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Good morning!
The tunnel threadle game went great! You had more running which he liked 🙂 and he was going faster of course. But your timing was earlier so he found the lines brilliantly. Look at the line at :21-:22 for example – after he exited the wing, he was able to get on the threadle line and drive to the tunnel without looking at you. Super!!! I don’t think you need to use the threadle arm to flip him away because he was starting to look at you. You can keep the arm up and keep moving away until he flips himself away like he did at :22.
>I’m having a brain block on the tandem turn game. Thought I was all set to do it today and then totally forgot to follow through on the tandem part of the turns. He did very nice threadle wraps though!>
Ha! That is hilarious! The threadle wraps went really well! And he was extra talky during this session, but I don’t think he was frustrated. Just talky LOL!
Your brain is more programmed for threadle wraps because that is really what we see the most of nowadays on international and UKI courses. And this session went great! You were setting the line really well so he appeared to have no questions about which side of the jump to be on. I don’t think he needs you to use your arm to flip him away here either so you can decelerate near the wing and let him self-flip. That why he doesn’t rely on an arm cue for the flip away element and you are not going to need to worry about perfect timing 🙂 The decel will be important at this stage, though, so he can organize to self-flip without your motion pulling him off the line.
We are seeing tandem turns making a comeback in certain situations. One example of where I am seeing them all the time is after a dog walk: dog walk is on your left side, for example, then we need to turn the dog to their left to pick up a jump and go to a tunnel under the dog walk, while we layer the DW and also turn back the way we came. Perfect spot for a tandem turn because it gets the handler miles ahead for whatever happens after the tunnel under the DW. Let me know if that makes sense or if I should have more caffeine and draw it LOL
So you can practice the tandems too, mixing in with TWs. We have more TW stuff coming soon here too because it has become so important.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! We are sharing the same weird weather: 32 degrees yesterday morning, projections of 80 degrees on Friday. So weird!!
He gave us good feedback on this session about what he is seeing!
It came down to giving him more help than he needed, which changed the line of your shoulders and that in turn created a couple of questions. The extra ‘help’ was when you were trying to flip him away to the threadle side of the tunnel:
– when you were too early ( :18, 1:01, 2:04) he totally (and correctly) saw the line to the non-threadle side tunnel. He had only gone about a stride past the wing when you flipped him back and then you said tunnel, so off he went. The flip arm turned your shoulders directly to that tunnel entry.
– at :41 , 1:34, 2:10 you stopped moving flipped him back as he got to you and he jumped up. The flip arm turned your shoulders to the center of the tunnel, so the jumping up/spin was him being confused.
– :32, 1:14 you didn’t flip him back as early and he got it – the flip back turned your shoulders to side of the tunnel you wanted.
And compare to the other side, especially at 1:49 – the timing and line turned your shoulders to the threadle side of the tunnel.
Two things to get him to consistently know what you want without you having to be perfect in timing:
– you don’t need to flip away your arm. Let him self-flip LOL!! If you have your threadle arm up and you are moving towards the correct end of the tunnel, he should put himself into it. That way you don’t have to flip your arm – just keep it up and move along the threadle line for as long as needed until he drives away to the tunnel
– you had a verbal going then switched back to a tunnel verbal when you flipped him away. You can stick with the tunnel threadle verbal, because it will only mean the threadle end. Using the tunnel verbal can confuse him because it might mean either end, which would rely on perfect timing. So using just the threadle verbal will help solidify the behavior along with letting him self-flip 🙂
>Thank you for your kind words about Potter. He was an amazing dog! It’s tough without him. Having the other dogs yo train and hug helps tremendously.>
It is so hard to lose them and the other dogs definitely help make it easier. Sending hugs!!
Tracy
Hi!
He is doing really well with his tunnel sending here! You can add in using a toy as a reward: throw it when he is exiting the tunnel so he drives out straight rather than turning back to you. That will be useful when he starts running sequences because he is small and we will be building BIG commitment 🙂He is also doing well with the tunnel threadles here! Try to have him lined up at your side for a smoother transition into the send. We will be adding a verbal to it soon!
His stay is looking good on the grid video! Yay!
