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Good morning!
She is doing really well finding the jump with the lateral lead outs: holding the stay perfectly and committing with no questions. I love how she does NOT move her feet in the stay, even with you being pretty lateral. Super!!
Two thing to add:
Continue moving the wing you are leading out to further and further away, she seemed to have no questions about that.
You can also begin asking her for forward focus on the jump, where she looks at the jump while holding the stay, when you cue it. I cue it by leading out, slowly raising my hand to point towards it… then waiting. Some folks also use a verbal cue, such as ‘look’. When she flicks an eyeball towards the jump: release and reward 🙂
She might do that immediately! Or she might stare at you for hours on end LOL!! So if she stares at you and doesn’t look at the jump, we can use the toy: place the toyon the landing side of the jump, closer to the wing she is turning towards. She is likely to look forward when the toy is there, and that can jump start the behavior. When she does that, we can fade out the toy by tucking it behind the wing on the landing side then taking it out altogether.
The backside challenges went great here! You able to get her to find the backside while you were pretty far across the bar! NICE!!!!
For the serp lines on the backside:
>I need to be better at dropping the toy/ saying her chase it cue earlier >
Yes, she did great when you were pretty early. Two other things that will help her commit as you move through the serp and into the exit wing more:
– Instead of looking at her as she comes to the backside, shift your gaze to look at the landing spot. And point to it with the dog side hand (your left hand on these reps). That will help indicate where you want her to be, then you can begin to toss the toy as a reward for commitment.
– Keeping your motion steady for now will help too. On the reps where she almost went past the wing, you were moving at a walk up the backside line and then when she was heading to the backside, you started to go faster. That transition into acceleration also caused her to accelerate and potentially miss the jump if you hadn’t gotten the toy in. Compare that to when you were in the same steady motion the whole time: when there was no acceleration, she did really well looking for the bar and turning to it immediately!You can keep moving further and further across the bar to see if she can find the entry wing with you nearer to the exit wing. And you can add the advanced game where you do a FC on the landing side then she can have the tunnel 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>yes he stayed….only because no leaves were blowing or flying bird shadows passing by…he would have totally been out of there and also totally deaf…Once he starts the chase he does NOT respond to anything I say to him.>
I chalk that up to lack of experience working outside. Because he is overall a great little dog, you can start each session with a pattern game to help focus him when the environment is challenging. And throughout the day, on potty walks, you can bring treats t reward focus – that will help turn the engagement more towards you and less towards the environment.
>Did new games get posted? I didn’t see anything yesterday when I looked.>
Week 8 is the last week in this class. Only MaxPup 1 has 12 weeks, the rest of the classes are more civilized in length LOL! MaxPup 3 is posted, though – this is where it gets really fun!!!
Looking at the video:
I think you did a great job of getting the reps in, fast and snappy! He is looking at the toy really well!! I agree, he nailed it on that last rep 🙂Your session structure of adding in the wing/bar and moving the toy around was super good too – totally on the right track for getting the forward focus. And if you want faster progress on the skill, you can do it indoors but overall, the progress is strong!
I totally see what you mean about him looking away and almost glazing over when the environment becomes obvious – it is happening in that moment when you take the toy to set him up in the stay. He is being a good boy, holding the stay, releasing to the toy…. But he definitely has trouble disengaging from the environment. His teenage brain is on overload!!
So we need to work on the moments when the toy is not in his mouth and when he is not running towards it. I think increased food value might do the trick to jump start that.
What type of treats are you using? The toy works great when he is engaged with it, but more enticing treats can help in the lineup moment. I want to find that most mind-blowing treats that won’t upset his GI system. For example, a hungry poodle plus a couple of chunks of steak or meatball might make all the difference: high value and different from the norm.
An example: I took my 10 month old dog to his first group class on Tuesday. I had his favorite tugs, and also meatballs and cheddar cheese 🙂 He was perfect (because, meatballs and cheddar cheese LOL). Another dog in the class kept chasing my dog – and it was because that owner had low value treats for the context. I think she had Ziwi Peak which, theoretically, is a high value treat (and super expensive LOL!!). But it was not enough for the situation. So I handed her a meatball… and that dog was completely focused for the rest of the night.
