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Good morning!
That is SO interesting! I think the biggest change in dog sports in the last year has been having the neuroscientist/veterinarian/behaviorist join the field. She (Dr. Murphy) has been SO educational, especially with the adolescent dogs! And she tells us that, biologically, there are really no such thing as “fear periods” but rather, these normal stages of adolescent brain development that you saw. Tide was having an adolescent day and you did the right thing by joining Team Chill hahahaha!!!And since there is nothing we can do about it, and obsessing & adding pressure is the wrong avenue… being relaxed and meh is better for everyone!!! We all need a support group to survive canine adolescence LOL!
Keep us posted on what you see with him!
Tracy
Good morning! I am excited to see this posted!
She was great here!She was super about finding the jump while you were meandering (correctly) up the line. Then when you added running? She was even more fabulous!!!
And yes – other dogs, farm animals… and she was completely focused.
She was pumped up for the toy when you started adding motion and was leaping up when you were transitioning from the toy to the next wrap start. If you use a cookie in that transition (ask her to drop the toy, line her up at your side with a cookie, then start) will she still have the great toy drive? If so – definitely use the cookie to help line her up so it is a smooth transition without leaping up.
Since she was so terrific here: you can move to the advanced level where the toy is placed out past the jump and you do the wrap then race her to it. You can refresh that toy race skill on the flat and on the jump, then if she is happy driving to the placed toy, you can add in the wing wrap.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
The set point is going well in that you have taught her the understanding of what the game is… but in this space, there is not enough room for the next steps. Her form on jump 1 is good, but she is a little leapy on jump 2 because the toy is so close (it needs to be about 15 feet away from jump 2 for her, and then we will be moving the toy so you will need even more room). The stay looks good and her understanding looks good, so now save this game til you can be outside on grass or inside on turf. (The mats will not give her as much grip when the speed comes up and the bars start to come up too) The 5 foot distance looks really good for now (we might go to 6 feet, we will decide that in coming weeks). So for now, hold off til you have grass or turf 🙂 Everything she is doing looks good, so we don’t need to rush anything.
WIYH also looked really great!
>>When I hold her collar and say her verbal – she gets a little nuts. Should I keep holding and saying it even if she is super aroused or let her go when she starts pulling and going a little nuts?>>
I thought she was only a little nuts on the very first one 🙂 So hold her til you can say the verbal a few times – if she excited and looking forward, let her go. If she is flailing like a nut monkey…. Stop the verbal and keep holding her til she stops flailing 🙂 She won’t have good mechanics if she is flinging herself and we don’t want to let go if she does that because then she will keep flinging herself LOL!
She had good mechanics on the reps where she was pumped up but not nuts 🙂Speaking of mechanics – her understanding of this game is also super strong and so now it needs to go to footing that she can grip more. Mats are slippery in general, so she is shortened up to prevent slipping or falling – and we want her to be able to open up and go go go 🙂 So, since the weather gods have promised only good weather from now on, move this outside when the snow melts, or onto turf so she can grip as she drives.
Great job!! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! He looked great in class last week!!! And I love the background about his name – very cool!!!!!!
And also very cool that the snow is gone. Yay!!!
The set point is looking really good. He seems organized and consistent, which is exactly what we want. Yay! 6 feet seems like a good distance. His only question was at 1:40, where he was not sure of the release. It is possible that he is anticipating the catch reinforcement more than the release sometimes, so you can clarify for him by ding the catch before you put the toy down, and when the toy goes down, he is allowed to focus on and release to the toy. Now, if he starts to anticipate and break the stay, we can re-visit that 🙂
WIYH – He looked great here! And the lousy throws were indeed hilarious LOL!!!
One detail, especially as you add more motion (which he is ready for): make sure you are moving straight and not towards the bar. – you were pressuring in towards the bar especially when he was on your right, which will be part of the rear cross cue eventually. So, you can move the wing to whatever angle give you a completely straight line past the jump.
>>I was also wondering if we care how tight he is when he is wrapping the wing and if so what I do to help him.
Yes, he was little wide on the wing but I think he was waiting for ore info before committing to a line. All of his efforts were wraps, but he was not sure exactly where to be. So to help him out – when you are way ahead, add more connection with your arm way back and very direct eye contact. That will tighten him up because ti shows the line better.
