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Wow, the set point went well!!! Was this the first time he has seen this game with the moving target? He did really well!! This is a good distance and set up. His stay looked GREAT (because you had worked on it already :)) And he did super well with the striding. The only thing I would add for now is to lead out another 5 feet past jump 2 the release. That will help him start to extend even more, in preparation for adding the bar to jump 2 (which we won’t do yet, because he is still so young).
Great job!
TracyHi! I am so glad it was a great session!!!!
>>Many times I would be frustrated with trying to hard and getting nowhere!>>
Yes- puppy training can be frustrating!! That is why I encourage people to post the stuff that didn’t go well, because we can sort it out and get things on track! And there is no judgement, only support: we all have ups and downs when trying to train our new pups 🙂
That what he does when he is confused – he sits and trying to understand whats happening. I have seen this many times- something new and little scary – Charlie sits and wait. >>
Yes! He is thoughtful and smart, he is processing information when he does that. It is better than if he was biting you or running away!! I like that he is thoughtful and fast 🙂
The session looked great! He was SUPER engaged, tugging hard, and didn’t need to stop and think about anything. Super! And he was all by himself, no Archie, which is also good!
Almost everything was easy for him – the tunnel turns, the wing wraps, etc, all looked great! You were VERY connected and that really helped!!!
The only thing that was hard was him finding the jump all the way past the tunnel (on the side away from the camera). I think it was a long distance away so he just was not sure if he should go all the way out there without you. So, a couple of ideas to try as he learns to find that jump:
– move that wing past the tunnel over, so it is more obvious which side you want him to take when he exits (when he is on your right side). When he was on your left side, it was on a great line and he did well!
You can also move it closer to the tunnel exit, so he doesn’t have to drive as far ahead to find it.
Or, to help him see it, you can put yourself at the middle of the tunnel, send to the tunnel entry, and run so you can be way ahead at the exit to show him the wing.
Everything else looked great! And he LOVED the frisbee!
Great job!
TracyThank you for the update!!! I love it! Yes, looking at the landing spot on serps really helps (and also angling the jump to help the dog realize we want them to jump the bar and not run past it LOL!!)
Happy to be part of your adolescent support group. Speaking of recalls… for the first time, Ramen (8 months now) wanted to live feral under a tree in my field rather than come in the house. Teenager! So, I went in the house and came out 30 seconds later and he ran right in LOL!!!
T
OMG you are just getting slammed with snow this winter!!!! Eek!!! That gorgeous yard is just waiting for some agility. Fingers crossed for warm weather SOON!
Good morning!
Happy birthday, Bazinga!! I hope she got lots of gifts and snacks 🙂
>>It was VERY dependent on my mechanics. If I got my timing right & looked at my hand and had good body language, she got it!
Yes, it is a lot harder than it looks because the handler mechanics are hard, and the dog’s mechanics of the in-and-out are also hard! My demo dogs on the video make it look easier than it was because they were not trying to go fast at that point. All of the dogs in this class want to go fast fast fast, so they all need the angled jump 🙂 And that is fine, I like that they want to go fast fast fast!
Since it is hard, there will be human and canine errors – so don’t mark anything as wrong, just using a BIG party for when she serps (with the reward target) or a reset cookie at your side if she doesn’t serp (because it might have been handler error LOL!!). You were saying reset but you can say it as soon as she passes the jump, no need for an oops marker.
The other thing with this game (and all the games) is to count the failures… and as soon as you get to 2 failures (in a row, or in the session not in a row) – change something to make it easier to get success.
The most important part of the handler mechanics is that you will be twisting at the waist, so your arm is all the way back and your heart is pointing to the center of the bar. Even when you are way ahead, you will want to twist your upper body back to the bar. I think of it as each shoulder lining up to a wing, and my heart pointing to the center of the bar. That way the line of my chest is parallel to the bar, facing it.
And your feet should keep going forward – it is a LOT of mechanics LOL!
What was happening here was that your upper body was rotating forward, so looking at :07 and :15 for example: the line of your chest was perpendicular to the jump, so your heart was facing the fence. That is more of a layering cue for the dogs, and that is what she did.
