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Good morning! He is doing well here!!
Looking at the Find the Jump clip:
Yes, he had a couple of questions but nothing major or concerning. He found the jump each time! Yay!
On the first couple of reps, I think you had some decel that he could see and hear as he was entering the tunnel so he exited looking at you. And you said “YES!” on some of the reps when he was in the tunnel, so he exited looking at you because “yes” often means “COOKIES!” LOL!!!And then yes when you were pretty far away it was harder for him to see the connection so he had a little look at you to confirm the cue. You can exaggerate it more by pointing back to him a little but overall I think he just needs the experience of seeing lateral distance. You can be telling him GO GO GO before he enters the tunnel so he accelerates out of it on the straight line.
The diamond is looking good, even with a few extra spins thrown in LOL!! In general, the blinds look good, he is very speedy and tight on his turns, so you can definitely add more to this!
Serps – This is good feedback from him about how he reads positional cues!! The threadle positional cue is before the first wing of the jump (between the start wing and the jump) and the serp positional cue is more center of the bar of the jump on the landing side.
I think you were trying to close your shoulder and open it back up for the serp… so it read as a threadle on the first rep. Note how you re-connected and opened the arm up as you were approaching the jump and that is the positional cue for the threadle slice. GOOD BOY!!!
So try to send to the wing from a lot further away (ideally you are at the wing of the jump when you send him to the start wing) so that you can be showing the positional cue for the serp when he exits the wing. That positional cue is more on the center of the bar.
Rear crosses:
>.On this on I felt I was doing too much of the an ‘L’ move, cutting in behind him at the last second, on most of the reps.>>
Yes, on the first several reps, you were definitely doing a bit too much of the L shaped line. But click/treat for you for adjusting it and the last few reps were really good! The good news is that he is reading the RC pressure in both directions. So to get onto the RC line sooner and not end up with the L, start right next to the wrap wing, and don’t move til he is finishing his wrap… then run directly to the center of the bar. You can put a line on the ground to keep you honest LOL!!! That way the cue will look different sooner, and won’t get confused with the wraps that we added last night.
There are now 4 handling moves to do with this setup:
Go, rear cross, backside circle wrap, front cross wrap. After a session of the FC wraps, if that goes well, you can try to do all of the different cues in one session to get feedback from him about how clear the cues are.Great job here!!
TracyGood morning!
>>As far as one of the other dogs being good role models they both are although Reilly can show some sensitivity to some noises. Jackson is pretty solid about everything.>>
Ok then, Jackson gets to be the stable pony (he will get paid in cookies LOL!!). Plus he is very experienced in new environments and I think that will model really nicely for her!
Looking at the sequences:
She is a good honest girlie! I loved this session! Excellent feedback from the dog 🙂
One thing for her (and all dogs in sequencing) – if something goes wrong, just keep going was if it was correct. If you stop and send her back to a jump, the implication there is that she was incorrect when, in fact she was reading you really well. And that can be confusing/frustrating: “I did exactly what the cue said, why are we stopping?”
With that in mind, she was not taking 3 at :04 and :14 because your cues specifically told her not to 🙂 Yes, you said jump but there were all sorts of other jumps out there too 🙂 When she was exiting the #2 tunnel, you were a little disconnected, running towards 4, and starting the FC before she really looked at 3. So she figured the FC was for the tunnel exit and she should skip 3, based on the body language. Super good girl!
Since she didn’t take it, you can totally complete the FC, cue 4, then reward – then figure out what went wrong 🙂
To get her to take 3:
I suggest a GO cue before she goes into the tunnel so she exits looking straight. When you get quiet, she exits looking for you.
Then as she is exiting the tunnel, make a direct connection to her eyes and move forward towards 3 (you will be ahead, but move on a parallel line to it). Maintain this connection and cue until you see her turn her head and look at 3… then you can start your FC. You were too early here (starting while she was looking at you and before she looked at 3, because you were not cuing 3) which is why she didn’t take 3. She is s super responsive lady!>>I am not sure why I couldn’t cue #5 for her.
I think that the way this was built, the line from 4 was a direct line to the backside of 5, as she mentioned to you during the session :). So you would need a soft turn cue before she took off for 4, so she could land facing 5. I think it was just a little tight in the course build, so you can spread it out and move 5 onto a more natural line for her, but I would still give her a turn cue for 4 (after she lands at 3).
