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Hi!
>>I’m not sure I was doing the correct Push etc. but she was Zig Zagging.>>
The zig zags are going well – she is definitely sorting out the game and it is fine to mix up the push versus pull based on changing her starting spot and your starting spot.
My only suggestion for an adjustment to make is to angle the wings 90 degrees so the jump cups are facing you and not pointing to the side. That will make an easier visual (she can see you better) for her plus it sets the game up to be able to add bars while building on the same picture for the dog.
>>I think she prefers working for a toy. Yay!
I think the food in the first video was not all that stimulating so the outside distractions became more obvious. The toy was definitely more stimulating so she did really well with it in t he 2nd video! She did seem startled by it being thrown back to her for the ‘catch’ rewards, so maybe a cookie is a better choice for the thrown rewards while she is in a stay.
She did well when your hands were lower and you moved your feet, so keep giving the cues ‘big drama’ 🙂 I don’t think she really saw the cues on the reps where your hands were higher and she came directly to you – those had more of a high hand motion and not much foot-involvement, so she didn’t really see the cue as well.
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
I love how he seems to think this is super fun and offers wrapping and tunneling in the in-between moments!>> I’m glad you liked the connection – I was working really hard on it!>>
Your emphasis on connection is really showing, it looked great here too!
>> thought it went okay other than the obviously wrong verbal in the first rep. Doh! And note, this was even after I DID practice that one once without the dog. I choked!😆
Ha! It did go really well and he forgives you for the incorrect verbal on the first rep – you realized it as soon as it came out of your mouth LOL!!
The right verbal on the actual right rep was terrific in terms of timing and the support of the physical cue. Same with the left verbal on the last rep – spot on and he read it perfectly!
My only tweak here is on the GO rep where you can start yelling go and accelerating before he enters the tunnel, so he sees & hears it when he is still about 6 feet from the tunnel entry.>> And the other issue was the distraction of the noise that happened in the shop on the second rep. So it was good practice to work through that>>
Yes! That was a good distraction and he recovered from it immediately, going back to the game with focus and speed. Super!!
He is totally ready for the new game that is coming tomorrow! If you train today, take a look at the ‘find the jump’ game 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning! I am glad you are having good weather – it has been a HOT summer!!
The jumping form on her set point session was really good! The first couple of reps were perfect – powerful and consistent form. On the last 2 reps, she was hitting the first noodle. Was it due to a little fatigue? Was it because she was thinking hard about the stay? Not sure! But no worries, she will sort it out as we keep practicing. A new game gets posted tomorrow for the jumping skill 🙂
>>I have to bend over to get the handle and that amped her up a bit. I think we only got one true stay where she waited for me to actually say “break”. After the session, I moved to the deck and just put the MM on the ground and did some start lines with “catches” and then I bent over & squatted next to the MM before releasing her. She did much better without the jumps in front of her & the MM moving.>>
Yes – the bending over was exciting and then she seemed to be releasing as you started to move. So there was a little stay confusion. It was smart of you to work it separately to isolate that moment for her, that she should continue to stay even after bending and starting to move. Super!!
Zig zags also looked great. 4 fete apart? No problem, says Bazinga! Yay! You can now move them to 3 feet apart so she will have to be REALLY quick with her lead changes.
Speaking of lead changes:
>>I think she did well but what am I really looking for besides that she moves through the wings. Should I be looking at which leg she used to lead off with? If she is moving to her left, she should use her front left leg first, is that right?>>
Basically yes, that is what we are looking for… but it is really hard to see with a small dog who has very quick feet. You can see it on the video if you play it in super slow motion, she is doing it beautifully. I don’t worry about seeing it in real time (it is much easier to see on the bigger dogs than it is on the littler dogs). If she goes back and forth between the wings like she did here, looking smooth, then you can trust she is doing it correctly. If she is on the wrong lead, either she won’t go back and forth or she will fall over or stumble (she didn’t do any of that here).
