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Hi!
Based on what we know about the biology of the dogs, any time we step into the ring, we are testing their resilience 🙂 Training stimulate the stress hormones (doesn’t matter if it is a happy moment or a bad moment, it just is a moment :)) and so the resilience is the bounce back to baseline of these hormones. So, any time she enters the environment… we are testing resilience. And if there is frustration, then it is harder for the dogs to bounce back.
>>There were so many mini skill sets and not much running or handling that I saw it as training or teaching moments. That’s why I stopped and fixed>>
In handling sequences, though, the dogs almost always respond to our handling cues really well – especially young dogs who read the natural handling cues (like passing by the bar on a backside when our shoulders are closed, or not taking the jump when the rear cross pressure pushes them off it). So they are not dog training moments, they are handler error moments (trust me, I recognize them, because I make a LOT of errors in my handling LOL!!!)
So stopping to fix is confusing to dogs, especially young dogs… they did what our cues asked them to do, but then they are stopped without reward and asked to do something else (confusion = frustration!).
So if a dog misses a handling cue, I will note it and not stop if possible or reward the next obstacle – then if I know what happened, I can start again and try to show clearer handling. If I don’t know what happened, I will go look at the video before the next rep (this is something that agility people just don’t want to do, and for the life of me, I can’t figure out why LOL!! It is SO HELPFUL!)
>>The courses are getting harder for the baby dog so I may just need to take fronts or not work the skills but use my time to simply work on teamwork and resilience so I myself don’t get frustrated.>>>
You can totally do clearer lines for her and not worry as much as about any of the skills that she might not have on course yet. That will help the teamwork a lot, and staying in flow will definitely help the resilience!
Tracy
Hi! Thanks for the update! It sounds like all 3 boys are doing really well!
Buddy and Alonso will need that come in cue, so I am glad you got a chance to teach it!! You can see with Mookie how helpful it is 🙂
If the sequences are pretty easy (for Mookie in particular) you can work them with the dogs in higher arousal – get ’em a bit crazy before each run! That will give you more of a feel for what it will be like at trials when they are more stimulated, which also means going faster 🙂 That will give your timing and connection a really good workout, to see when/where/how they need the cues when they are in more of a trial-like state.
>>Never thought I would have a flyball dog. It is kinda cool>>
Super!! So fun!! And a nice balance from agility too 🙂
Nice work with the boys! Keep me posted!
TracyHi!
>>That’ll be better than squeeze cheese in the can which I think is just not healthy for anyone LOL.>>
HA! Yes, that is probably true lol
First video:
Because it was a new location and you were running fast, he had a lot to process with the jumps and tunnel here, in terms of his brain sorting out what to do and then telling his body to do it.And based on what we know about processing: adolescent creatures (human, canine, etc) are not so good at it LOL! And that is what you were seeing here. Totally normal. He was in a different environment (the building, the heat, the toy play, etc) so his brain had to prioritize either motion OR taking the jump… the brain could not do both. This is not operant, it was not a choice 🙂 so by the time he really saw the jump when you were running, he was already past it.
So when you had less motion or were squarely between the uprights, on the 2nd video, he did a lot better because the brain could prioritize the jump.
Next time you are in a different (non-home) environment and doing some handling, give him a warm up to help his brain process the jumps sooner: first, do a little of the pattern game so he can assess the environment. He is great at that game! Second, do at least one go-round in each direction with the lazy game – that will also help him see those jumps. Then I bet you can get into the handling!
He did well at the start of the stay session! It looks to me like he thinks the delivery of the cookie is the release because every time you delivered one and stepped away, he stood up (he held the sit if you didn’t step away, but then he started offering other behavior).
So to get more distance and duration here, you can use the release and the food differently. There are 3 options:
– you can come back and give him a cookie, then release him rather than move away again (this is my least favorite option, because a lot of dogs. – small dogs in particular – move their feet when we come back to deliver cookies)
– you can step away and throw the reward back to him (this is a release too)
– you can step away and release him forward to you and the reward.
The stays are built off the releases, so clarifying the releases will make a huge difference : )
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Lots of good work here!!
