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Good morning!
>Ever since she was in season tugging has become harder. I’m lucky I if I get 1 really good session. Sometimes it’s at the beginning, sometimes at the end.>
There are two reasons why toy play might diminish at this stage:
It is pretty normal for young dogs to take a while to return to normal after being in season (can be weeks or more after they are ‘finished’ for the hormones to reset). She will hormonally bounce back with some time.
Or, the skills training takes priority (for the humans) and the play mechanics go away and food gets used a lot – so the pups think the scenario is not about play, even if they want to play, and it becomes more about offering behavior and food.
I think the play mechanics can definitely be more playful here! I do think that you were thinking more about the training and less about the play – and she is not the type of latch onto a ‘dead’ toy and tug like a fiend. Most pups are not like that type and they prefer a more interactive, engaging play style.
Just playing with the frisbee at the beginning was really good! You were playing and not thinking about training.
Compare to when you brought the toy out at 2:45, you were wiggling it as you walked to position – then moving it slowly near your feet. Not a very enticing play moment LOL!! You were not really engaging with her or making the toy exciting. Then the toy went dead and you went back to food – with the toy visible on the ground (more on that below).
At 4:17 you picked up the toy but moved somewhere with it – not really playing. She was interested but it was more like she was walking next to you trying to grab it – and you were thinking about what to do next (moving across the floor, looking ahead, toy at your side)
I do think she wants to tug! So to get the toy play back, let’s flip that: go to where you want to play… then whip out the toy and play play play looking at her, talking to her, without thinking about the training or where you want to be relative to the jump. Get the toy moving away from her with you dragging it and swinging it so she chases it. Remember, the squirrel she would like to chase is not hanging out at your side or slowly moving in front her feet 😂 it is moving away so she can chase and grab it!
At the end (6:00 approx) we had some real play! But then you stopped moving it to go back to training, so she would stop. Make the engagement/play/movement the top priority and when you want to do some training, put the toy away/end the tugging.
I don’t think having the toy or frisbee on the ground is a useful thing at this point, unless it is the reward she is driving to – with the frisbee and the tug on the ground while you worked with food, there is an element of ignoring the toy. Having it there might diminish the value and have ti fade into the background – But we want the toy to be more like forbidden fruit where she loves it SO MUCH that she can barely contain her joy when you play with it. We don’t want to build any value for ignoring it 🙂 and we don’t need any impulse control on it at this point: So have it hidden when you are training with food and then bring it back out for the play moments. She will let you know when it is time to put more impulse control on the toy.
>I think this is our first time with a pre placed reward so will be doing lots more of that but still thought it went well.>
The pre-placed reward is great for this game – it really helps direct the line yo want her to take. She did well with the lotus ball – you can use the lotus as the target without a cookie in it. then drop the cookie into it as she learns to ignore it especially on the threadles 🙂
She was doing a good job on both the threadles and the serps! For the threadles, be sure she can see more of you outside the edge of the threadle wing – you can position yourself so that she can see at least half of your torso fully (like at 5:42). Then as she is coming in for the threadle, keep your arm back and shoulders open – that is the cue to go back out to the jump independently (rather than closing your shoulders).
Nice work here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
Working on skills in the presence of his brother was definitely a little harder! Benni was BIG MAD (sorry, Benni!) and Brioche was well aware of that. One the wing wraps, there was definitely a bit of pressure felt – he was wrapping but also keeping an eye on Benni. When you worked the jump, he had a little trouble lining up right at the very beginning, but then the skills (decel/collection and going straight) both went really well! He got lots of rewards and you completely ignored Benni (again, sorry Benni!) which really helped Brioche.
So while there was definitely pressure happening, Brioche maintained the self-control to work with you and respond beautifully to the cues. Yay! And it goes a long way to preparing him for doing agility with other dogs around the ring.
If my memory is correct, he is not in a group agility class but he does get to play in privates with Jessica. When it is his turn, you might ask Jessica to maybe have one of her BCs hanging out on the sidelines to help him work around new dogs? Do it on a relatively easy skill so his brain can easily do the skill while it processes the challenge of ignoring the dog.
