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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 🙂
TracyHi!
It was really interesting that she was driving out of the tunnel that direction – she was 1000% convinced that she should stay on that line. She was really sure that it was the outside of that other wing (it doesn’t look like there was anything else out there drawing her eye).
You did a really good job trying to figure out how to get her to see the line while still keeping things fun for her! That is so helpful when the dog is doing unexpected things LOL!! Changing the tunnel angle and jump position helps (it was more of a straight line). I think the thing that helped the most was when you added the name call, that really turned her! All of the reps where she went past the jump didn’t have the name, and she started turning to find the jump when you said her name.
So definitely keep using her name 🙂 and you can do it sooner: to be sure she is turned on the exit of the tunnel, say her name before she goes in so she hears it and sets up the turn.
If she gets into the mode of going around the jump like she did here, you can give her a different visual: leave the inside wing and the bar (or a bump) there, and take out the outside wing that she is using o go to the backside. That can make the bar and inside wing more prominent so she will turn to see them better hopefully 🙂
Great job on these!
TracyHi!
This was a good mental workout for her! Serps are hard for the young dogs as we add handler motion, so we often get the running past it on a parallel line like she did at the beginning. She started to come in for the jump when you stopped moving which was good to get things rolling, so now we want her to be able to get the jump while you move too 🙂So for the next session, angle the jump as much as needed so as she exits the wing wrap and can totally see the bar and the reward past it as you are moving (and doing the serp upper body arm like you did here). You can angle it as much as 90 degrees at the beginning to get the value building on the jump, then start to angle it back towards the flat direction bit by bit.
Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
Zig zags went well! When you started using a lot more drama on the cues, she started figuring out what the game was about. So definitely keep using the big drama cues 🙂 as they will help her know when to change leads – she was at her best when you did BIG upper body movements. You can go all he way out to the 3rd wing now and see how she does (it looks like you were halfway between wings 2 and 3 at the end? And if that goes well, you can move the wings in closer together by about a foot so she has to make quicker lead changes 🙂
Feel free to mix in lots of stay rewards – she was anticipating the release a bit here so you can move to position then throw a reward back.
Great job!
TracyHi!
She did a great job with the Minny Pinny!! She was smooth and fast in both directions. Her only question came in the form of the hop-and-paw-thwack when she finished and to to your hand. So to help smooth that out, you can draw her across the front of you (between you and the wings) by rewarding with the opposite hand (same hand on the side she starts on): for example, when you start her on your right side, you can reward with your right hand by presenting it on your left him as she finishes the 3rd wing, then let her follow the hand as you draw her across your front. You were correctly draw her across to the end position, so the reward delivery from the opposite hand should help get her to stop whacking you LOL!!!
The next step to this would be to add in the left/right verbals that you want to use, and ideally starting with a gentle hold so you can say the verbal 3 or 4 times and then let her start moving. That really solidifies the verbal. How does she feel about a harness? Maybe use a harness if she likes it better than the neck collar hold, and a short tab.
Very clever to use the teeter for the pill bug! She did great here! Yes, pulling your hair back will help maintain connection but overall, your connection was very strong. You can totally add the blind cross to get her to your other side and do the circle around the teeter on the inside (between you and the teeter).
>>Today we did the pill bug and she was able to leave for food when I had her high value toy. WOOT WOOT. The oval was too “sharp” for her size I think.>>
She did a GREAT job switching from good to the toy!!! That is super! And the oval might have been a little small but you can expand it – you can use some wings or cones to simulate a bigger pill bug 🙂 or even as a 2nd “tunnel”. She is ready for more!
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>It wasn’t perfect but I think we made progress.>>
That is the goal of all sessions: progress, not perfection 🙂
Serps are looking good! Doing them with the toy worked really well.
>>I didn’t set it on the ground cuz I didn’t want her to self reward if not right. So I threw it instead.>>
Throwing it was a good start here, but placing the toy on the ground will get her to stop looking up at you over the bar. So, you can split the difference with the level of challenge: since the toy on the ground might be more challenging, you can angle the jump a little more so it is easier to see the bar. I bet she does just fine 🙂 and I am not worried if the pups ge tthe toy by going around the jump. You don’t have to engage, just call her back and reset (making the angle of the jump easier, if needed).
And if that goes well, you can add more of your motion too. Because motion will also be more challenging, you can angle the jump to make that element easier while another element (motion!) gets harder.
