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Good morning!
>>I have done some practices but haven’t gotten videos edited until tonight.
No need to edit them! Editing cuts out the important parts of what happens between the reps and during the reinforcement 🙂 so set a timer for a couple of minutes, do the session, then put it up in its entirety.
>>Caper had her vet appointment today and he gave her a clean bill of health. I suspect her behavior is a combination of her being an adolescent intact female and me being a bit down and her reading that.
That is great! Did they run a tick panel? We will keep watching her for behavioral feedback and make sure she continues to have a great time in life and sport 🙂
Looking at the angled grid – now that she has the idea that grids can be 3 jumps and not just 2 🙂 you can start using the moving target/dragging toy instead of the stationary target. She is a ‘hoppy’ girl when going to the stationary target, looking at you a little.
Here is a close up and more extreme example of the behavior the stationary targets create in most dogs LOL! And why I have gone to the moving targets:
I think the moving target will help make it even smoother for her – it is a challenging visual! And be sure to start her close to the first jump, maybe 6 inches away, so she takes off out of the sit. At :26 and :45 she was too far from the jump, is she had to put her front feet down again before takeoff for 1.
Lap turns – As you found it, the lap turns work best when you hold your hand position til she is 2 inches away – when you did that she was perfect!
>>Do you think her barking is excitement or a bit of frustration with me not getting information to her as quickly and clearly as she needs?
I think the barking during the lap turn element was probably a bit of frustration because the game is really challenging and her speed had to be controlled – a lot of dogs will vocalize when things are really challenging. I don’t think it was because you were being frustrating on most of the reps, I think it was because the game is hard 🙂
I think the barking on the tandem turns were definitely more of a frustration issue because of lack of clarity (more below on that :))
Looking at the tandem turns:
>>The allure of the tunnel was hard for her even though it was a long way off
I don’t think it was the tunnel… I think you were late so she was mirroring the info back to you in the wideness (or tightness) of the turn. For example at 1;10 and 1:13, she was pretty wide but tat was because you started the turn away element after she was past the wing.
And at 1:17, she was well past you and the wing before you did the turn element so she read it as soon as it happened… but it was really late 🙂 So she was correct to stay on the line towards the tunnel, but I don’t think it was the tunnel distracting her that was causing her to do a bit wide. She barked and came back and jumped up – all of that is frustration behavior. The food is a nice reward but she still knew the cues were late and it was hard to figure out what to do, which is why she was frustrated even though you were tossing treats. And there were some reps where she accurately read you cue (1:55 for example) and didn’t get rewarded… that where things can easily slip into frustration because she offered a response that reflected the cue, and was in effect told she was incorrect.
Then at 1:25, you changed the cue to one hand AND you were late (the cue actually did look like a send to the tunnel) so off she went to the tunnel. And she had some other wideness after that even when you broke it down to one wing, because of the timing issue.
So to help her see it sooner and be able to respond:
– decelerate into it, so the change in motion gives her a heads up that something big is coming.
– use your hand cue to slowly turn her away, rather than doing a fast flip away. When you were using your hands slowly, the cue was clearer. When you were doing fast flips, the turn hand was unclear as to whether she should drive out to the tunnel or turn away to the wing. So slowing the cue down will allow you to do the turn hand motion *then* indicate the wing, rather than trying to do them both at the same time.The mission transition game is going well! You were doing a good job of showing the elements separately (fast, slow, rotate).
>>When I first tried the exercise with her on my left she turned the wrong way the first two times. Then I did one without the wing and she was correct and then Keith shifted the wing over and that made a huge difference.>>
Yes – the wing position made that right turn look like a left turn because you had to push to the center of the bar to get her back on the line to the jump, which looked like a rear cross. Moving the wing to a more centered position totally helped!
The next step here is to now start rotating sooner for the FC, so you are finished with the FC before she takes off.