So to get him engaged outside, short blasts with high value treats can get him over the hump. And small quantities/short sessions for now so we don’t upset his GI. I tend to mix in the cheddar, meatballs etc (I have also used rotisserie chicken, yum yum!) with other treats so the regular treats pick up the delicious smells and juices but it is easier on the GI. My dogs don’t have GI issues but I do I remember correctly that sometimes Brioche does? If he doesn’t – cool! Less to worry about when trying crazy high value food.
The high value food is not forever – it is just a way of fighting fire with fire 🙂 Then as he gets used to working with high distractions, you can go back to ‘regular’ treats.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
>She does fine wrapping to the left for the tunnel entry, but got stuck on all the right wraps to the tunnel. Something definitely is bothering her with those right turns into tunnel.>
I agree! So the question is… what it is? She does like to take us on treasure hunts LOL!!!
Left wraps: all good!
She did turn to the right before stopping in flow – and also turned to the right really well when you started on that wing.She did not take the tunnel on about 70% of the cues – ran past it or froze, in both directions. That is interesting.
Is it because the wings were not exactly presenting a straight line to it and she is very literal? Or is it something else? I lean towards it being something else because while yes, some of the lines were not exactly straight to it, she did seem to choose to go past it on some reps.Was she expecting a ball throw? We can rule that in or out by taking the short tunnel out of the starfish, shortening it even more and doing a couple of offered reps with amazing food, and a couple of amazing reps with the ball.
And to ask her if the tunnel is what she is avoiding in the starfish game: replace it with a wing jump and a jump bump on a straight line from the wing wraps. And let’s see if she takes it or if we get the same behavior.
>I got a recommendation for a soft tissue specialist that’s local so I’m following up with them before Dr. Canapp.>
This is great because it will be useful info for you, either to see if there is something up, or to get a baseline.
And before the appointment, I can help you gather video to show them – the vets and soft tissue folks generally like it when we bring video to see how the dog is moving!
>Given her limitations I didn’t even attempt the advanced sequences with her, but Jack and I had fun running them.>
Yay for Jack! I think your handling here was clear and smooth – she did get those turn away wraps!!! So I don’t need to bug you about handling and we can figure out why her rate of tunnel behavior was low.
Nice work keeping it positive and fun here even though she threw a curve ball!
Tracy
Hi!
>. Here’s an example where a stronger opposite arm would have been better! I think I kinda left him hanging:>
That is a great photo!! Ideally yes, he would already be seeing exit line connection over the bar but maybe you showed it on the next step? When all they can see is our back, they either center themselves to our back (like a water skier behind a boat) or they drift wide to find our eyes 🙂
Compare to the exit line arm you briefly showed him at :56 on the video – that was super nice and all he needed to have a great line there.One general thought on these smaller sequences: try not to let him see or hear decel when he is in the tunnel. That was causing to collect and exit turned. You can lead out less so you have more time to run run run, or you can run more into the curve of the tunnel so you are moving fast the whole time. Or both!
The session went really well! It was good to see what worked the best on the brake arms.
For example, on jump 1 at :37 & :55 – your brake arm on 1 was overriden by forward motion so he was a little wide. You can send with it, without moving to the jump. At 1:13, you added decel to the brake arm which really helped set up a great turn.
On the wrap jump after the tunnel: the rep at :43 was pretty perfect! Decel, connection, brake arm: all well-timed and just the right amount.
You were a little too extra at 1:01 🤣 – you did decel/arm/rotation all basically at the same time so he stopped, then you were facing the bar too much so he ended up doing a rear cross at 1:06. You were much smoother into it at 1:18 and he got it nicely.
> But do you think he should still have committed to that jump even so? We do continually struggle with this scenario where my timing must be so perfect on this set up or he’ll pull off the jump –>
I think the feedback of the refusal is useful in handling! But you can also teach him to save you by deliberately showing him you hitting the brakes really hard/rotating too soon, and then shifting your connection to the landing spot – and throwing the reward to the landing side. That can help build up commitment even when the cue is not very clear 🙂 Usually young dogs do not save it 🙂 but they do when they are very experienced.
The circle wraps on the backside are also going well – he is seeing the info before getting to the backside and setting up nice tight turns (like at 1:23). Super!
