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Good morning! Thank you for the update!! I am excited to hear about how well she is doing with the minny pinny – it is so much easier and more effective than the ways we used to try to teach left and right!
But I am especially excited about how she went back and forth from food to toys to food to toys. That is HUGE! You’ve been building it up and it is so cool to see it coming together. YAY!!
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
Serps are hard and you made great progress here!!!Angling the jump more was totally the right thing to do, it really helped her and it allowed you to get a lot of reinforcement in for taking the jump.
And you can keep it angled (or angle it more) so that you can run parallel to the jump with your shoulders facing it, rather than pull your shoulder away from it. That will keep you further ahead but it is also more challenging for her because she has to jump towards you. Shifting your connection to the landing spot can help too – instead of looking at her cute face, you can look back to your serp hand and the landing spot as you move past the jump.
You can also tweak the reinforcement placement:
Change the position of the MM so it is maybe one foot past her landing line (near the exit wing of the jump). That should make it less visible for her as she exits the wing wrap, and more visible when she takes the jump.Or if the MM is still too stimulating, switch to an empty food bowl and then drop the cookie into it when she takes the jump.
>>I’m losing her when we line up to wrap the wing. I’m not sure if I just don’t have her full attention yet, and I’m starting too soon or if I am too lateral from the wing for her.>>
When there were bloopers on the wing, I think you were both too focused on the jump LOL!! When you were more methodical with the line up and send: perfection! On the reps where you lined her up and held your send til she was almost at the wing (with big connection) she got it every time. If you were a little early to leave for the serp (or didn’t really connect) she came with you and didn’t take the wing. So the extra moment to li ne her up at your side, connect, and do a big (patient) send will clear up any of her questions.
The FCs went well! She seemed to have no questions about coming into the gap and NOT doing the serp when you did the FC (although she still did really want the MM as the reward haha!!)
Great job here!! See you in class later!
TracyHi!
>>So we’re tackling more than one game in a night. And these lessons are better done outside.>>
I agree, the time management of training baby dogs is the hardest thing!
I like to do more than one game in a night – and a timer is usually the best thing to keep me on track. Set the timer for 2 minutes, so you get 2 minutes worth of playing. Then when the timer goes off, end the session and assess it: was it fine and dandy (doesn’t need to be perfect)? If so, move on to a different game OR do the same game on the other side. You might not be able to do both sides on all games in one night because then the sessions get too long and we lose the dog.
If you assess the session and want to do more, that is great too – but it will also mean that you can drop one of the other games and play it a different day.My puppy training mantra is “progress not perfection” 🙂 So the timer really helps and the goal is to be “roughly right” and not perfect in each session 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
This is a really good first session! Yay! Her commitment is looking really strong: she did a great job finding the jump each time. At the beginning, I think she was a little unsure of what to do after the tunnel, so you can call her name so she knows to turn towards your line as she exits.
Also, you can throw the toy a bit sooner – look at her as she exits the tunnel and as soon as she looks at the jump, throw it so it lands before she gets to the jump (and before she looks back at you). That will also pump up your connection which supports the line more as you add challenge:
>>Yep. I got greedy and changed two things at once, more lateral distance and in front of the jump.
I’m think your video said solidify each position separately and the move out jump farther.>>Yes – you can be systematic and try not to add 2 challenges at once 🙂 But at 3:57, where she did not take the jump – you were pulling away laterally and not connected, so as she exited the tunnel she could only see your back and was not sure what to do (so came to you, good girl 🙂 ) Adding more connection to her eyes should support the line to the jump as you add more distance.
>>Should I use the shorter Black tunnel?>>
Yes, you can use it or stretch out the longer tunnel – I think the curve is pretty severe so she doesn’t always know where to be at the exit. But overall, she is doing great!
One more thought, as things get more complicated:
At the end, she was toast – note how she didn’t bring the toy back. You can spread out these sessions over a few days, or set a timer so you are doing literally 90 seconds of each game and that is it. The games now require a lot of running and a lot of thinking, so the pups will get tired. Super short sessions that are spread out will really help!Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
The serps are going well! Yay!!