>>when I get together with the others, but this seemed like it would be an easy low key exercise and I think it was too much for her little self.>>
Don’t be fooled by the relatively simple setup 🙂 Anything that involves mechanics (the zig zags are all striding mechanics, as re the grids, the turn aways, the decelerations) are mentally challenging and physically challenging…. So the dog’s brain and body needs to be fresh to do them 🙂 And so does the handler’s brain!
Something like a smiley face or racetracks to the tunnel require a lot less thought and physical skill from the dogs, so that is a good one to end on rather than the complex zig zag 🙂
And also, it requires a lot of mechanics from you: The first couple of reps where you were at the 2nd wing went well because your cues were clear.
At :15 when you were at the 3rd wing, you said OK but didn’t really step to the first bar so she came directly to you (correctly) and then you told her she as wrong by pulling the toy away and marking her as wrong. I think you did pull out a cookie as you were walking back… but it is still a communication that *she* was wrong when in fact it was you.
Your arm and step was more obvious at :26 so she got it.At :35 – you were a little late and disconnected, so she hit the middle wing trying to read the line. Good girl! She finds this game harder when you are out at wing 3, so for now don’t go out there – stat wing 2 and after a couple of successful reps, take one step back rather than go all the wya to the next wing.
The you switched sides, bear in mind that you were now cuing the right turns and that is harder for her. On the first rep you were at wing 3 and had big obvious cues at :39 so she got it. Then you moved back to past wing 3 (which is a significant increase in distance) and the cues were not as obvious (upper body swung but feet did not, so with the added distance she didn’t read it as a go-into-the-gap cue). And like at :15, you communicated that the error was hers but it was yours 🙂 Same at :49 and 1:00 (she got it at :58 when you were much closer).
So if she does not end up in the gap that you wanted, reward her like she was correct (because she was, as the video shows :)) rather than all the toy away. And if you are not sure why she is not reading the cues, stop the session and watch the video because it will give you ideas of what to change for the next rep.
>>I think it was too much for her little self.
Actually…. Yes it was hard but it was not too much. What went wrong here was that she needs you to break it down a bit more (especially if this was the first time seeing it with bars) and live & die by the 2 failure rule. Remember that the 2 failure rule is the total for the session – so if you get 2 failures, the next reps all must be very successful. You were tending towards getting one success then making it harder again, which set up more failures. So if you see a question, go back to where ti was easier (like the 2nd wing instead of the 3rd) and move away one step at a time over the course of multiple sessions.
And in terms of it being too much, yes one detail was probably too much: asking for the right turns at the very end of all the sessions. So be sure that you end on the left turns which seem easier for her.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
This is definitely improving – going well overall! She is reading the deceleration and collecting really well! And only one accidental rear cross (and I think she is a righty, so she wants to turn that way anyway). But all the other wrap reps looked really good and she did well!
I think you made it a little harder for your timing by starting her in a stay in front of the jump (rather than a wing). The wing allows you to send and get ahead, and bring her in with speed. Starting from a sty on a jump causes her to need to accelerate before she can decel, which makes the timing trickier.
The other thing that made it harder for you both was that you were doing it from behind her (and from a stationary start) so you both had to use more peripheral vision which makes processing the timing and mechanics harder for you both. So you can do it from a wing start and from a bit further ahead, so you can show it to her from ahead of her which can be really helpful.
>>Anyway, let me know if there’s anything else that will help me improve my decel transition handling and timing.>
I also practice this a lot with just 2 wings (and a tunnel about 10 feet past the 2nd wing). That way I can practice my timing without doing too many jumps. And if I am late, the dog ends up in the tunnel LOL!! And 2 wings allows me to sort out the fast then slow then rotate with less chance of the accidental rear cross.
But overall, this is going really well!!! It is a complicated game and you are both doing really well :)
Tracy
Hi!
You got a “wow Keith” on the first rep form Suzie! NICE!!! And a moan on the 3rd rep LOL!!