Which turn cue to give? Probably just her name. When she lands from 3, you are moving along the line 4-5, and call her name softly once or twice – and see how that turns her before the takeoff for 4. If it is not enough, we can add a ‘brake’ arm too and that should be perfect.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
These look fabulous! Low latency, good timing from you, and she was happy to engage with the food. SUPER!
>>I wasn’t sure how we would go with these as Sonnet isn’t food motivated at all. I’ve worked on this since she was a puppy as I like to be able to use food as well as toys but it’s been a long hard slog at times.>>
You’ve done a GREAT job because I would not have guessed that it was a struggle based on this video. She was happy to eat! With that in mind, it is entirely possible that she will not take food in more arousing environments, but I have ideas for you for that!
The reason we want her to take food in these pattern games is not necessarily as a reinforcement or motivator in the operant sense, but more so we can easily get the pattern going in a state of arousal that is more optimized for waiting her turn or ignoring other dogs. The patterns with food are far easier for seeing the re-engagement and self-regulation. Also, the pattern game allows her the outlet of movement, which I am sure she appreciates and needs in arousal situations. Also, food is easy and fast to use in small spaces 🙂 and theoretically has a ‘calming’ effect on the dog.
So, if we think of food more as a behavior and less as a reinforcement or motivator, then we can insert a toy into your pattern to help her eat the food any time, any place 🙂 You can do it like this:
toss a treat – she eats it then re-engages – you give her a tug moment with a toy in your hand – then toss a treat in the other direction – she eats it then re-engages – you give her a tug moment with the toy in your hand. And so on 🙂 Part of the re-engagement is eating the treat.That will add higher arousal of course (which is INCREDIBLY useful when we consider the importance of state dependent memory) and should make eating food more exciting & motivating. Plus, you can be more stationary with the food and won’t have to run at all. And should make it easier to take patterns into harder environments.
As will all of the pattern games, do this a bunch at home first so she is totally used to it before adding challenge.
>> I have to pick my times to be able to use food.
The goal is to use it any time, any where – and we can figure out how to get that. BCs are a puzzle with food sometimes, but it is a puzzle I like to solve LOL!
>>I also had a pretty big distraction without realising at the time. A toy belonging to one of my other dogs was on a shelf just out of picture and I had no idea. She obviously did though, as soon as we finished she went racing up to the shelf and tried to grab it so pretty happy she managed to work through that for the food as I don’t think she even looked towards the shelf at all.>>
That is hilarious! Good girl!! She did NOT look at the shelf at all. Yay! And I thought the sounds on the video were distracting but not for her, she is used to them.
As far as progressing:
– try the food -toy version of the pattern games described above. If that goes well for a short session or two, we will add in the novel distractions 🙂
– how is the volume dial game going? It sounds like she goes into a higher state of arousal in agility, so we are going to teach her how to self-regulate and we are going to figure out how to help her 🙂Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>> I think they were too big and too unique…she’s never had them before. No, she doesn’t always chew her treats, but she is a bit “careful” with anything new she is introduced to treat-wise.
This is good to know! Some dogs chew their treats only when they are processing something new in the environment and/or are concerned about something. Some dogs chew their treats any time they are new treats in terms of type or texture, regardless of environment – and that is what is sounds like Synnie was doing 🙂 I think you might be able to keep using those treats, because they are more familiar now? If they are high value and easily visible, then it is worth using them.
Keep me posted!
TracyGood morning! These are looking really good!
The stationary back and forth game, and the up and down game are both super strong. When you are moving for the back and forth game, remember to look at him so you can see if he re-engages with you (or not 🙂 ) before throwing the next treat – you were a little early on some of the treat throws.
>He didn’t seem to worried about the object I chose, should I switch it up?>
I agree, the object was just the right amount of tiny distraction and definitely did not worry him. In fact, I think he got pumped up because there was the potential for more action 🙂 All good! So yes, you can switch it up with random novel things.
And you can also take this game outside and add a leash. We will take it on the road soon.Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>>Unfortunately, I didn’t set my tripod back far enough. So, you can’t see the up and down game well. I also did the volume dial with toys first and then food. I’m completely out of the frame with the food. Oops!>>
Pattern games are looking good! Interestingly, on the back and forth, there was a difference in latency when she was on the left side of the screen (lower) than on the right side of the screen (higher). Why is it like that? Dunno 🙂 Could be any zillions of reasons but it was significant enough that we will note it and look for it in other sessions. I didn’t really see it in the previous session in your yard.
