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Good morning!
Everything you write here is wonderful! A BIG set of wins!!!!
>> I got an invite for the seminar, but not part of the group of friends that were there. I started down that path of ‘I don’t fit in here’ ‘I’m too old’ ‘these guys exclude me’ ‘I can’t do this’>>
This is an interesting example of the human’s brain negative bias: you were invited to join a group for a special event, but your brain still found ways to negatively tell you those things. The brain is fascinating!!
One thing that might help with that is, when you take those thoughts to court, ask yourself what might be underneath those thoughts. When I ask myself that question and really think about it, it always comes back to fear & anxiety. That is good to know, but then we can treat ourselves with the same empathy and compassion that we would treat others with in the same situation.
>>So I just said STOP it!
LOVE it!! Sometimes we just need to tell our brains to STOP for a moment.
>>And reviewed the things I can’t change
My age
My deafness
my personality of an introvert (I love being at seminars, trials visiting, exchanging ideas, but at the end of the day, I am desperate to get away to my RV or motel. I actually can’t breath until I do!)
What other people think>>These are great! And yes, it is great to want to go back to your private spot to rest and recharge.
>>What I can control
my diet & exercise
paying close attention to what people are saying
my attitude & demeanor>>Yes, these are spot on. Note about what people are saying: yes to listening and paying attention to an instructor or helpful people, but feel free to ignore people who are NOT being helpful 🙂
>> So I did & had one of the best 24 obstacle sequences of my life. >>
This is sooooo awesome! Happy dance!! It is amazing how getting our brains to cooperate helps our bodies nail these skills 🙂
>>Granted, we had broken it down & worked pieces of it first, but still. >>
Another way to look at it – you had already had work sessions so you and Hoke might have been tired… but you still nailed it. YAY!!!
>>AND that focus let me see when he was headed to the wrong side of a jump AND we were able to correct it with a VERBAL. AND, when I stumbled in the grass, I was able to amend handling on the last three obstacles to a rear instead of a blind.>>
I think these are great examples of the ‘quiet mind’ we talked about on Monday. Your mind was not occupied with all sorts of distractions, so you could easily stay connected and focused to continue to handle even when things were not perfect. This is SUPER!
Thank you for sharing this – it is truly wonderful!!!
Tracy
Hi!
>>I was not really sure how this game should look.
It should look exactly like it did here: she gets really engaged, looks excited, responds fast – but doesn’t lose her mind or get over-stimulated. She was great!
And plus there is the ‘under the hood’ element of us deliberately activated more of her HPA Axis activity and then helping her return to baseline – this is a major resilience game and soooooo helpful when the dogs can self-regulate!
Arousal management with toys: I agree, it looked like her arousal state was better with the toys!
Actually, toy play is GREAT for this because it does get the pups into the higher arousal state more so than food – she was definitely more aroused here! And she looked pretty optimal in her arousal state – very engaged, quick to respond!And after a session like this, you can practice returning to baseline (resilience!) by scattering some treats around (in the. Grass would be GREAT!) and letting her sniff for a minute or so. You might not see a change in her behavior but there is definitely a change going on in her physiology!
She was pretty aroused with the treats although some of it might have been leftover from the toy session 🙂 A way to get her more stimulated with the treats is to ask for a trick then run a few steps with the treat before giving it to her, so she chases you – that is very simulating! And then you can help her self-regulate at the end by scattering treats in the grass 🙂
About which tricks to use: keep experimenting with different tricks and different situations – ideally, you will have a mix if more stationary tricks like shake, and moving tricks like leg weaves, spins, etc. Over time and with experimenting, you will know which tricks help her get into a higher arousal state, in a variety of situations.
Great job!
TracyHi!
She is definitely getting the idea of the backside slices! And she is definitely a righty 🙂 She does fat better on your left side so she can turn to the right, and when she is not sure, she offers a right turn (clever!) On the right turn side, you were able to get halfway across the bar!! Wow!>>I forget what cue you give for this, but did not use a verbal cue yet for this. >>
I use “back back back’ for this 🙂
One tweak will make both sides easier, especially when she is on your right & turning left:
Be sure that you are moving before she moves, rather than moving at the same time as she starts moving. Having you move before she moves will allow you to show motion and set the line for her with motion (and the other cues you were doing like connection and arm position, those looked good!). When you moved at the same time as her, you couldn’t set the line so she had to sort it out. That was fine on her stronger side but much harder on her weaker side.