2nd pre (:06) slammed on the brakes and disconnected – you don’t need to slam on the brakes for him, because he can really turn so nicely! So do more like what you did at :14, which was great because the decel was more subtle.
You did start adding the rotation when you changed sides, but it was late 🙂 As he passes the 2nd cone, you should be rotating so he sees it earlier and you are done before he takes off.At :23 you started to rotate and do the FC – you were a little late at :24 (bar tick) And you were even later at :27 (you started rotated as he was over the bar) and he dropped the bar.
Definitely keep rewarding his effort even with the bar down, because it is all on the handler with a baby dog to set the jumping up for success – withholding reinforcement will cause frustration which can lead some dogs to slow down and some dogs to get frantic. We don’t want either of those! I know most people insist on NOT rewarding dogs when the bar comes down, and in fact they tell people to stop (punishing the dog). But that is a big blame shift for a puppy: blaming him for the error when it is in fact all human error, especially at this stage.
So if he drops a bar, before the next rep, play the rep you just did in super slow motion to check your timing 🙂
It was fun to see the ladder grid here! He definitely thought about it and was different in his striding in a GOOD way – very powerful and balanced on the reps with the sits.
On the last 2 reps, you used a stand and that changed his mechanics entirely (especially on the last rep where his stay posture was really scrunched up and pretty far from the jump). So if you use a stand, be sure he is balanced with all of his feet squarely under him and balanced. Did you change to a stand because he was breaking the sit? His sit seemed really solid – yes, his head is lowered but he is having no problem with his jumping 🙂
Great job here! Let e know what you think!
TracyHi!
She did well with the decel game! She is reading it really well, so now it is a matter of figuring out how early you can do it!At :10 you started it as she was lifting off, so she did the back jump. On the next reps, you started the decel when she was just past the halfway point – so she was able to collect and wrap. Yay! In the next session, try starting it when she is at the halfway point between the wing and jump and see how she does. I bet we will be able to get it even earlier too!
>>The decel game did feel awkward to me. Struggling with the slow forward part. Again, see note on older dog’s decel gone to hell. We have a handler problem.>>
I thought you did really well with that!!! That is why you can experiment with timing it sooner!Great job on the connection here too, it really helped!
>>Great exercise which I also did with Hoke since it made me realize the decel when I am behind Hoke has gone to hell. See above statement on arousal…
When the dogs are good at this when they are calm, we try to get them stimulated and play this game 🙂 When they are stimulated more, we often need to be earlier on the timing because they are taking bigger strides.
The tight blinds looked good on the first diamond video – she is a tight turning dogs! ! And you were getting more confident with her commitment and starting those blinds earlier and earlier – he blinds at :28 and :35 were GREAT! Nice timing and connection!
Switching sides was harder – both of you were less comfy with the left turn side 🙂 You can start those sooner to connect sooner, which should make it easier for you both.
Nice work with the verbals on the turns too! And also the race tracks looked great – very connected very fast 🙂
The second video had some fun sequences – I think the hardest part for her was on th ecountermotion on the ‘dig dig’ type of wrap turns, when you were trying to leave with countermotion, She would come off the wing as you were leaving, mainly because you were looking at her. So for those countermotion wraps, try to look at the ‘landing’ spot as you leave (without a bar, the other side of the wing). That will help support her commitment as you move away.
At 1:06, you were very early for the blind so she was correct to *not* go to the wing. The blind was finished before she exited the tunnel, so she was a good girl! When there is a handling blooper, you can either keep going as if it was correct (because it was LOL!) or just reward 🙂 As we get into more and more handling games, we can assume all errors are handler errors, so we keep rewarding the pups 🙂
Your timing was better on the next two sequences and she looked great! Yay!
>>I am feeling the clock ticking on this class and there are still a great bunch of games to play.
We have plenty of time – the forum will stay open til the end of May!