>We are going to the AKC agility invitationals in Orlando. >
Are you competing with Benni? That is amazing!!!!
>Where are you going to be doing agility training?>
I think it is Fort Pierce, here is the link:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0549AEA92BA7FCCE9-57268506-tailwaggers?fbclid=IwY2xjawOaWFFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeltfDu3d3rWZOCiOVz6jmg-FyD0EHZvLjXGXsdUH2uCZIFEfGX_QZBODn3eY_aem_RLOQDmX8pctl1MLgHdbcbA#/Nice work here!
Tracy
This went really well!! It is interesting now that he is a bit older, he has much better control of his body and this came much more easily. You were adding the verbal and that might have distracted him a bit at first (he looked up at you), but keep adding it so you will be able to get it entirely on cue.
He got a little tired at the end so you can break the session up with throwing some toys around. The session itself was not too long – but a lot of reps in a row of backing up can be physically tiring for the pups.
Since this went really well, you can add in having him back up to a destination, like a really big plank (square enough and big enough that he fits entirely on it, but not too high the he has to take a big step up. He would start on the plank, step off, then back on. Then eventually he would be backing up to a moving plank like the wobble board. You will see those steps here:
Great job!
Tracy
Hi! Excellent question!
>So to my question is, should I just use my soft turn towards me cue for all of the minny pinny, or should i introduce my cues towards/away cues with my relative positioning using the minny pinny (once he starts offering the grid?), or will there be another exercise for that kind of turn, it will most likely be a rear cross with a soft turn so maybe this isn’t the right set up for that.>
If your plan is to have soft-turn-towards-me and a soft-turn-away-from me cues, this level of the game uses the soft-turn-towards-me only, no need for the turn-away cue yet. We will add that in MaxPup 2, specifically getting the pups to learn the difference between turning towards and turning away with the verbals. It actually grows into a really independent game to solidify the verbals, even without the handler needing to also show physical cues 🙂
So for now – play minny pinny with your soft-turn-towards-me cue 🙂
Tracy
>I TRY! Bahahaa. Sometimes he doesn’t follow it with his eyes, sometimes he gets distracted haha>
You can add in a towel spread out to where you will be tossing the treat so you can toss the treat onto the towel. It might not make for perfect treat-finding but it narrows the search field at least 🙂
Good morning!
Countermotion serp exits:
The motion overrode the upper body on the first rep, but then you really exaggerated the upper body and he got it each time 🙂>I see that I didn’t quite keep fluidly moving but got better on the last rep. >
Yes – I was going to suggest staying in motion a little bit more as you showed the exaggerated upper body, but that is exactly what you did on the last rep and he got it. SUPER!! I think that first rep just surprised him a little then he remembered the game and you were super clear with the cues. It was perfectly fine to help him with a little less motion when you released, and he did great when you put the fluid motion back in.
>Initially I didn’t feel right about where I tossed the reward but I guess it was okay.>
Yes, the rewards were basically dropped/tossed behind you at the cone and it worked well.
>I am confused about executing the actual hand cue so as not to release on my hand target motion? So I was kind of moving into position with my hand already back.>
Yes, you will want to have your serp arm/hand already back the whole time & before the release, so we don’t accidentally build in releasing with hand movement.
And great job with the stay rewards 🙂 It is great that you trained his stay really well and can use it in so many different ways!
Big thank you to Benni for his (loud) help during the self-control session! Brioche seemed to have zero questions about ignoring his brother and definitely seemed happy to be the center of attention 🙂
Since that went perfectly, 2 things. To add:
– you can have Brioche doing something harder, like one of the handling games
– you can switch it and have Brioche staying on the cot while Benni does something. This might be a LOT harder, so have Benni doing something easy and boring while Brioche gets a million cookies for staying on the cot.>We are leaving next Sunday for the invitationals >
FUN! Which sport(s) are you doing?
>so I’ll see how much time I have over the next week to do videos but I think we have at least tried everything once aside from the flyball stuff. >
The flyball-style recalls are great on the road – you can have him on a long line and do the recalls in all sorts of new crazy environments.