>I didn’t use jump bars when I did the set point game – my jumps have a permanent base bar though. If its too early even with no bars, then I will hold off. >
It is still a little too early because his striding at this age is all baby body striding 🙂 and as he grows, his striding will change. And if we start him too early, we have to re-teach it to get him to use adult form and not default to baby dog form. When he does start to see it, there will be a little bit of jumping involved so you’ll see him engage his hind end to lift off.
>Assuming that is your recommendation, what is the appropriate age to start the Max2 puppy course?>
6 months is the earliest that we like to start the dogs, but 8-9 months is actually better because their brains and bodies are more prepared.
Nice work here!
TracyGood morning!
>Kaladin is happy to report that his hooman managed to keep her dog-side arm down lower at the USDAA trial on Sunday so he didn’t get confused. >
Yay! Great job, hooman!!!
On the first video:
>The bar on the ground caught her attention and she ended up shooting around the back of the tunnel (looking very proud of herself as she reappeared on the other side).>
Actually, if you look at the line you were setting on the post turn at :08 – even though you were saying tunnel, I think the physical cue set the line to the bar! You were facing it! Good girl, Lift. Post turn days without a brake arm before the jump might be over because her knowledge of lines has expanded a LOT! You used an opposite arm after landing to get it on the next rep (she was still looking at the line to the bar) but you can also use a brake arm (2 arms, really) to release to the first jump to get more collection and get you turned sooner
The circle wrap at :31 looked great!
>I ran deeper into the tunnel pocket to prevent that reverse transition thing on the RC and it worked better. I think she shot a bit wide looking at the wings we had across the end of the dogwalk (it was a day for visual clutter for sure!)>
Yes, the visual clutter can be part of it and you might also need to hit the brakes really hard to get the wrap on a RC.
>Totally late on the opposite arm for the backside wrap around 0:57.>
For the circle at :57 I think that you were a little too decelerated at the tunnel which put you behind. She still turned nicely!
>think she’s trying out for the half pipe free style around 1:13…it seemed like a good time to throw in a fun go at the end of that one. Next 2 reps suffered from disconnection (bit hard to tell with the camera angle but I’m seeing my inside arm in line with my body or a bit ahead but not behind.)>
She has some opinions on those reps, I think it was because it was toooooo much info and she doesn’t need that much.
At 1:13 – we see angry Lift because you were rotating/leaning over and decelerating and putting the brake hand in, all in the same move.
You are also giving the brake arm right to her face and it has the toy in it at 1:25 and 1:38. I don’t think she needs that powerful of a turn cue – a decel then an empty brake hand more towards the takeoff spot is probably ideal.
Compare the rage reps to an empty brake hand directed more to the takeoff at 2:01, no rage happening there. Yay!
Looking at the backside exits:
The exit line arm worked great! She seemed to have no questions on those.To get more independence on the backsides, look at her beady little eyes 😂 and not at the backside At 1:05 you started by looking at her then looked forward to the backside and that changed the line of your shoulders – which is always when she can into you. Compare to 1:14 where you had better connection and she went to the backside really well so you got further across the line!
We work on more backside stuff in coming weeks here 🙂
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
>Well, this didn’t turn out as well as I hoped. I started with Casper and tried to correct the items you pointed out. That went maybe ok except he is dropping a lot of bars and that is making me crazy. I included the tunnel on the rework, hoping to up the energy.>
I think that 90% of the session was really spot on!!! The bars which were 10% or less were probably annoying but everything else went well and we can eliminate the bar issue with 2 little tweaks (which you actually did at the end of the session). More on that below.
That first rep was GREAT – he was surprised and a bit wild by all the tunneling, I think I could hear Enzo singing in the background, and you both absolutely nailed the collection cues and exit.
>I included the tunnel on the rework, hoping to up the energy.>
It totally upped the energy!
You nailed it on the 2nd rep as well. As he was exiting the tunnel, you were already working the collection cues. Gorgeous!
Since you were nailing these, you can add a wing out past the wrap jump as a visual distraction. Have it on a relatively straight line so sometiems you can use a ‘go’ cue to get him to it and sometimes you wrap the jump like you did here. If that goes well, the wing can become a jump.
>When trying to get the backside circle wrap to work, I had trouble because I’m blocking the wing and Casper can’t see it and doesn’t know there is a jump there. I am generally positioned where the wing and bar meet, so the dog can see the wing and knows there is a jump there.