The wraps on the wing are looking good when you were moving! I think the one she had trouble with had a lot of motion and it looked like you were moving towards the jump, so be sure to make a BIG connection to her eyes when you do that to help the rotation override the motion.
One other detail – she has a question about the line ups which me be affecting her line ups in the other games. Sometimes you are lining her upwith the hand cues but then immediately sending to the wing. And sometimes you are using the same hand cue to line her up but you want her to stay at your side, so she is confused (and vocalizes about it LOL!) So, be as consistent as possible: you can line her up, reward at your side, then release and send to the wing on all reps. Then she can predict what is happening and have an easier time doing it.
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>We’re now taking all games possible outside. It’s harder.
Harder, yes! But important. You can keep things simpler as you move outside, because the environment adds the complexity.
>>We had to refresh this exercise. Then the turning away in 3 positions with No motion to help her ‘proved’ 😉 difficult for us. But we got better.>>
Yes, definitely good work hree! She did well with the turning towards you reps. The turn away was indeed too hard (frustration barking) at first, so moving closer so she could see the bar was very helpful. When you moved back, it was hard again so stay in the position where the bar is more visible for several reps to really pump up the understanding. You don’t need to do all 3 positions in one session – for the turning away in particular, you can stay in position for a while until she is really comfortable.
>>I think some of the trouble we were having with her barking at me, was she wanted the toy. I had to but it out of sight, with the extender it’s hard to crumble up in my hand.>>
I think that part of the barking was frustration over not being sure about the line up. The hand signal confuses her – is it a line up or is it a cue to move? She was not entirely sure, so barking. Lining her up with a cookie lure (rather than a moving hand cue) will smooth all of that out. And definitely try the harness/short tab option for holding her so she can hear the verbal a few times, then move when you let go. I think some of her question was whether she should move on the verbal or not. So, being able to restrain a little to get the verbals going will help clarify things too.
Nice work here!
TracyGood morning!
That toy is hilarious! I bet old shoes and socks would be great too LOL!!
He did better with the collar holding here when you just gently took the collar and did not move him with it – his first impulse was still to chew on you a bit but then he stopped when you remained stationary.
His wrap versus tunnel discrimination work went really really well!!! Super high rate of success. You can totally go to the advanced level where he does the tunnel to the wing, or tunnel to the tunnel again 🙂
Yes, you can move the wing closer but I think going to the advanced level will be more fun and he is ready for it.
Looking at the smiley face video – he was definitely pumped up and happy to play, and the extra distance made for extra running which he liked a WHOLE LOT. And great commitment too!
He did like the food toy a lot here (might have been hungry :)) and it worked well! He wanted to start without you, so you can use food reward or tugging to help him line up and to buy you some time to get ready before he starts LOL!
And I really loved your emphasis on connection here – WOWZA It looked great! For example, look at the rep from 1:22 – 1:30. Note the gorgeous connection you gave him as he exited the first wing wrap (arm back, eye contact) so he had zero questions, a tight turn, and a fast, straight line to the tunnel. And on the left turn, super clear connection from the tunnel exit through the wings – lots of speed and no questions 🙂
You can do more rewards for the tunnel specifically – most of the rewards are coming for the wings, so you can build more love for the tunnel by tossing the reward at the end of it.
He wasn’t quote ready to be done when the timer went off…. Perfect! Let him wanting more!
Since this looks great and we want more tunnel love, you can move to the tunnel exit turns game (week 2) and also the “find the jump” game (week 3) both of which has fun tunnel options and more skills to play with.
Great job!!!
TracyGood morning!
I hope your back is feeling better – OUCH!!!Check out the line up and collar hold games I posted on the course syllabus page for this week – so many pups in this group are like Rebel in that they don’t yet love the collar holding, so I added some games to help with that and also alternate line up ideas 🙂
Looking at the set point: Really nice session!
She looked so adorably shocked when you gave her permission to run to the MM. Ha! So cute! But she totally got into the rhythm of it and was happy to drive ahead. Yes, you can name the MM but also the ‘beep’ can be what provides permission to go to it (beep it before you let her go, for now).She seemed to be happy to let you hold her here! Maybe because it was predicting going to the MM? I am glad she looked so happy with it! The next step here is to try to get her front feet about 6 inches from the 1st bar, so she doesn’t put any strides in before jump 1 (adds to he hind end ‘push’ if she doesn’t take strides into it). Her coordination is looking good and that is the whole point of this game with the pups – get coordinated!
