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Hi!
Hi!>We sometimes struggle staying engaged.>
I see what you mean on two of the videos – the find the jump and the minny pinny. Definitely try to play with her on the way to the setup and before you send into the first rep. At the beginning of the find the jump game, you she was not really engaged and you started.
But, mainly the disengagement is stress sniffing when she doesn’t know what you want or you stop because she didn’t do what you intended… but the cue was not clear so she was actually correct. And when you indicated she was wrong: she got stressed.
A good example of that was in the find the jump video on the first rep: you turned away from the tunnel before she had really locked onto it, so she followed the turn of your shoulders – then you stopped so she sniffed.
So a new rule: no stopping! Reward her because it is more than possible that the error was yours not hers 🙂
When info was clear and she was correct – she was very engaged for the rest of the session. SUPER!!!
You can add more distance and running here! She found the jump really well so she is ready for more challenge 🙂
The zigzags went really well! You were blocking her line at :36, good job rewarding her because it was not her fault that she went to the other side of the wing 🙂
Her stay is looking strong here so you can lead out to the 3rd wing and see if she can zig zag with you out there!
Minny Pinny – this is also going well. Because she is still sorting out her footwork, you can use bumps instead of bars (she was hitting the bars).
One thing that will help to get more success: She did much better if you held her by the collar to let her hear the verbal 3 or 4 times before you let her start moving. If you were not holding her and you were moving and she started moving on the first word, she was not always sure of where to go and also was hitting bars. So be super consistent with holding her so she can process the verbal before she starts moving.
For the turn aways, if she has trouble turning away and you are holding her – you can place the reward between the bumps to help direct her focus.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
>I’m having issues with my Internet being slow or not even connecting so I’m not sure I’ll be able to get more video up today.>
Ugh, that is frustrating!!!! Fingers crossed for cooperative internet!!!
Good job angling the jump right from the start! That definitely helped her
On the first rep here, she was a bit distracted by something in the environment (motorcycle?) and you were going fast so she ran by.
But on the other reps, when you were not as fast and also really visible between the upright of the serp jump, she was great, finding the serp easily.You can leave the angle on the jump for now – she had nice reps on the other side too, but also sometimes ran past – so for now the angle of the jump so the line is easier will really help her.
The further away you could send her to the start wing, the better the serp jump went in terms of you being able to get to great serp position without having to run. When you had her at your side and you were looking directly at her as you started the send, the great connection helped support the send really well! Good example of that were at 1:11, 2:25 and 2:40.
>I think I might try using the colored hand target to see if that helps a little more too.
>You totally can! And you can shake the serp hand too – that motion might help her drive in on the serp too1
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
> He won’t lure if he doesn’t think the activity is a good idea. >
That is good feedback from the dog. You can start the training by taking for his feedback on what he wants to do: which toy? Which treats? Let him pull you towards which obstacle he wants to play with. That bit of agency might be HUGE for his resilience during adolescence!
>He generally is good with sitting now but it took him a while to get onto the sit and he preferred either stand or down previously. >
You can also build up love of a platform (cato plank or something) if he doesn’t already love it, and mix in using that as a starting point.
>I needed to remind myself what I frequently tell others, every day is different with adolescents.>
True, so very true!
>I think he is definitely feeling frustrated with the reduction in outdoor running time.>
That frustration might be something he carries into other training. Are there things indoors he can do that can alleviate that? Shred things? Usually guided destruction is helpful LOL
>Happy to report he seems much more emotionally level today so far even though we are still in extreme cold and he couldn’t stay out long. Perhaps he also didn’t have good sleep the previous night as you suggested.>
In the training center, you can also start with crazy running like chasing a frisbee or something to let him get the joy of the endorphins and adrenaline, all before asking for training. I usually like to train first, but sometimes letting the pups blow off pent up energy is the best way to start.
Keep me posted. I can’t wait for the snow to melt and spring to come!
Tracy
Hi!
> She’s so smart she was doing what she knows, the hooman was on the wrong page >
Think of it as she is a good communicator. Whenever a puppy is insisting that something is supposed to be a certain way, the puppy is generally correct and we have to figure out what they need 🙂
>Honest opinion, should I not continue with that game since we will be using bowls with you? >
For MaxPup, we are almost done with the bowls as of tomorrow and if we do bring them back out, we can use your marker.
>Or is it too late, she “knows” that exercise/picture already. I don’t want to confuse her either.>
For the bowls, it is good for her to know that stillness is not the only application of getting the bowl… And the bowl being there does not mean she goes directly to it (only go to it after the marker). So, everything in balance 🙂 You can keep trying the stillness game but the bowls can be used in other ways too (like she did with the barrel here) so she understands that it is not something to stand still and stare at 🙂
>We went back to the barrel with moving the bowls behind me. She caught me a few (ok maybe many LOL) times moving the bowls which interrupted her flow. >
She did great! And yes, the challenges were because she saw you moving the bowls and wondered if she needed to pay attention to that LOL!! And that barrel was pretty far away – she did great! This game transforms into something lots more fun starting tomorrow – you’ll really get to see her run!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
The toy races went really well!
