gave a big push with a big step (but that might make it harder to get to the next line on crazier backsides 🙂 )

When you didn’t lead out as much and used the dog-side arm without the extreme connection, he was taking the front side because the dog side arm was turning your shoulders to the front of the jump. That physical cue overrode the backside verbal so he took the front of the jump. You can see it on the last rep of 1st video, at 2:02 & 2:32 on the 1339 video, at 1:25, 2:42, 2:58, 3:10, 3:33 on 1340, and at 1:38 1:54 on 1341.

Since there were a lot of accidental front sides, remember the 2 failure rule! If you get 2 errors (even if he gets rewarded) – stop and watch the video so you can see what is happening to cause him to respond differently than what you want. That allows you to fix the info sooner and saves his body by doing fewer reps. You can also break the behavior down by angling the jump a little or takin the bar out so he only needs to go to the wing – but in this case, it was more of a cue clarity question and watching the video would help. You can freeze it at the moment you begin the cue and analyze: where are your eyes? Where is your arm? What does he see? That can help make big adjustments pretty quickly 🙂

>> While he has a backside , didn’t realize how much I was pushing in to get it.>>

I think the pushing in came from the dog-side arm being used more than needed, plus sometimes we really emphasize the connection and that causes a little extra pushing in. You can put a line on the ground so you are continuing to move forward (to the center of the bar for now) and not towards the entry wing. That will give you a visual to help keep your path straight.

Nice work here!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

I think her tugging is definitely becoming more of a regular thing in training and that is great!!!

>>Her new thing is generally being barky about stuff in particular: staring at herself in the oven door, during meal prep, and moving from her crate back to the kitchen after a meal, especially breakfast. >

Is it excitement barking? Or is she anxious about something? It is not that unusual to get barking at this age, so I am just curious to hear what might be under it.

>>My reasoning is that it’s best to find something that helps stop her from repeating the behavior until she hopefully grows up some and this is less of a thing.>>

Agree! Adolescent barking-at-things or barking-because-life-is-exciting generally does fade away but also, no need to rehearse it where it could get wired into her neurons. Interrupting and redirecting are a great way to go – give her brain something else to do 🙂

The toy-to-food strategies in the video looked really good! I think it is great that these are really percolating in the right direction of being able to easily use both in the same session. Great job with your patience to get it going!

The stays look good – she didn’t want to sit in the corner with all the ‘stuff’ behind her – good job getting a little more excitement and moving her to a slightly different spot. She had no questions about it when you tried it again at the end.

She found the barrel on the releases nicely! You can add a bigger and lower cue after the release by stepping towards it and also ’swooshing’ your arm towards it as a send. The arm can be pretty low so you can still be connected but the movement of the arm can help propel her to the barrel.

You can add more distance laterally from the barrel here too! Great job!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>I’m dipping my toes in UKI at the moment too. We have our first UKI trial (besides the at home ones I have done with my older dog) in February.>>

If you like UKI, you will definitely want to move backsides up on your priority list because you will see them in the regular classes, not just the fancy classes 🙂 Who is the designing judge for the UKI trial?

>>Some of these things are so similar that I struggle to know how to differentiate them to the dog.>>

Agility is complex with a ton of different cues, so it is normal to sometimes feel like there is a LOT you need to explain to the dog LOL!

>>Keep in mind agility is its own form of a language.>>

Soooooo true, this is a great way to put it! And the dog needs as much info as possible, as early as possible. We want to keep it basic where we can so we don’t over-complicate it for the dog (or for us humans haha!)


>>Although that brought up another point. A wrap. Do you use that term and if so, in what context?>>

Yes, I use the term “wrap” – and there are 4 different wraps with 4 different verbal cues (maybe 5, I need the coffee to kick in a little more):
– front side wrap to the left (my verbal for that is a repeated “tssssss” noise like a hiss or air being let out of a tire lol)
– front side wrap to the right (my verbal for that is a chochooochooo noise)
– backside push circle wrap (sending the dog away to do a complete 360 around a jump, exiting the same wing as they entered on – my verbal is “dig dig dig”
– backside threadle wrap (bringing the dog in between me and the jump then doing a complete 360 around a jump, exiting the same wing as they entered on – my verbal for that is “in in in”)

The possible 5th wrap is very specific: it is a turn away into layering where the dog is asked to turn really tightly away from me and then accelerate onto a line without watching me because I am layering. My verbal for that is “switch”. I say “possible” because it is not always an exact wrap – and there is reliance on the dog to lead the line independently. It is a SUPER cool skill to have and looks like this:

On the video:
The extreme connection on the backsides is going really well! She is newer to learning backsides, so her response relies on your cues – she had a LOT of successful reps and that means the cues were good! Yay!!!

>>I noticed many reps I didn’t look at Kashia until I was ready to give her the “back” command. That was incorrect, right?>>

Not necessarily incorrect 🙂 As long as your verbal and motion show the line, the connection an be softer as you run like mad to get where you need to be. In this case, your motion definitely showed the line! You can add a ‘jump’ verbal when the jump bar goes back in. The slight disconnection here gets you up the line faster and also make the extreme connection for the backside really “pop” when you add it!
Try to add that big connection when she is between the upright of the first jump – most were pretty timely but if you were later, it made it harder for her to respond (like at :41 and :54 )

One other thing you can add is having your out side arm pointing at the wing (rather than just ahead of you) because that rotates your shoulders to the backside line even more.

The next step to backside development is to add a bar back but still only have one wing. It will basically be the wing you had here, and a bar on it but the other side of the bar is on the ground (no wing). That way it only kinda sorta looks like a jump, so she won’t have the natural draw to the front side that she would have on a real jump – that will make it easier for you to show her the backside because she won’t be automatically locked onto the front side 🙂

Great job here! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

The Switch/Tandem turns are looking good! You were definitely using less rear cross motion and it was more about the connection and the hand cues. You can spread out the obstacles to add more distance now – and try to keep your feet facing forward the whole time (don’t rotate towards her at all :))

Speaking of keeping your feet forward:

>>Still not getting the threadle wrap. We seem to be better at getting the backside in this set, but now instead of getting a wrap, I’m getting a turn away.

You did a really great job of eliminating the rotation towards her! On the early reps, you were facing her and moving backwards (kind of a lap turn) and that made it harder to get the backside and the wrap.

After about 1:14 you kept your feet moving forward – that is perfect for these threadle wraps!

Now to get the wrap not the slice… keep your feet facing forward (darned feet hahaha!) and do not turn to face the jump because that is what was cuing the slice.

Instead, keep your feet going forward and indicate behind you to the wing (kind of like the backwards sends from earlier MaxPup days :)). That will show the wrap instead of the slice. Since it is such a hard skill, you can break it down to just the wing – that will help promote the wrap and take out the slice. Then when she has it, you can add back the jump bar so she can see it over a bar as well.

The ‘out’ looked really good! You can add distance (thinking ASCA gambles here!) by putting a line on the ground so you don’t move to the jump as much (or at all) Ideally, your line should be the exact same line you were on as the wing wrap balances. The last rep was closest to the straight distance line and she still easily understood the out cue. Super!!!

Great job!!! You and Syn are really looking like a smooth team now – wonderful things are ahead!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>I had to work this in baby steps to get Sid to really understand it. Took us awhile to get it.>>

Baby steps is the best way! And you can angle the jumps to make the backside line easier to see. The other option to help is to use a barrel as the wing – he might remember that from the early MaxPup days!

And it does take some work. It might not be your highest priority because as a young dog, we want to get him going on those Novice and Open courses that are all front sides and lots of speeeeeed 🙂

Tracy

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