>>I could use a better understanding of lead leg/changes.>>
I never had horse experience when I was younger, so my understanding of leads is based on dogs. In general, when coming towards us, they tend to want to be on the lead closer to us (which is fine). When we need them to move away laterally (like slice jumping) they generally have to change to the outside lead leg before coming back to the inside lead leg.
And more importantly: since we are not riding them and cannot cue it like we would on horseback, we have to train the pups to understand how to do it themselves without a lot of intervention from us.
Her “find the jump” game looked great! No problem at all! Yay! You made a good adjustment to start throwing the toy sooner, and that really helped her look forward on the line and not at you.
On the initial reps when you were throwing it early (before she got to the jump) you were looking forward a bit and not really connecting. At the end, though, when you were adding lateral distance (like at :45 and :51) you were connecting really well! So keep that strong connection and watch her face – when she looks at the jump, throw the toy (her focus on the jump is your cue to throw it :)). She is focusing on it basically as soon as she exits the tunnel and that is great!You can keep adding lateral distance, as well as getting ahead and running in closer to the tunnel so she drives ahead of you.
>>I used a toy and we even tugged between reps. She magically was both super into tugging but happy to trade for a treat on almost every rep. I left a clip in the video. We are not to a formal “out” yet. It is more like a quick trade before she changes her mind!>>
That was so cool to see!!! And the trade as an out cue is still perfectly fine and useful – no need to worry about a formal out cue right now, as she is going back and forth between cookies and the toy so well!
Great job here!!!!
Tracy
Yes! She was quite brilliant about it all. It is very cool that she can a) go really fast b) turn really well and c) process verbals even with a toy right there. What a good girl!!!!
T
Good morning! Super nice session here! You did a great job with the mechanic of lining her up, starting the verbal, then letting her rip. And she was terrific about bending really well through these turns. Yay!! The different positions for starting didn’t seem to be a problem at all. Nice!
You might have noticed that on a couple of reps she kept turning even with the toy placed straight past the 3rd jump. She was actually correct at :09/:56 and :31/:40 where you were saying turn turn turn and swing swing and she kept turning, ignoring the toy… the toy placement would require her to NOT turn on that last jump, so I loved that she continued to turn because the verbals said to keep turning. GOOD GIRL!!! When you said “get it” she went ot the toy, so she is clearly listening to her verbals!!
So, to be sure we reinforce her for continuing to turn: either place the toy so that she keeps turning to get it (it will be right in front of you) or have it in your hands. When you start working on her turning away from you – if she needs help, you can place the toy between the jumps on the turn line, and when it gets past jump 3, keep it on the turn line.
Great job here! She is definitely ready for you to begin the higher level challenge of getting her to turn away from you!
Tracy
Hi!
This went well too! VERY nice connection here and he was driving ahead brilliantly.
>>Am I still stepping back when he wraps to his left?>>
Yes – that is what was happening. When he was wrapping to his right, you had the wing in a great spot so you could do the FC then just go directly forward.
When you switch sides, it looks like you moved the wing a little but your straight line forward got you caught behind the wing of the jump. That is why you were stepping back a bit. So the easiest thing to do will be to move the wing more, so you can run straight lie you did on the other side (that looked terrific!)
>>Excuse my completely incorrect verbals. Poor puppy was getting “Check” for both directions>>
He forgives you LOL!!! You can take a moment before each rep to make sure you have the correct verbal ready, that will help make it easier to use the correct ones. And to add more spice, you can add in the GO GO GO for the straight line to the jump too 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi! I am so glad you are having fun! You two are looking terrific 🙂
>>My connection isn’t consistent but I see what a huge difference it makes when it’s good and when I get Chip information early. >
Yes, I think connection is super important with young dogs and overall, your connection is really really clear!! There is only one spot where you can have a bit more connection and it is in answer to your next question:
>>Is he cutting in toward me on his straight tunnel exits because I’m not far enough past the tunnel?>>
I don’t think it was your position (you were ahead of him on the tunnel exit), it was a connection question because on most of those reps you trying to send – which aded a little decel and on the send, you were looking ahead and your arm was ahead of him pointing to the wing. So he looked up at you to get the full picture and then went to the wing. You can see it at :08, :16, 1:01 and 1:22.