And nice job withthe backside exit line conenctions! Super tight turns! You can add it as a blind cross exit as well to get the tight turn on both sides of you.
>I think I was still getting in his way a bit on the way to the wing of the backside, but also do you think swinging a little bit out ensures he can clear the bar? Or should I strive for tighter?>
Yes, you were over-helping 🙂 He doesn’t have a jumping issue so I don’t think you need to worry about him clearing the bar. You can work on getting him to commit to the backside while you run a parallel line that takes you more towards the center of the bar (and less towards the entry wing). That will give him timely info and let him have plenty of time to set up his jumping, as you get further ahead. If you are too close to the entry wing – yes he goes wide based on the motion, but also it puts you in the way of the landing spot so it actually makes the jumping a bit harder because he has to avoid you 🙂
Nice work! here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
>Yes to names of folks who specialize in gut biome. Calm Care might have made a bit of an improvement but not much. The ferapet calming powder I tried next was about the same. Something is clearly off there.>
I am sourcing info for you – stay tuned!
>I need to remember to balance the tossing treats with letting her check in. Right now it’s more heavily weighted to pattern games/tossing treats because I don’t want her to rehearse tipping over into charging at something moving.>
The auto check ins are also a pattern! You can start with a tossed treat then reward from your hand after that.
>Yup – and I’ve done that but I’m also trying not to use that as a crutch. Because if she can’t walk into the ring, see something and be able to dismiss it and refocus to me, then I worry about the hypervigilence spilling over into when she is runnning a sequence. It hasn’t yet, but I don’t feel like I want to push it much.>
I don’t think it is a crutch – I think it reduces the cognitive load and so she has more available when she needs it. Cognitive load is like my bank account – there is not a lot available so I don’t want to use it too quickly 🙂 She might be expended a lot of the cognitive energy just by walking in. So carry her in if you want to save some of that.
>Super bowls
We’ve done that at home and at Fusion. I tend to do the variation of the mini snuffle mat (dusting mop things) on either side of me by the ring or in the aisleway because it takes up less space and is easy for me to drop the 2 mitts down. She can do that within 5ft of the ring barrier while Kristen & Reacher are running.>Perfect! Bring it to classes and trials!
>Recalls past another walking dog
I”ll ask Kristen to play the part of the other team with Kaladin. Reacher and Lift have complicated feelings towards each other (aka – I think each might like to take the other out if the circumstances were just right).>Yes – these games are only played with an adult, solid helper dog. Never with another teenager LOL
>I can also probably do this with another dog(s) in her Thursday class. (Elizabeth and Rocky are in there for instance) And I can also have her do this past walking people (without dogs).>
If Rocky will be a bit bored by it all… PERFECT!!! And yes, doing it with people is great too!
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Fantastic question! It will depend on your venue of competition. A lot of organizations use course design that has the ‘get out’ jump and also a jump straight ahead. So saying ‘jump’ can mean either. If that is not a discrimination your dog will see, then totally yes – you can use jump 🙂 Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
Nice job with the mat here – it was nice and big so he had an easy time finding it 🙂
Since you asked about toys as rewards instead of food: you can have 2 toys for this game. Throw one to replace the food throw, then bring him back to you with the 2nd toy for the next rep.
For the next session – try it just like this but with toys are rewards, and see how it goes. If it feels smooth and successful like this one was, you can fold the mat in half to see if he can find a smaller mat.
He also did well with the PVC box! You can definitely try this with toys too.
My guess is that he will be moving faster when you add the toys 🙂 so be prepared to really watch his feet to be sure he hits the mat and gets into the box 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
The parallel path on the jump went well! He figured out that the correct answer was to find the jump so he was very locked in. Good boy!!
When you have more room (like in a ring rental) you can add wings to this to show him that picture. And you can add in more distance laterally – you might have to use a bigger space because he is getting big too!
The alternate rear crosses are going well – on the first couple of reps on each side, you didn’t quite make it far enough up to the new side so he turned towards you.
What was happening on those was that you were going to the other side but remaining behind him, so he still saw you on the original side. You can see that at 1:50 and 2:46, for example.