Wingin’ It 1 – he is doing well! I think the hardest part was the toy – he was not always sure if he should go to the toy (especially when you switched hands) or if he should go to the wing. So to smooth it out, tuck the toy into a pocket or your waistband for each rep, then bring it out to reward. That will allow you to focus on the cues (arm/leg stepping to the wing, verbals, and shifting connection to the wing)
With that connection shift – as you start the swab back to the wing, you ca let him see you look from his eyes back to the wing. On the reps where you did that, he had no questions! When you looked at him a bit too long (instead of the wing), he looked at you more before going to the wing.
For example, on the 3rd video – at :05 you were looking at him more than looking at the wing so he had a question about going to it. Compare to :37 and :50 for example, where it looks like you looked more at the wing, and he had no questions 🙂 Yay!!!
Since this is going so well, you can add more countermotion by moving forward sooner as he is passing you to go to the wing (as long as you look behind you to the wing to support his commitment :))
Looking at the targeting videos:
I think he thought doing the 2o2o on the wobble board was weird at first LOL! You can start him at the side of the wobble board so he hops on the side and then gets into position, kind of like what you did at about :42 – he was very confident with that!
I love the mini a-frame! The target definitely helps him, so only have him go towards the target and then reward, then release him forward off of it. Or, have a target on each side 🙂 Without the target, he is relying on your and we don’t want him to think that you are part of the behavior. With that in mind, try not to help him with your hand too much, because he started looking at your hand for the treat 🙂
You can have him go across it and into his 2020, and you keep moving forward past him by a step or two, very slowly… and if he hits his position, then you can go give him his treats 🙂 We don’t want you to be next to him or decelerating to help him stop, because ideally you would be running someplace else on course 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Looking at the double blinds:
I don’t think it is a ‘can’t turn right’ issue, it was more of a “double blinds are hard AF” issue 🙂 And they are not that hard once the dogs understand what to do, but they are wicked hard for us handlers!!The struggles here on the right turns were all connection struggles – you didn’t make a direct connection and your right arm was at your side – so while you might have seen her peripherally, she did not see the connection (which is the turn cue) so she did not come through the gap (young dogs will not save us on this skill if we are not connected).
Compare to the other side, which was more successful:
At 1:10 look at how you reach your connection all the way back to her and your arm is back, and you don’t do the 2nd blind til you see her make the turn. NICE!!!Going back to the right turns: Compare to 1:18 where you never made connection (great camera view!) so she had no idea she was supposed to come into the gap (feet were moving on the same line, no change in upper body connection she could see – that is mostly what she saw on the right turn reps). So make the same connection on the right turn reps as you did on the left turns: dog side arm back behind you and low, with a very direct eye contact.
You should reward the reps where she doesn’t come into the gap because it is a safe bet that either there was no enough connection, or it was too late. Also, take the verbals off for now – partially because verbals have something to do with the wings so the verbals might have been driving her to the next wing when the motion supported that. And a name call can help her see the connection better (as long as you show it to her LOL!)
Placing the toy and stopping helped her… but as you see at 1:48 and 2:07 did not get you to give the connection (again – reward her, it is a handler error not a dog error! If you are frustrated, stop the session and play the video in slow motion!)
Even though you threw the toy at the end, you communicated your frustration and you can see her getting tentative. So if a handling session is going awry and she has failed twice – rather than place a toy, take a look at the video and see if it is a connection question.I think she liked the teeter downhill game, especially with the tugging beforehand! Very fast, and there was tip and she didn’t mind at all. Super!!! You can keep very very gradually adding tip here and keeping her pumped up 🙂
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! The rear crosses look great here!
With her speed, you don’t have time to decelerate to set the line… you just have to get on the RC line to the center of the bar even if you are a little ahead of her – and she will whiz past you. The 1st 3 reps had a tiny heartbeat of you waiting for her, which delayed the RC pressure line a bit (but not a lot, because she still read it!), The last one was the best one – no waiting, you just got right up on her tail and it was GREAT! She is happy to drive past you on those, so feel free use that to your advantage and stay ahead of her in a lot of places. Some RCs might need a deceleration to turn her to the correct line, but these did not.
>>Her turns/wraps at the rear cross were pretty wide, but I am not too worried – was it my timing that caused that?>>
Speaking of decel… you would need to decelerate as she was passing you to get them tighter. No worries though, no need to decelerate into wraps – with young dogs, we are happy to get the driving wider and forward out of rear crosses because we will need that skill a lot.
Great job!!
TracyHi! I am glad the pups are doing great!!!
