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Hi!
> Knight officially started his fitness course today. We will be starting out working on his core. Various basic exercises such as Head Nods, sit walk forward down, paw pods, Posture it, adducted Stand, etc.>
Nice! That sounds like a nice balanced program. The core is so important (I need to work my own core too LOL!!!)
>Also Harmony gave him a massage when we completed the evaluation. I figure since we were there and he did have a class last week plus being more active this past week I wanted to see how his little body held up. He was in great shape. His right front was a little sore and his hamstrings were tight.>
I am glad he was in good shape! Since he still was showing soreness and tight hammies… we can look at his warm up and cool down routines so that Harmony finds no soreness or tightness at all on the next visit 🙂 That will also help on the days when you do his fitness.
Generally for a warm up, I start with 5 to 10 minutes of free movement (trotting, cantering) in both directions. Then I do some skin rolling to loosen the fascia. Then I add more dynamic movement: cookie stretches (nose to shoulder, nose to ribs, nose to hip on both sides), chasing cookies back and forth, spins/leg weaves/backing up/high five tricks, sits to stands.
Then we train or run!After ‘work’ (agility or a fitness session), a cool down is very important. It is kind of like a slowed down warm up: 5 to 10 minutes of a cool down walk, following by slow skin rolling, followed by sloowwwww cookie stretches where you hold the stretch for longer.
And I bet Harmony can suggest other warm up and cool down stuff! That might be the missing link so he is feeling fabulous all the time 🙂
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi!
>. I worry about running because sometimes me running does seem to cause him to take bars but I think he did okay here?>
Yes, he did great here! It was definitely more arousing but that is good 🙂 And we do want to add in more arousal – it is unavoidable in dog sports, so we definitely want him to learn how to do agility even when he is really feeling aroused, internally.
> I think in the previous video I also had worked my other dog first so that could be part of the increase in arousal? I think you can even hear Lad barking in the house in the background of that one. He was in the car for this session so either he wasn’t barking or it’s harder to hear him. And I worked Zest first this time!>
Overall, I am pleased with how he is doing – very excited to work, very accurate, super fast, and happy to play with you. It is a big win! He takes a few seconds to give the toy back, which is fine. You can tug for a few seconds longer, then say out… then take out a treat and toss it to the side for him get.
You can throw the toy sooner on this game, as soon as he exits the wing wrap and looks at the jump. That will keep him looking ahead the whole time. You can can mix up your start position: sometimes send to the wing from far away so you are way ahead when he is deciding to take the jump (or not :)). And sometimes start very close to the wing and stay there til he just about exits the wrap… then accelerate. Can he drive ahead? those are both good skills to add. And that will lead you nicely into the rear crosses 🙂
You might have to move your setup so he doesn’t try stopping on the plastic cover thing in front of the camera. Is there a way you can angle it so he goes past the plastic cover?
Great job on these!
Tracy
Hi!
His set point form is looking good here! What was the distance between the jumps? I think 6 feet will be his sweet spot because he looks like a pretty powerful dude. Next session can include a stationary toy for a rep or two, and if he is fine with that and retains his form: go to the moving target.The moving target will help solidify his mechanics with more arousal and handler motion. Then we can start raising the bar 🙂Wind In Your Hair: he was fabulous finding his jump! The earlier you threw the toy, the better his form was: if you tossed it after he arrived at the jump, he elevated like a monkey LOL!!! But when you tossed it low and before he got to the jump, he was lovely.
You already added more distance and more motion and the go verbal – no problem at all, according to Fen. YAY!! So the 2 things to add now are the “extremes”:
– send him to the start wing from as far away as you can, so you are passing the jump as he exits the wing. Can he still find the jump?
– start super close to the start wing and hang out next to it as he finishes the wrap: then accelerate. Can he drive ahead of you? This will set things up nicely for the rear crosses.One note about the start wing wrap: when you are rotated facing the jump but sending to the wing behind you, you can give an arm cue to point back to it. If you don’t move at all, he was confused (:30, 1:00). When you gave a subtle arm point at :36, or a subtle lean on the reps after that, he got it really well!
The smiley face game looked great too. His wraps look fabulous and the right turn ‘race track’ was solid too! He is turning out to be a quiet speedy, so you can totally add more motion into this game by spreading out the distance between the wings and tunnel. You can move onto the next games with the wings & tunnel!