At 1:07 you definitely had better connection but your arm still forward so you still got a bit of the head check. So, to smooth it out, trying looking more directly at him as he exits the tunnel (but you keep accelerating to the wing) and have your fingers pointing back to his nose to reveal your entire upper body. Your hand can travel with him as he passes you, but for now don’t let your hand/arm be ahead of you when he is behind you, because it blocks connection.
>>We need more practice on our L and R verbals.>>
You were doing well here too! Keep working on getting those verbals out early. The Left was nice on the first few reps – nice timing and nice physical cue to match it (a little decelerated and I think he could see you turn).
When you revisited the lefts later in the video, you were late on the verbal on the 2nd to last rep, as compared to the early timing of the last rep verbal. Nice!! On those 2 reps, your physical cue was very accelerated so he had a delayed response to the left verbal because the motion overrode it. So, keep matching the physical cue to the verbal and he will get better and better at processing the verbal and turning nice and tight 🙂
The right turns started a little wide at :51, he just needed your shoulder turn to be visible before he entered the tunnel. But the right turns were super nice at 1:15 when you were doing the rights in the 2nd half of the video!!
Very nice “turn and burn” wraps on some of the reps too 🙂 He did have a bit of confusion about when to grab the toy at :38, so you can add a marker for when it is time to grab the toy. I say “bite!” which means “grab the toy in my hand and that helps the dog ignore the toy until they hear the marker (even when I accidentally dangle the toy in front of their faces LOL!!)
Great job 🙂
TracyHi!
Sorry I missed this, it has been a crazy weekend!!>> I’ve gotten much better at working with her barking. Instead of getting upset, I just try to figure out what’s causing it and fix it. You taught me that, thank you!>>
Yay! Yes, her barking is 100% communication, so things go better when we try to figure out what she has to say (she has BIG opinions and I love that!)
>>So is it better then when proofing All verbals to use the harness/tab and let them hear the word a few times before releasing?>>
yes – it lets her process them more, and it helps the dogs learn faster because they are hearing the verbal separately from the movement, so the verbals names the behavior more easily.
>>Also, I googled Repair of a MM and found a piece of kibble lodged in the motor. Whew, saved myself $150.>>
Ah! Brilliant! I never even thought of googling MM repair!
>>Now that it’s working again, should I go back to what she knows or now try using her toy on the ground? The MM keeps her very thoughtful and the toy escalates her drive.>>
I vote for letting her arousal come up – that way she learns to work in high arousal and regulate herself. If she gets over the top 🙂 you can help her out with the pattern game we did in MaxPup 1, that really helps regulate arousal.
>>We’d love to have you come out here and give a Seminar. Could you possibly do that sometime?>>
It would be super fun to come back to your area!! I am taking a break from any trips requiring air travel in 2024, so maybe we can look at 2025!
Tracy
Good morning!
She totally loves the minny pinny!
The turning towards in both directions looked really good – the turning away was harder for sure, especially turning to the left. It was on the left turns where she hit the noodles and also had an error. The right turn required thinking but I seemed easier for her to get each time.
But even with the left turns being harder, she made significant progress on this game – it is HARD and she was really successful!!!
>>I am trying to hang on to her so that she can hear the verbal first.
Yes, that worked well (she was definitely wanting to start without you) and it looks like you had some behind-the-back lining up happening too. Yay!!
