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Good morning!
Video 1 – It is great to be able to practice coming into the ring while the previous dog is still working the sequence! Lift seemed perfectly happy to enter with engagement on both reps here. It was a little hard to see exactly what she was doing, but it looks like she had very confident body language and quick responses to cues. Yay! Definitely see if you can do this when you go back to classes 🙂
My only suggestion is to play any games where jumps are not involved away from the sea of jumps 🙂 We want to avoid any value shifts to following you instead of looking for jumps (ideally she looks for jumps when you are moving around a course). So if you do NFC without asking for jumps, stay behind the start line and go near any jumps (even if they are offset, we just don’t want to get her ignoring them 🙂 )Wing practice – She did great with the wing, of course.
Sometimes they don’t need to shake it off and are all business about getting to work – I think that is what happened at the beginning when she was like “don’t touch me, I want to wrap the wing” hahaha! She did do the shake and get engaged – I think that is part of figuring out her needs. It is possible that in some contexts, if she is engaged and does not do a shake-off, then she doesn’t need it. But if she doesn’t do a shake-off and isn’t really engaged (you can gauge that by asking her to bark or something), then you can try to get the shake-off with the backwards petting. Time and experience will let you know which works best, and what is needed in different contexts. Part of the joy of young dogs is we walk into various situations armed with a toolbox of things to do, but not necessarily knowing which tool is needed in the moment. Lots of adjustments happening all the time 🙂>I am undecided on when Lift should make her “NFC play in the ring and leave” debut. I want it to be on her home “turf” at Fusion so my choices are Jan 11-12, Feb 15-16 or May 3-4. >
I guess it depends on what you mean by play in the ring and leave 🙂 If it is go in, do a lineup (but not at a jump) then run to the food box, then back in to a lineup, etc – then. I think January is fine. I would do it near the food box but not near a jump, so there is no confusion or frustration about why she is not taking the jump when there are jumps right there 🙂 Think of it as all happening behind the start line and with people as distractions.
If you are thinking any baby dog sequence stuff then I agree with you, Jan is probably too soon only because she has not had enough recovery time from the spay to be able to practice real agility.
I am pretty sure you can remove a bar and do wing wraps, though!
>She is in the novice session with Casey Keller at Fusion on Feb 14 so I would leave her at home to chill out on Sat and then try NFC on Sunday for that one.>
Perfect, that should be good timing for NFC fun stuff.
> I am also secretarying a MAC trial at On the Run on Feb 1-2 but think I should try to get her in there for a mini seminar before a trial. (Jacque may have one on Jan 31 if her knee surgery goes well) Lift has tagged along several times when Kaladin is trialing there but hasn’t done anything in the ring, just a few short sessions on the practice jump when it was quieter and played in their back room. >
Do they have a food box there? You can also play it by ear and see how she is doing just before the trial.
>There is also a Mar 22-23 UKI trial at OTR that I am not secretarying but am considering for her assuming an earlier Fusion debut goes well. >
Perfect!!! That one should be on the calendar for sure.
>(Kaladin would stay home since it’s right before the Invitational) >
You might consider bringing him along even if he doesn’t run, as social support for her if she is used to having him around when you go to new places.
>And I have a longer term aspirational goal of having her ready to run the SS Challenge at MAC’s Classic at OTR over Memorial Day weekend. (maybe NFC but no food reward box for a Classic) >
Fun! That is a reasonable goal/time frame.
>Does MaxPup video review end on the 30th or the 31rst?
It ends on the 30th. My goal is to have the structure for the young dog support group set up today, hopefully, but we have decent temps and no rain and maybe even blue skies, so I need to get the dogs outside LOL!
Nice work here 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
Happy retirement to Cody!
>I think he’s so close to getting it all together, just need to figure out the couple of missing pieces.>
I agree – he now just needs more exposure to different challenges and rehearsal in different environments. He is doing well!
>Plan going forward is: – pushing the distraction work in class>
Yes – first with reinforcement in your hand/pocket, then when he is fine with it, as remote reinforcement
>– music is good as a distraction??>Yes – it is a processing distraction for dogs (and humans haha)
>– keep building our chill and volume dial skills – keep working on find my face skills>Yes 🙂 And figuring out which work best for him, in different contexts.
>– going to give running my invisible dog this monday night>Yes, if he leaves to investigate a distraction, you keep running InvisiCoal 🙂 The reasoning behind it is that there is no reinforcement available for investigating, but also nothing weird or scary happens… but there is a LOT of reinforcement available for running the course with you! You can even reward you invisible dog 🙂
>– need to get back to working on end of run routine>Yes, but this seems to be a lower priority because he does well with this and is happy to get his end of run rewards.
>– keep building running in class with clean hands – treats and lotus ball in pocket>Yes, or handing off the lotus ball for someone else to throw. It is a good surprise for him! You will probably need to be very specific about when/where to reward but it can be very helpful.