>>The best part in these sessions was the improved toy play. If you recall, Liz was running off with the toy & then losing interest in playing. In these sessions I traded her some low value tx for the toy, then she came back to ‘bite’. On our last couple of reos, she let go of the toy waiting for me to pick it up & go back to tugging. I feel like we are working our way through it.>>
Yes! I totally noticed that tugging here was happy and relaxed! And it is great to know she is happy with the trading for the toy. Yay! It takes time to get the play routine really solid, and you were well on your way!
Great job :) Tracy
Hi! The left turns are coming back! Yay!! You can totally start each session with a little reminder by putting out a toy or target to jump start him, then carry on as planned. He looked great here! And the right turns were easy peasy.
And having the toys in the barrel – that was both brilliant and hilarious 😂
>>I had the manners minder at least 10 ft away from the last jump. I thiught even further than
I think having him start closer and using the moving target will totally help. Keep me posted!!!
Great job here 🙂
TracyHoly wow! That looked so fast and so fun!!
Great job with the connection and staying in motion and verbals! And anything that went wrong in the runs is good data to collect for training. The future is very bright 🌞 ✨️
And since you are planning to possibly end up in a different part of the States, I bet you’ll have even more FEO/NFC opportunities so that you can keep expanding on her success here.
Great job!
TracyHi!
Wow, she looks super confident on the zig zags! Fast and happy and organized! Super! So 2 ways you can make this more spicy and challenging:
– move things closer together so the bar is touching the other wing (no gaps).
– you can add one more wing and one more bar, so she has to do it on 4 bars 🙂Huzzah! Rear crosses! I am doing a big happy dance!!! These went really well and she is nailing it!
One tiny handling detail – you are lining up with the line of the tunnel exit and facing straight for a moment, and I think you don’t need to do that. You are turning with t he curve of the tunnel then getting on the RC diagonal. But you can just be facing and moving towards the RC diagonal immediately, which will make you perfectly on time (as long as you don’t get too enthusiastic and push her off the jump :)) You were facing the RC diagonal more immediately on the last 2 reps to the left and she was great: fast and tight on the turns! YAY!!!
It is really fun to see the RCs coming together so nicely!!!!
Great job here 🙂 Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>Great live class the other day! What fun!
Everyone was great and those were hard games!!!
>>I crack myself up when I review these videos and just imagine what you hear when you review your students’ work. I’m, of course, talking to Baxter like he’s a person and then am humming as we do the racetrack games LOL >>
I think is it great! Singing, smiling, humming to our pups… so fun!

Looking at the first video:
The warm ups on one wing looked great! Lap turn to the right – good! When you switched to the left – also good! Super!When adding the rocking horses, the first rep on each side had a little blooper of forgetting he needed to be between you and the wing. But then you were perfect after that and got him to the correct side.
He had a couple of little questions:
At 2:30 he didn’t commit to coming in for the lap turn, and it was because you were too early! You broke he 2 inch rule LOL so he didn’t quite get the turn – remember to let him get 2 inches from your hand before you start to move back.
Compare to the rep at 3;20 – you got the 2 inch rule and he was perfect 🙂OK the humming on the race tracks was HILARIOUS! Every race track needs a theme song and Baxter definitely liked it! And it created great handling, so I highly encourage more singing LOL!
Looking at the get out game:
He did really well! He is very responsive to the verbal and outside arm here!
When you aded the blind – the timing was good. Yes, can be a shade earlier but also he was completely not expecting it to happen so had a little delayed response on the first one. He got tighter and tighter on each one. But here is an idea to both add challenge and make it easier to be more timely on those:
On the next session, send him the other way around the wrap wing so he enters the wrap wing on the side that is closer to the jump. And he will exit further from the jump, which makes the ‘get out’ cue a little harder but also when he does get out, you have more time to see the head turn and start the blind.
Great job here! Le me know what you think! And we will miss you in Syracuse!
TracyHi! I’m glad he is having fun training! Yay!!