So you can use the stay but you need to lead out, be walking 2 or 3 steps ahead of her then release and begins the cues. That should make it much easier.
>>She was much better for this than I had expected. Latent learning?>>
Probably! Latent learning is very cool!!!!
Get out: this went well too! As with the backside slice game, be moving before she starts to move, so you can show the cue with motion and from ahead.
And yes, the treats falling into the cracks in the deck are a pain LOL! You can put a manners minder straight out ahead of her (past the prop), so you can click it for going to the out, or for coming to you. That will make it more challenging for sure but will also take care of the lost treat issue LOL!>>I feel like we should always end on a good note, but when I see her mind getting fatigues, I think it is probably better just to end at that time.
Try to set a timer to send the session before you see any fatigue, because that is when mechanics get sloppier – and we don’t want to consolidate the memory of what she learned with the mechanics not being in place. A one minute session should generally be fine, with both of you wanting more 🙂
>>On the first time I stopped when I threw the treat, but thought that looked a bit weird. Later I moved through. Which is the right choice for this game?>>
Moving! Before, during, after… this is a cue that involves moving, just like the backsides 🙂
Nice job!
TracyHi!
The head turns are going well! Almost perfect – my only suggestion is to move your hand more slowly. You were flicking your hand fast to get the turn, so she was lifting her front feet off the ground. So, do it more slowly so her feet stay on the ground and it will be perfect! It might take some experimenting to get the right speed, but she will give you great feedback in the form of what her feet are doing 🙂The perch work is also going well! The physical pressure is getting some steps! I am curious to see how the return to center approach would go on this – maybe next time you are at the training building, try it on turf so she can chase the treats off to the side then return to center over the bars.
Nice work!
TracyHi!
This went well with a jump instead of a tunnel – it is a littler harder that way but definitely worked!!
One important thing about layering is that the handler keeps moving – it is not a distance send or gamble. So on the jump on the other side of your barrier, you should be moving on a parallel line and not stopping to send (:04, :19, :38)
>> Even 3-4 is pretty wide.
I think that was because you were stationary, so he had questions.
On the jump past the ‘tunnel’, at :06 you gave a REALLY clear out cue: verbal, connection, arm, motion. Nailed it!
>>Our First rep we got the whole thing, but his turn isn’t very tight from 6-7. I am probably not putting in enough decel, I think. And not cueing it soon enough. >>
I think you were just a little late cuing it there.
In the 2nd and 3rd reps, you mentioned you forgot where you were going – before running him, so you give yourself a good long walk through? I know it is a simple setup but at least 5 minutes of a walk through will really help! We concentrate on walk throughs and remembering courses later in CAMP too 🙂
At :58 you had a good send so he went, but I liked the first rep the best: you were every powerful and clear and early!
He had no trouble doing the layering on the ending line! Yay!
>>I’m pretty sure he knocked the last bar because of my poorly timed toy throw! >>
Yes- toy throw and praise 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you. Think!
TracyHi!
>>Hi! No worries on the delay! I saw your post on Facebook about traveling, so I assumed it was related to that.
Yeah, Minnesota is not close to Virginia, it turns out LOL!!!!

>>> I was always taught to stop and fix issues, and competing in NADAC for so long has encouraged it, too. There aren’t any refusals in NADAC, so as long as you don’t go off course, you can get as many sheltie spins and barks as time allows and still qualify.Right! We either were told to stop and fix so the dog could “learn”, or so we could Q. But now we know that it is better to keep going because of the arousal states 🙂
>>tell me that I need to stop her and hit the reset button when she starts herding me because she just gets stuck. >>
Look at it differently: she is not herding you. I mean, we have seen Shelties move sheep and it does not look like that LOL!!! Saying she is herding you shifts the blame to her, as if it is an operant choice. (Also, when a terrier does that same exact behavior, no one says: oh look, herding! LOL!)
