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Hi!
These are going really well!>I see her having to swerve to get around me, am I too far over the mouseline?>
I think what was happening was you were getting too far ahead, so you were waiting for her – which then made the blinds the tiniest bit late on some of them and she was not able to respond until after landing. I think the blind at :19 on video 1 and first rep of video 2 were my favorites. And on that first rep of video 2, great job sending her away to the tunnel so you could easily get the blind after the tunnel. They were all good, but we can smooth out the swerve by being sooner.
But how to be sooner and still trust commitment? Motion can support the commitment if you run in closer to the tunnel, so you are in motion the whole time. Then when she exits, she will see you in motion and lock onto the next jump: but you can also start the blind when you see the blur exit the tunnel, so it is a little earlier to show her the new connection.
On the one rep here where she didn’t commit to the jump (:19 on video 2) – you were stationary/super decelerated waiting for her to exit the tunnel so she took it as a cue to to come to you and not get on the line. Moving in towards the tunnel more will definitely help you show motion the whole time.
Then you will be able to add in earlier decel for the turn on the jump after the blind – basically, as soon as you finish the blind, go into a big decel to cue the wrap.
Nice work here! Let me know how she does with more motion!
Tracy
Hi!
Hi!
Yay, more adventures! Sounds like a blast!!!!> We have limited and kind of weird equipment here that we brought with us for our 2 week stay at Run Wild (before a short trip to Canada).
This will totally work! You have plenty of good stuff. To use the 3 wings, put all the jump cups in the center so the purple fabric is on the outside.
He also figured it out really well with the barrels added – it can be either 2 wings (jump cups on the inside) and one barrel, or 2 barrels and 1 wing to make for an easier visual for him.
Let him offer it now without your motion – I am certain he will send himself all the way around without needing motion support from you – he did that at :57 after patiently waiting for you to get the reward ready 🤣😂 Good boy! THe reason I suggest that is you can attach the verbals better and also it will improve his mechanics.
To do that and also let him know when to start, you can line him up at your side, hold his collar, say left or right a few times… then let go so he moves but you don’t move.
This will get the independence and also, it will improve his footwork – he was trying to process his footwork, bending, and your motion while going fast. Mechanics went a little sideways – mechanics are always the first thing to go sideways when motion is added LOL! So if you are not moving for now, he will sort out his mechanics and we can add your movement back soon enough, along with some other fun challenges 🙂
>I added his cavalleti as the jumps when I got worried about him rolling the bars on the ground (no jump bumps with us).>
I agree, we don’t want him rolling bars on the ground. I think the cavalettis are great! Super clever idea on the road!!
Nice work here!!
Tracy
Hi!
I love how he caught himself on the first rep and went back and fixed things to get into the serp 🙂 Good boy! You can shake your serp hand a bit, especially on the harder angles or as you add motion: that will draw his focus to the hand and not just have him looking at motion.
You added the reward bowl in this video, which was the correct next step. He was great on the easy angles, and fixed his line on the first rep of the hard angle. Good boy!!!!
Since this went well, you can add in the threadle game to show him the difference between the two positions (and verbals too).
>He was doing his extra credit mat work last night & had fun! >
Yay! The mat work is probably fun and easy for him 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
>We went out early because it has become ungodly hot here! 90’s smh not normal for NY!>
Yep, insanity!!!! It is 97 degrees here right now. I was out at sunrise with the dogs for exercise and to film demos for summer classes. What happened to spring weather?!?!? Eeek!
The birds were definitely trying to distract Sunnie – they were loud – but she was great about ignoring them!
This session went really well! Your set up on the left turns was good! You can add more of an angle to it but starting straight is good too.
Her left turns were spot on, no questions. Yay! And it was really interesting that she offered left turn spins before a few of the right turns! She might be a lefty for sure 🙂 and offering the easier line at first.
One thing you can do to help with the right turns is to hold her collar, say the verbal a few times… then let her go to start moving. That way she has a moment to think about which way she wants to turn before she starts moving. That will help attach the verbals and will also make it easier to add different angles and other crazy challenges in the future.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
The turn aways are going well! Once he is turned away, he is wrapping the wing really well.
Starting him a little further behind you will help, with a stay or a cookie toss – that way you can be showing the hand cues before he gets near you or the wing. The only questions he had were when you were trying to line him up and you moved towards the wing, so he often went to the other side of the wingThe left turns definitely looked harder for him, so slow hand movements helped and you can even put a bowl out on the left turn side to give him a visual aid.