>Looking at the backside circles: your position where wing-meets-bar was really good on just about all the reps!
The cue at :39 was so timely and powerful that he almost collected too much (I thought he was considering the front side for a moment!) but dang, he was so nice over the bar at :41!! I also really liked the rep at :53. He is skittering a bit on takeoff and landing, so you will see more tightness to the turn on turf or grass.At :59 yes, you did start to block the wing but he still did a good job! But that was really the only spot where you were not in a good position. Overall these went great!
>Starting about 1:05 you can see why I almost never to blinds.
>Yes that was a bit of a late blind at 1:06 – give yourself more of a lead out so you are well past the jump. You released at the jump so the blind started after he took off.
You had a better lead out on the next rep and the exit line arm made the blind crystal clear even thought it was still a little late. Also you don’t have to gravitate between the uprights for the blind, you can stay on the line you were running on which helps cue the turns.
The exit line arm use on the FCs was also spot on – if the FCs were a little late, he still read it well. When it was very late (1:30 and 1:46 where the FC started after he took off) he had to land on the original trajectory before turning so the turn was wide.
>At about 1:55 is a series of 3 reps where Casper drops the bar on the first two. >
He also had a bar at 1:34 along with the others later on – so why did the bar drop even as the timing got earlier?
It was the line of motion, not the timing. Motion is still the primary cue that all of this other stuff is layering on top of. It was likely the conflicting cues of the straight line/convergence towards the jump you were running fast on (cues extension) then popping unto the FC without a decel or transition before it.
At 1:41, you were moving towards the jump fast (so he was shifting to his right) then as he was taking off, you did the FC to cue a left turn – too late to adjust, bar down.
The same happened at 1:56, where he saw you converging to the bar so he is collecting to set his line there – and when you finished the FC you took off for a right turn after takeoff, so he was jumping towards the original line your motion set and tried to turn over the bar (not successfully).
You were even earlier on the FC at 1:59 (I liked that timing!) but the convergence towards the jump was the same so he jumped it the same way (he didn’t see that you were moving to the right until after he takes off).
Skip ahead to the FC at 3:10 – you had a brake arm in use (it was a tighter turn) but more importantly your line of motion was spot on: you did not converge to the jump and he saw you moving away to create the right turn before he took off. No problem! More on the below.
>About half way through, I pulled out Enzo.>
Yes, it is totally OK to swap dogs! And Enzo gives good feedback too!
On the first couple of reps, Enzo collected really well but was not watching the exit, he was expecting the spin to mean stay out on the line (which does make sense in this context, a FC is what would likely take him the other way.
And his blinds looked great 🙂
After the FCs, you can add in showing more exit line arm to Enzo so he knows exactly there to be. He had a lovely collection at 2:51 (brake arm!) but then when he landed at 2:52, he only saw your back and your lateral motion. So he drifted wide until he could see the line a bit better.
When you brought Casper back out:
He had a bar down at 3:01 because he was surprised at the tightness of the turn (it is basically a wrap). The rotation alone didn’t tell him how tight the turn was so his back feet hit the bar when he saw the exit line arm.
On the next rep, giving Casper a clear brake arm to set up the collection worked great! And you did it with some decel and without converging in towards the jump, so he knew it was a right turn. At 3:09 when your right arm was a definite brake arm as was heading for the jump, followed by the exit line arm: lovely!!!
So the motion & line matched everything else and he kept the bar up, no problem. On the reps where he dropped the bar earlier, I think all you need to do is trust his commitment more and stay laterally away from the jump (and decel into the turn if it is somewhat tight) rather than move toward the jump at all.
Great job here! Let men now what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>I worked on exit arm today and really should have had coffee first. I get the increased upper body turn to more clearly show the new side but I seriously struggled with which arm to hold the toy in. >
Coffee first is always the best idea!! Sorting out which hand holds the toy is easy for ‘regular’ crosses (the dog-side arm before the cross) but harder when you are doing spins (opposite arm before the spin) or several in a row. I walk courses and practice specifically which hand goes where sometimes LOL!
On the foundation stuff – he is reading things really well!