And you can move the MM further away by another 6 feet, so she strides powerfully out of the set point too. The distance here looked good (that might change as she matures because Dobes tend to have a HUGE stride in a good way :))
The wind in your hair game is going well too! It was really fun to see her figuring it out, going from jumping up at you and paw thwacking you at the beginning to actively looking for the jump by the end of it. YAY!!! Your connection was generally perfect (I think there was only one oopsie rep where you didn’t connect and she didn’t take the jump). And your timing of the reward throw was good – at the beginning, it was really hard to throw the reward when she looked at the jump because she was looking at you the whole time LOL!
But then she started looking forward sooner so you moved up your timing, like at :56 when you tossed it as soon as she looked ahead. Lovely!
She seemed better on your right side? Might be a slight side preference from her but she was pretty well-balanced overall.
>>I know with time, she will start jumping fine. But right now she’s trying to knock my hands. Once the treat went flying, it became a game. She didn’t send as well to the manners minder as she did with cheese. I’ll have to play with using toys vs food in my hand vs manners minder.>>
I agree, she will start jumping fine soon 🙂 And yes, at the beginning (and especially on your left side as you moved to the jump) she was very focused on the cheese hands and would thwack you when she was not sure what to do.
Since the cheese was more valuable than the MM to her on this game, you can give her a visual focal point to drive to, like a big empty food bowl and use your ‘dish’ cue: as soon as she looks forward after the wrap wing, you can say “dish” and run forward/toss the cheese into it. The focal point of the dish will get her looking forward sooner, should reduce the thwacking 🙂 and you can also start adding more of your motion.
You can also play with using a toy here too! Throwing the toy is always a good option, and a fun element is to place the toy on the ground past the jump and see if she will move away from it with you to wrap the wing and then drive over the jump to the toy. That is a nice little impulse control moment so feel free to use food rewards to reinforce her for moving away from the toy on the ground 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>My current one (which cracks me up) is I yell “serp!” and rely completely on body language and Frankie loves serps, so she reads them well and everyone thinks I have a 3 jump verbal! Bwahahahahaha! I>>
Ha! Brilliant! I love calling things what they are LOL! A friend of mine has several different breeds, so she doesn’t call their names on course (because, who can remember which dog it is when you are running 5 LOL!) so she feels their breeds: “TERRIER!” For “KELPIE!!!” So funny!
>>Do you give a directional on each jump of the serp line?>>
Depends on the dog and what they respond better too. A more ‘verbal’ dog can hear the lefts and rights (or sometimes wraps, depending on how hard the serp is). Other dogs do better with name calls. We get it all figured out as we build this up into bigger sequences.
>>We did our first session of Sends & Serps! I was happily surprised that she read it. When we tried it a few months ago it was very hard for both of us. >>Yes! She looked great!!! What a difference a few months makes!
The serp part on the first video looked terrific!
>>She wanted to go fast, so I tried to keep up with her. I’m not sure I really succeeded in opening my shoulders and keeping my arm back.>>
I think as the serp jump gets angled more and more so it is harder, you will be able to work more on the upper body facing the jump. This line was easy for her, so she was going 10,000 MPH and there was not much time to do anything besides run LOL!
The only hard part was the sending to the wing on the first video – if you were not big enough with the step to the wing and the connection, and if you tried to turn too early, she didn’t commit. But when you held connection and did a big step to the wing like at :57 and 1:00, perfect!
Nice reset cookies when things went awry – with handling games, we are making all sorts of little adjustments so those reset cookies help keep her happily in the game with us 🙂
>> I lost connection with her on the wraps and remembered to look at her & BOOM! It worked.>>
Yes! That was a great adjustment and really helped her start to differentiate the wrap on the wing versus the soft turn to the serpentine.
So the next step is to make the serp jump a little flatter, maybe by 6 inches? That way you can gradually angle it into the difficult “flat” serp jump.
Her lead change game looked great too! Having built up her stay really helps because you were able to lead out as far as you wanted. And the cool thing here, too, was that she was able to do all the in-and-out with just arm cues rather than needing you to turn your feet. Most small dogs need feet to help them, but Bazinga did not. Yay!!!
I didn’t see any lead change questions from her – her only question was when you were not quite all the way at wing 3, and she was not sure if she should go past you to it. But that question got answered when you were closer to wing 3, no problem.