Great job on these!
Tracy
Hello and welcome back! He is doing well!!!
Pre-game for verbals: hold him longer so he can hear the verbals 3 or 4 times before he starts moving (and so he is lined up facing the wing). Otherwise the pups tend to guess LOL!! So in the other games that we use verbals for (like the proofing games), you can always start with him being held, say the verbal 3 or 4 times… then let him move.
Moving target on the flat looks strong: he is driving directly to the toy. Yay! His stay looks solid here when you were not moving. When you added motion, he had a couple of bloopers: I think he was guessing based on your rhythm. For example, at :38 you released him on your 6th footstep. At :43 he self-released… on your 6th footstep. At 1:03 you released him on your 6th footstep… and at 1:09 he self-released right after your 6th footstep. Amazing! On the last 2 reps he did not break the stay… but your releases were on step 7 and then after you stopped after footstep 6. Dogs have a great sense of prediction and it seems he can count LOL!! So be less predictable: sometimes release on 2 steps, sometimes after 10 footsteps away, sometimes 4, etc etc so it is never always at the same rhythm.
The same thing will go for when you add the jump, in terms of being less predictable 🙂 You were reliably releasing at about step 10-11 with a couple at step 12 ish (or stopping your forward motion then, before releasing). So at 1:01 he self-released on step… you got it… 10-11 🙂 Your boy can count LOL!
He was not struggling with impulse control or anything, he was simply being an over-achiever and predicting the release. So like with the flatwork, be super unpredictable about how many steps you take before releasing. You might have to count to yourself since he is so good at counting LOL!
No need to re-do these because we can apply the moving target to the jump grid stuff while being sure you are unpredictable with the # of steps before the release.
Great job here 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
> Do you have a preference for 2Ă—2 vs channels?
I start weave training using both. Then as the training progresses, we generally see the dog has a preference for one or the other, so I finish the training with the one the dog prefers.
> And at what age do you start A Frame training?
The flat work can start at any time (like running to hit a mat on the ground). I will start a low a-frame at 13 or 14 months old for a small dog, gradually working it up to full height over several months.
> When does Max jump full height?>
When he is closer to 18 months old – that is when his body and brain will be more developed to handle full height jumping. That also gives you time to do a lot of education, like showing him jump grids and sequences. If he understands cues and how to use his body, then full height jumping will be easy!
> I have started teeter and dog walk training.>
Fun! Those are very fun obstacles to train 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
> Would you also use the moving target for the Accordion Grid game which is coming up in Week 8?>
Yes, after the pups have had a session to see the grid with a stationary toy. Then onwards to the moving target 🙂
T
Good morning!
>He came home last May, so he was here all of last summer and it was definitely cooler here when he arrived than it was in Mexico (May is their hottest time).>
That’s right! So he will be fine, it might just take him a bit of acclimation to get to working full throttle in the heat.
He is reading the Go versus rear cross really well! Super! I think in these sessions, you can ix it up more – no need to do more than 2 of the same things in a row. Instead, do a Go then a left turn RC then a Go on the other side and then a right turn RC then a left turn RC. Keep it spicy! He is a Mali, they thrive on puzzles 🙂 and since he is doing well, mixing it up can be a nice challenge for him to continue ‘reading’ the handling.
> Not sure what I was doing that caused him to annihilate the jump>
It was the throw mechanics: The throws are either landing short to the bar, or happening as he is lifting up over the bar (or both). When that was happening, he was ticking the bar or hitting the wing to land and get the toy. You can adjust that by throwing a lot further for the Go lines, and either throw further for the RCs or have him drive the new line to you for a few more strides then you toss the toy.
>Got all prepared in the late afternoon to start the ladder grid work, go outside and it’s starting to rain.>
Darn rain! But if he had a morning session AND got to go herding, I think he was fine to just chase a disc 🙂 Hopefully he did get to go herding along with the BCs 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
This was a good session for seeing what he is reading on the RCs!
>Then we tried the wind in your hair game again….my first toss was still late and he head checked to me….but the next couple were better.>
They were good, he was looking straight on the Go lines!
> Should I worry that he is taking the wrap around the wing pretty wide?>
Nope! He was being a really good boy: when you did the FC on the wing wrap (like on rep 2 at :11), that set a nice tight turn to the front of the jump.