>I’m sure the car will be packed full but I’ll try to fit maybe his fitness platforms or something that we can work with since we will be staying down there until the end of December.>
I will be there in December too if you want to come do some agility training! Do you think you can fit the fold-up jump you used in the serp video here? That would be good to have.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi! Hope you had a good Thanksgiving!
He had no questions wrapping the real wing – the only time he didn’t go around it was at :17 when you were switching the toy (he sees everything 😂🤣)
He is hitting the wing about half the time when you say your marker as he is finishing the wrap, so two suggestions to help him wrap without touching the wing:
– you can try doing the FC and moving away earlier, before he gets to the wing, so you are not near the wing as he exits (this may or may not help, but it is worth a try :))
– for now you can slide out of the FC quietly and without a lot of speed and with the toy hidden – and don’t say your ‘strike’ marker until he is almost caught up to you then whip out the toy. That way he can concentrate on moving around the wing cleanly without thinking about the toy 🙂
He is also doing a great job with his threadle wraps!! You were able to really quickly progress to getting him to turn away while you were moving. SUPER!!
The next step is to fade out the hand flip that turns him away, so he turns himself away. Yes, still have your outside arm as part of the cue, but move very slowly and let him see the cue (and hear the verbal)… but don’t flip him away and instead let him find the turn away and offer it 🙂 That is the next step to making this really independent and I think it will get him to stop doing any tooth hugs or jumping up at your hand. Those were happening when your hand flip away was a heartbeat late… but since we don’t want to rely on being perfect and we do want him to turn himself away, we can start emphasizing that now to take the skill to the next level and preserve your flesh 🙂
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi! Hope you had a good Thanksgiving! Nice work on these games 🙂
Turn and burn on a wing: she did really well transferring the concept to the wing here! She was pushing the wing on the first couple of reps so to help her stay organized and not touch the wing, you can get her excited but when you send her around the wing: you walk through it rather than run for now. That will help her think about the turn and not as much about chasing you, which should lead to less pushing/touching the wing. And when she is not touching the wing, you can add more and more speed – and when adding more speed, hide the toy at first until after she gets to you so she is thinking about finishing the turn and not about grabbing the toy 🙂
The rocking horses with the FCs and the spins also look great! Keep emphasizing connection – when you show her the connection, she is perfect about getting to the correct side. If you are a little softer with connection like at :24, she might not end up where you want her to be (but she still gets rewarded because she was trying to figure it out :)) And using your connection, you can give her the wrap cues earlier: you were giving them as she caught up to you, but you can start the next wrap cue as soon as she exits the previous barrel.
> I thought I had filmed our work on stays with lateral lead outs– she is doing really well.>
I think you had one here at the end of this clip – but you went back up close to the barrel, then told her it defeated the purpose LOL! But based on what she did here with the stay, it looks like she is doing well with the lateral lead outs.
She also did a great job with the serps with the countermotion exits!! She held her stay brilliantly even though she was clearly excited 🙂 and then found the line when you released and shifted connection.
She had a question at :46 & :55 – I don’t think she really saw the connection shift so she just went to the toy. You weren’t really looking at her before the release so you will want to look at her more directly before the release.
After those 2 questions – you kept yourself on the landing side but the other thing that really helped was that you were looking at her then released and look at landing. So definitely look directly at her while you are moving through the serp line, then when you release you can let her see your eyes go from her eyes to the landing spot behind you.
She also did well with the tunnel threadles. She scooted away on the first rep where she was on your right side – I think maybe it was more that something caught her eye than a threadle question, because she was perfect on the next rep 🙂
Great job here! She is looking good!!!
Tracy
Hi! This went really well!
Great job with the loose leash when lining him up at the beginning, and also great job with all the stay rewards
He was a little surprised by the decel on the first release with you at the wing but he turned really well (and a little wide on one release on the other side towards the end of the session) but after that he turned SUPER wellwhen you showed him the decel position. And I think he preferred it when you rewarded with a toy by taking off and running when he collected at the bar rather than stopping for a cookie 🙂
The straight line reps were a nice balance: well done with your position/motion when you released and great job with the toy throw!