>>On one of the left wraps he goes to the wrong side, was that me and the direction I indicated?
That was at 1:14 – probably too far away to send backwards, better to send forward to the wing when you are that far away. The backwards sending doesn’t show the line as clearly at that distance with a youngster. You got it on the next rep, but had to over exaggerate the line which widened it a little.
Time to add more motion! And the tunnel games (he will need a thousand tunnel bags LOL!) Have fun!!!
Great job 🙂
TracyGood morning!
The moving target pre-game is looking good – the goal is to get her moving with her head over and that is exactly what she is doing. Yay! She is getting better about focusing downwards to the hollee roller – sometimes she grabs a little higher up on the toy but overall she is focusing lower which is great. We will be adding this to the jump stuff shortly.
The WIYH game is looking good, so keep adding in more and more of your motion. She was great about driving ahead to the toy (but ignoring it when asked to wrap, and also bringing it back 🙂 The only thing I would add is saying the “go” verbal sooner, so that she is hearing it as soon as she finishes the wrap (you were tending to start it when she was catching up to you, which was a little late on some reps.
On the set point – the focus on the toy especially with you pointing at it produced REALLY good form, much better than the previous session! And also, her form was consistent which is also good -s he was not experimenting with different footwork each Time, which means she was feeling comfortable and powerful. She does leap on the toy a little as she arrives to it, but that is not that important. The next step is to add a very slow moving version of the moving target game – you will lead out, put the toy down, release and slooooowwwwwlllllly drag it forward. That might be super stimulating at first so it make take a rep or two to get the form, but she will sort it out, so do maybe 5 reps and see how she does.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>e’s actually barking in the trailer if people or dogs walk by so I’m just trying to keep him calm and give him treats for his diligence. It seems to help. Any advice you have for keeping him calm and quiet is appreciated!>>
Is there a way to park further away in these situations? I also make sure the dogs are not looking out the window (covering crates, for example) and I leave music or a TV on when I am not in the trailer. I also have chew bones, snuffle mats, etc to give the dogs something to do.
He did really well with the resilience game here! When he is comfy in an environment, you can move the game closer to distractions but also increase the value of the motivator (better cookies LOL!!).
>>And you can still see how he shies away from me at the end when I touch his harness.
Yes, it looks like he was almost anticipating being picked up and was avoiding that? It was almost reflexive. He didn’t seem to mind the initial harness touch and cookie, so definitely keep doing that and make sure it doesn’t get paired with being picked up 🙂
Nice work!!
TracyHi!
The only barking that stood out was the arousal/frustration barking towards the end of the jump-tunnel discrimination game – long session, a few too many failures, and not enough clarity on the cue in the moment. So definitely shorten the sessions – they can total up to the same amount of time, but you want to split them with big breaks in between.T
Good morning!
>> totally wish I lived closer! Part of the slow sit is I was using a cookie before and I’ve taken it away. But, the Cato board helped a lot!>>
yes, that would make it harder for sure! Where was the cookie located? It helps the dogs to have a reward station so they can better predict reinforcement (agility reinforcement is really pretty unpredictable, so we do our best to help the dogs out).
>>It’s supposed to rain again starting Sunday for a few days. So, it’ll likely be a week before I can do much. Should I move on to the next exercise to get it in? I’ll add a wing to this and the other set ups for speed after that.>>
Wow, that is crazy weather. Yes, move on to the next one. And if you don’t get it in before the end of March, no worries, get it in when you can and I will happily look at it 🙂
>>We are working on a start line routine which is why I added the leash. But, she struggles to sit if she’s tired in general and isn’t the fastest to sit to begin with. Plus, when I took the cookie out of the picture she apparently didn’t know sit in this context. Good to know!>>
Yep, all normal. Good to practice the start line!!! I also am fine with letting my dogs choose their position in the moment – I just get us to both stop moving, take the leash off, ask them to stay, and I lead out. Elektra always chooses the sit, Contraband chooses a sit or a stand sometimes depending on whatever he is feeling internally, and Hot Sauce always chooses the stand. They all maintain fabulous stays, so everyone is happy. It is something to consider in your training, so there is no pressure to do a specific position (because really, we don’t care what the position is as long as they stay and as long as they are balanced in their jumping). A down is my least favorite position for the start, but if they need to do it in order to regulate arousal, then it is fine and I start them further from the first jump.
