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With my Hot Sauce, the psoas issue turned out to be compensatory. And o course her core is not that strong, she is only a year old! Definitely see if you can get an exam with her on her side.
2 important things the PT vet had me do were
posture, for core and back strength:
and mountain climbers, specifically for her quads because quads can be a bit “puny” in terriers:
The mountain climbers are the slow, deliberate back foot step.
T
Hi! Nice session here!!!
Yes, adding the placed toy to help her see jump 2 really helped! She still had a little question when she was on your right. She was smoother to it when she was on your left! You can also move the 2 jumps closer (while the bars are still low) so that the second jump is more visible. Plus, you can leave the wing wrap sooner so you are a little further ahead to show the Go line. Start that with the placed toy, and then you can fade it by having it in your hand but throwing it as she is landing from jump 1.
One detail: Make sure you don’t decelerate until after she gets to the toy, otherwise she will learn to ignore your decel 🙂 This will make more sense when you see this week’s games 🙂
Great job!
Tracy(and now all of the vets who examined her and ruled out the luxating patella have changed their procedures and examine the dogs on their sides, not standing)
Ah! I am glad you mentioned the luxating patella – I can share what I learned about it from my MixyMix who is similar to Snap 🙂
I had her examined a whole bunch of times by vets including by a Board Certified Orthopedic Surgeon. The normal OFA exam for patellas has the dog standing up. But these powerful terriers have big muscles so the patella won’t luxate when they are standing. But my girlie had some weird soreness and was even diagnosed with a psoas injury at one point (which was shocking because she was really young and hadn’t really done much). So my vet re-did the exam with Hot Sauce laying on her side, not standing: Boom! Luxating patella. We fixed it and all is great!
Now, I hope it is nothing but if it is a patella thing – ask them to get her to lie on her side, head down so her big terrier muscles don’t hold the patella. Then you will get a true picture of what is happening. And if it *is* a patella, I have a wealth of info to help (lots of specific conditioning stuff for it and other stuff) and I am happy to share.
T
Hi!
I read your post before watching the video, so I thought I was going to be seeing a lot of errors… Nope! It was a really good session on a hard skill!!!! I think the video had some of the reps repeated in the 2nd part of it (:14 – :46 were the same as 1:09 – end) so let me know if anything was missing from the video.
>>I’m still getting some jumping up at the beginning, but am trying the connection/eye contact, and less arm, though it doesn’t always help.
It is definitely improved!!!! I see a big difference. To help her want to move away to the barrel or start wing, you can mix in throwing a treat or toy to the barrel as she goes to it, to help refresh the value of going to the barrel especially now that she knows the action is going to be at the jump 🙂
>>I’m fairly sure that I was often using too much arm, trying to support her for the send, and you’re right, I don’t think it really works that way.
I think for most of the reps, you were really good – low arm, lots of connection, and your hand was following her nose rather than pointing ahead of her. There was only one connection blooper (:49) where you turned your shoulders to the jump too soon and broke connection – but then you adjusted perfectly on the next reps.
>>I’m also trying to bring down my verbal cues a bit. Again, easy to get louder and louder, and saying the cue louder is definitely not helpful.>>
Yes – louder generally pushes the dogs away and makes them go faster (think about GO TUNNEL GO TUNNEL and how fast the dogs will take off on a line LOL!) so quieter verbals definitely help bring the dogs in to us. You were good here!
>>I also think I was rotating my shoulders too soon, that is shockingly difficult to fix, but I’m trying to stay facing the wall.>>
I agree that this is a hard skill – but you were good! Don’t obsess on it too much, because you have it and she was able to respond beautifully 🙂
>>I did decide to shift to a barrel, and that seemed to help some. I’m going to continue working on sends separately, with a toy as reward and see if we can smooth things out.>>
Perfect! Do the send to the barrel or a wing as if you are going to move away to the serp… but don’t have the jump out there as a visual distraction for now. She did really really well coming in over the jump AND making the turns – super!!!!
>>But time to move on. This was a frustrating exercise, I should have moved on sooner.>>
I think you persevered nicely and this session turned out well!!! And yes, you can move on to something else too 🙂
Question, I must have missed the exercise on introducing backsides, and can’t seem to find it, maybe it was in the first session?