>Looking forward to hearing your ideas for the support group. I would love to be able to bounce questions off you>
I am hoping to get it all put together hopefully today! Stay tuned!
Tracy
Good morning!
>even before we have “perfect” toy play skills. I’ve not had perfect toy skills with my previous dogs, so although I have some ideas of toy behaviors I’d like, I can’t let it sideline me from using toys for an extended time.>
Exactly! I remind myself that true play is ‘dirty’ 🙂 and even a bit silly. And If we spend too much time working towards perfect and precise, we lose the play element a bit and also we lose time in this super fun puppy phase. So yes, keep working on being as clean as possible with markers and transitions – but the main thing is to make sure there is no conflict or fighting each other over the toy 🙂 You and Skiz will develop a play style that is fun for you both, as well as super motivating/rewarding.
> reward marker that means “behind” the dog (for the stays, here). Hadn’t really considered it before, but can appreciate how that helps direct them to the reward.>
It has helped us build distance between dog and handler more easily, for stays, stopped contacts, etc. Super useful! And also very cute when we say the marker and they look behind themselves before we even throw the reward LOL!
> And for the stays, having a prop for duration is something I can get behind – I used one successfully to help a previous dog pass her 1 minute obedience sit (after many failed attempts).>
Perfect!!!! And since we have an eye on what family members needed, might as well use that to help Skizzle in advance 🙂
>Gives me empathy for when the puppy brain is unable to process information.>
Right LOL!! So true!!! It is impressive how much *I* screw it up compared to the dogs (who rarely screw it up) LOL!!!
Looking at the videos:
Yay for playing with the toy at the start!! And he enjoyed the toy play through the whole session. You will get a quicker transition to getting the toy back without holding his collar – you can get more passive in the tugging like you did, then reach into the pocket for a dull cookie to trade. Reward when he drops the toy, then bring him closer to the barrel, line him up (cookie lure is fine here), *then* take his collar. The collar hold is the last thing that happens and he is already in position to start (rather than getting moved by the collar).I don’t think he loves being moved by the collar (watching the change in his body language and how he started avoiding it) so the collar grab is the last thing to happen in each rep.
If he has trouble going from a boring cookie back to the toy, or even eating the boring cookie in the first place, let me know and we can make some adjustments to make it easier for him to eat and tug in the same session.
His joy at grabbing the toy behind him on the first rep (“NAILED IT!”) was hilarious. It was a hard challenge! Great job breaking it down – I loved how he would get the toy then finish the wrap and bring it to you. Wonderful!!!!!!
Skipping ahead to the turn and burn video:
It is fun to see him getting the idea of the barrel wrap game!! You were SUPER FUN on that first rep, heartily playing from :29 – :47, then making a quick transition to the cookie to get the toy back. Massive click/treat to you for the BIG play and quick transition – that was perfect for so many reasons. Primarily, the big response and big play was a bit surprising to him, which is likely to have brought on a dopamine spike and all that goes with that… which leads to more motivation (and movement!) to do the “thing”.He was great about offering it on rep 2! He got right on the toy as you moved away and dragged it on the next reps (even after a cookie!) – then loosened his grip when you stood up a little while tugging. He also likes to tug closer to your hand so he is more likely to let go when you stand up a little. Dragging the toy away from him for as long as possible (even if you change directions in a smaller space) and staying bent over for as long as possible (with apologies to your back 😁) will help keep him on the toy.
He is super clear about giving info about the cues he needs here: he was questioning if he should go around the barrel when upper body said wrap but your left leg (dog-side leg) said don’t wrap because you didn’t step forward. At about 1:34 to 1:36-ish, he stops and looks at all the cues. You can see him look up at you then down at your left leg. He did something similar at about 2:09 then he sat waiting for more info (the sit probably has more of a reward history :)) He did end up going around the barrel but having your left leg step forward or even be placed a bit more forward will help support him going around the barrel more smoothly without him stopping to assess the info.
Looking at the pattern game video – excellent warm up! And yes, he totally seemed to think the tossed hat was a toy to be retrieved. Good boy!!!! That is probably why he looked at it a few more times in the next part of the game (‘why did you throw it, human, if we were not going to play with it’) 🤣😂 He cracks me up! But he got right back into the pattern – at the very end, did he get the toy and play a bit? His cookie-to-toy in the previous videos looked good!!
Yes, the distraction can be added a bit more stealthily 🙂 And you can take this game on the road and see how he does outside or new locations.