Up and down was visible enough that I could tell it was looking good too!At the park – are there any areas you can take her to that might be stimulating with people, other dogs walking past, kids, soccer games 🙂 , bikes, etc? That is a great opportunity to play these with more interesting stimuli 🙂
>>Sprite did pretty well in class. Unfortunately, she tends to whine on her crate, but we are working on it.>>
Is there a place the crate can be where she can settle? Or a visual blocker, or turn on music to block the sound a bit? Or would chewing something (like a bully stick) help? It would be good for trial days if she could relax in her crate more.
>> At the end of class she was in a down while a lower energy dog did some agility right by her. I have video of that if you want to see it.>>
Good girlie! Was she actually relaxed, or showing excellent control and holding position? Either way, all good! And I always ask this question because it gives us insight into her internal state: what happened next? Was she able to release from the down and do some “work” or be engaged?
>>Yes, it was Gemma on the side of the fence. I can give her a toy, but I’m not sure how to throw stuff for her and work Sprite. >>
Maybe Gemma can chew one something? You can also have Sprite close to the fence so it is easy to toss stuff for Gemma (you will need a third arm for this, possibly LOL!)
>>I can have Gemma out with a ball on the field running around. I’ll see what I can come up with. Actually, the soccer ball is a huge distraction. So, it can be one of the items out.>>
So if the soccer ball just sitting there is a big distraction, you can use it as a stationary distraction until she is ready for more (that low latency is our cue). Eventually, yes, Gemma can be running around with a ball near you 🙂 And you can also release Sprite in and out of the pattern games to chase the soccer ball or play with Gemma if that is something they both like! The play interspersed with the pattern games will help bring the arousal up in a good way, which helps cement the pattern games in higher arousal states (yay state dependent memory!!)
Great job here! Let me know how she does, feel free to be creative with happy distractions 🙂
Tracy
Good morning! I love the music in the background
These look really strong – low latency (quick responses) and she seems very happy to play the games 🙂 My only suggestion for this session is to make sure you don’t get into a rhythm because then you get going really fast and end up placing the next treat before she re-engages 🙂 So keep watching her to let her re-engage and then place the next treat.She is definitely ready more:
– playing these with the leash on and in different places. How does she do with these in class or other places?– add a novel object into the environment. Nothing scary, just new and different 🙂
You can also play these with a handful of treats in each hand without the cookie pouches around your was it. That is a massive cue for the dogs that we cannot take into the ring, so the sooner we can fade it, the easier it is to help the dogs engage without it.
Have you tried the volume dial game yet? I am excited to see it!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>Will there be a Max pup 3?
Yes! The program goes through MaxPup 4 and then the dog graduate to the CAMP level.
>>Do you think Mochi and I will be ready to move on to Max Pup 3?
Totally yes 🙂
>>Do you know when it will start?
That is a great question… it requires bigger spaces which will be really hard in the winter for most of North America. Usually MaxPup 3 runs in the spring and summer. Plus, we have the holidays coming up which makes scheduling harder. So I will take a look at how to either revamp it so we can do it in the winter, or some type of bridge class (MaxPup 2A or Pre-3 haha) so that we can make it through deep winter before doing the full MaxPup 3 class. I hope to figure that out in the next week or two.
Tracy
Ooh I am loving my morning Tipsy updates! Coffee and terriers, nothing better than that combo!
>>She was a GOOD GIRL last night! I crated her the whole time between runs and gave her a chewie to work on and her reactivity was down a whole bunch. >>
SUPER HUGE HOORAY!! That likely indicates a change in her physiology so she was in a better state in the ring to be able to do agility 🙂 So definitely keep going with that.
>>She was a little distracted during some runs but she didn’t visit anyone! She came back to me after doing a little loop around the ring.>>
That is still an improvement and we haven’t even gotten into the nitty gritty yet 🙂 You can start to track what causes these little distractions and we can find “triggers” – you can do that by videotaping your runs, or keeping a journal, or texting notes to yourself (this is what I do). Just jot down what happened right before she got distracted: was it a handling bobble? A novel distraction, or a sudden distraction? Was it when you took the leash off? Tracking it will help us make a plan to help her out.