On the perch work video – this is off to a good start! You can use your hands as a target but don’t deliver the treats until after he moves a back foot. I think he was eating the whole time (or at least licking the treats) so he might not have made the connection that it is about the back foot movement. You can also try having him run off to the side to get a cookie, the run back and pivot back to center – that might be easier for him to sort out because he has to offer it rather than follow a treat 🙂
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi! Sounds like a fun weekend!!
> We were trying to back chain a straight line of jumps. Had some issues with doing all the jumps.>
I think it was too hard for him at this age (8 months?) to do 4 jumps in a row with this spacing, for a long session – he got tired when all of the jumps were added. He ended up doing around 20 jumps which is a lot of a baby dog!
The spacing is actually a bounce spacing for him (where he lands and immediately takes off) but he hasn’t learned that yet because his body is still growing/maturing. So that is why he could do 2 jumps and a bit of 3 jumps, but got tired and couldn’t fo all the jumps.A couple of ideas for future jump line shaping:
– He was adding a stride between the jumps so use a bigger distance so he can add a true stride. He will learn to do a power bounce soon!
– Limit to 2 jumps for now, until his body is ready for more. To teach the line concept, take the bars out and have him run through the uprights to the toy – that is better for his body but also still teaches the concept 🙂
– With the toy as the target, have the instructor moving the toy (dragging it forward) so he doesn’t hit his shoulders as he stops for it. He was moving fast and trying to come to a stop to get the toy, and we don’t want his shoulders to take the force of his motion. Dragging the toy and letting him pick it up and keep moving will make it much easier on his body.
He was definitely happy to go around the minny pinny – easy peasy! He liked it even more when the toy came out 🙂
Since this went really well, he is ready for the next steps:
Line him up at your side, hold his collar, and start saying the left or right verbal you want to use. Say it a few times then let him go – you can keep saying it until he makes it all the way around (then reward). That will help him learn the verbal! And since I figure that will be very easy for him, you can add jump bumps or pool noodles or bars hooked onto the jump cups, for him to go over.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>Most recent sessions, I feel like things are going better than my handling deserves.>
The thing with agility is that young dogs reflect the handling – if it is going well, then part of it is that your handling is good and part of it is that you are giving him the confidence to keep trying. Both of these are awesome!
> Some of it is repetition and time spent training together. >
Yes – he learns to recognize what the cues predict, and how to read lines, and that he will get rewarded even if it is not perfect.
>(one of us in a crazy shirt!),>
That shirt is awesome!!!
He did really well here on the zig zags – held the stay brilliantly even with the toy tossed out ahead. Definitely keep that toy out ahead – that was where he had the best jumping (he added strides if you were holding it because he was looking up at you :))
>he may have done a better job yesterday in the serps w/ tunnel work – on hopping through the jumps.>
The jumping will look different on this grid because on the serps from yesterday, he had room between the jumps to give full strides. On this grid, he has to bounce AND zig zag – so hard! The distance was correct when you moved the jumps closer at :27. That really got the bounce! It was a good challenge for him because he had to power off rear – and not rotate the rear. He worked through it really well and it is a great conditioning/jumping game to revisit periodcially.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
The lead out session looked great. Her stays are looking really good!
The blind looked strong, she had no questions about your timing or connection and drove directly to jump 3. Super nice! I bet you can be a little further over on the line towards 3 (not as close to jumps 1 and 2) to give you more of an advantage on the lead out of getting ahead 🙂
On the FC at 2:32 and 3:36 – you ran in towards the landing side of 2 as you did the FC so there were a few extra steps before showing her the line to 3. That caused her to jump straight over 2 then turn on landing. You can be closer to 3 on the FCs too – lead out all the way to 3 and then drop your arm and leg back to do the FC, rather that step forward int
On the lead out pushes at 4:21 and 5:08 – she is reading the movement across the bar really well! You can be further across the bar on the release – try to be at the center of the bar before releasing, to get the best possible turn. You were releasing when you arrived at the outer wing, which shows her the straight line for a moment. Being further across the bar (like a serpentine) will show her the turn on 2 and keep you further ahead.