>f you think there are specific games I should try next/soon – please let me know. I need to take advantage of the ridiculously warm/snow-less winter weather and also practice some outdoors when there’s enough light.>
A warm winter is great for puppy training! Some of the games that need more space include:
– Parallel path with the prop (and eventually rear crosses with the prop)
– The parallel path concept transfer to a “jump” – a rolled up towel can be his jump bar 🙂
– Taking the barrel wraps outside, so you can build into more turn and burn, and then rocking horses which have 2 barrels.Because outdoor time is limited, you can prioritize those for outdoors and everything else can be indoors 🙂
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>While we had the ring to ourselves, it was a new place for him and it’s a boarding facility, so there were a lot barking dogs.>
Yes, I think some of the dogs in MaxPup 4 rent that same facility too – there have often been barking dogs and weird noises in the background and that has been challenging! Pattern games (from the resilience game here and the MYOB stuff :)) are very helpful!
I think he did great here with the collection sandwich!! Everything looks really good (blind, decel, etc) – there was one connection blip before the pivot on rep 2, but you fixed that for the other reps and they were perfect. You can add on the GO ending to this (throwing the treat or toy forward after the pivot and accelerating to it).
You can also add the barrel/cone wrap to this (you will see this in the Handling Combos game) to add in a bit of obstacle commitment.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning! Hooray for decent weather! I am hoping to get outside today too and enjoy the mudfest in the agility ring LOL!!
He did well with the serp on the left turn side! He had one question about going directly to the toy but it looks like you removed it so he didn’t get it. The other reps on that side were all strong! Because of his size and length, you can place the toy a little further away so he can accelerate to it more.
For some reason, he did not look too enthused about the right turn reps. He was looking at something over his shoulder at the start, then trotted through the reps without the usual interest in the toy. Not sure why – I mean, it seems unlikely that it was physical fatigue so perhaps there was a distraction in the environment? Wanted food reward? Or too many reps of the same thing, so he was bored? You can do fewer reps (one in each position, so the entire session of both sides is 6 reps) in case he finds it boring for now 🙂 It gets more exciting soon 🙂
The rocking horses definitely went well – that will keep you both warm in 40 degree weather! On most reps, you really emphasized connection so he could see it, because it is what the dog sees and not what we see 🙂 At :57 – that was the only spot you didn’t make connection that he saw, so he didn’t change sides. When that happens – don’t fix your errors 🙂 Missing a side change is a handler connection error 95% of the time (and 5% of the time it is a handler motion error :)) Keep going (freestyle for a moment!) then reward somewhere else. He did look confused when you stopped him to re-send, so we don’t want to mark things as incorrect (which stopping does) unless they are legit incorrect, otherwise we get frustration from the pups.
The turn and burn elements looked great and I think he really liked them 🙂
A question about your wrap verbals: when you are on course with Dellin, for example, do you say each word only twice, like ‘dig dig’, to cue the wrap on a jump? Or multiple times (dig dig dig dig dig etc) for the wrap on a jump? If it is only twice, carry on 🙂 If it is more than twice, start adding that here to rehearse you saying them more and him hearing them more.
Since it is going to be hot outside today 😁🤣😂 you can move the barrels a little further apart and move to the advanced level, which has deceleration into rotation and countermotion.
>I had to switch the toy from hand to hand on the rocking horse – it’s such a big toy that he could not ignore it in his face. A work in progress, if it was a smaller toy, it would have been ok.>
That is a big toy!! Switching hands makes it harder on us humans and also draws his attention to your hands a bit.
One of the good side elements of this game is that we teach the pups to ignore a toy in our hand until we mark and present it, even if the hand is right in front of their face 🙂 That relies on super clear markers, so you can be more consistently using your ’strike’ marker before presenting the toy. Sometimes I could hear the strike, sometimes you were quiet, and I think the toy was moving before the marker on all the reps. So you can use this opportunity to sharpen that marker, starting with a smaller toy like you mentioned so it is easier for him to ignore at first.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning! He did really well working in a busy busy environment! SUPER!!!
Parallel path: he did great! Yay!
You can throw the rewards further to get even more speed on the parallel path. You can also throw a toy! Yes, toy throws tend to take longer so there are fewer overall reps, but they are super fun 🙂 You can toss a treat away so you are getting more lateral, then when he locks onto the jump, throw a toy.
>We do short sequences in his in person class and he walks. Jumps are at 12″ in class. He can go up 2″ a month starting on the 8th (18 months).>
Hmmmm….. if he is walking, I suggest taking the jumps back down to 8” and just get him running 🙂 No need to raise the bars until he is run run running in class. Higher bars will just make it harder.
Some questions to figure out why this fast athletic dog is walking in class:
Are you also running in the class? Are there a lot of distraction challenges? Are you using high value reinforcement like awesome toys thrown or placed on the line, or insanely yummy treats (lotus ball if you can’t throw the treats on turf). Are you getting him excited with toy play before his turn in class? Are there are lot of turns/collection the jumps in class?Ok, that is a lot of questions but I would like to get him running in class!!
Rotated sends: these also went well!
