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Good morning!
Borderwhippet! Tell me more! 2 of the class demo dogs are BorderWhippets (one is Papillon-BW). And my puppy is a BorderWhippet. They are wonderful (maybe I am biased hahahaha)
Great question about the hand – I agree with your assessment that the pup might be looking at your hand because of the history of it having food in it, and reward history of hand touches. Doing the step without the hand was very smart! 2 more ideas for you to try:
– you can change what your hand looks like so it looks less like a cookie hand or a hand touch cue. You can use a closed fist with a pointing finger and see if that helps. If that is what you are already doing, you can try an open hand with your palm turned up to the ceiling – so he sees it is empty and also so the palm position doesn’t look like it is inviting him for a hand touch
– you can do a couple of reps with a forward focus approach: hold his collar, toss a treat onto the prop with your other hand, then let go and point to the treat. That can help him leave your hand to go to the prop.
Question: was this his first session? If so, it is possible that latent learning will kick in and he won’t need any help or changes at all. BorderWhippets and Whippets don’t always appear to ‘learn’ something in the first session… but no worries, when we come back to it a couple of days later, they know everything we want them to know and have figured out the next few steps. It is the craziest thing LOL!! I have seen it in all breeds/mixes but the level of it happening with whippets and whippet crosses is the most incredible I have seen. So you might want to do a rep or two exactly as you did it and see if latent learning has changed his focus from your hand to the prop.
Keep me posted!!!!! I am excited to hear more about your pup!
Tracy
Hello and welcome! Kaida sounds AWESOME!!! You will see a couple of my Paps appear in the demo videos – they taught me a whole lot about training tiny puppies 🙂
Have a blast!
Tracy
Welcome! She sounds like so much fun!!! 4 months old is a great place to start. I think the Baby Level shaping will be pretty broken down, and we can totally break it down more as needed – or move ahead to the Advanced Level when she decides the Baby Level is too easy 🙂
Have fun!!
TracyHi!
She did great with the threadle wraps! She found it easy to come to he correct side of the wing. I think she was waiting for you to flip her away, so you can slow your motion by the wing (for now) so she flips herself away, then reward her 🙂 If she turns herself away, you will find it easier to do the blind cross on the exit of it – she is so speedy that you didn’t have time to do the blind as early when you were helping her turn away.
>. Is there anything in particular we should focus on in preparation?>
Looking at the last few weeks of MaxPup 3, these are the games that will be best to prepare for MaxPup 4, then the other games can be done whenever you have time 🙂
Week 5: Tunnel entries & exits
Week 6: Lead Outs
Week 7: all of the sequences, there is a lot in this week 🙂Great job here!
TracyHi!
He is definitely getting the idea of moving into position! And I think he is enjoying it too 🙂I think his questions were more about when to release, as you mentioned. He is looking at your hands a lot, and then when your hands move away, he wants to move with them (especially if you have said ‘yes’). So we can clarify the release which will help him hold the position:
– as he is moving into position, keep moving forward (very slowly for now) and when he gets into position you can throw the reward back to him rather than hand deliver it or turn towards him (which is keeping your hands in the picture more than needed). A marker like ‘catch’ will help him know it is coming back to him and to stay at the teeter for it (rather than move forward with you). He is allowed to move after a ‘catch’ reward so you would then reset for the next rep.
– And you can mix in sometimes *not* throwing a treat back. Instead, when he is in position and you are moving away, you can use your verbal release word so he can come off the board and come to you for the reward. I like to mix in both of these, so he gets value for hitting and holding the position.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Don’t wave that white flag yet! You are *thisclose* to nailing them!!! I grabbed screenshots of the moments discussed below, they are here:https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1bsElkKPNOnFtdhJXSDhrXxJgNGPpDYdwt7rwedqaa8Y/edit?usp=sharing
>today I tried the tight turn verbal cue and being deliberate with the “fast forward, slow forward, rotate” set of cues for a tight turn>
Your timing of the cross was spot on!