When rewarding with the opposite arm – stay upright and keep moving, so he doesn’t see pressure on the line. When he reaches you, he can grab the toy and keep moving (rather than curl in front). The connection clarity if part of what makes the turns so nice, and the chase-da-momma is the other part 🙂
This keep-moving-then=let-him=run-through-the-reward is what you did at :48 and it went great!On most of the wraps, yo had lovely turns because you had a bit of decel into the rotation, so the cues were all lined up and the exit line was super clear. The rotation was on time which might feel a bit late (more below) but it was timely – the decel and brake arm are the key collection cues. 1:34 is a lovely example. 1:43 is when you didn’t start that bit of decel and brake arm until after he had made the takeoff decision, so he grumbled at you and turned after landing.
>also did something super funky on 2 of these that made him think it was rear cross. Also, I accidentally cut out what I think set us up for the issue 3 reps earlier where I said the wrong wrap word so he wrapped away from me (correct for the verbal, not for what I actually wanted). On video looked like just poor timing on my brake arm and exit rotation plus pressure forward on his line before the-off on the 2 in this video.>
This is actually a pretty common blooper – you were too early with your rotation, so your feet stepped him directly to the RC line.
At 2:21 he was still pretty far from the jump, not yet having made a takeoff decision, when your right leg stepped forward towards the RC line followed by your left leg. That both cued the RC and put you physically right on the takeoff spot for the wrap you wanted. That is rewardable by either continuing back to the barrel to try to get it on the next go-round, or just rewarding 🙂
At 2:50, your right leg planted facing the RC line then your left leg stepped across then at 2:51, you can really see the right leg stepping towards the RC line sealing the deal of a rear cross just before takeoff (plus you are standing in the takeoff spot).
It is such a common blooper on FC rotations that I have an explanation of it, even though I couldn’t get the demo dog to do it wrong LOL
Being fully rotated helped (no RC info and you were not standing on the takeoff spot at 3:08) He ticked the bar there but that was mainly because you were sanding still there for a while.
So to help prevent accidental rear crosses the magic is in the timing of the decel and not being too far ahead where you might end up rotating too early.
>In honor of EOTT large dog round 2 jumpers course we tried an easier variation of the come into a jump tight wrapping away to weaves. I want to set it up for real at some point since it’s such an interesting challenge.>
Those were fun to see, he did great!! There were a lot of opposite arm uses on those courses, primarily the exit line arm after blinds and the soft brake arm (added yesterday) to help deal with some of the discriminations. I had fun playing armchair quarterback to see how the opposite arm was helping or needed!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
The photo on the right of the title card (with her eyes closed) was cracking me up. It looks like she was having a laugh after a good joke LOL!
The threadles and serps went great!!!
>She loooves her Treat & Train.>
Yes, the Treat n Train is both a great way to reward and a great distraction.
Adding in a start cookie on the threadle reps allowed you to adjust her start angle here so she didn’t always just loop herself back from the TnT 🙂 You can also use a stay if she will hold a stay in the presence of the Almighty Treat N Train LOL
Have you decided what verbal you’d like to use for the threadle lines? Most folks use ‘in in’, I use ‘close close close’, but it can really be anything that you like 🙂
The serps are also going really well! You can use a treat n train on this one too – the major thing that changes is your position on the jump so the TnT can be a few feet past you reward hand on the exit line.
For the start cookie, you can throw it to a variety of different angles so she comes in from a slice, from a straight line, and even from a crazy wrappy angle. You can also use a stay on this one.
Since this went so well, you can mix in showing her serps and threadles in the same session – your position will change, and you can have th TnT in one spot kind of in line with a wing so it can be used a a reward target for both!
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning! These reps looked great!!!
Two ideas to get you being able to do your FC and run away even sooner:– using the timing you had here (she was almost done with the wrap), keep your feet together and the toy hidden until you do the FC and start to run. You were stepping towards the exit line and showing the toy, but she seems ready for you to just take off and run 🙂 The toy can come out as she exits the wrap wing.
– if she is happy with that, you can put a line on the ground so you can start your FC even earlier 🙂 You can use a leash or just draw a line in the dirt, anything that is visible for you. You can place the line at the middle of the wing, so when she gets to the line she is halfway around and you can do the FC then run. When she is happy with that, the line and keep moving towards the entry side of the wing so that you can build up to doing the FC just as she arrives at the wing.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>The wait at the side was much harder. I couldnt quite go forward so went sideways. I fed from hand oops but then corrected myself and did a toss.>
Yes, feeding him at your side builds value for being at your side… which can ultimately make getting a wait while you are moving away a lot harder.