It sounds like you were using a ‘yessss’ marker, for cookies in hand. That is fine! But that is also permission to come to the hand when he hears it, so if you say it too early and he comes off the wing (like at :08 as you were rotating) you should reward anyway so as to not dilute or confuse the marker.>The tunnel we did last week was just off the screen to the left. It was tempting him and it did win 1 time.>
This was at :38 (and almost at 1:15) when you added a lot of distance on the backwards send. He didn’t know where to go, then as he came back to you, you leaned forward to the tunnel… which is a cue to go take the tunnel. Since he was not sure of what to do, he went to the tunnel. Good boy!
Getting closer to the wing definitely helped because he was successful on all the reps with you closer.
When you switched sides, I think there was some confusion about which wing you want (both are highly visible) at 1:35. The step back was to the wing you wanted, but the upper body was facing the other wing so he was not sure. He sorted it out but you can clarify things by having th other wing removed. To sort it out, he had to slow himself way down – so removing the other wing should help him go faster. And you can also play this game with a tug toy!
I think strike a pose went well! The reward hand was a visible distraction but he seemed to have no questions. Your position was dynamic so there was a little movement when you delivered the reward, but that was good! Yes, you can add a dish or MM on the floor. You can also use a toy in the reward hand.
And you can do what you did here with a jump for the concept transfer!
Rocking horses: These are going well too! He is hitting the wing a bit at the beginning and then also with the toy, so delay the yes til he has cleared it fully.
The advanced level is going well in terms of commitment – he had one question at 1:43, when you moved away before he was past you and moved the reward hands, so he stopped at your hands.
He was walking through most of this until the toy came out: he really drove for the toy! So to get more speed and less walking a couple of ideas:
– more toy play for sure!! Food rewards tend to chill him out too much 🙂
– move the wings further apart so you both move more 🙂
– do fewer reps of everything in training so that he is so excited to do it (rather than settling into a slower gait because there will eb a lot of food reps)
– He might have been being careful on this footing because there is not a lot of grip for tight turns. You can leave tight turns to great footing that he can dig into, and do extension stuff on the harder footing.Great job here! Let me know what you think !
Tracy
I put the toy inside the tunnel for Hot Sauce and Contraband when they were first learning this. At first, the toy was visible right at the entry (so they got the toy but didn’t go through the tunnel, with was fine). Then the toy gradually moved more and more into the tunnel then to the exit of the tunnel. I also did a lot of this with a squished up tunnel (and now I have a very short tunnel, which definitely made it easier).
And if she likes a manners minder you can use that too instead the Frisbee 🙂
T
Good morning!
>All different games today, but I will incorporate game-specific feedback in next attempts at the same or similar games.>
Perfect! Rotating games rather than doing the same ones every day will make for better learning in the long run 🙂
>feel like Skizzle’s so smol that I need to be right down there with him – but the final picture for dog sports has me upright.>
Right! It is a balance for sure! I think the early stages should be done nice and low like you do… and then when he is saying “I got it!” you can start changing the picture to get you standing upright.
>As for playing games with toys – I am interested, but for some games, I would like to have a clean toy release first. I haven’t done much to that end…with the retrieves, I’m only beginning to see the drop.>
You only need a semi-clean release 😂🤣 What I mean by that is you want to be able to get the toy back pretty quickly and NOT have to fight him for it or wrestle him out of his mouth. But it is totally fine to trade for a treat or another toy – that builds up to a super clean ‘out’ and also shows him the structure of the session – how the ‘out’ can lead to more reinforcement, both immediately and in the training. And it is good for sorting out using food and toys in the same session. The number 1 thing to avoid is fighting with him over the toy, that is definitely icky!
Looking at the videos:
Baby lap turn is going well!
Since the hand is a critical element of the cue, have your hand fully extend down to him before he turns back to you (after the cookie toss) so he can drive right back to it. You can see him waiting for the cue (sometimes still chewing LOL) so you can show him the hand cue sooner.
Remember to step back with your leg on these reps – you were stepping back with the leg on a few of the reps but most reps had your feet together. That step back is helpful for creating the tighter turn – if your feet are together, he has to ping away to the side.
You are ready to try this with an empty hand as a cue hand! That is the step between this and the advanced level.
For the tandems – they will feel smoother if you are already moving away from him as he goes to get the treat you’ve tossed. Then as he is moving towards you, you can get the hand cue visible so he is ready for the turn away as he is arriving at you. That is what you did from :45 – :49 and it looked great! Yay! When you were moving with him the whole time instead of ahead, I think things got a little tangled up 🙂
If that feels comfortable, you can also move to the empty cue hand stage 🙂
>I don’t have the value of food motivators or the timing of training (related to eating and daily activities) figured out yet.>
Yes, he is a harder “read” in terms of food value as a motivator. That is why the toy can come into the picture, if he will play with a toy with food in the picture too – that can build the food value enough that you can use it more consistently whenever you want because it is a more consistent motivator.