What was missing was the exit line connection on the new side. You started and finished the blind on time in terms of what you could see (looking over your new shoulder). But your dog-side shoulder was closed forward so she didn’t see the connection – and your motion was sideways towards the next wing so she had to make a choice based on motion.
Ideally you would start/end the cross at the same time as you did here, but keep your dog-side arm back towards her (not at your side) and put your other hand across your stomach so it really helps her see the connection while there is still a lot of motion.
You did that a bit at the end of the FC but then you were PERFECT with it when you did the BC at 1:00 – you were a little far from the line you wanted so didn’t quite get her to the side of the wing you wanted, but you were on a better line at 1:13 so got it. Your dog-side shoulder closed forward on that last rep at 1:14, but that was mainly as a send as she was passing you, rather than blocking her view of connection when she was behind you.
> other than the first rep I got the same result in that she kept going wider and wider as the session went on. >
I think she was reading your change of demeanor there – she knew it was not quite right so was going wider to get a better view of the handling.
> It also feels like so much more work to change sides that way rather than rotate into the dog with that kind of approach angle.>
This smaller sequence makes it so that the BC or the FC can both work really well. The BC will be at its most useful when you have to keep moving across the ring on a bigger course, and the FC rotation will slow you down/cause you to fall behind.
Nice work here! Don’t give up on the tight blinds!!
Tracy
Hi!
This was a really fun session to watch! I think he was surprised at first that the decel was the main cue. He jumped a little long on the very first rep, then also on the first when you added movement. But then he did great on the other reps, setting up really nice turns with very little help needed. Good boy!> I KNOW I need to keep my arms from flapping, I just can’t seem to do it.>
I thought your arms were good here! You used them to send, but in a good way: traveling with him rather than pointing ahead of him, or pointing up to the sky 🙂
He really liked the turn and burn front crosses (like at :54) when you exited the wraps. He had fun chasing you!!!
There were a couple of spots that made me think he has an easier time turning to his right than to his left – he was jumping a little longer on the left turns at the beginning and naturally turning tighter on the right turns. Then at 1:00, he went behind you to set up a right turn – it was hard to see why that happened (maybe connection was a little too soft?) but it is was interesting to see him go to the backside to set up the right turn. And the other spot was at 2:15, when you did a FC/turn and burn on the left turn wrap and he back jumped (possibly because it was easier than finishing the left turn).
So he might be a righty! And that means you can do harder stuff to the right, and support him a little more when he has to turn left. You won’t have to do that for long, because it will all even out.
Nice job working through the timing of the sequence at the end:
At 2:38, your rotation on the FC was too early (he had not gotten much past the landing of the previous jump when you turned into him) so he didn’t take the jump.
At 2:50, your decel was a late (he was halfway to the turn jump) so he was wide. Your decel and send at 3:00 was timely starting it and you held it til he committed, so he had a lovely turn there!
Great job!
TracyHi!
> I am having to work at getting her to switch between food and tug and am working on building more value for the tug with me. >
This is normal! You can also tie a toy to a longer toy or leash then swing it around for her to chase – I bet she will love that too!
Tracy
Hi! The games are looking great! Clearly you’ve done a great job teaching him to offer behaviors, and you are super strong with your click timing and getting lots of rewards in fast.
>shows me we need to do some work on switching from food to toy and back.>
Switching from food to toys is HARD especially for smaller dogs because their noses are right over the food smells! His facial expression was hilarious when you asked him to tug in the middle 🙂 Two things to try to get more tugging:
– the toy you had was great and really enticing! You can tie it to another toy or a leash to make it super long – then swing it/drag it around on the floor for him to chase (like chasing a bunny :))
– you can move to a different spot to tug, so he is not tugging in the food spot. I used to run down the hall to tug, then run back to the training area to shape the target, then run down the hall to tug. It was hard to get on video but super effective to get more toy-treat-toy alternating.On the 2nd video, he was interested in the squeaky toy but the presence of the treats nearby was challenging! So running to a different room can really help him get into his toy.