You can move forward more by letting him offer the sit, then you step forward while you mark and throw the reward behind you. That will build in moving forward right away, making it easier to build up duration.
You can also add in using a toy between cookie reps here so he remains excited and does go off sniffing. Eventually the toy can also be the reward for the stay!
>Here is our food toss. my chucking wasnt great but we haveplayed this quite alot.>
He was happy to go back and forth here but he didn’t engage with you a lot – he was looking more towards where he thought the next cookie through would be. So for the next session, wait longer before you throw the next cookie. Let him look towards you for a second or two, then throw it. The engagement doesn’t have to be eye contact as long as it is towards you and not looking out into the environment.
Looking at the retrieve video:
>he wasnt super convinced about toy wondered whether it was because a restricted space. will try with a difffernt toy>
Agreed, I think part of it was that the space was small and he ight have been feeling blocked in. Also, he backed off when you were tapping him on the ribs, so you can take that out. He was most engaged when you were sliding the toy around on the floor away from him, that is when he was grabbing it more but I am not sure he really thinks of this as a tug toy. Two ideas to build on this:
For this type of toy, you can have 2 or 3 toys: when he brings the first one towards you, reward him by throwing the 2nd one, and so on. If he doesn’t consider these tugging toys, you can still reward bringing it back by throwing a different toy.
Yo can use tugs toys for this – attach a fun tug toy to another toy to create a toy that is about a meter long. Then throw one end and when he takes a step back towards you with it, you can pick up the other end and get the whole toy wiggling around for him to tug on. That can help shape getting him to bring more and more steps of bringing the toy back while keeping it fun to tug on.>ps tried getting him tro walk away from toy using food but difference in vale too much, will look at usaing a more boring toy if can find. toys are way better than food so need to keep working on jim working for both when both present. perhaps need to work on the animate the food more to make more fun I keep forgetting this.>
Yes, you can use a more boring toy and you can also use higher value, more animated food. You can also introduce the concept by using a food bowl instead of a toy at first: the food bowl is the reward target a you give him fun treats for walking away from it. At first the bowl can be empty then it can have a treat in it! When he understands that, I think it will be easier to add the toy back in.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning!
His little toy pounce on the first rep was HILARIOUS. The toy was very enticing when you threw it so you can add in placing it down then rewarding with treats for walking away from it without you holding him. That will be a good challenge! Wrapping the barrel then driving to the toy was pretty straightforward, it was ignoring the toy at the beginning of each rep 🙂
>He was into it but then got hot (I think) so we ended the session. >
It was hard to see his face but it did look like his mouth was open so he might have gotten too hot. For the high energy toy games, you might only get 3 reps in the heat then need to take an a/c break 🙂 He will develop more heat tolerance as he grows up, but also as a brachy we will still eb super careful about the heat.
He was also processing how to ignore the toy (he kept looking at it). One way to keep him cooler is to have a lighter harness or just a very light neck collar on him for training? The harness is a bit heavy for a small due so it might contribute to getting hot faster – working him as ‘naked’ as possible can keep him cooler.
Strike a Pose:
>I think my Madonna is broken!! >
Funniest mention of this game ever! I do sometimes wonder if other generations get the joke here or sing the song 😂
You are not broken – you are working a tiny dog 🙂 That is why it feels weird. You can try separating your feet and also leaning the target hand downwards (dipping your shoulder down) instead of bending your knees.
You can also move to the next level which is where we fade out the actual touching of the target – on a real serp or threadle, the pups don’t touch our hands. And it is maintaining the criteria of hitting the target that is making you feel contorted. So you can have your hand less low, and reward for coming near it without actually touching it. That should feel a lot less contorted!
Using the toy was harder for sure, so start it with a food reward and then add the toy back when you don’t feel as contorted 🙂
The lap turns went great here! Yay! Your mechanics were spot on – great timing of moving your arm & leg back then turning him away. Easy peasy! You can go to the advanced level here and also get started with the tandems.
Great job!!
Tracy
Good morning!
He VERY QUICKLY figured out that sitting was getting the click LOL! Smart dude 🙂
Good job delaying the click at 1:45 – and click/treat for you, for ending the session! I am sure it would have been tempting to continue since he did so well.