On the serp reps, you can move the wing further away from the jump now but don’t change your starting position. You will still be at the wing of the jump, but sending her further away to the single wing will allow you to get further across the bar so you are ahead of her – and so you can rotate your shoulders to face the bar as you move past. She did really well with you running here, and found the serp each time. Nice!!!
For the verbals – you can say the left or right until she exits the wing and looks at the jump, then get quiet – that way you won’t end up saying the verbal too many times.
On the wraps, you can do the FC but then run her to the toy (so when she starts on your left, you can do a FC to your right and then when she gets to your new side, run to the toy. You did this at 2:06 on the 2nd video and it was great! Getting rewarded with the food was fine, she says, but the toy was a much better motivator for her 🙂
>>>It was harder for her to leave the toy than for Wind game. It made it difficult to work the exercise, but we tried.
She left the toy on the ground really nicely, the food rewards helped a lot. It is not super easy but at first, for sure, it is definitely a useful skill to have so keep adding it in.
>>Yesterday I tried two identical toys, leaving one in position on the ground and tugging her back to start with the other. I did this to make leaving the target toy easier and to be able to reward the FC/Wrap with a toy. But she kept Looking up at me through the Serp jump knowing I had the 2nd toy behind my back and not wanting to pick up the Target toy.>>
I can see why she would be confused about where to look – the toy on the ground is obvious, but if there was another in your hand, you would need to really work on the precise markers (“get it” versus “bite” for example). Or… only have one toy present so there is one less thing to worry about 🙂
>>I use Leave It for her going for something like Bird Poop which is Negative. So I don’t want her to associate her toy with something Negative.>>
Yes, I agree – save the leave it for the quail poop LOL!! Ewwww!!! But you can just reward with treats for moving away from the toy on the ground, and add your ‘get it’ marker for when she can have it.
>>BIG dog barking. Traffic noise. Lots of sounds. She’s become a bit HyperVigilant.
Fear Period?>>The neuroscientists tell us that biologically/behaviorally, there is no such thing as a fear period. What you are seeing is a normal part of adolescent brain development, no worries. She was also more attentive to the sounds when you were using food, so it is possible that food alone is not stimulating/motivating enough in this situation, so toys are a better choice in more challenging situations or insanely high value food.
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
>>I’m not sure I was doing the correct Push etc. but she was Zig Zagging.>>
The zig zags are going well – she is definitely sorting out the game and it is fine to mix up the push versus pull based on changing her starting spot and your starting spot.
My only suggestion for an adjustment to make is to angle the wings 90 degrees so the jump cups are facing you and not pointing to the side. That will make an easier visual (she can see you better) for her plus it sets the game up to be able to add bars while building on the same picture for the dog.
>>I think she prefers working for a toy. Yay!
I think the food in the first video was not all that stimulating so the outside distractions became more obvious. The toy was definitely more stimulating so she did really well with it in t he 2nd video! She did seem startled by it being thrown back to her for the ‘catch’ rewards, so maybe a cookie is a better choice for the thrown rewards while she is in a stay.
She did well when your hands were lower and you moved your feet, so keep giving the cues ‘big drama’ 🙂 I don’t think she really saw the cues on the reps where your hands were higher and she came directly to you – those had more of a high hand motion and not much foot-involvement, so she didn’t really see the cue as well.
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
I love how he seems to think this is super fun and offers wrapping and tunneling in the in-between moments!>> I’m glad you liked the connection – I was working really hard on it!>>
Your emphasis on connection is really showing, it looked great here too!
>> thought it went okay other than the obviously wrong verbal in the first rep. Doh! And note, this was even after I DID practice that one once without the dog. I choked!😆
Ha! It did go really well and he forgives you for the incorrect verbal on the first rep – you realized it as soon as it came out of your mouth LOL!!