Compare to the post turn on rep 3 at :27 and the other post turns starts – that actually puts him on the line to the backside of the jump so he is correctly staying on a parallel path to yours. Good boy! Since we will want him to stay on the parallel line for future backside work, starting with the FC on the wings here will help keep that tight and not dilute parallel path understanding.
> I had started to use “switch” for turn away from me….so when I tried left or right, I don’t think he has those concepts yet. We need to put in more time on this exercise but it was kind of warm and he kept diving to the shade so I didn’t want to ask for more.>
I don’t think it was the verbals here! And I don’t think it was the physical cues (you had some spot on physical cues at :32 and :40 and :57, where you were on the new side before takeoff)!
Yes, you had some late cues (:50, 1:14, 1:22) where you were still on the ‘go’ line side when he was making a takeoff decision. But what was the cue for the RC here? Looks like it was the toy throw! When you threw the toy early at :57 while he was making the decision… he tracked the toy throw and turned the correct direction. A-ha!! You did say ‘switch’ on that one, but I don’t think that was what he was cueing off of, because you said it on other reps and he didn’t turn to the new side. So even at :40, where the physical cues were great, he was not reading it – he was looking for a visual target.Here is a series of screenshots so you can see what I mean:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1BEHx66RvVjSoLXA67AnWkmOTPd77jGEW_2QirHq7NvA/edit?usp=sharing
So let’s take the verbal out for now and get him to turn without seeing the toy. Here is a fun game to play to teach him to turn his head to the new direction, based on the physical cues, since he has a great stay:
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
Yes, he is a speedster for sure!!!! This went well!
>The second try was so bad I couldn’t even look at it.>
If you still have the video, watch it and look at your feet. On the first rep here, you kept your feet together and stationary, so he missed the turn. On the next reps in this video, you either stepped with a foot or did a big lean – and he was perfect. So maybe in the session that you didn’t like, it was a foot thing?
But this session went SUPER well 🙂 so keep remembering to use your feet on this one.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
I agree, this went really well! Yay! It is a really hard game and he had a lot of success. He is so funny on the start line: he has decided that the down stay is his position. That is great – he held the stay really well.
On the serp reps, he did well when you were stationary and when you were moving. Excellent!
> the two mistakes Max had it was definitely my handling on the first one. It wasn’t clear exactly what I wanted>
Yes – that was on rep 5 – he was setup facing the threadle line so would have needed a backside cue to get the jump. When he was set up on a better line, no problem at all.
The last 2 reps were the threadle slices and they looked great! Very clear arm cue and excellent position near the entry wing. Yay!
>and on the second one I should’ve had my arm out farther. >
This was when you wanted the tunnel on rep 7 (1:07): when you were in the threadle position near the first wing: you started moving, he started moving… then you said tunnel but it was too late because he was alreayd committed to the threadle (and then he took the tunnel, good boy!!)
MUCH clearer at 1:18 (rep 8 and rep 9 after that) – the ‘closed’ shoulder really supported the line to the tunnel.
Great job rewarding him anyway for the bloopers – in this case, they were handler bloopers and he was being a good boy!
> On a separate note, Max is one year old this month. Should I go ahead and start weave training or should I wait?>
I think you can start! Are you going to do channels or 2x2s, or a combo? He is ready to start the process.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
I am really happy with this session too! Good form throughout and super consistent – a great balance of power and speed.
>. I can never really tell if Ellie is pushing off with her rear and the camera angle for the straight jumps may not be that great for you to be able to tell either.>
The camera angle (side view) was great here, and watching it in slow motion helps us see everything she is doing. Yes, she is pushing from her rear. Watch her very first movement after you release her: she lifts her front feet, stabilizes her core, and pushes off from her rear. Nice power!
> It’s easier to see her takeoff when the jumps are angled, but she was probably also getting tired by then and her form may have been influenced by the angled setup.>
I thought she didn’t really show any change of form when the jumps were angled. No problem, she said! Yay!
The only thing to add is the moving target toy. The reason for this is partially so she can work her mechanics with you (and the toy) moving, and partially so she doesn’t splat herself trying to grab the stationary toy. The stationary toy was low to the ground so she was torquing herself a bit to get it. Adding the moving target will help that, and using the biggest toy you have, so it is further off the ground and easy to scoop up. When she gets her mouth of the toy, you can let go of the end you are holding so she can keep moving through the toy and not crank herself stopping.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning! Awesome update! Lots of good info from Ven!