Turn away 1:
In typical sighthound fashion, she thought running hard to your hand with you kind of stationary was a form of sighthound abuse 😂🤣😂Too funny and I recognize that response from my own hounds LOLShe liked it better when you ran backwards (after you switched sides) – motion!!
She definitely liked it better when you added the tunnel but your motion overrode the relatively small hand cue when you were running a forward. Rotating towards her helped, and you but was also kind of a buzzkill when you were fully facing her (facing her indicates stopping).
She did like the last rep where you were able to move the whole time! You were facing forward more on that.
On the 2nd video, she came out strong and really liked the movement you gave her as the cue, in and out of the reps. That movement had you running as forward as possible while still showing the hand cues, and she did was excited by that.
What I think she doesn’t love is stopping for the reward (makes sense that it would not be super fun to do that for a sighthound).
> On the 2nd session she was really distracted and sniffing a spot and finding something to each.>
I think she was just communicating her feelings on all the stopping 🙂
Since she is fast, we will need the turn aways so we can figure out a more exciting reward. With my whippets, I add motion as part of the reward: either after just after the turn away or just as they get to my hand, I fling a toy for them to chase (usually a ball). This mixes in a lot of movement into the reward for the behavior of coming to my hands. I don’t reward from hand because even with a great treat or toy, they think stopping is kind of boring LOL! I mix up when I reward a lot, so they keep moving fast – the ball can be thrown at any moment! And sometimes the ball is hidden, so they don’t think the ball is the cue.
I bet Carmen would find that SUPER fun! Try it and let me know if she starts to like the turn aways better 🙂
>I was wondering what comes after MaxPup 3? Is there a summer break?
Yes! There is a break and then there is MaxPup 4 🙂 That starts in mid-July and has a slower pace – games are released every 2 weeks.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hello!
Nice job with the tight blinds! The tunnel exit was not visible on the video so it is hard to see the timing but you can probably start them a shade sooner, right after he exits the tunnel. His commitment is strong and your motion supports the line to the wing. Nice connection on the exits of the blinds too!
He didn’t commit to the wing after the blind at :45 – he might have possibly expecting the toy so stay clear with your markers 🙂 He seemed like he was a little grabby with the toy in the middle here, so definitely be clear with markers. They are sometimes clear and sometimes praise or hand movement as the marker You added verbal directionals on the next rep and held your position longer, so he did well on that rep and the next ones!
Looking at the tandems: He did well when the hands were clear on the release and you turned away early. He was grabby for the toy, but that goes back to the marker inconsistency – you were quick to turn him away at :36 but much later to do it at :45, so without other info and with the toy moving, he grabbed for the toy.
Using food made the skill easier – no toy to consider locked you both into the hand movement as a cue and was a smart way to solidify the skill. He did really well!
When he sees this skill a few more times, you can add the toy back in as a way to solidify toy markers – it is really hard to be consistent with them! Most of the time, we can get away with that little bit of inconsistency but I think it is biting you (literally!) in this situation. Sharpening up the toy-in-hand markers will make everything much easier 🙂
And definitely try again on the right turns! Using slow-and-low hand cues will help. What was he doing? Going to the wrong side of the wing usually means the cues are too early and/or too fast. Shooting past the wing on the correct side and turning towards you usually means the cues were a bit late.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
>I put the 2 x 2s in the yard and Brioche’s performance fell apart. I finally got him to do 4 poles but not very confidently. So we’ll keep working on that.>
This is pretty normal – when I move a behavior to a completely different environment, I ask for something 50% easier to see if the dog recognizes the behavior.
Tunnel threadles – the warm up of the double whammy (doing the tunnel twice) looked good!
When adding the wing: don’t yell at him if he is heading the wrong way… 2 reasons for that:
– this is a new skill and his only frame of reference so far is wing-to-tunnel so he is relying completely on your handling (which may or may not be perfect :))– your first step after the wing wrap at :44 (and also at 2:14) was directly towards the tunnel entry you didn’t want but you did cue it so off he went. Yelling at him is going to make him tentative and ultimately slow him down which we don’t want of course.
Here is some proof for ya 😂https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1vK8mRxZsBd9J_-ca2Nvi_5SNuuYoL6IAGzuAapReO5g/edit?usp=sharing
Compare to 1:03 and 2:28 when you were facing the correct direction and he knew where to go – he got it right every time, even when you added more motion at 2:52. So be sure to have your line prepared and take the feedback (via the off course) if your line is not what he needs to see.