Nice work here!!
TracyHi!
>He is not entered in another trial. I wanted to see how things went yesterday. There is a JAG UKI trial next weekend. Sunday has 2 rounds of Speedstakes. I am on the fence whether to enter, 1) the cold, 2) me running in dirt and 3) the distractions of the barn. There is still time to enter, so I am thinking it over.>
Yeah, I hear you on the COLD and the distractions!! You can skip entering but still use the trial environment: take a ride to the barn and work him outside the building. That will be enough of a trial-like environment, but you can also pick the time of day to get better temps and also do a short burst then go home and get warm 🙂 You can work him on the warm up jump, or do leash off engagement on – but have 2 leashes, so he can’t take off when you take one leash off 🙂 but you can still reward engagement.
T
Hi! I think this went really well! It is tricky but you did a great job of breaking it down if needed and working the cue timing too.
One thought – Be careful of using “go” before obstacle names because that might propel her on lines you don’t want 🙂 You only did it a couple of times – the reps where you used obstacle names or turn cues were better in terms of clearer info.
She is doing really well with her verbal discriminations (like at the very beginning) and also when you were working the cues in the sequences. She still incorporates your motion cues, such as at :58. That was where she found the jump really well but when really wide because you stepped in – that created a burst of forward motion and tunnel is a forward cue. So…. more layering! Yay! The left verbal on the next rep helped, but you can do it all from the landing side of the switch jump.
The same can be done when you are working the switch away on the tunnel exit: you can try it from the landing side of the jump, adding a layering component. She would not have been able to do that at first – you needed to sort the timing of beginning the switch cues on the tunnel exit (before the tunnel, like at 1:53 and after that) and also you needed to be visible to show her the physical cues right at the end of the tunnel (2:11). That really helped her have the lightbulb moment! After that, she had it really well so that is where you can add the layering challenge (like at 3:23 and 3:58).
The only other consideration would be adding a turn cue on the wing, when you were getting her to the backside instead of the tunnel (2:39 for example) – she was on the line to the tunnel, so a turn cue such as a ‘right’ before she gets to the wing can set her up to process the line to the backside more smoothly.
When you were putting together the bigger sequences at the end, your verbals were all coming earlier and that made a huge difference! Yay!
Great job on these!!!
Tracy
Good morning! He definitely liked chasing the treat ball here as the reward! Fun!
He seems to be completely understanding the concept of the minny pinny: soft turn bending to the left and right. Super!!! The bumps are big for his little self, so sometimes he is trotting into them (like a cavaletti) and sometimes he is bouncing. Do you have any smaller bumps or even pool noodles, so he can bounce more easily? We do replace bumps with bars eventually but it would be fun to get him bouncing on smaller stuff 🙂
He did a great job with the rocking horses! He seemed a little judgey about why you were walking and not running hahaha but he went and got his barrels really well. So since he found the lines really nicely… you can add running 🙂 You might want to move the barrels in closer to make it easier to stay ahead of him at this point, because staying ahead really helps show the line to the barrel. And if he is doing well, you can add more distance to get him driving ahead even more.
You were doing a great job with your connection (looking at him and not pointing ahead of him) which totally helps support the line, so keep that excellent connection as you add more and more running 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
Hi! Happy Thanksgiving!
This is a great update – lots of success to celebrate and good info to incorporate in class or next time.
In UKI, if you think the ring crew or judge are too much in his line of sight at the first jump – you can start at a different jump and just ask them to manually start your time. That can help set him up for success in ignoring the people.
And yes – bring the treats for the waiting for measuring or outside the ring. Then for measuring, you can put the treats away to help him be still – then back to treats to cope with the crazy environment.
Try all this in class first (adding people in as ring crew distraction, getting measured, etc) then get him ready for his next trial! What does he have coming up?
Great job 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
Yes, I have added privates to the schedule! The link is here:
https://forms.gle/3kiEzMcyj5rfmSq9AWe can do it as live zoom sessions, or you can submit video and we discuss it in a zoom, or you can submit video to get written feedback. Let me know what you think!
Tracy