Adding the prop to the turn aways:
>And he seems so food-crazed that it’s not a clean training loop…too many extra spins, hops, frantic behavior.>
2 suggestions to get an easy fix for his questions!
– Before adding the prop, do a session or two with an empty hand as the cue hand. Because there were treats in the hand here, he was completely locked onto the cookie hand and didn’t realize that the prop was part of the picture. By getting the empty hand involved, it is a cleaner cue and the prop will be more salient after the turns away from you.
– Start every rep of the loop with a cookie toss so he is not starting next to you. The cookie toss starts buy you time to be able to show the hand cue and start the turn away as he is arriving at the hand. If he is already next to you, it gets a lot harder to do this on time and the mechanics are not as clear.
To be able to loop this, have a bunch of treats ready in the non-cue hand (4 or 5) so you don’t have to reach into a pocket to reload – he is too fast for that 🙂 Then after you do the turn away, the non-cue hand tosses the treat away as the reward – which means your empty hand is immediately ready to cue him after he snags the reward treat. Then break it off after 3 or 4 reps because you will both need to come out of the loop to have a reset moment and so you can reload cookies 🙂
That should add clarity to the cues and reward, so the rate of reinforcement will remain high and you won’t see the frantic behavior or extra dance moves 🙂
Looking at the stay video – I love how he was offering all sorts of sits and downs! Super!!! At about :54 he lost momentum so you helped a little with hand cues (raising hands). I think when he lost that momentum, he was still thinking about the treat that ended up behind the little bolster in front of the door – he kept looking at it and wanted to investigate it. If you see that, you can let him investigate it or even help show him there was nothing there, so it doesn’t draw attention away from offering sits or downs.
Your marker here was “ok get it” and the treat was thrown back towards him. We can clarify the markers to now start getting a tiny bit of duration: for me, ok and get it are both forward markers and that is fine but the reward should come forward. I like to throw the rewards towards or behind the dogs on stays, so I use a ‘catch’ marker to indicate that (they don’t actually have to catch it, but they can move to go get it :)) That can totally help him! And as you add duration, you might want to use a little platform for him to sit on so he has clear guidelines for where to be. That really helped his older sister Taq understand how to do a stay when she was a baby dog like Skizz.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning! She does love her frizzers for sure!!
She was doing well finding the tunnel entry here! It was on more of a rear cross line than a tunnel threadle line, so the next session can start with more of the threadle angle – you will be lined up alongside the tunnel with her next to you (and next to the tunnel). Your position can start relatively close to the first tunnel bag, then you can work to back up alongside the tunnel til she can go find the threadle entry with you almost at the exit of the tunnel!
And as you do that, take out your motion 🙂 You were helping a little here by doing a RC on the line which was fine to get it started, so on the next session you get to stand still til she is in the tunnel. You can place the toy at the exit of the tunnel to help her do it without you (and a nice impulse control of having to turn away into the tunnel first 🙂 ) And that way she won’t track the motion of your hands. Frizzer is life!
When you had her on your left side, it was more of the threadle position but she had a little trouble with that left turn. To help her with the harder turn, you can place the reward right inside the entry of the tunnel for the first couple of reps to get the turn away, then you can put it back at the end of the tunnel (a Manners Minder will work too, if she likes it :))
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
The at home parallel path game looked great – nice job switching to the verbal get it rather than the clicker.
The on the road games looked good too! The parallel path looked great and you got a lot of really good RCs in!
When working the RCs, mix in a lot of go-straight parallel path moments. When we add RCs (which are probably weird to the dogs LOL!) they go into more handler focus – which makes it harder to get more RCs. That is what he did at the end of the session there, so you can do 1 RC rep then 2 or 3 straight line reps, then another RC. Your RC line and reward placement were really strong so he was reading the RCs really well!
You can now move the parallel path on the prop into the concept transfer to the jump with a bump 🙂 He is ready! When you do that, you will want to say “get it” and throw sooner, marking the moment that he takes the first step to the jump and throwing so it lands on the other side before he looks back at you.
Backwards sending looks great! You can add earlier countermotion by slowly sliding the other direction just before he arrives at the prop. If he is cool with that, you can slide forward sooner (as he is passing you and heading to the prop). Don’t get exciting about it until he is at the prop though 😁🤣
Since his prop games are going super well, you can shift focus to the barrel wraps – that will build up to turn and burn and rocking horses, which build on the commitment he has here.
Great job!!
TracyGood morning!
>I uploaded a video on the internet at home!!>
IT IS A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!!!!!! 🤣😂
The threadle wraps are looking awesome! You can really see him processing the mechanic with his little feets. Love it!