> The first couple trips in Friday he couldn’t take a treat or respond to any cues. >
For Ven to refuse food, that is one of his indicators that the environment is super challenging. You can switch to a game of “how far away from the action can you eat?” and keep moving backwards, 10 feet at a time, then offering a treat. That can help us find the threshold, where you can start playing pattern games or asking for tricks.
>Later in the afternoon Friday, he was able to “practice” his table at the podium setup and easily eat treats. On Saturday he was actually able to sit at the outside practice jump farthest away from the door for a couple of times.>
Awesome! Sounds like he was getting more comfortable in the environment, bit by bit. Super!
Over time, you can work up to being close to the ring, and incorporating a reward station – when he is happy to eat in the busy environment, you can leave his treats on a chair or something similar, walk away a few steps towards the ring, do a trick, run back to the treats. That can begin to introduce the concept of remote reinforcement for runs into that crazy environment 🙂
Nice work!!!
TracyGood morning!
Super nice runs here – the little dude is doing GREAT!!>On the FAST run I tried again to send him from the exc send line, he went out to the tunnel but I think my forward movement cause him to go around the jump. I will get this figured out!>
How does he do with the Novice/Open FAST sends? You might want to stick to those for a while to build confidence working at a distance in trials, while working on Exc sends in class or home. That way there is less failure at trials and less stopping in the run – he does best when things stay in flow 🙂
> I was a bit surprised when he bailed the teeter. >
When the judge saw that I was going to do redo it she told me to go take something else so we did. We will be working that this week tooThat is probably a FAST rule? But yes, he has had some teeter questions so you can re-visit it. You can also attach a small weight to the underside of your teeter, and move it a little each time so the tip/movement/noise is slightly different each time. That can help generalize the behavior to all the different teeters he will encounter.
>On the standard run he hit the weave entrance just from the wrong side. So I must have pushed a little too hard trying to straighten out the entry.>
Standard looked good overall! Nice connection and lines!
>On the standard run he hit the weave entrance just from the wrong side. So I must have pushed a little too hard trying to straighten out the entry.>
Yes – if you freeze the video at :24 when he is taking off for the jump before the weaves, you were facing straight as if indicating the tire. So he landed long – and then couldn’t quite correct the line in time to hit the entry (part of that is just baby dog inexperience). Try not to straight then entry 🙂 turn him to land facing the weaves, then let him do the rest! That is what you did in Open JWW and he was LOVELY!!
The JWW run looked great! You might have switched plans because he left the start line early? But it still looked really seamless – connected and fast!!
>On jumpers he broke the start line and I let it go so we will be working that before our next trial!>
He broke in FAST also – I think part of it is walking away with no connection and he is unsure or loses confidence with ruckus happening right behind him. On the standard run, you had a little more connection. Looking back at some of the other runs, he did best when the start line was further from people/dogs right behind him. So in the smaller venues like this one, leading out with your eyes on him more will hopefully support the stay.
He was also more successful in other runs when you lead out after you were sure he was settled into the stay. On the JWW and FAST runs here, you didn’t take that extra moment to be sure. In JWW he stood up and did a big shake off, then came over the first jump.
>One thing I have noticed the past couple of weekends is he doesn’t like all the barking although we have lots of barking at our house to which he contributes.
Most dogs feel perfectly fine contributing to the barking (mine love to contribute haha)… but can be worried by other dogs barking.
> I know he doesn’t care for loud noises. Yesterday was FAST with all classes combined, all standard classes & then all jumpers classes. He didn’t settle before our FAST run. >
That can also contribute to the broken stay: he was feeling insecure and wanted to come to you for support.
> I’m playing the find my face game & other simple things, sit, touch, paw, etc. & trying to keep him back if there is an extremely over aroused dog in the area. Any other suggestions?>
Those are all good things! One thing you can add to this is to prepare him to hear barking and not be concerned. I do this by adding barking at a low level and playing pattern games in training, thanks to YouTube videos 🙂 For example:
– without distractions, re-visit the pattern game (back and forth) from MaxPup 1, Week 3). Make sure he can still play the game with fluency. Then you can set up a training session to add barking (and not his housemates). Turn on a YouTube video of barking dogs or dogs playing flyball (there is indeed some barking in flyball LOL anmd the dogs have to be impervious to barking and other noises) but have the volume relatively low. Bring Indy into the room so the noises are happening, and do some pattern games. Then exit. And you can gradually crank up the volume on the video so it is SUPER LOUD. The pattern game helps him process and relax around the barking.