Getting him to paw target to the hat was great. You got a ton of rewards in very quickly, so he was all about smacking that hat! You can toss the food further away now, so he runs a few feet to get it and then runs back to smack the hat. And when he can do that for a couple of reps, you can move directly to the sending game we started on Tuesday 🙂
The nose to target game went great too. Nice job having your hand nice and low, so he didn’t have to jump up for it at all. To make your life easier, you don’t need to click anymore – one less thing to hold LOL!! This game doesn’t get used for a couple of weeks, so you can set it aside for now 🙂
Forward focus to the toy is looking great. My only suggestion is for you to look very directly down at him as you throw the toy, so you can see exactly where he is looking (and so you can practice being super connected).
You were able to add distance and your movement to this game and his forward focused looked great. The next step would have more distance and more movement – you can take this outdoors, or you can take it to a long hallway if you have one, so he can really start running to the toy.Nice work here!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
OH NO about the COVID!!! I am sorry to hear it. Hopefully it is a very mild case.>I’m not sure I have a long enough toy that’s small enough. But, I’ll look through the pile of toy toys.>
You can do some arts’n’crafts and tie a bunch of toys together to create a long one, or tie one to a leash.
>She is a very slow eater. Goes to the bowl, takes a kibble, walks away and chews 100 times.>
Ha! That is so cute. She will get faster, of course 🙂 but for now, she is probably just processing how to use her mouth and think about things etc.
>I’m struggling with offer to touch the object. She just sits and stares.>
Totally normal! The sit-and-stare might indicate that she is more thoughtful in her processing and less of a ‘throw herself at it’ type of pup. Or it might not indicate that – it will be fun to learn more about her personality.
To help her out, do a session with delicious treats and a HUGE thing for her to get on like a big dog bed… and jumpstart the concept by putting the cookie right on it for her to go to. Then toss a treat to the side to get her off it… then as she heads back your way, put the next cookie right on it. It is kind of a pattern game LOL that says: getting on this thing is great! By making the object huge for now and jumpstarting the game by putting the cookie on the object early and often, you will see her have a lightbulb moment that moving towards novel things can produce cookies.> Also, we have zero recall. Sometimes she’ll chase me. Other times, she lies down and just stares. Baby!>
Yes – also totally normal baby behavior. She has only known you since Saturday, right? She is still settling in, no worries. Maybe she is waiting on the final decision of her name 🤣😂 but again, this is all totally normal.
Looking at the video:
She did great here!!!! And she is adorable. She wanted to kind of chill out by the bowl – that might be a product of her litter experience when she was fed from a bowl: you eat from it then when it is empty, chill out. But she was definitely getting the idea of going back to the other bowl! She is basically learning that bowls are things that we use for training, not just for eating.And she got right into the toy at the end! You can try this game with two toys like I did with Elektra in the demo video – that way you can add in the going around something, while her understanding of going back and forth between the bowls continues to build.
Plus, latent learning is on our side. If you played this yesterday (Wednesday), let her sleep on it for a couple of nights and try it again on Saturday to see what she locked in 🙂
Great job here!! She is off to a wonderful start!
Tracy
Hi! He is so cute!!!
Looking at the drive to toy video:
>Aelfraed doesn’t like being restrained very much and also doesn’t like toys that aren’t moving very much so I wasn’t sure how the drive to toy game was going to go. However, he has been improving with both those items recently and he did way better than I expected.>
He did great here!!
Having the leash to help is good to be able to add the restraint – you can sometimes use it at the start of the rep, instead of reaching for his collar each time. That way we can get the same feeling of holding him to be able to get the toy out ahead and get forward focus, and gradually build up the love of the collar behind held. Just be sure that you don’t step on the leash or stand on it – that was causing a bit of a correction on his neck when he was moving away.Since dead toys are a little boring 🙂 you can throw the toy further, as far as you can – watch him as you throw it, and when the toy is almost landing or just after it lands, you can let him go to run to it (if he is looking at it) That way he can sometimes run to an almost-dead toy 🤣😂 mixed in with waiting for a heartbeat after it lands, so he runs to a fully dead toy. You can also add your movement (walking, to start) so he drives to it while you are also moving.