The next step is to get the pattern games really solid at home. Since she is food-driven, I think this will be very easy for her 🙂
>She’s still not convinced about the treat hugger…I’ll keep trying.>>
She probably needs more time to pair the treat hugger with food delivery, but it will come because she is a foodie. You can make it more enticing by having a treat sticking up out of it, like a long skinny piece of cheese so it is easy to grab and highly visible (and yummy!)
Great job here! Keep me posted!
Tracy
Good morning!
Interesting to hear that you are also seeing these openings, all the way across the world! Yes you can totally do them with both dogs 🙂
The pattern games looked AWESOME and in fact, I think Sassy thought it was the best day of her life LOL!! Is this the first time she has seen them? She was great. Mechanics looked strong and I am glad you added the leash.
We are going to strengthen these games a whole lot, because they are the foundation for helping her get over her very valid concerns about other dogs. You can play these games every day, but alternating the level of challenge: one day can be a novel object (she is ready for that) and the next day can be the normal easy game like you did here. It is important to keep the easy version of this game as he favorite thing ever as we very gradually build up the distractions (eventually we will add strange dogs).
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
She totally remembers her patterns from MaxPup 1 and the Up and Down game looked great! Note how quickly she returned her engagement to you.
>>The distraction we used was pretty mild.>>
This was cool to see… something as mild as a random box in a comfortable environment TOTALLY changed the picture. Her body language changed, she needed to investigate it, took several reps… Then BOOM! You can see her tail position change and she was like “I am ALL GOOD NOW, thanks!” YAY!!!
So definitely keep doing this novel, neutral object thing – every other day. And on the other days, do the pattern game without any novel objects just to keep the pattern game sharp and happy.
And are any of your other dogs super stable and confident in a way that they can model that for her, when you go into new environments that might be hard? Social learning is really powerful! And the flip side – if one of the other dogs might have a struggle with something in the environment, don’t have her also in that environment with him.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>>How many novel objects in the yard?
2 or 3 should be fine. Also, was that Gemma behind a fence? Can you give Gemma something to do that might catch Sprite’s attention? For example, I will put one or two of my dogs on the other side of a fence and hand them all frisbees, so they run around like fools 🙂 That is a GREAT thing to work on because it can simulate trial distractions.
>>My energy is low today. Covid vaccine yesterday and I’m having mild side effects.>>
TOTALLY relate – I had it last week and it made me feel terrible for over 2 days. Worth it in the long run but it really a low energy. few days.
>>Also, I didn’t see a leash in your volume dial video, so I thought it would be okay. 🙂 I’ll add it at the park. It is a PITA, but likely needed. Do, I best get my mechanics down.>>
Starting without a leash is perfectly fine. Since you have really good mechanics with everything else, you can the leash now. Also, you can add verbal “chatter” before the cue because having a ‘magic word’ paired with fun things and optimized arousal can actually trigger that more optimized arousal state (and engagement). Mine is “ready!” which is not super creative LOL but very effective. If I say it, I will get pretty immediate feedback from the dog that YES HE IS READY. And if I don’t get that feedback? More patterns or more volume dial needed, depending on the situation.
>>Sprite does know how to weave between my legs. It’s a warm up. At one point I tried go between my legs and line up at my side. But, she got sticky and wouldn’t be parallel or she wouldn’t sit.>>
You can bring it out again as a volume dial game, and also you can use it as a stay behavior without the parallel line up or the sit.
I teach it without the sit at first: line up and stay there. Kind of like the old kids game “freeze dance” 🙂 where I cue the stay, move away, then release to party. I really don’t care if the dog is in a sit or if they are parallel to me. At first my dogs are all a little sideways and in a stand. And that is great because since I haven’t asked for a sit, I’m happy to reward them for holding position! It is also great feedback about the arousal state and takes out any conflict. It also allows the dog a lot of agency at the start line, because they can choose their position – for example with Contraband, I go to the start line and just say “stay” – criteria is don’t move from this spot. He can stand if he wants, or sometimes he puts himself into a sit. As soon as he has chosen a position, I move away and start the game.