So the next step for this game is to bring the wings closer together so she gets to practice doing her lead changes quicker and quicker. Move the wings to 4 feet apart and see how she does (your cues will need to be quicker too). And if that goes well, you can eventually move them to 3 feet apart for ultimate lead change quickness!
Great job 🙂
TracyGood morning! Lots of good work here. And happy birthday, Reacher!!!!
Set point – his form is looking good, this distance seems to be the sweet spot for now (it might change as he matures). He just needed a reminder to hold the stay until released – the dragging toy is tempting! The jumping form was best when he broke the stay on the first rep though LOL!!! But the moving target definitely helps him keep his head low and form nicely rounded.
One suggestion is to make sure he is looking at the moving toy before you release – at 1:32 he was looking at something else and the form was not as good on that rep. But overall he is looking good – the early reps in the session are better than the last rep in terms of form, which might mean he gets a little fatigued (it is a workout!) so you can do 2 or 3 reps, take a break, then do another 2 or 3 reps rather than do them all in a row.
Next session – outdoors, weather permitting 🙂 His mechanics on grass will be different. And yes, a bar to replace the towel is good but the towel was very useful here!!!
>>I agree he doesn’t really like that, but he bites me all the time even when I don’t have him by the collar. He’s is just SO bitey!>>
Yes, some pups are very mouthy at this stage, I am glad to hear he is getting better! On the course syllabus page, I added several games to improve the collar grabbing and lining up. There are a bunch of dogs in this group that have the same feelings about the collar grabbing 🙂
>>Finally it’s not raining so we could get back outside!
This video is the first video from last week – can you repost the new video?
Smiley face video:
>>Again, I had a bit of collar work but I seriously was being much more gentle than I think it looks on video, both in this game and the next one below.>>
You were being gentle indeed, but you were moving him around by the collar on some of the reps and I think that is what he was uncomfortable with.
The best starts in terms of happy collar holding were when you tugged with him til he was in position, took hold of the collar and started without moving him around.
Nice connection here on the sequences! Great job with the verbals!
>>It wasn’t terrible but but also he wasn’t all that excited.>>
It might be that the distances were a little short (so you can spread the wings out further from the tunnel). Also, the toy reward is coming relatively close to you, so he is going fast to catch up then decelerating to get the toy near you. You can throw the toy to different places especially ahead of you, to get more acceleration past you on these lines.>>I actually am starting to think he’s the first dog I’ve had that isn’t really a big fan of tunnels!>>
He was good about committing to the tunnels for sure! Yo can get more acceleration into the tunnels by doing a few sessions of rewarding the tunnels heavily by having the toy landing at the tunnel exit, regardless of where you are. That way he can leave you in the dust and drive to the tunnel even more 🙂
>>BUT ALSO – I was a very bad handler and I forgot to put that toy in my pants today so that I could not switch it in my hands. I noticed that right away upon watching the video and was so annoyed that I forgot that!>>
Or, carry a toy in each hand! That way you don’t have to remember to put it in your pocket and you can’t switch it from hand to hand.
Looking at the Wind In Your Hair games:
He did really well with the concept and framework of the game, so now we can start hitting the gas pedal and getting even more acceleration ahead of you 🙂
With the thrown toy on the first video, he was watching you more and moderating his speed to stay nearer o you and the toy in your hand. So to get more acceleration, you can make it more of a toy race – rather than throw and decelerate, throw and race him to the toy and if you get there first: dance party of one, starring you 🙂 My guess is that he will quickly realize that he might lose the race, and turn on more speed to win.
I think the placed toy on the 2nd video produced more speed for sure!! And you can still race him to it… you both know it is there so you can make it “whoever gets there first wins” scenario 🙂 Plus there is the impulse control element of having to wrap t he wing before driving to it (although his cheating moment was hilarious :))
>>Again, I tried to be super gentle with the collar but he sure made it look like he was being a bit man-handled.
He was aroused (that is a good thing!) and that is when the pups protest being moved by the collar more than usual. With that in mind, this is a good spot to smooth out the line up so you can hold him but don’t need to move him by the collar:
– Tug him into position where you want to start
– Put a hand on the collar, facing the way you want to go so you don’t have to move him
– Throw the toy to the spot you want. Now, that can prove tricky so you can challenge him a bit more by placing the toy then having him walk with you back to the starting point (SO MUCH HARDER!) rather than move him by the collar. You might need to use food rewards to help him learn to NOT drive to the toy on the ground while you move to the starting position, but that will allow you to get the toy placed and line him up to start.Great job here!! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