Looking at the prop sends: he did really well hitting it when sent, and he seemed to do it really well on both sides of you! Super!!! He only had one question (approx 1:40 on the video) when you were sideways – I think the cue was a little too subtle and you were a little too far, but then when you were clearer and closer he was great with the sending.
> He does not enjoy treats in my hand nearly as much as collecting them himself which is why I was rewarding with the treat toss, and especially after he wasn’t interested in the food in my hand while I was setting the prop down.>
That was really interesting, when he passed by the treats in your hand to go to the prop. Perhaps it was a combination of not loving treats from your hand, and thinking that the prop being placed was the cue to hit it. Throwing the treats as the rewards was a good option, of course – but we can also use this game to help build the love of eating treats from your hands (because that is an incredibly useful skill!) So since he likes the prop and he likes chasing the treats, you can put the treat in your hand sandwiched between the other two things: send to the prop, give him a treat from you hand – then when he eats it, toss a treat for him to chase. And repeat 🙂 The value of the ‘work’ (prop hits) and the value of the treat chasing will help build the value of the treats from hand. And you can have the best treats coming from your hands, if he has preferences in terms of type of treats 🙂
He ate treats perfectly from your hand on the drive to handler session! And then he got a tossed treat, which he liked and helped build up the drive to you for the treat in your hand. Yay!
He was happy to come to your side here. His butt was swinging out a bit wide (probably when he was looking up at you) so you can now add the pivoting when he is getting to your side. That will help him bend his body and keep from swinging wide.
How does he feel about food and toys in the same session? We can start to incorporate the toy in the foodie games to get even more excitement.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>Oh cool!! I see Bokeh is here too!>Family reunion! So much fun! They are all really fabulous pups!
The blinds went really well – super fun even when you were late. And even when you were late, it was still a fun game – love it! As long as she keeps getting rewarded, she won’t mind if you are late 🙂 She is already a speedy little dude, so you can start your blind as soon as she takes her first step towards you. You were waiting til she was halfway to you on some of the reps, but with her speed, you ended up a little late 🙂
>I had trouble remembering to use the arm across my body to deliver treat/toy>
I think you did a great job working the connection! One thing to add to the planning is put the toy in the reward hand (dog-side hand to at the beginning so it is easy to reward across the body) before you start the rep, so you don’t have to switch hands while trying to outrun her 🙂 And if you have anyone who can hold her, you can do this as a restrained recall.
Wing wrap foundations was also a super nice session! She did really well with the upright getting a little further away. I think the next step is for you to be standing up (starting with the upright close again, and if she does fine, you can move it back out. And if that is easy peasy: you can fade out the bowls and just drop treats on the ground (this will be easier to do indoors so she can find the treats easily).
I think the hardest part was getting her to tug – at the beginning, you can get the tugging going from a bit further from your setup, before you get into wrap position (sitting with the food and upright there). Then after some tugging, you can go sit in the setup or stand near the wing to start the shaping part of it with treats.
Then when you break things off to tug in the middle of the session: I loved your energy when it was time to tug! SO FUN!!! When you break off for tugging, you can leave the wing wrap spot and have a big party, so she is not confused about whether she should tug or offer wing wraps for treats. It looked like you did that at the very end (moved away) and got the tugging going really well.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning! This session looks great! He drove right to you and was nice and tight while you turned. Super!!
>Looks like I’m turning a bit too quickly.
Yes – a bit too fast but he did well with it. It is amazing how a 13 month old dog can maintain the coordination to turn fast like that, and when he was a 5 month old dog he would have had a harder time! He was great!
And I think the turning a little too fast will disappear when you go to the next steps: throw the start cookie as far from you as you can – and while he is going to it, you are moving away. As he is moving towards you, you can start your decel, then pivot when he gets to your side. You can add moving faster to make the decel more obvious – so it might be a good game to take outside! The start cookie can be a bowl if he has trouble finding it in grass or dirt 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