On the first rep, having the toy already stationary and walking him away was unclear for him, he didn’t know what to focus on. But on the next reps: throwing it then doing a toy race? Perfectly clear. Yay! He did a great job driving forward to the toy and didn’t seem to mind your motion at all. Keep adding distance so he feels really comfy driving forward and ahead of you.The wobble bird session also went well! You made a helpful choice to put a finger on the board when it started to wobble too much (he was shaking because he is too young to have lot of course strength). Holding the board so it wobbled less really helped him get confident. Super! You can ask him to do sits and downs on it, and even turn around (a hand lure for this is helpful).
The self-control game is going well, he was able to ignore the toy even when he had to pass it to go to the wing. That is great! You can tie a line to the toy, so when he does get to it you can grab the line and hold it so he doesn’t take off with it 🙂
It was hard to see on this video: was he looking at the wing when you let go of him? If yes – great! If no – you can wait until he looks at the wing to let him go around it.
Nice work here! New games coming tomorrow!
Tracy
Hi! Good sessions here! She is interested in the wobble board but not yet fully in love with it in these sessions. She did a great job getting her front end on (loved your excitement when she did!)
I know Roma was a distraction but actually… Phire was pumped up and excited!
So three ideas for you to build the wobble board love and get her putting her hind end on:
– for now, reduce the tip by shoving a ton of towels or something under the wobble boards so the wobble board barely moves.
– Use crazy delicious high value food, stuff she almost never gets (small quantities so she doesn’t get an upset belly) and a short session
– maybe invite Roma The Wobble Board Enthusiast into your session! Social learning is powerful: if baby Phire sees Roma get on happily and get treats, maybe Phire will join her! It sure looked like Phire was just about to do that when Roma’s mom came and got her 🙂 Social learning is so useful!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
He is doing a great job with the pillowcase here! We can get him offering more so you don’t have to help as much: Try to be completely still while he is figuring out what to do – he was half thinking about the pillow case, half watching your motion 🙂
You can see him tracking your cookie hand and thinking that watching the hand might be part of it. So the next step is to stand up more and just casually have your hands in front of you, letting him make all the moves – then click and throw the cookie when he hits the pillow case. You can have the pillow case a little further away so he can’t be on it and watch your hand at the same time – he is very clever 🙂
Excellent tug breaks before and during the session! Yay!
Another fun shaping game to get him offering more behavior without you needing to move is to shape him to get into a box. The box should be low enough that it is easy to get into, and big enough that he easily fits 🙂 And then you can reward him for interacting with the box by dropping a treat into it!
He also did great with the drive to handler – it looks like he found it VERY easy 🙂 Super! He was nice and tight when you added the pivot too. Since this went so well, the next step is to try this in a bigger area – that way you can toss a treat and when he goes to get it, you can start jogging away. Then as he starts heading towards you, you can decelerate and cue him to come to your side then pivot. And you can use an empty cookie hand then tug as the reward 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Aha! Watching both of these, I see why she goes to the most direct route to the dish 🙂 The stillness game is all about focus on the dish – and when the dish gets to the other side of the cone, the context is almost entirely the same (including being held similarly) that she thinks it is the go-to-dish game.
So, we can’t use the bowl for both right now (maybe eventually but she’s too inexperienced and I don’t want to confuse her). You can use a toy for the cone game for now! I do use a bowl a lot but there is a ton of balance so in each session, we are showing when we want the bowl and when we don’t, so it doesn’t become all about going to the bowl when it is present 🙂 And stay tuned for some fun stay games coming up too!
Tracy
Good morning!
She definitely thought the tunnel game was fantastic! You can reward her for running back through it to you too (it was hard to see if she was getting a reward there or not on those) – the reward can be partially for doing the tunnel, and partially as a way to line her up again. There is a lot of pressure on the dogs when we are bent over and holding their collar, so adding cookies for the lineup will make it smoother and easier to line her up without moving her by the collar.
To continue strengthening the verbal, you can hold her til after she hears the tune verbal 3 or 4 times, then let go of her collar. That will also help as you add the harder angles and the threadle approach where she has to turn away from you.
>she decides to stare lovingly into my eyes instead of looking at the tunnel LOL>
Yes! And she doesn’t have to look forward yet, as long as she ends up going to the correct spot. Sometimes the pups look at us or away from us as a way of coping with the excitement and arousal of it all 🙂
The handling combos are going great!