The right verbal on the actual right rep was terrific in terms of timing and the support of the physical cue. Same with the left verbal on the last rep – spot on and he read it perfectly!
My only tweak here is on the GO rep where you can start yelling go and accelerating before he enters the tunnel, so he sees & hears it when he is still about 6 feet from the tunnel entry.>> And the other issue was the distraction of the noise that happened in the shop on the second rep. So it was good practice to work through that>>
Yes! That was a good distraction and he recovered from it immediately, going back to the game with focus and speed. Super!!
He is totally ready for the new game that is coming tomorrow! If you train today, take a look at the ‘find the jump’ game 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning! I am glad you are having good weather – it has been a HOT summer!!
The jumping form on her set point session was really good! The first couple of reps were perfect – powerful and consistent form. On the last 2 reps, she was hitting the first noodle. Was it due to a little fatigue? Was it because she was thinking hard about the stay? Not sure! But no worries, she will sort it out as we keep practicing. A new game gets posted tomorrow for the jumping skill 🙂
>>I have to bend over to get the handle and that amped her up a bit. I think we only got one true stay where she waited for me to actually say “break”. After the session, I moved to the deck and just put the MM on the ground and did some start lines with “catches” and then I bent over & squatted next to the MM before releasing her. She did much better without the jumps in front of her & the MM moving.>>
Yes – the bending over was exciting and then she seemed to be releasing as you started to move. So there was a little stay confusion. It was smart of you to work it separately to isolate that moment for her, that she should continue to stay even after bending and starting to move. Super!!
Zig zags also looked great. 4 fete apart? No problem, says Bazinga! Yay! You can now move them to 3 feet apart so she will have to be REALLY quick with her lead changes.
Speaking of lead changes:
>>I think she did well but what am I really looking for besides that she moves through the wings. Should I be looking at which leg she used to lead off with? If she is moving to her left, she should use her front left leg first, is that right?>>
Basically yes, that is what we are looking for… but it is really hard to see with a small dog who has very quick feet. You can see it on the video if you play it in super slow motion, she is doing it beautifully. I don’t worry about seeing it in real time (it is much easier to see on the bigger dogs than it is on the littler dogs). If she goes back and forth between the wings like she did here, looking smooth, then you can trust she is doing it correctly. If she is on the wrong lead, either she won’t go back and forth or she will fall over or stumble (she didn’t do any of that here).
>>I could use a better understanding of lead leg/changes.>>
I never had horse experience when I was younger, so my understanding of leads is based on dogs. In general, when coming towards us, they tend to want to be on the lead closer to us (which is fine). When we need them to move away laterally (like slice jumping) they generally have to change to the outside lead leg before coming back to the inside lead leg.
And more importantly: since we are not riding them and cannot cue it like we would on horseback, we have to train the pups to understand how to do it themselves without a lot of intervention from us.
Her “find the jump” game looked great! No problem at all! Yay! You made a good adjustment to start throwing the toy sooner, and that really helped her look forward on the line and not at you.
On the initial reps when you were throwing it early (before she got to the jump) you were looking forward a bit and not really connecting. At the end, though, when you were adding lateral distance (like at :45 and :51) you were connecting really well! So keep that strong connection and watch her face – when she looks at the jump, throw the toy (her focus on the jump is your cue to throw it :)). She is focusing on it basically as soon as she exits the tunnel and that is great!You can keep adding lateral distance, as well as getting ahead and running in closer to the tunnel so she drives ahead of you.
>>I used a toy and we even tugged between reps. She magically was both super into tugging but happy to trade for a treat on almost every rep. I left a clip in the video. We are not to a formal “out” yet. It is more like a quick trade before she changes her mind!>>
That was so cool to see!!! And the trade as an out cue is still perfectly fine and useful – no need to worry about a formal out cue right now, as she is going back and forth between cookies and the toy so well!
Great job here!!!!