Doing the figure 8 on the 2 wings allowed you to set the line to the threadle side of the tunnel every time 🙂 You ran a great line there!
When you added the race tracks on the wing: you were pulling away and pointing forward at 4:47 and 4:58 which looked like you were pulling him in for a threadle. You mentioned closing your shoulders and yes, I agree that was part of the cause there – keep them open longer til he commits, he was getting careful there (especially when you grabbed him and pushed him back out at 5:15) Note how careful he got at 5:27 and how wide he went. He stuck with it (because of the toy) but definitely slowed down. Off course info is extremely valuable because it gives us real-time feedback that the handling cues were not clear enough. So – let him go off course and keep going or reward, then figure out how to cue more clearly so he doesn’t go off course 🙂
Compare to the other side at 6:38 and 7:08 where your shoulders were open and connection was much clearer, so he knew exactly where to be 🙂 Yay! You did a FC on that wing so it wasn’t exactly a tunnel threadle, but doing the post turn into the tunnel threadle the way you did it on the other side will definitely show the line.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
>I suppose I could do this to see how the girls’ course times improve, on a personal level. I certainly wouldn’t do this to be competitive.>
You can compete against yourself and that can be super fun! You can see how many points they earn on each run (or how many they would earn if there is a fault).
>Are yards per second the numbers I should look at to see how my girls improve their course times?>
Yes, but sometimes that depends on how a judge wheels the course. So you can track the average and see if you can get the average to get faster and faster 🙂
> It’s interesting because when I was watching your demo, I agreed with you that the blind may turn my feet to the tunnel for a split second and give the dogs the wrong indication of the next line. I was pretty sure I was going to do a front cross. It seemed like a good place for one, anyway. However, when I ran it, I felt like the blind was actually smoother!>< Yay! I am so glad you tried it that way! That is why I say to 'ask your feet' rather than do what I did. You are a faster runner that I am - I am short and scrappy but not particularly speedy🤣😂 so you are probably able to get your feet turned to the new line sooner than I would. > I probably wouldn’t think that if it were tighter quarters or tighter with obstacles.>
I agree – being able to really run makes a big difference. If you are more decelerated, you will probably like the FC better.
Looking at the video:
SUPER nice timing of the BC with Kashia at :06 and :25 and :43! Pretty perfect! And you were in a great position with clear connection, so she was really able to fly through the blind and still collect for a gorgeous turn on 5.
On the rep at :43, you were closer to the tunnel when she exited so hard to run more (which she liked a lot :)) and you were also closer to jump 3 and 4 (less lateral distance than you had on the other reps). You still nailed the timing of the blind and still got a great turn – so you can keep the extra speed you got by being closer to the tunnel when she exited, and maybe add a little more of the lateral distance from the previous reps to make it easier to get between 4 and 5.
Kastella, on the other hand, was super fast with you lateral and ahead when she exited the tunnel- she doesn’t need more of your motion as a cue to go faster. So for her, you can be further ahead and further over at 4. You were great with the timing of starting the blind at 1:01 and 1:17 and 1:34 but being further away will let you get deceleration started sooner (when she lands from 4) so she turns better on the wrap at 5 – she was turning well but had to adjust a little after landing. Decelerating sooner will get her collecting more before takeoff.
For both girls:
Your timing was good on the blind 7-8! I bet you can get there even sooner by sending them away to 6 then taking off up the line to get between 7-8, without rounding the line towards 7 at all.For the FC at 7-8 with both girls: I think it would need more decel to get a tight turn – you hard to run hard to get to it, so the timing of finishing it ended up being late, compared to the quick timing of finishing the blind which did set the better turn. If you can send waaaay away to 6, you can get past 7 sooner with enough time to slow down to get the FC going – but I don’t think that will be faster or better than the blind. The blind is the winner!
> I’m not sure my girls enjoy the speed circles. Are they intended to build speed or be a balance rep built in?>
Both! Speed and balance 🙂 But I see what you mean about the girls thinking it a a little ‘meh’. To pump them up on these suprt simple circles, you can run in closer to the line and next to the obstacles – they love it when you are running hard, so that will get a ton of speed even on lines they think at boring 🙂
Nice timing of the blind at 2:02 (Kastella) and 2:35 (Kashia).