For the next session, do a reminder rep or two of clicking/throwing the reward for the sit, then start to delay the click/add movement so he gets back into the stay he was doing at the end here. Remember to ping pong duration: some short stays, some instant clicks for the sit, and some longer ones all mixed in.Having the leash in the picture was a pain but it was a good pain 🙂 Getting the leash involved with training will make it easier to take the skills on the road, where the leash will be on him.
Handling combos: He did a good job ignoring the toy when you sent to the barrel! Watching you throw it was hard, because the throw really drew his attention to the toy and you had to hold his collar.
So the next steps would be to place the toy down and then reward him with cookies for moving with you back to the barrel without holding him.
You can add in the FC on the barrel and the decel/pivot too, he did great here! But you were being a good trainer and kept the session short and successful, another click/treat for you 🙂
>For the Game Predictability Part 3. I am confused on how it is different than what I was doing with the novel items.>
There are some similarities but a little different in that a lot of the Novel-Neutral games are not used with pattern games. They are using cued games like cookie recalls, and the pattern games take the cues out of it. Plus, this is the in-between step to taking the pattern games on the road 🙂
Nice job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
This was a perfect setup for this game: just enough room to bring it back to you and also enough room for you to slide back to add more distance. Perfect! And he was GREAT! He was super engaged with the toy you were throwing (you were a lot of fun!) and it looks like he was also tugging with you when he brought it back.
He also really liked the ball and brought it back brilliantly. Rolling it towards you was really cute OMG! As he gets bigger, you’ll want to get a bigger ball so he doesn’t swallow it but you can definitely keep the balls involved! I bet the balls will still be exciting even when food is in the picture.
One thing I do to be able to use balls in agility is get a big hollee roller, cut through one of the little rubber branches, and stuff a tennis ball or rubber ball in it. That gives us a super fun toy to use with more control over where it lands and bounces.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Strike a pose is going really well! You can reward across your body after he targets to your serp arm, then toss another treat as the start cookie (he won’t be sad about 2 treats haha!). That way you can get the in-then-out motion we want on the serp, and then the start cookie throw can reset him from different angles.
You can also add the next steps to this game: reward with a toy instead of treats, then we start to get the reward to the ground: can he come in and target the serp arm even with an empty food bowl on the ground near the reward hand? Then you can drop the reward into the bowl. And if that goes well, you can replace the bowl with a toy on the ground.
Lap turn turn aways (facing him): The reps where you had your feet together (like at :25) were smoother than the reps where your feet were apart. When your feet were together, stepping back as you moved your hand really helps draw him back towards you to set up the turn away. The reps where your feet were already apart might have felt a bit sticky because the hand movement had to do all the work and the leg position being stationary was giving him less room to move. So having your feet together until he reaches your hand, then stepping back as you move your hand will make them all feel smooth.
Adding the prop to the lap turns: he sure does love his prop 🙂 but he drove brilliantly to your left hand when it was stretched towards him and you were leaning over a bit to really show it to him (like at :19 for example). When the hand was not as outstretched (:30) he didn’t really see it and went to the prop.
He had a little more trouble finding your right hand so you can shake it and give him a cookie for coming to it before you turn him away. A little more room on that side will help too, so you can take this to a bigger space.
Once he does the turn away, you can get upright and let him find the prop (rather than lead him to it with your hand) before you throw the reward. I bet he will have no trouble finding it!
Tandem turns – these are going well too! Because he is so small, you might find it easier to have your dog-side arm involved too so basically both arms are turning him away. Using the opposite are was drawing him a little in front of you rather than keeping him at your side, because you had to lean over a bit due to his size. So feel free to experiment with what feels most natural to you that he can see as well.
Adding the prop to the tandems: he did really well here on the right side! The space was a little too small when you switched to your left side so he was still correct to go to the prop until you were right up against the wall. You can push the prop further over to give yourself more room because sometimes your line was drawing him right over it – adding more space definitely helped!