When you got to the next side and got past his shoulder – he turned correctly each time. Super! You can see that at 2:32 and 3:43 (my favorite rep!)
So for the rear crosses, a different way to think of the line:
If you are on a map, the cookie tosses going east or west (side walls here). You are starting at the south spot (near the camera here) and your line needs to take you to the north spot (back wall of the room here). When he was not seeing the rear crosses, you were also moving east or west and not south to north. Let me know if that makes sense or if I need more coffee LOLGreat job!
Tracy
Poor buddy, sorry to hear about his tummy!!!
Yes, you can use toys for all of these! He will love that 🙂 You won’t get as many reps because it just takes a little extra time to play, and you can use a 2nd toy to trade for the first. But the reps will be high quality and he won’t get an upset tummy. So definitely try to replace the treats with toys as much as possible.
T
Good morning!
For the running contact mat – he is beginning to understand the mat so now we take your motion out of it. We want independence and also to get you looking at the rear feet so you can reward only that 🙂
With that in mind: you get to sit down for the next session and let him do all the work! Attach the mat securely to something that will elevate it, and have him go back and forth, up and over it. Your job is to stare at the mat and watch his feet: when the 4th foot hits, toss the reward (I literally count 1-2-3-4 in my head LOL). No handler movement will create even more independence because we definitely don’t want any handler dependence for the running contacts.
It will look like this (Elektra’s very first session):
She had to really think about her footwork independently of me, and Ziv will benefit from this too!Backwards sending:
He did really well here! I think the moments when he had a question was more about the send cue: when you gave a big clear step with your leg, he went immediately to the barrel. When you did not step as clearly, that might be when you saw him not sure about going. So remember to use a big step!Time to bring the barrel games onto grass, he was slipping a bit on the wood and we don’t want him to get hurt.
On the jump offering – he was finding the jump really well . Do you have a jump bump or rolled up towel or something that can be a bar? We want him to be looking for a bar so we need something obvious that is not too tall.
And yes, small treats in the grass are hard to find! Do you have a lotus ball or food dispenser toy you can use as a thrown reward? I prefer not to use the Manners Minder with this because it is too big of a lure and harder to fade out.
Another option is to use a real ball or small tug toy as the reward – throw it but then have another similar toy to use for the next rep. That will help get him back to you rather than him having victory laps 🙂
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
He did a great job reading the distances here and was able to adjust his striding really well! The moving target really helped 🙂
He was also trying to sort out the angle of elevation while reading the distance – which made some of the jumping effort more upwards than forward especially on jumps 1 and 2. Because he is little, I think the bars were actually a little too high for now 🙂 so for bar 1, you can put it as low as it can go on the jump cups. If that was the lowest, you can use a tiny bump. That first jump is more of a stride regulator and not an actual jump, so he doesn’t need to think about elevation on it.
You can also see if the other 2 bars can be one height lower but I think having the first bar as low as possible might help him get more power forward on jumps 2 and 3.
The lateral lead outs went well! Nice job mixing in the stay rewards too! And check it out – you aren’t having to wear giant winter goat and hat!! Spring is coming!
For this game, I think a good next step would be to get him focus forward on the jump before the release. That will help get his success rate up to 100% here as you add more and more distance.
The easiest way to get that is to place his reward on the landing side of the bar, close to and a little past the wing, so it is still a somewhat visible. Then lead out and slowly put your hand into the ‘point at the jump’ position 🙂 Then when he looks at the jump/reward, release him to get it. And you can sometimes throw a reward back without releasing so he doesn’t think the hand movement is the release.
When he is looking at the jump/reward consistently on cue, we can gradually move the reward further and further around the wing so it is hidden and he is looking at the jump even though he can’t see the reward. When he is happy with that, we fade the placed reward out and have it in your hand as a thrown reward.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I noticed you using a bar to measure, I thought brilliant, so cut a 3’ bar today.>
Ha! I think I need to do a webinar on all the lazy things I use to get things done in agility LOL!! I have many lazy hacks. Yes – I have 4 foot and 5 foot bars that I use when I am too lazy to actually get a measuring tape out (I am ALWAYS too lazy for that). And my weaves poles are 36 inches long, so I have the 3 foot distance too LOL
Super nice session here!! Her stay looks great. She stepped into the first interval (jump 1 and 2) perfectly each time: powerful and consistent. Consistency is just as important as anything else because it means she doesn’t have to really think about it, she can just do it. Yay!