Ooh, these are looking great! She is better to her left than to her right, so you can move more quickly through the circle wraps to her left (when she was on your right on the far side of the field away from the camera) and be a bit more patient when she turns right (starting on your left , closer to the camera).
Basically that means when she is turning to her left? You had tp really hustle because she was flying LOL!! Yay! That was great. And on the rep where she turned right, you had to decelerate and wait til she turned her head more and took a step in the wrap direction. You made that adjustment really well!
The FCs all looked great, and so did the blind cross exits especially when going back to the far side of the tunnel.
Tight blinds – you can trust her more especially on those left turns at the beginning, and start the blind when she is just past halfway between the tunnel and the wing.
You were starting just as she was arriving at the wing, so she was slowing down a little to wait for more info.:24 was a stride before the wing – getting better with the timing! 1:01 was the earliest one (yay!) and you were basically done with with the blind when she was a full stride before the wing. Getting this to be one stride sooner (and keeping your arms in tight to your ribs) will help you get those wicked double blinds 🙂
Blind cross exit to get to the tunnel at :28 & :38 :53 worked great – she is reading those brilliantly!
And I think she really liked chasing you for the toy – fun fun fun!!
You can definitely move to the double blinds here as well as the other handling games Great job!
TracyHi!
I hope Posh is feeling better! That must have been really scary!!!She looked really happy here and yes, the MM is in a good spot. She might be looking for a tug, so you can tug in between reps: tug- cookie toss- threadle – MM – tug and back to the beginning 🙂
Moving threadle looks great on both sides here! Going to her left on the 2nd video was a bit harder at first but she got it. Super!!! The next step is to add some more angles of her approach, but no rush on that. On the easier angles, you can keep getting more and more upright, having your threadle arm a bit higher (just a couple of inches at first) so you don’t have to be as bent over.
Great job!
TracyHi!
Turn and burn on the wing looks really strong – no trouble with the wing instead of a barrel (maybe even easier because she can see you better)!You can totally use a little more of a send cue – you were kind of letting her offer when she was on your left side, and a bit more of a send on your right side, so feel free to use the arm and leg next to her to do a distinct send. During the transition when you are getting the toy back, let her get all 4 feet back on the ground and then send her, sometimes you were a shade early 🙂
>>Her right here seems more secure than left, I have to hold the left longer and she’s looking at me more on that side.>>
That is normal and also fine, she is is pretty balanced! You did a great job of holding position a shade longer on that side.
Definitely start to leave sooner. As you leave earlier and earlier, 2 ideas for you:
Put a line on the ground to mark the exit point you want to leave, so you end up leaving earlier every couple of reps when she gets to the line (and move the line closer to you so you can see the moment to leave sooner).As you start to do the FC as she arrives at the wing or even before she arrives at it, you can start one or two steps further back from the wing. That extra space will make it easier to see when she is getting to the wing – it won’t be as immediate 🙂
>>Also our routine is to trade a treat for the tug. But midway through I tried to just ask for the tug and go in hopes of making things speedier. But I believe that took longer and didn’t go over well with her. Back to the trade.>>
I agree – the trade is faster and easier, it creates a nice clean transition 🙂
It is more ideal to do this on surface where she can dig in more – but based on weather coverage, I don’t think grass is in the future right now! Do you have a rug she can do this on, so she can use her little feet to really grip and dig into the turn?
Great job here!!
Tracy
I like the watermelon colors!!
The left/rights on the noodles look good too! The spacing is perfect, the noodles are a good size for her.
Yes, the right turns are a little more comfy for her but she also did a great job with the left turns.
>>Couldn’t find your example of doing FC so put one in where I thought you described.>>
You did it perfectly – as she is doing the noodles in one direction, you do the FC and turn to the other direction. Yay!
This one is just something to revisit here and there for now – we add more to this setup in MaxPup 2 🙂
>>Her training seems to be getting easier.>>
Maybe the two of you are coming to the understanding of how to work with each other as a team, rather than frustrating each other by working as individuals 🙂 The sessions look lovely!
Tracy
Hi!
>>We had some difficulty with stuff
. So I’m posting some troubles we had.>>I watched all 3 videos woking for the trouble… I didn’t see any trouble LOL! Hashing out timing and toy placement and how long to look at the landing spot before moving? Sure! But you made great adjustments and she was VERY successful.
She was so funny in the first video – PUMPED UP to do the game and trying to start without you LOL!!!