Yes, they were in MaxPup 1:
Slices:
Wraps:
Tight Turns: Leading With The Head and 360s (Backside Wraps)
>>Would move on to tunnels, but clean run is completely out of tunnel bags, it appears there is a tunnel bag shortage. I’d prefer not to continue without more tunnel bags, I’ll keep looking.>>
You can use some homemade tunnel bags – I have gotten some bags of sand from Lowes, put them in giant black garbage bags (like the leaf collection bags), and use those as tunnel bags by using a strap across the top of the tunnel to tie them together so they in place. I have also done this with water jugs and bags of small stones from garden stores 🙂
Nice work here!
TracyYAY! I am so happy to see him back in action, I was thinking of you!!!!
He did great here with focus switching between food and toy as you mentioned, and general focus in general. This was an excellent choice to ease him back into the games 🙂 He looked great!
His stay looked good, relaxed and happy! He was very happy to catch all the cheese balls LOL!
I am not sure he knew you wanted him to focus ahead on the MM, plus we don’t want to add motion to this quite yet – so you can be standing near the MM when you release him (rather than move alongside the jumps) so he has no striding questions. He was a little ‘hoppy’ over the 2nd jump but he was still learning to drive to the MM, so placing you out there with the MM will really help. For now, you can also move the MM about 6 to 8 feet further away from jump 2 so he can take a nice line stride to it after landing.
Eventually, he will see this with the moving target (toy on a line being dragged) and that will produce the best striding. So let me know what he is released to do, in terms of his rehab from the scope and from any ouchiness he had in March.
So with that in mind, what is he cleared to do? Let me know and we can plan for the live class this week. YAY!!
Tracy
Hi!
I have had those wild and crazy dogs at the beginning and it was a lot harder to train them to be really successful in competition. The wildness was not drive, it was usually a combination of frustration and lack of arousal regulation. The demo dogs in the videos have matured into wicked fast performance dogs without the frustration – for example, I think Contraband (the big blue merle BorderWhippet) looks slow and gawky in the demo videos 🙂 But he is 3 now, and is super fast and accurate, doing 3.6s in flyball (very fast!) and fast in agility with great turns: at the last trial, he won both rounds of steeplechase by about 7 seconds in each round, and also won jumping by a mile (I ran Standard as NFC).
So, it is always better to be patient, sort out the reinforcement system for each dog, let them really learn the skills, and the results will be lovely 🙂
We can play it by ear, or switch her to Thursday to give her an extra day (if you can do Thursday). Do you know what is causing the soreness?
Oh no! Hopefully it is something small and easy. Poor girl!! Which leg is it? Check her pads and toes – these fast little whippety creatures often bang up their pads and toes.
T
Hi!
She definitely got the hang go the wrap after the first couple of reps – then after that she was really solid. Nice job making your verbals sound really different and helping a little with body language then fading it back out.
I was happy to see her nail the first rep of the advanced level too! YAY! That is pretty hard but she did not end up back in the tunnel 🙂 Her turns were a tiny bit wider and there was steam coming out of her ears but she never ended up in the tunnel when you cued a wrap. Her only error was a wrap when you cued a tunnel, just an oopsie, no biggie and she was great on the rest of them. She also had a little trouble finding the other side of the tunnel after the wrap, but that was just because she is used to getting a reward after the wrap and might have been surprised about the tunnel cue.
But overall, these were both great sessions: she was amped up, barking, fast…. But still really wonderful about processing the verbals. YAY!!!
>>She has a sore leg so I may have to take it easy for a bit.>>
Poor girl! She might need a couple of days of rest/leash walks to resolve any soreness.
Great job here!
TracyI am looking forward to seeing you and Hola! in person too!!! She is definitely a spicy character 🙂
TracyHi!
The race tracks looked great here! You were super connected and moving really fast so she found the race track lines really well! Great commitment 🙂
She slowed down for the tight turns – I am not sure if it was too much decel, or she was tired from the race tracks or waiting for the ball throw? So on the next session, do the tight turns first when she is fresh, and we will see if she has questions on the tight turns or if she was just tired here.Great job!