Tracy
Yes! She was quite brilliant about it all. It is very cool that she can a) go really fast b) turn really well and c) process verbals even with a toy right there. What a good girl!!!!
T
Good morning! Super nice session here! You did a great job with the mechanic of lining her up, starting the verbal, then letting her rip. And she was terrific about bending really well through these turns. Yay!! The different positions for starting didn’t seem to be a problem at all. Nice!
You might have noticed that on a couple of reps she kept turning even with the toy placed straight past the 3rd jump. She was actually correct at :09/:56 and :31/:40 where you were saying turn turn turn and swing swing and she kept turning, ignoring the toy… the toy placement would require her to NOT turn on that last jump, so I loved that she continued to turn because the verbals said to keep turning. GOOD GIRL!!! When you said “get it” she went ot the toy, so she is clearly listening to her verbals!!
So, to be sure we reinforce her for continuing to turn: either place the toy so that she keeps turning to get it (it will be right in front of you) or have it in your hands. When you start working on her turning away from you – if she needs help, you can place the toy between the jumps on the turn line, and when it gets past jump 3, keep it on the turn line.
Great job here! She is definitely ready for you to begin the higher level challenge of getting her to turn away from you!
Tracy
Hi!
This went well too! VERY nice connection here and he was driving ahead brilliantly.
>>Am I still stepping back when he wraps to his left?>>
Yes – that is what was happening. When he was wrapping to his right, you had the wing in a great spot so you could do the FC then just go directly forward.
When you switch sides, it looks like you moved the wing a little but your straight line forward got you caught behind the wing of the jump. That is why you were stepping back a bit. So the easiest thing to do will be to move the wing more, so you can run straight lie you did on the other side (that looked terrific!)
>>Excuse my completely incorrect verbals. Poor puppy was getting “Check” for both directions>>
He forgives you LOL!!! You can take a moment before each rep to make sure you have the correct verbal ready, that will help make it easier to use the correct ones. And to add more spice, you can add in the GO GO GO for the straight line to the jump too 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi! I am so glad you are having fun! You two are looking terrific 🙂
>>My connection isn’t consistent but I see what a huge difference it makes when it’s good and when I get Chip information early. >
Yes, I think connection is super important with young dogs and overall, your connection is really really clear!! There is only one spot where you can have a bit more connection and it is in answer to your next question:
>>Is he cutting in toward me on his straight tunnel exits because I’m not far enough past the tunnel?>>
I don’t think it was your position (you were ahead of him on the tunnel exit), it was a connection question because on most of those reps you trying to send – which aded a little decel and on the send, you were looking ahead and your arm was ahead of him pointing to the wing. So he looked up at you to get the full picture and then went to the wing. You can see it at :08, :16, 1:01 and 1:22.
At 1:07 you definitely had better connection but your arm still forward so you still got a bit of the head check. So, to smooth it out, trying looking more directly at him as he exits the tunnel (but you keep accelerating to the wing) and have your fingers pointing back to his nose to reveal your entire upper body. Your hand can travel with him as he passes you, but for now don’t let your hand/arm be ahead of you when he is behind you, because it blocks connection.
>>We need more practice on our L and R verbals.>>
You were doing well here too! Keep working on getting those verbals out early. The Left was nice on the first few reps – nice timing and nice physical cue to match it (a little decelerated and I think he could see you turn).
When you revisited the lefts later in the video, you were late on the verbal on the 2nd to last rep, as compared to the early timing of the last rep verbal. Nice!! On those 2 reps, your physical cue was very accelerated so he had a delayed response to the left verbal because the motion overrode it. So, keep matching the physical cue to the verbal and he will get better and better at processing the verbal and turning nice and tight 🙂
The right turns started a little wide at :51, he just needed your shoulder turn to be visible before he entered the tunnel. But the right turns were super nice at 1:15 when you were doing the rights in the 2nd half of the video!!