>>Today in class I did use the back and forth game walking towards the first jump. She did well. New class with two loud barking Aussies. We did pattern games and short sequences.>>
Awesome! Doing it with new dogs is great, especially with loud new dogs 🙂 How did she do with it while waiting her turn or watching the other dogs?
>> I have a procedure Friday, so I might not get to the sequences until this weekend. >>
Sounds good! Hoping for a speedy recovery!
>>But, it’s really crate to gate where we need the most help.
All of these little pieces will come together into a great way to happily get from crate to gate, in any situation 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
The back and forth game with the novel object looked good – she looked at it for a half second before you started, then ignored it the rest of the time. Perfect! Pretty low latency (some looking for the treat in the grass which is fine because olfaction is our friend :))
Definitely take this on the road to novel contexts (you can do the up and down game too) and also try it in agility class – how far from the ring does she need to be to have this latency? And you can also set up a gauntlet of novel objects in your yard – then bring her out on leash and walk through/past the gauntlet with the back and forth game.
Volume dial should definitely be done on leash, because the leash will be on in almost every context. And the leash is a pain in the butt, so definitely use it in training so you can rehearse the mechanics of using it. The spins are such a great trick that you will definitely want to sort out how to deal with the leash 🙂
When you are using food, I would like to see more action in your treat delivery: get the behavior, mark, then run a few steps so she chases your hand for the treat. And during the treat delivery, you can reward up high so her front feet come up off the ground (this will increase arousal :)) And you can be as wild as you want to be – the goal it get wild, so feel free to be wild.
The spins are great for this, and so are the high fives. And if you do a down or sit, release quickly so it is a quick movement. She did well with the toy, lots of action! You can run a little more here too with the toy, so she feels the difference in your energy too! This might be the one game where we do NOT want the handler to have super clean mechanics LOL!!
No need for the chin holds here – not enough action, and most dogs don’t really breath properly during chin holds (notice the closed mouth) which can affect their physiology in undesired ways – so I have taken the chin hold out of the toolbox unless the dog can be open-mouth panting while it is happening (I only know of one dog that does that).You can also take the volume dial game to new environments: classes, parks, etc. Part of this game is learning what she needs in different environments to dial that arousal into the optimized state. And just like different environments, the volume dial game will be different too!
Does she know how to weave between your legs? Somewhere in my brain I thought she knew how to do it – if not, it is easy to teach with cookie lures. It is great for volume dial, it doubles as a physical warm up, and it is a great way to work up to a line up in high arousal!
>>I didn’t combine the videos so it’s two separateones. I hope that’s okay?>>
Yes, perfect! No need to do much editing: just do the session and slap it up on YouTube then into the forum LOL!
Great job here!!
TracyHello! Welcome!
>>some of these pattern games since the Power Patterns webinar, but I’ve only done them with her by ourselves either in the house or in the backyard where there are limited distractions. >>
Hooray for practicing your patterns! When you do them at home or in limited distraction places, how quickly does she re-engage? Does she always chew her treats?
>>Tonight we moved to the agility field, where she can see/hear cars on the road and I also let the other dogs out (who loudly explain how they are very jealous of the one who is on the field!).>>
Yep, that made it a LOT harder and her latency was high, meaning it took a longer time for her to re-engage (lots of chewing, sniffing, looking around and also chewing LOL!!). What that tells us is that the environment was challenging! Not overwhelming because she was able to re-engage… but definitely super challenging. They way to tell how the session went is to do another session in a day or two, just like this one. If it looks the same, in terms of length of time before re-engaging? Then dial back the distractions – maybe just have her out in the field without the other dogs barking because. Then if you seeder re-engagement gets faster, you can add back maybe one dog in the next session. She will let you know how she feels about the level of challenge with how quickly she can re-engage.
>>We are doing our first NADAC trial on Sunday (my first NADAC trial in about 15 years). Do you think she is at a point that I can bring this to the trial and use it maybe 20-30 feet from the ring to start?>>
My official answer is… maybe LOL!!! Probably! But you will definitely want to play these games with her on a leash (at home) first, because the leash can make things harder for you both. And if you try it at the trial, start with a small, less interesting dog and NOT the tunnelers class LOL!! If she is successful in terms of being able to eat the cookies and re-engage pretty quickly, then you can move a little closer.
If she struggles – can’t eat or re-engages slowly – you can move further from the ring.Let me know how it goes!
Tracy