It took her a moment to realize that it was over the bump THEN to the barrel but then she was great on the right turns.
2nd video: yay for stays! This is a good choice to start the stays because it is easy to stay connected as you back away. She did a great job! And the countermotion went well too! Good job throwing n some stay rewards too.
3rd video – left turns: stays are looking good here too! And she did really well with the left turns as well. The difference in her left and right tuns are barely noticeable in these sessions.
And you win the stay challenge on these sessions – all sorts of stays, and you released or rewarded before she broke ANY of them. Yay! That is the road to getting very happy stays 🙂
>>So I found I had to keep my eyes on her landing spot/commitment to the barrel longer on her weaker turn side/left. Does that mean I need to go away slower or just keep my eyes and arm supporting her commitment longer as I go away?>>
Both! Go slower, and stay connected to the landing spot longer, to really support her there. It will get easier as she grows up.
>>Tug-sit-treat-wait went pretty well. Although I still need to reward her Stay often so far. But I don’t mind, she likes it.>>
Yes, it is all about a flow and teamwork. And I think it looked really smooth! And yes, keep rewarding a lot of stays – I like to keep rewarding stays until the dog is 10 or 11 years old LOL!
Great job here! Let me know what you think and stay cool!!!
TracyHi!
He did well figuring out the countermotion!
Yes, he needed you to get closer and help him out – the toy was REALLY EXCITING plus not having seen it for a bit put big question marks over his head. You can also do a warm up of facing the wing and sending forward once or twice, then sending sideways… then working up to sending backwards. That can get it jumpstarted faster 🙂
The race track looked great at the end! Try not to say “yes” or “yay” for each one, because it causes him to look at you (the markers are paired with reward :)) So you can use your soft turn verbals and save the reward marker for the end.
I am loving his toy play here!!!!
Teeter is looking great! The cookies on the target AND you being there with him at the top to help him turn around both seemed to really help support confidence! You can add a wing wrap before the teeter now, to add more speed! Continue to have the cookies at the top (if they bounce off, maybe use a tiny bit of cream cheese to help glue them on LOL!) and also stay with him at the top for now, so he can feel confident turning around at that height.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
>>So it turns out the secret to agility is… CONNECTION!

Yes! So easy… NOT!! It is the hardest thing in dog agility. Especially with smaller dogs – harder to see because they are lower to the ground!I think you did a great job here with the connection (looking downwards is the key) and also making adjustments for when there was a little break in connection. And also a great job staying in flow if something went wrong!
Warm up – because threadles are almost always done in motion (except for the occasional threadle lead out), try to always be moving as you train them even if the movement is slowed down and subtle. So for the slices, be walking forward towards the jump. And for the wraps, you can add more movement of the shoulders and feet away from the jump and hand motion back to it.
On the threadle slices, try to run towards the threadle jump more and try not to pull away from it. When you ran towards it? She got it every time. When you pulled your line away from it? She would come in but not see the line to go back out, which required you to push back to the jump and puts you a little out of position for the next line.
The places where you were pulling a bit too far away were at 1:07, 1:28, 1:52 for example.
He rest of sequence 1 looked great!
Seq 2: You can do more pull of your shoulders on the wrap in flow and if you review it, review with motion and flow 🙂 When you are moving forward trying to get her on your hands, the rest of the body looks like a threadle slice. So the shoulder turn away from the jump will help!
Nice adjustment on the 7-8 line: At 3:19 you did not wait until she cued you that she was seeing the line to 8, so she did not take the jump. On the next rep, you watched her til she cued you, and you both nailed it. Fabulous!!
Seq 3
On the threadle slice on jump 4 at 3:58, you were far from the jump, and decelerated a lot, so she came in but did not know about going back out. Compare to 4:58 – your motion was better and more directly to the jump, so she got it. Yay!She ended up on the off course jump at the end instead of the tunnel – you might have been a little late turning and you had a bit of convergence there that might have pushed her out, plus she might have been fatigued (it is a lot of sequencing!). You can totally reset her with a cookie in that spot, because it is entirely possible the cues were not super clear there.
On the threadle wrap 8-9-10, turning the shoulders away fr the line will help here too, along with deceleration. You were getting her attention on your hands but the hand cues were opposite of the motion cues (which more forward moving and relatively quick). The more you decelerate on those wraps cues, the more she will realize the wrap is coming and put the collection in before takeoff.
Great job here!!! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