Your timing on every.single.blind. in this session was FANTASTIC!!! You are really trusting the girls and nailing the timing!!!>With Kastella’s, what did I do during/after the blind to have her go wide and almost be behind me before the next jump? >
Remember to keep your arm back to maintain connection to Kastella at 2:06. You can see her drift a little wide there because your arm was forward and she couldn’t see your eyes that well so she was not entirely sure where to be. You had really great connection with Kashia at 2:35 so she had no questions after the blind at all.
Great job here! I am looking forward to sequence 5 when they are feeling rested 🙂
Tracy
Hello!
The photo of her at the beginning was HILARIOUS. Why are girl dogs so judgmental? Boy dogs just look at us with little hearts in their eyes… girl dog look at us as if they cannot believe they have to put up with us 😂🤣
Overall, the sessions on the video are really strong!!! She was responding brilliantly. And you had a short distance on the setup (to make it fit into the yard) which makes it harder – you’ll find blinds at a trial will be easier now 🙂
Her commitment is really strong – trust it more so you can start the blind just as she exits the wing. You were a little careful on the first couple, which made the blinds a little late. But then you started to lock into the timing at :21 (not needing to see her get all the way around the wing) and then a bunch of great timing in a row – for example, the timing at :30, 1:01, and 1:32 were all really strong timing.
Small detail: Keep moving if you want the wing after the blind – she was reading your decel (good girl) when you didn’t continue to move forward. This is good to know – she is really paying attention!
>It occurs to me when reviewing the video that I might have been in the death zone on some of these…>
Yes, a couple of moments had lines that took you through the death zone like at :50 heading towards the tree and
:56 (and 1:07 a bit) heading towards camera. The goal is to always trust commitment and head towards the jump after the blind. You had really good lines at 1:13, 1:22, and 1:32 for example.Getting 2 blinds in a row was hard for sure but click/treat to you for working it out! Yay! The first couple had a little bit of sorting out tmiing and moving through the death zone 🙂 – and even if you feel rushed, looking back at her will help. When you didn’t quite look back at her at 1:25, she had a harder time finding the line.
I laughed out loud when the water bottle appeared on camera LOL!! I love that you did it! Your timing and connection were immediately better because your arms were lower so she could see the connection better – and the connection changes happened quicker because your arms were lower.
You were a little in the death zone on the first couple of runs with the water, but then your line was good on the rest. Definitely keep practicing with the water bottle! At a trial, you can have a phone in your hand duringthe walk through, to give it the feel of a water bottleAnd it looks like you didn’t spill any water! Super!!!!
>I know I have work to do on this. So many things to remember!>
You are 100% on the right track – now it is a matter of getting things so you don’t have to think about it at all, and also fully trusting her commitment so you can start the blinds at timing that might feel early but is actually spot on.
Great job here!!
Tracy
No worries! Hopefully work will let us soon – don’t they know you have a pup to train?!?! LOL!! We have catch up time built in at the end, for stuff like this. I am looking forward to seeing more of Ingot!
Tracy
Hello and welcome! I am so glad you joined us!!!!
>, I am wondering how to think about approaching the games packages and the lessons with puppy over the course of a week? >
Excellent question! It depends 😂 or to say it better: it is very flexible 🙂 With a 4 month old pup, usually a couple of minutes in the morning and a couple of minute in the afternoon/evening are all you need. You can do a different game in each session, no need to repeat anything a whole lot – the pups learn it very quickly even if the sessions are not perfect, plus they sleep on it and come back stronger in the next session 🙂
>Do you have anything like a sample calendar that might serve as a guide?>
I found that calendars made people stress out when they couldn’t fit it into the calendar – and we don’t want anyone to stress out! It is better to make a pile of index cards with the name of a game on it, or post it notes 🙂 or pull one off the website then play, when time permits. And it is perfectly fine to skip a day, or do a couple more games in a day. Young pups need a lot of rest so if you have had a busy day with the pup, it is good to take a break from the games.
> I am also wondering about continuing to reinforce as we go along, or do things build upon each other so naturally that we don’t need to go back and re-do “foot on prop” or the like? >
Everything builds on each other, so no need to go back to revisit things. That is what makes it easy to work through even though there appears to be a lot of games: everything builds up over time.
>We are also working on house training, basic manners, leash walking, recalls, etc.>
Perfect! Keep us posted on how things are going!
Tracy