Compare your shoulders on the reps where she missed to the rep where she got it at 1:56 – you opened your shoulders back towards the jump and she nailed it! Yay!
Angling the jump totally helps! Angle it a lot more like you did at 1:27 helped – you can angle it a little more too, make it very obvious to her. So far, I think 90% of the pups here needed the angled jump to get this started and maintain the speed 🙂 So you can angle it even more and also open up your shoulders/heart to the bar, and then it will be much easier 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
The one jump practice at the beginning of the serp video looked good – the bowl was really close and you were not using it, so she was looking at you a little more but you did end up using the bowl in the later part of the video. You can also replace the bowl with a toy (when the jump is angled).
>>We probably should have angled the jump. She really tries.>>
Yes, totally angle it. We worked 8 puppies through this game in the various live classes this week…. And at least 6 of them needed the angled jump (and one more who was playing along at home in the moment needed the angled jump too :))
Remember to count failures… literally count to 2 then change something. And it it doesn’t have to be 2 in a row… it is 2 totally for the session. She as starting to get frustrated (a bit of woofing, a bit of slowing down). By keeping the jump in the original position, she had a lot of failures so by angling it, you can set up a lot of success. You did get success but you had to slow down in serp position and be pretty much perfect 🙂 So rather than slowing down, let’s just angle the jump so you can both go fast while she learns the serps 🙂
The FC balance wraps looked good – you were able to do the cross, connect, and leave and she was great!!
The zig zags are looking great! She is really getting the groove of the back and forth motion (as long as you gave exaggerated motion – if you were too gentle about it, she didn’t read it as a cue to get into the gap – she was really paying attention!) And great job with the extra balance of keeping her out on the line, it adds a little flavor of layering which the dogs all need to learn.
For the next zig zag session, you can move the wings closer. If they were about 8 feet apart here, move them to 6 feet – then eventually we can get them to 5 feet apart then 4 feet apart 🙂Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>In a very short time you figure out the BIGGEST issue I have as a Handler. >
This is good to know! It is a small issue and we can definitely change it to help the dogs. And I am very thankful that you were willing to post the video when things were not perfect, because it really helps us figure out what Charlie needs. Each new pup teaches us how to get better and better – and you are doing AWESOME!!
>>My biggest issue is I am running the course and not a dog. I do not see the dog I am running.
This is my biggest issue with my handling too: disconnection. So I do two things to help myself connect all the time:
– I work on looking at the dog’s eyes, all the time. Not staring at the dog, but looking at the dog while I move. I try not to point at the obstacles at all with the baby dogs, because it breaks the connection.
– And I try to get my fingers always pointing to the dog’s nose. So the connection will be clear and my hand travels with the dog and never gets way ahead of the dog. I call it “magnet fingers” and made a video of it LOL
>>More experienced, obstacle focused dog may survive with me as a handler. The puppy? He was lost and went sniffing. >>
This is true for all of us: our adult dogs understand the game really well and they save us all the time 🙂
And the puppies can’t save us, so we help them out and reward a lot 🙂 And if I mess us, I just keep going (this is something I do in trials too with young dogs – pretend I didn’t mess us and just keep going like it was perfect LOL!!)
So for the next session, don’t worry about the verbals – just think about looking for his eyes and using your magnet fingers, doing 4 or 5 things in a row (wing-tunnel-wing-tunnel-wing, for example). Then big rewards 🙂 And if something goes wrong – don’t try to fix it, just keep going back to the tunnel as if it was completely correct 🙂 That will help keep him driving and then on the next rep, you can connect more.
I also try not to run too fast with baby dogs, because that is when I disconnect the most. OOPS! LOL!
And for now, you can still have Archie as your helper 🙂 That helps keep things fun!
>> I HAVE TO LEARN how to run a dog not a course! And I will!!!
You totally will!!! You are doing great!
TracyGood morning!
He looked great in class on Wednesday!!! He is really turning into a fierce agility beast! Love it!The serps are looking strong here. The right turn serps were pretty perfect, with the minimal angle to start and then you flattened the line out about halfway through – no problem, says Baxter, he was FLYING.