>>I am doing UKI in April. Just jumpers and speedstakes NFC. Can I actually bring in a Cato board? I think I’ll work on the tug, tug, tug sit game for her.>>
Yes, you can bring in the Cato Board NFC – just be sure to yell NFC to the judge 🙂 It is also UKI-legal to have someone else bring the Cato Board in for you, so you can focus on her 🙂
Have fun! Stay dry!
TracyHi!
He did well with the Wind In Your Hair game! The line ups looked great and he was almost perfect, even when you were running and way ahead. Really super!!!
>>He left me at the end – should I have just ended the session instead of continuing on? Not sure if he had had enough, just being an adolescent,>>
I don’t think it was an adolescent moment, I think the session was too long at almost 5.5 minutes. I remind myself that if a jumpers run is 30 seconds, then a 5 minutes if the equivalent of 10 jumpers runs in a row. LORDY! He trains like my whippet and whippet mixes train: they are great then when we do it another zillion times, they are like “why are we doing this again, human?” LOL!
Bearing in mind that he is running and you are not 🙂 try to limit the reps and also setting a timer to 2 or 2.5 minutes is perfect. It is fatiguing and also a lot of repetition so even though he was successful and got lots of reinforcement, I think the session was simply too long. He started to check out a little after 3 minutes (the equivalent of 6 jumpers runs LOL! ). He called for a taxi at 4:28 LOL! Yes, he as saying he was done so it is fine to be done, no need to do one more. And setting the timer to have shorter sessions will help – the sessions where he is not running can be more in the 5 minute range, probably, but the running sessions should be shorter .
Speaking of setting a timer… even if the session is a poopy one 🙂 you can still finish in the 3 or 4 minute range – don’t obsess on the thing that is going wrong (which is very important with adolescent dogs and things go wrong all the time with teenagers LOL!) even if you are doing a lot of reinforcement.
About the stay – work it away from the jumps for now. Have him line up facing the MM, doing a few stays on the flat. That MM is really challenging as a distraction! He was pretty successful for the first 3 minutes but then things started to go awry more. You said “one more” at 3:32 but then there were 4 more minutes LOL! My guess is that in the moment, you don’t realize what the session length is so a timer will be the easiest way to keep track of it. After the one more moment, he had a lot of errors and at 7:00-ish he had stopped sitting easily. So.. timer! 3 minutes, maximum, and be finished no matter if the last rep was good or not 🙂
For the set point practice, you don’t need to lead out. You can gently hold him, trigger the MM, then send him through it. It will have the same value for teaching him form, and maybe even more value because he won’t look up at you standing, he will be looking downwards to the MM. His jumping form is going well, so the next area of jumping focus will be to help him keep his head even more down (we will eventually add the moving target too!)
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Were your ears burning? I was just talking about you and Muso because a friend is on a list for a puppy that is going to be from Muso’s dad Smidgen and Grifter’s sister. So I was mentioned how FABULOUS Muso is and how you are doing a great job 🙂
Speaking of great job and fabulous – nice sessions here!!! Some ideas for you along with lots of telling you it was great:
Wrap – good first reps, good first tunnel reps, then hard to get the wrap back. Good to know!!! And pretty normal, this was a good session – this game is hard AF and she had a lot of success! The tunnel sends add a lot of stimulations, so in many ways this is an arousal management game as well.
After a tunnel rep or two, help her with a little enhancement of the gap by putting your toy in the gap to give a little visual aid – do this before she fails, to set up success. I mean, she can still find the tunnel if she wants 🙂
And then when you do the mini sequence, on the very first wrap after the tunnel, help her out in the same way for now. You will easily be able to fade that help but it will help her find the wrap in the higher state of arousal induced by the tunnel.At the very end, she was barking and backing up – probably a few too many reps in the session, she was brain tired (she can actually do fewer reps in adolescence than she could do as a baby pup). So remember to limit reps, and make the starts clear by stepping forward with your leg – your dog-side leg was back there, so she was unsure of whether she should start or not (she went to the cone as soon as you stepped to it).