Looking at the difference between the first rep (where he did a regular wrap) and the others:
It is really really subtle, but on the first rep you were moving as he lifted his head from the cookie toss and before cuing the TW. On the other wraps, you were stationary in position when he lifted his head from the cookie toss – then started moving. Very subtle detail but dogs definitely read the subtle details.So – try to be moving the whole time (this cue is rarely used when we are stationary nowadays LOL!). To give him more time to process it even while you are slowly moving, throw the cookie toss as far away as possible so he has more time/yardage to see the cues while you move forward very slowly like you did here.
And mix in doing sends to the regular wraps with a big step to the other side and the regular wrap verbal – we want him doing the TWs because he reads the cues, not just because that is the only thing in the session LOL!
Next step after trying to be moving the whole time: fade out flicking your hand to the barrel to get him to turn away. Ideally, the line of motion, verbal, hand cue are all he needs to turn himself away and we don’t want him to wait for you to do the hand flick to get the commitment to the barrel. The hand flick is definitely the starting point and he did great – but I think you share my goal of the dogs being able to do it on their own (just like threadle slices) without extra hand cues from us.
He might need help turning himself away on the first couple of reps, so you can put an empty food bowl on the other side of the barrel, or toss treats to the other side of it to jump start the behavior.
Great job here! Let me know how he does with the added steps!!
Tracy
Good morning! Hope you had a good holiday week!!!
The get out is going well – he is understanding to shift away from you and move to the prop with no problem. Yay! Small detail in mechanics – when he is on your left and you are using your right hand to point to the prop, throw the treatwith the left hand rather than grab with the right then throw it. Reaching over then throwing it delays the reward and gets him tracking your hands. When he was on your right, you tossed with your right hand.
>I was not sure what to change.>
Definitely time to add your motion (and the verbal), so you are walking forward the whole time. He can be in a stay or you can use a cookie toss start – for the cookie toss start, you can give the ‘get out’ cues as soon as he starts moving towards you (or don’t cue it and call him so he stays on his straight line with you. For the stay, you should release with the get out cue (or, release with break and don’t cue the get out so he comes with you on the natural line).
Addig motion is key, mainly to keep your feet pointing straight (you were stepping to the prop a little when he was on your left and your feet were pointing right at it when he was on your right). Since we want feet to continue straight forward (making it easier for us to run), you can put a line on the ground that you are not allowed to cross over, to keep your feet moving straight 🙂
The Serping looks great here, he has the idea of the line we want (in then out).
>he seems to know where he’s going, so after the first rep where I wasn’t sure what to do, I just went with it.>
You were correct to reward it! We will be adding motion (see below).
>then had some issues on the second side.>
That side might have been the harder turn side, so he did have one error at 1:24 and the same question at 1:40 (and one more later on) but that is just as valuable as the rewards. It was from the slice angle (position 1). But, no rewards for that. He said “noted!” And then ended with a string of successes. Super! 3 errors is no big deal, for a dog like him. But if you get past 3, then you would want to break it down more.
Since that side proved to be the harder side, you can swap the angles and start him in position 3 (harder angle) to really emphasize that it is the jump not bowl – when you worked him from position 2 (more centered on the bar) he did great with finding the jump and not going directly to the bowl!) Starting from the harder position is great for dogs that love to solve puzzles and can do that without running into frustration or arousal issues. He seems to be that level-headed problem-solver type of dog!
On the easier side here (dog on right), there are 2 paths forward for the serps. Don’t do them at the same time, they are separate skills for now (but get merged pretty soon):
– replace the bowl on the ground with a toy 🙂 This might be harder! Or it might not be harder at all. We will see what he says!
– using the food bowl on the ground, add handler motion. This is coming later in this class anyway but we can bump it up for you since he is ready. He is in a stay in position 1 and you are outside the jump. Put your hand back in serp position and rotate your upper body (he is still in the stay) then you slowly slowly walk through the serp line on the landing side of the jump (he is still in the stay and your upper body is showing serp position). When you are passing the center of the bar, you release him (looking back at your serp hand and continue to move sooooo slowly :))
Definitely don’t release til you are at or past the center of the bar (any earlier will conflict with the threadle cues he is going to see very soon :))
Let me know how that goes! Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
I hope you and your crew had great holidays! And I am so glad you enjoyed the webinar! I think part 2 is going to have some cray fun stuff too 🙂
>We did our first session of the TSA game and man, I was blown away by the reaction I got from both dogs!>
Isn’t it funny how doing this at home can open up reactions like they were at a trial? LOL!
>I don’t know if just going outside our gate was such a big deal that it amped them up but they were both AMPED after this short session. Like for over an hour afterwards they were just crazy-loco & chasing each other and just wild.>Ha! I guess something about it was super stimulating LOL!
>This is off subject because it is about Frankie. Can I sign her up (in addition to Bazinga of course) for the “FEO support group” class that is next even though she is not a baby dog?>
Of course!!! We are happy to have Frankie too! My goal is to have that all mapped out by the end of this weekend.