>>On the more advanced “sends” where she is turning away or neutral at the center, if my feet are pointing in the direction I want her to go, she does much better. Do I need to fade that out? >>
I think you helped just enough to give her a hint so she could be successful… but it was barely any help 🙂 So your feet pointing that way were fine as you added the new challenge of turning away. Yay! So you can very gradually fade the foot position – no rush to do it, because the challenge is so hard. For the next session, do exactly what you did here and if she is more comfy with the left turns, then you can start to make your feet more ‘neutral’ and pointing straight rather than pointing to the line you want.
Love the cue close up of her face on the zig zags video 🙂
This went well too! I agree, the misses were more due to needing more drama in the handling 🙂 When you were big and dramatic, she got it really well – so using the foot and arm cues will help her as she sorts out how to be quicker and quicker. That will be especially true when she ha stop move to her left – that is harder!
So for the next session, leave the wings here at 4 feet and see how she does 🙂 We are building the organization and footwork, so we will give her time to sort it out 🙂OMG the water bottle gave is hilarious! And yes, chasing the spills is part of the fun for the dog haha!!! The GO reps were hardest to keep the water from spilling 🙂 but your connection was good and she had fun with the water.
You did a great job NOT spilling the water and she was really fast and had great commitment! Her only questions where when you were looking forward early in the session:
-At :35 on the wrap, you were looking at the wing so she looked at you 🙂
-At :41 and :56 on the left turn (she read it as a blind) Yes, switching hands will help as you saw on the next reps because she could see better connection and got the line nicely (and she also saw the line perfectly on the right turns).
Great job here!! If you wanted added challenge (especially in hot weather :)) then you can play this game with your arm full extended downward and elbow locked, so the water bottle is behind you and pointing to her nose – that is definitely harder!
Great job here 🙂
TracyHi!
It was really interesting that she was driving out of the tunnel that direction – she was 1000% convinced that she should stay on that line. She was really sure that it was the outside of that other wing (it doesn’t look like there was anything else out there drawing her eye).
You did a really good job trying to figure out how to get her to see the line while still keeping things fun for her! That is so helpful when the dog is doing unexpected things LOL!! Changing the tunnel angle and jump position helps (it was more of a straight line). I think the thing that helped the most was when you added the name call, that really turned her! All of the reps where she went past the jump didn’t have the name, and she started turning to find the jump when you said her name.
So definitely keep using her name 🙂 and you can do it sooner: to be sure she is turned on the exit of the tunnel, say her name before she goes in so she hears it and sets up the turn.
If she gets into the mode of going around the jump like she did here, you can give her a different visual: leave the inside wing and the bar (or a bump) there, and take out the outside wing that she is using o go to the backside. That can make the bar and inside wing more prominent so she will turn to see them better hopefully 🙂
Great job on these!
TracyHi!
This was a good mental workout for her! Serps are hard for the young dogs as we add handler motion, so we often get the running past it on a parallel line like she did at the beginning. She started to come in for the jump when you stopped moving which was good to get things rolling, so now we want her to be able to get the jump while you move too 🙂So for the next session, angle the jump as much as needed so as she exits the wing wrap and can totally see the bar and the reward past it as you are moving (and doing the serp upper body arm like you did here). You can angle it as much as 90 degrees at the beginning to get the value building on the jump, then start to angle it back towards the flat direction bit by bit.
Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
Zig zags went well! When you started using a lot more drama on the cues, she started figuring out what the game was about. So definitely keep using the big drama cues 🙂 as they will help her know when to change leads – she was at her best when you did BIG upper body movements. You can go all he way out to the 3rd wing now and see how she does (it looks like you were halfway between wings 2 and 3 at the end? And if that goes well, you can move the wings in closer together by about a foot so she has to make quicker lead changes 🙂
Feel free to mix in lots of stay rewards – she was anticipating the release a bit here so you can move to position then throw a reward back.
Great job!
TracyHi!