We know more now about the biology of behavior, so we know it is not an operant choice and not herding. I heard a really good webinar today from Dr. Tim Lewis about the biology of reactivity, and someone asked about choice… and he said, what is “choice”, exactly? And went on to explain how complicated it was. I loved it, total nerd festival LOL!!!
>>All that being said, that strategy has not reduced her frustration (or mine), so it clearly isn’t working, haha!>>
We do encourage people to do a study with their own dogs, test the theory… and see if it works or not LOL!
Looking at the video:
The opening looked great!>>I could not figure out how to consistently send her out to the jump after the weaves and then show her the line to the tunnel. I felt like the issue was that she was jumping to her right, and in order to get the next jump, she had to change leads, but then I couldn’t get her to change her lead back to get the tunnel>>
Yes – it is a serpy line with lead changes for sure! Converging motion and an ‘out’ will totally help.
It was a little hard to see what happened after the weaves, but that is where you can totally use one of the new strategies like turning her in a mini shadow handling circle around you! Good job carrying on and not making it a “thing”. My guess is the giant visual of the a-frame confused her (“why are we running past it, mom?”). You got it beautifully on the next rep when you started there! You were a little too far behind her at 1:26 so it was harder on the next rep – that is where an ‘out’ cue and opposite arm can help! Also, think about the placement of reward for tunnel sends: the rewards were all coming back near you. You will probably see better value develop for tunnels if the rewards appear right a the exit. The blind did work there on that line but I agree- it put you too far behind and eventually resulted in the off course at 2:00.
>>>> I didn’t put it in the video, but we did that line probably a dozen times with most of them resulting in spinning and barking at the tunnel.>>
Try to live by the 2 failure rule, even in handling and even if you are training on different days: if she fails twice, even if it is not in a row – change something to get success and then move on. If can be placing a reward on the line, or giving yourself a lead out. Doing it a dozen times (even if it is different sessions) with mostly failure builds up frustration nears tunnels and lowers the overall rate of reinforcement on the course (which tips arousal into the over-aroused state). You don’t need to run it clean if there is a really hard line – you can just break it down and come back to train on it later.
She had trouble sending out to the jump at :35 and came off the jump before the a-frame at :38. You were a little early on the rear cross at :53. You were pretty masterful at continuing at :35 and doing quick resends on the other 2, so there was minimal frustration and she quickly got back on course. That is GREAT!!
When you get into the 2nd training package, the overview talks about looking for the dog to cue to to leave for the next line. So in all 3 of those spots, you can choose a “feet up” window as her way of cuing you: when you send to the pinwheel jump, keep moving forward towards it and sending til you see her lift her feet – that is her cue for you to carry on. After the BC, you can connect and move to the jump, watching for the feet up cue before moving to the frame. And same with the RC – stay on the RC pressure line til she passes you and lifts her feet to take off, then you can go to the next line.
You were basically using those windows on that line at 2:15-2:17 and she committed really welll!!!
My guess is that feet up will eventually be a bit too late, but it will work nicely to smooth out any trouble spots for now!
>>The other issue we kept having was after that same tunnel (once she got in it, lol). I tried to layer the jump, but she kept reading it as a serpentine line and took the wrong jump. I tried that quite a few times, and I even threw a reward on her line to keep her out there but to no avail. It was very inconsistent.>>
On that line, it was a position and connection question from her:
At :30 and 2:09, you were way ahead and good connection, so she got it right.
At 1:10 – she exited the tunnel and saw you between the uprights and no connection and no verbal, so it was a good guess to come in and take the jump. Good girl!
And with this too – if you tried it more than 2 or 3 times… it is too many reps. Break it down, get success, move on 🙂 You can reset the sequence differently and work on it again at a later date. Doing far fewer reps and looking for high success will go a long way towards reducing frustration.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
It was great seeing you and meeting Dean this weekend! You and Kaladin looked so fabulous and I am glad your thumb was cooperative!!!
Try a GO before the tunnel for the layering, a big loud GO GO GO
That first rep is the important one coming from a tunnel where he can’t see you
The turn on 5 looked good – and he blasted back down the line on the big layer!!