> I could use guidance on navigating helping her with remote reinforcement. I have been working on the remote reinforcement with both dogs just in the yard and working up to adding more obstacles and then the last 2 times, at step 5, Frankie just couldn’t leave the treat station to go to the jump. She just couldn’t leave the treats. That was big information for me. In our own yard. Couldn’t leave the treats. >
So interesting! And great info from Frankie!!!!! Sometimes I think that the presence of food in our hand/pocket (or a toy) becomes the cue to do agility for a lot of dogs.
>I didn’t do a lot of pattern games before I asked her to move away and maybe that was too much to ask of her. >
We can experiment and see what she needs.
> I’ve been focusing on her fears & getting her confident going in to the ring, but after hearing that dogs that shut down from the gate to the first jump are usually worried about reinforcement in the Mind Your Own Business webinar the other day and seeing her unable to leave her remote reinforcement at home, I think this is playing a big part in her engagement!>
Yes! If she is concerned and then we take away the ‘cue’ (food) she might get more concerned. It is HARD!!!!
>Here is Bazinga in the TSA game. She seemed fine that the last treat was gone & we were “going in the ring” to play. I kept it short & used our “let’s go!” I think she was like “hey lady, but we’re running!” >
For the dogs that we are raising this way, this is a point where the agility itself becomes intrinsically reinforcing, so we don’t need to stop and reward nearly as much when running trial courses. She might be getting there! We still reward in training, etc, but at some point the remote reinforcement act of putting the food/toys down outside the ring becomes the cue to go into the ring and run for real 🙂 That is why we approach is so carefully… to be sure they love it rather than get stressed out about it.
Looking at the TSA video:
Great job progressing through the different elements!
Nice warm up with the 2 bowls (that can be done near the ring at a trial, just a little further away so you aren’t surrounded by other dogs :))Volume dial – all good!
Tugging on the leash on the way in – you can cue it. Might be self-regulation for the arousal? And you can cue her to tug it on the way out.
2nd time through – because there is SO MUCH arousal regulation in this game, and because she is adolescent which means it can take twice as long to bounce back to baseline in terms of physiological stimulation, the 2 reps might have been too close in time. She might have needed a few minutes of walking/sniffing before round 2. That could be why she had a frozen moment at the start line (a bit of over-arousal). But it was great for you needing to shift gears – you can ask for a trick in that moment (or use the magic word reset we are adding in MYOB 2, stay tuned!!!) and bring her back to the optimized state quicker.
>She is really getting into tugging at the leash. She didn’t want to drop it in the second rep. That is what took so long for us to line up. I’m curious to see what you think about it in this video. Am I creating a tiny monster?< Definitely not creating a monster! You can work on her “out” of the leash (trading for treats to start, then giving the leash back for more tugging, etc). But tugging on the leash is basically the equivalent of having a great toy in the ring. We need to help her understand when it is available and not, but it is a great way to have a lot of fast reinforcement at the beginning and end! And in AKC you can shove it in your pocket and bring it with you, for fast access at the end of the run :) About the next FEO steps (at home and at trials): >Try a longer lead out & do more obstacles before rewarding. Later on: Try some quick In & Outs with no reinforcement on me>
All good!
>Try the weaves & reinforce after them – what do I do if she doesn’t get them? Keep going & then reward after the next obstacle?>This is trickier but yes, reward for effort after the next obstacle and if you are in an FEO run, you can swing her back around and try again. I think before you try at trials, do her weave work at home and the agility league field with remote reinforcement and see how she does!
>I’m going to rent the field where we do agility league and let her use the weaves there and practice some in & outs before I bring them to a real FEO trial.>
Perfect!! That will be fun! Bring friends to make it all as realistic as possible.
Great job here! Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi! I am glad you are starting to feel better! Did you get sick when you went to the TS concert??
The collection sandwich looked great 🙂 He did really well picking up the decel to make the turn, especially on the last rep. You can also accelerate to the thrown toy after the pivot and try to win the race to it!
To make the mechanics even quicker: when you make the first connection on the dog side before the blind, you don’t need to also show the long toy in that hand (interestingly, you only did it in left hand, so maybe it is flyball bleed-over haha, but that also might be why the last rep was the best rep). You can keep it scrunched up in the dog-side hand then when you do the blind, show it across your body (still in your original dog side hand). That will make 2 things quicker:
– his response to the side change, because he sees more connection
– your side change, because you don’t have to unveil the toy then reel it in 🙂For example at :13 you had the toy extended in the left hand then did the blind – you can keep it scrunched up in your left hand before the blind, then that left hand can come to your right hip after the blind to really open up your shoulders. You had your right hand down at your side during the blind, which will ‘hide’ the connection to the new side, delaying his side change. After he makes the quick side change and see the connection, then you can drop your right hand in for the pivot.