She did a great job with the Minny Pinny!! She was smooth and fast in both directions. Her only question came in the form of the hop-and-paw-thwack when she finished and to to your hand. So to help smooth that out, you can draw her across the front of you (between you and the wings) by rewarding with the opposite hand (same hand on the side she starts on): for example, when you start her on your right side, you can reward with your right hand by presenting it on your left him as she finishes the 3rd wing, then let her follow the hand as you draw her across your front. You were correctly draw her across to the end position, so the reward delivery from the opposite hand should help get her to stop whacking you LOL!!!
The next step to this would be to add in the left/right verbals that you want to use, and ideally starting with a gentle hold so you can say the verbal 3 or 4 times and then let her start moving. That really solidifies the verbal. How does she feel about a harness? Maybe use a harness if she likes it better than the neck collar hold, and a short tab.
Very clever to use the teeter for the pill bug! She did great here! Yes, pulling your hair back will help maintain connection but overall, your connection was very strong. You can totally add the blind cross to get her to your other side and do the circle around the teeter on the inside (between you and the teeter).
>>Today we did the pill bug and she was able to leave for food when I had her high value toy. WOOT WOOT. The oval was too “sharp” for her size I think.>>
She did a GREAT job switching from good to the toy!!! That is super! And the oval might have been a little small but you can expand it – you can use some wings or cones to simulate a bigger pill bug 🙂 or even as a 2nd “tunnel”. She is ready for more!
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>It wasn’t perfect but I think we made progress.>>
That is the goal of all sessions: progress, not perfection 🙂
Serps are looking good! Doing them with the toy worked really well.
>>I didn’t set it on the ground cuz I didn’t want her to self reward if not right. So I threw it instead.>>
Throwing it was a good start here, but placing the toy on the ground will get her to stop looking up at you over the bar. So, you can split the difference with the level of challenge: since the toy on the ground might be more challenging, you can angle the jump a little more so it is easier to see the bar. I bet she does just fine 🙂 and I am not worried if the pups ge tthe toy by going around the jump. You don’t have to engage, just call her back and reset (making the angle of the jump easier, if needed).
And if that goes well, you can add more of your motion too. Because motion will also be more challenging, you can angle the jump to make that element easier while another element (motion!) gets harder.
The wraps on the wing are looking good when you were moving! I think the one she had trouble with had a lot of motion and it looked like you were moving towards the jump, so be sure to make a BIG connection to her eyes when you do that to help the rotation override the motion.
One other detail – she has a question about the line ups which me be affecting her line ups in the other games. Sometimes you are lining her upwith the hand cues but then immediately sending to the wing. And sometimes you are using the same hand cue to line her up but you want her to stay at your side, so she is confused (and vocalizes about it LOL!) So, be as consistent as possible: you can line her up, reward at your side, then release and send to the wing on all reps. Then she can predict what is happening and have an easier time doing it.
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>We’re now taking all games possible outside. It’s harder.
Harder, yes! But important. You can keep things simpler as you move outside, because the environment adds the complexity.
>>We had to refresh this exercise. Then the turning away in 3 positions with No motion to help her ‘proved’ 😉 difficult for us. But we got better.>>
Yes, definitely good work hree! She did well with the turning towards you reps. The turn away was indeed too hard (frustration barking) at first, so moving closer so she could see the bar was very helpful. When you moved back, it was hard again so stay in the position where the bar is more visible for several reps to really pump up the understanding. You don’t need to do all 3 positions in one session – for the turning away in particular, you can stay in position for a while until she is really comfortable.
>>I think some of the trouble we were having with her barking at me, was she wanted the toy. I had to but it out of sight, with the extender it’s hard to crumble up in my hand.>>
I think that part of the barking was frustration over not being sure about the line up. The hand signal confuses her – is it a line up or is it a cue to move? She was not entirely sure, so barking. Lining her up with a cookie lure (rather than a moving hand cue) will smooth all of that out. And definitely try the harness/short tab option for holding her so she can hear the verbal a few times, then move when you let go. I think some of her question was whether she should move on the verbal or not. So, being able to restrain a little to get the verbals going will help clarify things too.
Nice work here!
Tracy