>Reps 2/4 she just took a big bounce jump.>
Yes! It is an awkward distance and she did great! We want her to be able to extend her stride like that.
I think she will eventually bounce the 3rd distance too (12 feet) when she is all grown up 🙂 She added a collected one-stride which was lovely and balanced.
The next thing to try is the moving target – that will give her ‘permission’ to fold in even more power 🙂 and you will see the difference in rep 2 and 4 in particular. On those reps, she wanted to add power but she also had to prepare to stop at the target. If the target is moving, you will see her use her hind end to power through even more.
You can also add in more distance on jump 3: you can move it to 12 feet on reps 2 and 4, and 15 feet on rep 3! I think she is ready for that.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
He liked your marching on the lead out LOL ok maybe he didn’t but I found it entertaining LOL
Be sure to NOT look at him (:44) and look at the landing spot instead (1:15). That is a pretty massive difference in how he commits to the bar. I don’t think he will always need you to look at the landing spot but it is super helpful in these early stages. And it will help when you add in the backside games too!
Also – you can drop reward in behind you to really solidify the commitment to the bar (rather than commitment to you). You can use giant treats to drop on the landing spot to get a bunch of fast reps in a row. Or drop the toy which he will love, but it takes a tiny bit longer to get it back (which is perfectly fine of course :))
Tunnel reps looked good too!
You can add more speed to this one now – moving a little faster but maintaining that lovely connection to the landing spot that brought a lot of success.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
It looks like you FINALLY have good weather!!! And great job keeping the session short. One of my current mantras with my 2 year old dog is DON’T BE GREEDY so I can totally relate.
He did really well with looking at the toy!!!! It is coming along nicely. The harder part was getting him to not be looking around in the stay.
I think if you make things happen faster as you get everything setup, he won’t look away for butterflies LOL That was pretty funny at the beginning but he didn’t break his stay and then he immediately looked at the toy when you cued it.
The 2nd rep was harder but he again held his stay and looked at the toy (eventually). And the last rep was the best!
So to make things happen faster: get him wild with tugging, get the sit, jog to put the toy down maybe 10 feet away, then jog to your position, praise, then point and see if he can keep his eyes on the work. The great outdoors is challenging in spring time! But he held that stay, looked at the toy when cued, and didn’t run off with it or anything goofy 🙂
The next step involved fading the toy and getting the jump involved again. Use a wing with a bar attached to it. Put the toy just past the bar on the landing side but close to the wing – still visible for the first couple of reps. Then if he is successful, you can start to ‘hide’ the toy behind the wing, bit by bit, fading it out so he is looking at the bar when cued and is trusting the toy will be there even though he can’t really see it. When he is successful with that, we can take the toy out entirely and use it as a thrown reward. Let me know if that makes sense! Nice work here!!
Tracy
Hi!
>apologize for my friends camera skills, lol. I hope you can see enough.>
It worked well! All of the important stuff is on the video:)
The first rep was interesting! He read the step so well that he pushed to the backside! That is still rewardable 🙂 And good to know that he doesn’t need a massive step. You took smaller steps on the other reps and he didn’t consider the backside.
We can smooth out the release process by adding the next part of the game that I think will be useful for him. If you released and your arm/leg was not fully in place, he sometimes would go past the jump. So we can add in getting him to focus forward on the jump before the release:
Lead out, and very slowly lift your arm to point to the jump but don’t release. Be angled enough that you can be connected to see where he is looking. When he looks at the jump, release him and then throw the reward. Getting him to focus forward on the jump will make your job as a handler much easier :). If he doesn’t look at the jump, you can place a toy on the ground past the jump, to give him the idea that we would like him to look forward.
He might think that the arm movement is part of the release – that is why I suggest moving your arm into the position very slowly for now so he doesn’t think it is a release 🙂 And you can throw rewards to him for NOT releasing when you move your arm into position.
He was flicking his eyes towards the jump a lot here, so I think it will be easy to get him to look at it! Then his rate of success on that first jump will go to 100%
Great job here!
Tracy