So on the right turns into the serp… you can start moving faster. Add a fast jog, then build up to a run, but also maintain the connection you had here, it was great.
Other side – you can open your shoulder back to him, there is a definite ‘twist’ of the waist. You were closing your shoulder forward, which supports the line of not coming in over the jump. So your feet should keep going forward but then you can open lip your serp arm way back behind you.
You were starting to open up at 1:35 but you can exaggerate it more. The goal is that the center of your chest faces the center of the bar (while your feet face the manners minder :)) This becomes especially important as you add more speed and get further ahead, like at 3:49 when he passes the jump – the center of your chest was facing the garage door, and ideally it would be facing the center of the bar.
You were looking at the landing spot and that really helped (like at 2:36) and also keeping your arm/shoulder a bit downward towards the ground which totally helped! Add in a little more upper body rotation to face the center of the bar and it will be perfect.
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
This is a normal question on early serp training. We worked 8 puppies through this game in the live classes this week, and at least 6 of them had the same question as Muso.This skill requires a lot of quick lead changes and from the dogs, and those movements are not really supported by the handler as we move forward. That makes it hard!!
So, easy fix… we angle the jump. There are a lot of ways to teach serps, and for a lot of dogs, the angled jump makes all the difference. That way, you can both be going fast, and she will get the jump.
The Line from the wing to the toy remains the same as it was here, and your path from the wing to the toy remains the same. The jump will rotate on that axis, with the wing closer to the toy being pushed out away from the line, so when she exits the wing she will easily see the bar.
How much to rotate the wing? To start the next session, rotate it so much that it is basically impossible to miss the bar (since this session was hard). The wing might end up rotated 90 degrees from where it is here.
Get a few good reps going and if she is finding the bar, you can start to rotate it back towards the original position. Do that very gradually, inch by inch, so it is still easy to find (but skipping it is not impossible).
It will probably take a couple of sessions to get it relatively flat like it was here, but that is fine 🙂 and when we add more jumps, we will “open” up the line to get her finding the serps very easily, then flatten them back out.
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
She is doing a great job finding the backside, wowza!!!She had a little question at the beginning about coming in over the jump – you can swing your serp arm back to turn your shoulders to the bar, and look at the landing spot. That will help bring her in over the bar.
She had a light bulb moment after the first couple of reps, then she was unstoppable! I’m impressed with how well she found the backside as the wing got further and further, and even with all the balance reps mixed in. Super!!!!!!!
Since this game went really well, you can try adding more running 🙂 but be sure to maintain connection.
Great work!
TracyHi!
The serps look great here! She was terrific about coming right in for the jump and your serp position/motion was super clear. Nice!!!
You can add more distance between the wing and jump to get even more speed now 🙂You had your right verbal on the wing at the beginning but then switched to the sicsicsic verbal on the other side – I can’t remember if that us your left verbal, but I think it is a wrap verbal. So if it is the wrap verbal, use it when you are going to do a full wrap around the wing (with the FC past) and use the left soft turn verbal to line up the serp.
Nice work!
TracyHi!
Poor Prytania, I am glad she is feeling better!!!
It was smart to use the MM with the tunnel to get better commitment – it really helped her and she looked great. Annalise, your connection after the FC wrap was TERRIFIC so definitely keep doing that connection! That helped her to find the tunnel and not just run to the MM. I think by the end she was a little tired so it was harder to get her into the tunnel but you made an excellent adjustment: you super connected and slowed down to help her, and she nailed it. YAY!
The tunnel commitment was really shining on the 2nd video! And yes, it is hard to get the 2nd wing past the straight tunnel – lots of running LOL! It was great to have Susan throw the toy LOL! The connection to get the wing on the straignt line needs to be a little strong, so she doesn’t curl into your.
She is doing a great job responding to your turn verbals on the tunnel exit, so definitely keep doing them and remember to add in the go go go for the straight exits.
>>We are also making progress with the retrieve

.