TracyHi!
The layering is going really well! The jump was a little too close to the tunnel at first then she found it easily when you moved it away a bit.
Finding in the tunnel was not problem, so putting the sequence together went really well!When you change sides, be sure to start the process over the from the very beginning, as if it was totally new (because on the new side, it is totally new haha)
In the next session, you can keep moving the start wing further around so she has to go around the tunnel even more to find the jump 🙂
Nice work!
TracyHi!
This session went really well, I think she is really beginning to understand the rear cross line concept! Plus, you were very clear with your line of motion and that really helped too! My only suggestion is to mix in more GO reps so she keeps the speed up. She was slowing down to anticipate the RC, so mixing in the GO reps between the RCs will help keep her powering up the line 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
>>I have also noticed in toy play at Suzie’s that right from the start she struggled giving up her toy. That usually happens after we have been working a while and she is more aroused, but there have been several times recently that she started out that way. She has also at times gone into the tunnel – not just running through but going in as though she might be avoiding something.>>
There is a lot of arousal when you train in groups, so you can totally build in a ton of the pattern games and decompression stuff there to get her to breathe more. The behavior you mention there might be related to the higher arousal/stimulation levels associated with being there.
>>She usually lays on the couch next to me on a fleece blanket. She has been more restless and digging at it as though she was trying to make a nest. Last night she crawled behind me on the couch as though she wanted to hide. Her meal eating has really become hit or miss. Sometimes she eats and other times she won’t even look at it (that started when Bisbee got really sick and got worse when she died)>>
Possibly hormones-related or a false pregnancy?
Also, possible adolescent restlessness, I’m living through that right now LOL!
>>First, we had a friend (dog trainer that has kept her before) keep her for 5 days in mid March. She has stayed there before and loves this woman and some of her dogs and they get to play a lot. She was very happy to see us and the behavior started about a week later.
Might be unrelated, or right have added a little bit of additional stress, hard to know. But the little stressors add up and she probably needs to complete the stress cycle, decompress, and reset her HPA axis! Sniffy walks, running around, and no training for a bit will help.
>>Just as he got back to the car and was putting her in, a man that was nearby shot a gun that had some of that huge ammo so it made a huge boom. It scared her and the next couple times he walked in that area he would have to leash her up several hundred feet early to get her to the car. >>
Yikes, that could have certainly made an impression! That, plus the other things, might have all stacked up to produce what you are seeing now. Based on the events between the day she came into season and today, I bet there is a stress stacking thing happening.
On the WIYH video – a little more connection needed on the go on the first rep – you made the adjustment on the 2nd rep and she nailed it.
When you throw the toy and she runs around a little… let her have a longer victory lap. Let her scoot around for at least 10 seconds and then see if she comes back on her own. She is probably decompressing and calling her back takes that away… but she needs it.
A detail to help the RC lines: Your first step after the wing should be forward to the center of the bar – you stepped back or away from the wing then forward and that delayed the RC info
>>Is this supposed to be a backside slice?
It is supposed to be a backside circle wrap because of the handler position, but it can also be a slice – either way, as you move forward past the jump, be sure to look at the landing spot and not at her, to help her take the jump.
RC after the tunnel – these are hard because she can’t see you while she is in the tunnel. You were a little late on most except the last one you were early. You can set yourself up to be a step ahead of the tunnel exit before she exits, to start to cue sooner. I think the most helpful thing to do with the RC is to place the toy on the landing line you will be cuing. That way the handling is not the only source of info for the RC – the placed toy will be a good visual aid as well.
>>She did do a bit of the going into the tunnel maybe to escape pressure.
It is possible she was decompressing a bit by going into the tunnel. So you can let her have longer victory laps with her toy to help decompress. And also, you can use the placed reward to help the RCs – even though she got a lot of cookies and toys, I think the actual behavior is unclear to her and that is a lot of pressure. So, the handling plus the toy target can be very clarifying and that relieves a lot of pressure 🙂
Nice job here! Let me know what you think and what the vet says!
Tracy