>>His stays also took a hit. I ended up having Jamie hold him for the wind in my hair sequence. This morning I also practiced stays with all 3 dogs using your method. He did well. I didn’t include that video, but I did video.>>
This is normal for all of our dogs, even if we didn’t have to crate rest – sometimes the sty just disappears LOL!! Good job breaking it down to help bring the stay back 🙂On the first video – the set point: Nice job getting him to look down to the reward target!
What is the distance you were using on the set point? I think he was struggling with it actually being a little too short for now! If it was 6 feet, maybe try 7 feet.
But also, start him a lot closer to jump 1 so he is not running into it – ideally, he is less than 6 inches from jump 1 so he pushes off his rear directly into the set point. That will keep him powering through on his rear which will also feel more balanced.Did you get a chance to play with the moving target pre-game? That gets applied here and I think he is ready for it, after he sees it in the pre-game 🙂
>>The progress we made with his weakness with left turns has taken a hit with our crate rest.>>
Yes, he definitely had a little trouble but we can help him. The right turns were definitely easier for him on the barrel wraps and wind in your hair game!
On the barrel wraps – on the left turns, a couple of ideas to help smooth it out for him:
– you can smooth out the starts by lining him up at your side with a cookie, slipping a finger on his collar, saying the verbal a few times and then stepping forward and letting him move to the barrel as you stay connected and also indicate with your arm and leg. This is especially important on the left turn side (when he was on your right side) when he was jumping up at you (frustration) rather than smoothly going to the barrel.
Also – I think having the other 2 dogs watching/string/sometimes barking was too much social pressure on his adolescent brain and even though he didn’t go to them, he still felt the pressure. (You can see him look at them more in the next part of the video, when there is barking) The social pressure causes him to have to focus a lot of brain power on ignoring them rather than processing hard things like turning left. So, he gets alone time when training and his mom and brother can be in the house 🙂
2 other things that might help refresh those left turns: You can place the reward out just past the barrel to help him have a focal point to turn to and drive to, as you get started with the left wraps. And you can also revisit the head turn game with the clicker from MaxPup 1 (it was in one of the final weeks). That game works the mechanics of the turn specifically and can help those left turns come back.
Wind In Your Hair – he was driving forward really well! Super!!! The wraps also did well here, you were more patient to let him set up the left wraps. Yay! You can keep adding more speed and distance here and start building up to the rear cross games :) Great job!
TracyHi!
Good job working through the timing needs on this game – it can be tricky!! On the first sidde (dog-on-left heading to the jump) I think the decel was a little too early so yay were walking a bit , which reduced some of her speed. My. favorite rep on that side was at :07, when you accelerated for a bit longer then did a little decel – that as fast AND tight! Yay!
On the other side, you definitely had more acceleration which helped a lot! As you were decelerating, you were sending her past you with the dog side arm which also helped. When you had a little less motion of the arm, she had a better turn (like at :59). When you had a big arm send and ,ore arm motion, she was a little wider. So definitely keep moving the arm but move it a little and not a whole lot 🙂 to find the sweet spot for the turn.
One other thing that will help: after the FC, rn run run run and then when she catches up to you, throw the ball. When you were standing still, there was no need for her to drive around the jump to get back to you. If you take off and run, she will tighten up the turn automatically because she will be motivated to chase you out of the turn.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
I am glad they played today! Yay!And yes, the timer is a great way to keep from getting caught up in the moment! And I definitely think training *before* she runs around will help keep her energy up for the session 🙂
T
Hi!
I think the reason this felt weird was un her son which had to use with the toy was because you did spins here (front cross then blind cross combo) instead of the blind – so the toy placement probably felt weird because she was starting and finishing on the same side of you. These were really nice spins!
But to get the tight blinds, keep reminding yourself to turn away from her (not towards) and then it will all make more sense: the toy will starting the dog-side hand, then you turn away from her, and then the toy is in the opposite arm which you show across your body. Once you get the feel for it, it will feel great! For now, keep remdinding yourself to turn away from her, and you will have it 🙂Nice work!