It looks liked she took off with it at the end of the tunnel turn video when you tried to get it from her…. So try to get her to move towards you, with or without the toy, then reward her for *not* running off with it LOL! The retrieve will keep getting better and better 🙂The set point looked great! I think the distance and her starting spot were perfect here, she was stepping in properly and centered between the jumps, and her head was a in a great position. Yay! One of these days we can add a bar to the 2nd jump, but there is no rush for that. She was actually a little sticky on the releases, especially on the last one. I think she needed a lot of eye contact on the release, so add in looking directly at her eyes before you release (like you did at :45) and see if that helps un-stick her 🙂
Great job! See you in a few minutes!
TracyHi!
>>I will try tomorrow morning to keep other dogs inside and see how Charlie works.
Yes, I am curious to see But also see the next comment (below) about how to smooth things out, the video you posted was very helpful!!
>Weather was PERFECT!
I kinda thought the weather was good because you were wearing long sleeves in one of the videos LOL!
>>ing them work the best for moving games. We will change that to be better!
>>“We want to teach him to engage and play without needing Archie there, with an eye on trials in the future when Archie can’t be in the ring LOL! But we have plenty of time to figure it out. ” Of course. We bond with Charlie nicely. I am taking him only and leaving to stay with my mom. We are swimming, playing and bonding on regular basics. Archie is big competition for me, I understand that.>>
I think I can see why he was slowing down/stopping! Thank you for posting the next video. Is this what you were seeing when he didn’t want to work?
Tracy
Hi~
>>This could count as Start line stays Game! He is good with that!
Absolutely! The was great stay practice with a big distraction 🙂
He is really building up the stay especially on the 2nd video, where you were dragging the toy the whole time as you lead out on the last rep. Yay! This is good! Keep building up the rewards as you get further and further away on the lead outs – it will make the jump grids even easier when you do them 🙂
Nice work!
TracyHi!
Thank you for posting this first video, it really helps us sort out the puzzle of how to get him amped up! There were a LOT of good things happening, and also I can better see why he might be stopping and not working in certain spots.
What is happening is that when things are clear in terms of the handling and connection, he works with a lot of drive. But when you hesitate or make a mistake or disconnect… he gets uncertain and stops moving.
I thought the beginning was really good- cookie rewards, then good tugging (remember when he used to NOT be able to tug after cookies? This was great tugging!)
Then he stopped working at approx :50 – you had a handler error where you stopped too short after the tunnel so he was not sure if he should take the wing, then you went to the opposite without without the tunnel so it was unclear and he was hesitant. Then you stopped fully, so he was not sure what was happening. He did come back and get going again, especially when you had high energy and lots of praise and the toy!
The last rep was a great example of how he works beautifully when you are connected: 2:29 – 2:35 was perfection!!!
At 2:36, he was behind you and doing great then you stopped at the wing and pointed forward and started to rotate (watch your right leg). This broke connection and changed the line of motion, so he froze because he didn’t know what you wanted. Then he was frustrated and couldn’t restart at the wing because he was facing you.
He started off really strong on the 2nd video, but the same thing happened:
Things were great when you were connected and clear! When you had an error at :20, he got confused and slowed down when you tried to fix it. There was another disconnection in the same spot at :36, so he got stressed and started to sniff.You did the right there there by just playing and giving him kisses ❤️
So in these handling games, 3 ideas:
– run with your hand pointing to his nose the whole time, so when he is behind you, he still sees your eyes and connection 🙂– shorten up the length of the sequence for now because he is really so young. Do maybe 4 or 5 things (wing/tunnel), then reward and plan for the next rep 🙂 He is a little younger than my baby Whippet who is 8 months now, and I do maybe 5 things in a row with t he whippet. Keep things shorter lets me get a lot of reinforcement in and also, I screw up a lot less LOL!!
– and if something goes wrong like it did at 2:36 on the first video or :17 on t he 2nd video, for example, don’t try to fix the wrap, and don’t hand him the reward… instead, turn and run back to the tunnel as if the wrap was correct, see going to the next wing, and connect more on the next wrap, then reward.
That should really help smooth things out! And again, thank you for showing this video because I think it is helpful so we can sort out what he needs 🙂
Tracy