Lazy game 1 – Super nice!!! This was the advanced level because the toy was place out past the jump with the holder 🙂 She did well tearing her eyes off the toy holder (this is also a great foundation game for flyball :)) You can also have her do hand touches or tricks so you don’t have to hold onto her – reward each trick or hand touch with a treat so she can build value for not looking at the toy on the line til it is time to do so 🙂
Lazy game 2: Looking good here too! I think she likes the speed games a whole lot!!!!
Nice adjustment to give her stronger connection around the wing as you run – on the 2nd rep, there was no strong connection so she ended up on the other side of you – she was not wrong, so if that happens just go with it, reward, then try again with stronger connection. The reps after that were all perfect.One note about having a toy holder person – we don’t want to ‘catch’ Muso on the toy because it wrenches her neck. So the toy holder person can be moving and then as soon as Muso is tarting her grab, the holder should let go of the toy so Muso runs through it (no wrenching of the neck or spine). Then it is a great retrieve opportunity too! (And yes, let her run through the toy in flyball too so there is no wrenching 🙂 I have video if you want to see what it looks like in the flyball version).
Since these games look fabulous, you can add more distance and keep varying your position: sometimes start near the wing, sometimes halfway between the wing and the jump, sometimes at the jump with a MASSIVE send to the wing, so that you are miles ahead – can she still find the jump or will she revert to chase da momma?
Muso definitely seems to like the smiley face games too 🙂 Wheeee! Very nice! Great job with your connection and your verbals. Her commitment is looking strong. She is having a little trouble turning in the dirt, it looks deep, so don’t do a ton of reps in a row because she will fatigue (bearing in mind that she is sprinting sand you are not LOL!!) The wraps and tunnel sends looked good, and the race tracks looked good. Really strong! So on the next smily face game… add more of your running. Drive in to the tunnel more, send to the wings and rotate sooner, etc. Basically, handle it really aggressively as if you are trying to wing the Smiley Face National Championships 🙂 because it will help you learn the fast aggressive connected handle she will like, and it will help her handle all the excitement of the speeeeeeeeeeed!
Great job on these!!!!!!
TracyHi!
This was a fabulous, systematic session. Loved it! You worked through each step and looks like she had no questions at all. The flatwork looked great. And the transfer to the jump looked great too. Yay! Sit tight on this one now, we will add it to the jumping games soon 🙂
TracyHi!
I’m glad class is back too! And it is so fun to see you and Debbie in the live class drinking wine and having fun 🙂
Fingers crossed for good weather ahead!!!
TracyHi!
He is definitely doing better with the stay! When you were rewarding quickly, he did really well! I think for now, it is best to do the ‘catch’ only and not the “get it” where he moves forward, to help him hold position.Right now you can only go about 2 steps away, so I think adding a mat for him to stay on will really help! That will give him a chance to really solidify the stay, then we can fade the mat 🙂 You can use a bath mat with rubber backing so it doesn’t slip out from under him.
And yes, it takes time to build up, so keep mixing in short sessions each day to help him out 🙂
Nice work!!
TracyHi!
Figuring out the reinforcement strategy is always the hardest thing with baby dogs! And we can use this setup as a framework for that: she DEFINITELY liked going fast LOL!!! And she had zero questions about wrapping the wing. Super!!
I liked her head position and your timing better when you threw the toy, but she didn’t like the toy as much so she wins LOL!! The cookie toss was slower as you mentioned, but she likes it better and because you were predictable with your placement, she started looking forward a whole lot more by the end. Yay! So we can keep going with cookies until she loves the toy or lotus ball in this scenario.
You can also move to the advanced level, and have the manner minder already place out there which will take out the issue of what to throw 🙂 And by doing that, you can add more motion – you started running at the end which was no problem for her. So you can now keep running but change your position: either start right close to the wing and wait til she is almost done wrapping before you run so she drives way ahead of you, or start near the jump and send way away to the wing, then take off running so she is behind you. Sometimes dogs struggle when we are way ahead and they go into chase mode by accident and skip the jump, so getting way ahead is great! And having the manners minder out there (or a toy on the ground) will keep her looking forward and also challenge her impulse control to ignore it to go do the wing wrap.
Great job! Keep me posted on how she does on the next steps!
Tracy