TracyHi!
For some reason the first video link won’t play, it says it is not available – let me know if it is working for you.
The 2nd video looks good! The angled jumps are definitely challenged so on the first rep, she was a little more “hoppy” and upright. She then got adjusted more on the 2nd rep and was more balanced – the angled jumps are a hard visual! So I think she was sorting it out really nicely – on the next session, use the moving target with the angled jump and see how she does! Nice work on this one!
TracyGood morning!
The deceleration cues are hard and they do feel a bit awkward! But it gets easier as both you and Hola get more comfy with it.
The GO reps all looked great!
Looking at the decel – on the very first decel rep, she was expecting the thrown reward like the Go rep.She had 2 main questions about the decel :
On some of the decels, you also rotated towards her which looked at the RC cue (looking at your feet, you can see your feet pointing to the RC side of the jump, like at :19, :33, 1:11, 1:54) so she slowed down to see which it was.I the 2nd half of the video, you were exaggerating the decel a bit which is great! On the reps where you stopped moving, she also stopped moving. But then when you kept moving as you were decelerating, she was great – such as 1:03 and 1:34.
The most perfect reps were at :23 and the last rep. So keep moving forward for longer in that decel mode, and when she is about a foot from the jump, then you can rotate through the FC.
Looking at the lap turns: Vanilla Cupcake Grahams?
Yum! It sounds delish LOL!
>>Oh boy…that was a big mistake, sweet cupcake cookies was all she could think about.
If that happens, you can dial things back to a less stimulating food reward, e en in the middle of a session.
>>Thinking about our past few weeks’ training she has seemed a little less excited about some of the toys in general and I’ve tried to switch them out more. I could use some help on how to work through this kind of engagement (or lack thereof) when it becomes difficult. I felt like I put too much pressure on her to play.>>
She is coming out of a season and so it is useful to do sessions where it is all food only, or all toys only. And keep things short and fun! And break things down so there is no perceived pressure or difficulty – remember the 2 failure rule 🙂
>>I think I need to keep sessions super short because she seems to fade out quickly. She starts out strong and expends so much energy in the first part of anything, chasing toy, etc. I do let her run around before we start and relax some in between. She usually ends up with tongue hanging out the side of her mouth as far as it can go! It’s been very hot here, too. >>
With the heat and the running around before the session… she does not have much energy left for h the session especially if she is running around with the toy beforehand. So the easiest answer is to not let her use uptake energy before the session 🙂 You need the brain and muscle energy for the training session, so there is no need to let her use it up running around.
And when using toys in the heat, set a timer for 2 minutes, total. And when the timer goes off? Session over! These videos are edited to about 2.5 minutes which means the sessions were longer… which is too much for now especially in the heat. And you can see her biggest questions come after the 2 minute mark. So, 2 minutes total, full session, no editing needed 🙂
And try not to do too many repetitive things in a row, like the rocking horses or race tracks – that feels like drilling to the dog and gets pretty repetitive, so you can do maybe 2 in a row then be done. You will see a big increase in her physical and mental stamina that way.
Looking at the lap turn video – she started off really well and then as things got more complex and it was harder for you to show connection, she struggled a bit. So in those moments when she slowed down (like after 1:54) you can show more connection and do shorter reps (refusals are almost always connection questions from the dog). And the connection getting harder to see plus the little sequences getting longer towards the end of the session (when she was hotter and more tired) also contributed to her slowing down: she started off fast and tight on the turns! So that is where the 2 minute timer will really help – you get done what you can do in 2 minutes, then leave the rest for another day 🙂 These games are not intended to be built up in one session, they are better if you do multiple sessions.
>>When we’re done training and come back inside she’ll sleep for a few hours. >>
That usually indicates that it was either really hot or really hard or both… so as the heat comes up, dial back the length and intensity of the sessions and you will see even faster progress!
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