As with the lap turn and the prop – after the turn away, you can take your hands out of just move along a parallel path to the prop so he hits it (then throw the reward). I am very sure he will hit it 🙂
>I also have Bandit working on some of the MaxPup 2 exercises – tunnel smiley face and sit/stay with set point jumps. Since that is self-paced, I assume you don’t want videos of these. He is doing great with them!>
I am glad he is doing well! He is still a little too young for the jumping stuff so resist temptation to show him any of the jumping games. Ignore all the people on social media who are doing jumping stuff with pups his age, that is too much for their baby bodies and also his joints/muscles/etc are not developed enough to have proper striding so waiting til he is in more of an adult body is a good thing.
>I am learning that Bandit is a big sniffer, so went off several times to explore the world.>
It might have been a bit of find the cookie crumbs 🙂 so you can use toys or balls for this too! And working the pattern games regularly and in new places will help a ton as well, because they teach the pups to filter out distractions.
Great job here!Tracy
Good morning! He did so great with the placed toy on the ground – it was almost like he saw it as the context cue that ‘work’ was coming so he was extra happy to go wrap the barrel while ignoring the toy on the ground.
His gravitation back to the barrel after he has the toy likely indicates the value of the barrel and the game/work. Yes, you sometimes faced it and sometimes not, but I think it had more to do with value than accidental cues. And we like the value!!!
We also want to balance that value with other things that are not out away as ‘work’ 🙂 Using the mat was a great way to indicate other options besides the barrel. I am caffeinating and thinking of ways we can add in a balance of value for driving to you after he has the toy (rather than the magnetic pull back to the barrel or mat). A couple of things come to mind:
– in this game, you can add in decel & pivot with you after he exits the barrel wrap. Then either you can drive to the toy, or you can send him back to the barrel (because that does seem to be an intrinsic reward on many levels).
– after sending him to the toy, you can also have him bring the toy to you and the instant he brings it to you and engages with you (rather than migrates to the barrel) – boom! You send him back to the barrel then back to the toy. Basically, we are rewarding the barrel wrap a bit but mainly we are rewarding driving to you with the reward instead of migrating back to the barrel.
Now, that will only be of a couple of reps because if we do a lot of instant sends to work after he brings the toy, he might understandably think it is a chain and send himself. So we would build in more before he gets sent again: sometimes you tug on the toy with him then send, sometimes you line up at your side, sometimes hand touch, sometimes line up between your feet, sometimes instant send, sometimes taking the toy for a run about. You can use food for this too, since teething adds to the challenge a bit.
I am doing something similar right now with my Malinois-mix youngster who is also incredibly driven to work (shocking, I know, in a Mal-mix haha) and it has resulted in a dog who is spot on with equal balance of loving all the elements of work which includes retrieving the toy back to me and playing before the next rep. I can grab video if it ever stops raining!
>Anything else you would suggest so we can keep training and playing while we’re on the road?>
Your list is pretty comprehensive! Are the jumps all going to have wings, or are there any wingless uprights? A single wingless will be useful for some things coming up. Do you have an under-inflated disc you can bring, or a fit bone? That is probably all you need.
>Are you going to be in Chicago for the Invitational?>
I am skipping it this year, just too much family stuff to get back and forth from VA to NY to Chicago.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
He did great here with the tunnel threadles!
The first side was smooth and he read the cues really well. You can be a shade earlier with the cue to threadle here at the beginning – it was happening as he exited the wing, but you can start the threadle cues (arm/shoulder/verbal) just before he arrives at the wing.
On the other side, your cues were later (which is why he was wider) – at 1:12, for example, he was a stride or two past the wing exit when you did the threadle arm and shoulder turn. The later your were the wider he went like at 1:33 and 2:10 (and 1:45 on the original side too).
But when you the cue was in progress when he was arriving at the wing (2:21) he was nice and tight! Super! So definitely keep going with that early timing.
And you can spread things out and start to add more running! The added motion will require the earlier timing or he might end up off course 🙂 And depending on how he reads the line and cues, you might even add a turn verbal on the wing (coming from the wing before it) followed by the threadle info.
The lap turns are going really well – nice timing and mechanics! He was happy to propel around the wings without you needing to run which was great because you didn’t have run backwards at all 🙂
Since this went super well, you can spread the wings out and add more running – but I think your time will be better spent doing the tandem turns. It is the same structure as the lap turns but you are moving a little more and facing the line (instead of facing him). I suggest moving to the tandems because they are used a lot more than lap turns are nowadays, and also they move us really nicely into the threadle wraps!
Great job here!
Tracy