Using the turn away – give the physical cues as he is landing from the previous jump, and he definitely told us what he needs to see on those switch aways! The turning towards you was easy : )
He didn’t read the switch away at :57, and you asked what you did differently there. Here is what the video says 🙂 It was mainly the timing of your feet!
At :45, you started the physical cue (arm and feet!) as he was about 1 stride past landing from the previous jump, and he read it well!
At :56, you started the verbal at a good time but the physical cue started just as he lifted off, turning to his right. Feet indicated right turn there.
At 1:12 you had your arm very visible at a great time – but the rest of the cues (feet!) started as he was approaching the turn jump, so he turned to his right again.
At 1:41, you got in closer and your feet turned a lot sooner – so he turned left. That gives us a great indication of what he is actually reading:
Yes, the verbal helps and yes the arms definitely get his attention but he also needs to see the footwork of the converging motion and feet facing the left turn line. So it is almost a pull-flip like a tandem turn, but at a distance.Great job here! Keep me posted on how the Classic goes, and stay cool!
Tracy
Hi!
>>I was fairly happy with it. Obviously I’d love no sniff breaks but he’s coming back and working hard.>>
Yay! You can build in the sniff/decompression breaks after each runs – scatter some treats in the grass for him to find before asking him to work again. He might need to clear his head.
And hopefully the heat will break too – it is TOO HOT!!!!
T
Yay for smoother lines!!! Can you grab a video of the switch away on just the one jump? I want to see what she reads so we can then apply it at a distance. Just one jump is fine; I know it is 150 degrees out right now!!
T
Hi!
Thank you for the update! The video is looking really good!
SUPER nice blind cross 2-3 at :06 and :17!! Lovely!! Smooth, fast, and connected 🙂One thing we are going to start talking about in CAMP this summer is being the ‘window’ of commitment where you know you can then go to the next thing. Basically – he will cue you that he knows what you want, so you can go do the next line 🙂 This will help spins, sends, etc.
For example, a suggestion for seeing his commitment on the spins and any send with a countermotion (where he has to go one way and you have to turn and run the other way, like at jump 4 on this sequence):
Keep moving towards it, decelerating, until you see his feet lift off the ground. Then you can finish the spin 🙂 At :09 you did the decel and spin all at the same time, so he didn’t go to 4 (he never got his feet lifted so he didn’t cue you yet LOL!) The rep at :19 was MUCH better where you sent to 4 for longer and then started the spin when he was taking off. He committed nicely!
So if you know to keep connected to him until you see that, the bloopers like at :09 will go away.
There is a similar commitment window on jump 6 for the wrap to 7: I think you wanted a slice there, but he ended up doing more of a wrap. So you can keep moving towards the slice wing of 6, decelerating & saying your verbal – when you see his feet lift off for the slice, you can run to 7 🙂 I think you were trying to leave too soon here which is why he was not sure.
It is easy to leave too soon or rush with a really fast dog like Timber, so looking for the moment where he cues you to go to the next spot will really help!!!
And for now, the feet up is easy to see – my guess is you will end up seeing an earlier cue from him, such as looking at the jump 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think! Tracy
Hi!
Doing serps and threadles in the same session does get complicated! I see what you mean that sometimes it was hard for her to tell what you wanted – she was offering a lot of good stuff!! When she was having trouble with the threadle in the 2nd half of the video, I think that she just didn’t have quite enough room to fit in between the wall and the wing comfortably.
It will help if you clarify the mechanics, as you mentioned, so the main thing is to think about the things that will stay the same on both the serps & the threadles, and what will make them different.
The things that are the same for both are:
* Line up your belly button facing the wing for both of these
* Have your target hand fully extended away from you, elbow locked, so it it not near your leg.
* You are looking at your target hand as she starts to move towards you, rather than at her.