Very nice “turn and burn” wraps on some of the reps too 🙂 He did have a bit of confusion about when to grab the toy at :38, so you can add a marker for when it is time to grab the toy. I say “bite!” which means “grab the toy in my hand and that helps the dog ignore the toy until they hear the marker (even when I accidentally dangle the toy in front of their faces LOL!!)
Great job 🙂
TracyHi!
Sorry I missed this, it has been a crazy weekend!!>> I’ve gotten much better at working with her barking. Instead of getting upset, I just try to figure out what’s causing it and fix it. You taught me that, thank you!>>
Yay! Yes, her barking is 100% communication, so things go better when we try to figure out what she has to say (she has BIG opinions and I love that!)
>>So is it better then when proofing All verbals to use the harness/tab and let them hear the word a few times before releasing?>>
yes – it lets her process them more, and it helps the dogs learn faster because they are hearing the verbal separately from the movement, so the verbals names the behavior more easily.
>>Also, I googled Repair of a MM and found a piece of kibble lodged in the motor. Whew, saved myself $150.>>
Ah! Brilliant! I never even thought of googling MM repair!
>>Now that it’s working again, should I go back to what she knows or now try using her toy on the ground? The MM keeps her very thoughtful and the toy escalates her drive.>>
I vote for letting her arousal come up – that way she learns to work in high arousal and regulate herself. If she gets over the top 🙂 you can help her out with the pattern game we did in MaxPup 1, that really helps regulate arousal.
>>We’d love to have you come out here and give a Seminar. Could you possibly do that sometime?>>
It would be super fun to come back to your area!! I am taking a break from any trips requiring air travel in 2024, so maybe we can look at 2025!
Tracy
Good morning!
She totally loves the minny pinny!
The turning towards in both directions looked really good – the turning away was harder for sure, especially turning to the left. It was on the left turns where she hit the noodles and also had an error. The right turn required thinking but I seemed easier for her to get each time.
But even with the left turns being harder, she made significant progress on this game – it is HARD and she was really successful!!!
>>I am trying to hang on to her so that she can hear the verbal first.
Yes, that worked well (she was definitely wanting to start without you) and it looks like you had some behind-the-back lining up happening too. Yay!!
>>On the more advanced “sends” where she is turning away or neutral at the center, if my feet are pointing in the direction I want her to go, she does much better. Do I need to fade that out? >>
I think you helped just enough to give her a hint so she could be successful… but it was barely any help 🙂 So your feet pointing that way were fine as you added the new challenge of turning away. Yay! So you can very gradually fade the foot position – no rush to do it, because the challenge is so hard. For the next session, do exactly what you did here and if she is more comfy with the left turns, then you can start to make your feet more ‘neutral’ and pointing straight rather than pointing to the line you want.
Love the cue close up of her face on the zig zags video 🙂
This went well too! I agree, the misses were more due to needing more drama in the handling 🙂 When you were big and dramatic, she got it really well – so using the foot and arm cues will help her as she sorts out how to be quicker and quicker. That will be especially true when she ha stop move to her left – that is harder!
So for the next session, leave the wings here at 4 feet and see how she does 🙂 We are building the organization and footwork, so we will give her time to sort it out 🙂OMG the water bottle gave is hilarious! And yes, chasing the spills is part of the fun for the dog haha!!! The GO reps were hardest to keep the water from spilling 🙂 but your connection was good and she had fun with the water.
You did a great job NOT spilling the water and she was really fast and had great commitment! Her only questions where when you were looking forward early in the session:
-At :35 on the wrap, you were looking at the wing so she looked at you 🙂
-At :41 and :56 on the left turn (she read it as a blind) Yes, switching hands will help as you saw on the next reps because she could see better connection and got the line nicely (and she also saw the line perfectly on the right turns).
Great job here!! If you wanted added challenge (especially in hot weather :)) then you can play this game with your arm full extended downward and elbow locked, so the water bottle is behind you and pointing to her nose – that is definitely harder!
Great job here 🙂
Tracy