If you go to the youtube main page, you can search for ‘large dog barking’ and find lots of good stuff like this:
Or you can search for flyball and find all sorts of good stuff like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZnmiwvYKLc (short videos can be set to keep replaying)
Eventually you can add trained behavior like obstacles. Because my dogs also play flyball, I have not needed to add agility behavior to the barking games (because agility is easier than flyball, in terms of noise level).
But here is an example of adding barking to trained behavior – I was getting my young Whippet ready for flyball nationals so at the beginning of the video I turn on a barking video (and one of my other dogs was in the crate, barking haha). I took the sound out of the rest of the video but it was SUPER LOUD It was hard (he had an error on the first run) but then sorted it out and did really well (and did well at Nationals). He had started learning to ignore barking using the pattern games, then moved up to harder stuff. And when he is a in really challenging situation, I bring out the pattern games and it gets him back on track immediately.
Great job at the trial! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
I think the proofing went really well! Check out that really good
choice on that first rep where he almost went in the tunnel and caught himself. Good boy! And the rest of the session went really well too.>>He was challenged with finding the tunnel without my motion on the second side…so I put the motion in.>
Yes, it was totally correct to help him out.
You can also add saying the tunnel verbal really big and loudly while you are holding him – the wrap verbals can be quiet like they were… but tunnel can be shouted even before you let him go. I think the dogs are cueing off of volume and pitch of the verbal as much as they are cueing off the actual word.
He doesn’t seem to focus forward to the obstacles when you are doing this (he consistently looks away) but that is OK – he still gets it right at a high success rate. So say the verbal 4 or 5 times then just let go, regardless of where he is looking. There is a lot of pressure in this game, so he might not be able to look at the line (and we don’t want to add more pressure by waiting for him to look at it). The forward focus from a stay in front of a jump is a better context.
>He was challenged with finding the tunnel without my motion on the second side…so I put the motion in.>
Yes, it was totally correct to help him out. I think the loud verbals for the tunnel while holding him will help him not need as much motion.
On the Wind In Your Hair game: He said it was easy and fun fun fun! When you are throwing the toy, you can throw it as soon as he looks at the jump rather than wait for him to get to the jump. That will keep him driving straight. Placing it went well (he did really well going to the wrap wing even though he knew for darn tootin’ that the toy was behind him LOL!!) but we don’t want to always place it (so he still drives ahead when you throw it).
Since this was easy for him, you can add your motion (run run run!) and that can lead you right into the rear cross version we posted last week.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
>He does heat up quickly and he likes cold weather. I was worried about how he’d handle his first winter (coming from Mexico City) and he loved it – would roll around in the snow (literally).>
That is so funny about the snow!! Fortunately, he likes food a lot too, so you can mix in cold treats as he gets heat acclimated. This is his very first real summer, right?
>I have a verbal that I use only for RC on a jump (“swing”). It has been terrific for Dellin – even if I get really far behind, if I cue swing she knows to take the jump and turn away. So I’m going to use the same verbal for Judge.>
Yay for the verbal! You don’t need to add it yet, til you’ve solidified the RCs. Right now he is watching the physical cues so the verbal might be getting lost in the mix. Maybe give it another session or two of just physical cues then add it back in.
You made a really good adjustment here: on the first RC or two, you were crowding him at the wing a little so you actually had to go forward on the straight line longer so he could get past you, so he didn’t read the RC info as early (:10 and :16).
Then at :21 and especially at :26, you were one step further from the wing so you could be moving up the RC line before he passed you – perfect! At :27 for example, he was already turning the new direction before takeoff because you had set the line and changed sides. He read the RC to the left really well too, especially the rep at :41!
And nice job mixing in the GO lines -remember that you can throw the toy as soon as he looks at the jump (rather than wait til he gets to the jump) to encourage even more acceleration past you up the line.
Great job here!
Tracy