* You are one arm’s length away from the jump (you can touch the wing with a slightly bent elbow)
* You strike the pose and you don’t move til the pup is at the reward 🙂
The things that are different are what tell her if it is a serp or threadle:
* Hand position: For a serp, your hand target is over the center of the bar. For a threadle, your hand target it outside of the wing so she can see it clearly
* Foot position: Pointing to the reward 🙂 You can also think of it as pointing to your non-target hand, or pointing to the line you want her to take – or pointing away from the. Target hand 🙂
* Reward target is past the wing, in the direction you want her to go. At this point, definitely have a reward target on the ground, like a toy or food bowl or Manners MinderSo the first thing to do would be to get into the belly-button-facing-the-wing position. Then decide if you want a serp or threadle, and that will tell you where your hand and feet go 🙂
Then you can plan to do maybe 2 of one, then switch to 2 of the other, and so on. She reads them well already, so it is a matter of you choosing which one and having super clear position.
Let me know of that makes sense! You are on the right track :)
Tracy
I will look and see if I have videos, but to introduce it: start by using it as a giant target without the noise or the gears or the beep. Put a cookie in the bowl and let him go eat it a few times in training, so he gets used to seeing it.
If he is happy with that, you can turn it on but turn off the beep part of it – that way he only hears the gears and not the loud beep.
Start him 10 or 15 feet away – you can click it so the gears grind and a a treat drops into the bowl, then send him to it. He will either think it is the best thing ever in his world, or he will think it is weird. If it is the best thing ever, you can start using it (but without the beep). If he thinks it is weird, keep sending him to it from a distance til he isn’t worried about it (but not using it in training yet).
When he is happy with the gears grinding, you can add the beep on a low volume, repeating the process of starting him far away, clicking the MM so it beeps and grinds and drops a cookie into the bowl – then send him to it.
I recommend using really great cookies at first, so he falls in love with it 🙂
Let me know how it goes!
TracyHi! You aren’t doing anything wrong at all! You are starting a really hard skill with a baby dog 🙂
2 ideas for you:
leaving the jump where it was at the end of the session, you can start the next session with the tunnel there but turn the entry and the exit down to the ground so she sees the body of the tunnel but can’t go in either end of it. That is a lot less distracting and makes the jump more visible. You can see a version of that here in Ramen’s first layering session:
You won’t want to reveal the tunnel til she easily finds the jump past it.
Also, lower the bar. I know 16″ is not that hard, theoretically – but it really is! If you look at Josie’s video, she is an adult dog who is experienced and even she was having trouble coordinating the mechanics to jump the jump 🙂 So baby dog Chata is likely having the same WTF moment on the processing LOL!! So, use a 10″ bar so it is visible but really easy to get over.
Let me know how it goes!
Tracy
Good morning!
He was doing a really good job finding his jumps here! This video is a good compare & contrast for the reward placement:
With the toy, you might notice he was looking at you a lot here… it was because all rewards were delivered from your hand so you couldn’t be all that lazy with the toy. So definitely throw the toy rather than tug from hand, but I find it more efficient to use food for this game 🙂
Note the difference when you went to the food – he looked at you a lot less and looked at the jumps a lot more, so you could have a nice lazy stroll and he did the jumps 🙂 He didn’t really seem interested in the thrown bumper, but that might have been because there was a lot of food in the picture there. He seemed to think the rep was over after a cookie toss, so he would come to you – that is fine, because you can easily build up to all 3 jumps in a row.
>>I also have 2 videos of MaxPup 2 exercises that we worked- let me know if it is OK to post them>>
Sure! Post ‘em up!
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
You TOTALLY did the right thing with the teeter!! It was a good session and he was very resilient to the unexpected moments at the start.
He didn’t look too worried when he fell off (happy body language, trying to get back on) but I do agree with your assessment that he was offended by being picked up – that was when he looked worried (as your reward arm came towards him to give food on the next rep, he was moving away: “Don’t pick my up, mom!”)
He got over that pretty quickly thanks to the fabulous treats you were using to help and you were helping him turn around – so he was only slowing down to get the food you were offering to make sure he was not going to fling himself off the teeter by accident LOL!
The tunnel to wings looks really good and I agree that it is coming together!! Baby dog is growing up (they are REALLY young!). And he was playing with a toy – super!!
You did a great job here of placing the wings close so he could easily lock onto them and no turn to look for you. And then finding the jump looks good too! The tunnel-wing game can easily be put into the Wingin’ It context (the first game). And yes, I think he can do the Lazy Game – have the jumps really close together and see how he does.Great job here!
Tracy