For the verbals:
>curious on your thoughts with them. This is what Pattern is trained on.>
Definitely glad that you are using the same verbals, so you don’t lose your mind trying to remember different verbals for each dog 🙂
Two thing to consider:
– Be insanely specific about what each thing means, down to being able to draw a picture of exactly what it should look like… because he is probably going to have to do it all at a distance based on how things are evolving:)
– Different words are great but different words + different rhythms + different pitch are AMAZINGLY helpful for the dogs 🙂>Loop – wrap wing left Kiss – wrap wing right Check – soft turn left over jump Dig – soft turn right over jump>
Yes, I love that you are using separate verbals for these.
>Chute – soft tunnel turn
Tunnel – straight tunnel exit>For the tunnels… how soft is the soft turn? You will want to be super specific because I am sure you have seen how tunnel exits are key nowadays. You can also use your directionals for those: so say I have a jump then 25 feet to the tunnel then a wrap exit of the tunnel –
Over the previous jump, I can use an obstacle name to commit to the tunnel. Then when the dog is maybe 8 feet away from the tunnel entry, I can give a wrap verbal and get the wrap exit (or the soft turn verbal, etc). It is an easy way to get a huge variety of tunnel exits without needing 10 more verbals LOL
>Left – turn left on the flat/off a non-jump obstacle Right – turn right on the flat/off a non-jump obstacle>Non-jump, like contacts? >Hup – jump in extension>
>Easy – sprinkler>How much extension with the Hup and how different from the Go? And how much collection on. The ‘easy’ and how does it differ from your check & dig? I use GO GO GO to me full on, ass on fire extension, over the center of the bar. I use my “jump” verbal to mean moderate collection – not the same collection as the right/left soft turn (your check and dig, I believe), but not the GO extension.
>Walk it – dog walk Climb it – A-frame Teeter Poles – weaves
Slalom – weave threadle Flick – tunnel threadle>Yay!
>Seek – wrap threadle Push – backside slide Wrap – backside wrap In – jump threadle>
Also yay! >Zip – far bypass Bye bye – close bypass>
Jump line bypasses?
>Table
This obstacle should be banned and burned hahahahaha
>Out – lead change away Go – take the next thing in front of you in extension>
All good!
One verbal that I have added and LOVE is a turn away to a layered line, distinct from a turn away to a handler focus line. Think of it like a rear cross on a jump: for a regular rear, I just use my verbal directionals like you have here. But if I am turning the dog away into a big layering moment, I use ‘switch’ which means turn away and stop watching me and get into BIG extension until otherwise notified. It has been a LIFESAVER in this day and age of big layering and tremendously advantageous in terms of getting to my next position.
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Very smart to work in the parking lot! I am glad it isn’t too cold because it sure looks cold LOL!On the first video (forward focus/stealth self-control) – it was hard to see where he was looking so I am not sure if he was looking at the bowl or not when the bowl was in an ‘easy’ spot. He might have been able to look through the wing to see it, so you might need a solid wing or drape a towel over it 🙂 When the bowl got into a hard position at about 2:20 then it was definitely easier to see where he was looking because the bowl was on the exit side of the wing . So I think you can keep the bowl in that harder position to really emphasize the forward focus to the line yo are indicating.
Strike a pose video: This went super! The reps at :19 and then later :38 and after there were the best timing of getting the target out and visible, so he could see it the instant he turned back towards you.
You can reward further from you with the other hand – still draw him across you like you did, but present the reward outside the line of your leg rather than right in front of you. He is a big dude that will give him more room to turn.
He is ready for the next steps here: treats or toy visible in the other hand, and then lowering them to the ground (toy) or using a dish on the ground. The dish can be placed on the ground a foot or so past your foot on the exit line (below the hand that is rewarding him) and you can drop the treat into it after he comes in to the target hand.
Really nice job with the lap turns! He is turning away beautifully, in both directions. Yay!!!!
Only one suggestion: Have your magic cookie hand visible sooner. As soon as you throw the start cookie, you can extend the hand fully to him so he sees it as soon as he turns back to you. Same thing with the tandem turns – let him see the tandem turn hand as soon as he turns back to you (you were showing it when he almost arrived at you) so he is prepared for the turn away cue. That will really help when things are moving faster!
You can add the prop into both of these games 🙂 And you can also start the threadle wrap foundations – perfect for indoors!
He did well with his wraps on the rocking horse game! You don’t even need to move as much 🙂 You can just stand in the middle and change directions like what you did at :40. On the other reps, you were moving outside of the line to the wings, which widened the line a bit. He liked the turn and burn exit! But I think the footing made you both a little careful (thankfully! Don’t slip!!) Doing these at ring time will give you both great grip!
I don’t think you had your wrap verbals going here – you can totally add them! And if he does well one the first couple of reps during ring time, you can add the advanced level with more countermotion too!
Great job here!
Tracy