>She is definitely the righty so the left took a bit of work but we got there.>
A side preference is totally normal at this stage. Maybe the video is reversed or I need more coffee, but it looks like the left turns were stronger here –
Her send to the barrel looks really strong on the left turns which is setting you to be able to get the decel easily. You can add a full 360 on. The pivoting then a go go go long the driveway away from the barrel – with a thrown toy or ball. I think she will love that 🙂
The right turn wraps are not as comfy for her yet – try to connect more and point towards it less. When you are pointing ahead, the big point actually turns your feet & shoulders away from the line to the barrel. If yo look directly at her eyes and support the line with a leg step to the side of the barrel you want and a low arm swoosh that follows her nose, you will see that you are facing the barrel more and she will go to it more easily on the harder side. You can see that 6:40 and 6:59, for example – you were looking at her more and pointing less, so she got it more easily.
> I’m using Wing for when she enters off the left side (so a right turn for her) and Wrap for when she enters off the right side (so a left turn for her). What do you think of these?>
The verbals are great! Wrap is perfect – you might need to run around without her yelling WING and ING and see if it sounds the same? We want them to be different sounding so she has no questions.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I tired cheddar cheese bits and he ate them>
Yay for cheddar!!! Yum!
Looking at the SSC game:
He did great with the food bowl – I think there was even food in your pointing hand on some reps and he went right past it! One blooper where he tried to go directly to the bowl, but the might have had was a ‘aha!’ moment where he realized going around the cone was the gateway to the bowl 🙂 Yay! Only one suggestion here is to move your pointing hand further from the wing, so he sees you show the line but there is a little more room for him to choose to go directly to the bowl without your arm there (or go around the cone and get rewarded.
The first reps with the toy went great!
Toy play is more “expensive” for puppies (burns more fuel in the brain & body) so it is possible he only has a couple of reps in him of toy play as part of a thinking game (this is definitely a thinking game). So you can start with one or two toy reps, then take a tug break (and no cookies needed for the out, you can just let the toy get ‘dead’ til he lets go of it) – and come back to do the cookie reps for the rest of the session.And it is ok if you don’t do a lot of self-control with toys… we want him to be *wild* for toys so you can let him have almost no self-control when it comes to them LOL!
The barrel wrapping went great! Tons of success with you standing – he was looking at his line and not up at you for just about every step here. You might notice that after about 1 minute and 20 seconds, his responses got less ‘snappy’ and that is when he slid between you and the barrel. That probably means he needed a break in the session – that was a lot of reps in a row of the same thing! So you can do maybe 30 seconds then break it off and do other things (like run around with the toy).
We are now leaving this game, and tomorrow we add the next step which is a lot more exciting!
>We did another session of Plankrobatics with the treat tossed ahead. I think this helped to keep him looking forward & where he was going & not at me.>
Totally agree! The session looked strong! It was a lot more efficient for him to look ahead, so he decided he was totally on board with that plan 🙂 Yay! He is super confident on the plank so you can add in having him hop off in the middle of it – that way he knows how to balance if he needs to get off the plank, and that helps him understand it is perfectly fine to jump off if he needs to (better than falling off!)
He was definitely interested in gong to the prop without you – he was starting without you on some reps LOL! And his responses to the sideways and the backwards sending were super snappy even with distractions in the environment. This is perfect timing because we add the next levels of this tomorrow too! Yay!
Great job on these!!! Stay tuned for all the new stuff coming tomorrow!
Tracy
Good morning!
>not only do you share the how to but the why, the emotion & everything else. >
I love to nerd out about that stuff, and understanding what is going on in their puppy brain & body makes a big difference in how we train them 🙂
>I hope I get to train with you in real life someday!>
Yes please!! That would be so fun!
>I dragged out the wobble board on a laminate floor so it would make noise. We did some circles so it would really bang LOL no issues at all! Check that off the list>
Excellent!!! Revisit it here and there, maybe once a week, so she maintains her love of it all the way through adolescence.
>“Going well until it didn’t” basically sums up puppy training LOL! this was really funny & made me feel OK that things went sideways and will continue to go that way from time to time >
100% true! And remember this when she is a teenager:”Going well until it didn’t” basically describes training with adolescent dogs too LOL
Looking at her toy races video:
Yes, her toy drive is definitely NOT broken LOL! Great session! Even in a small space and with her short puppy legs, she was able to win the races. And spending more time on the play and less time on the ‘work’ is ideal!!! Love it!!! She is very aware of cookies coming out – when you reached for your pocket, she immediately watched the magic cookie hand and didn’t tug as much. At 1:43 it looked like your hand was maybe possibly moving to the pocket so she stopped tugging (starving puppy haha) So you can use your trade word before reaching for the cookie so she doesn’t end the tug game before you do – and keep the toy really active too!
Looking at the wing wrap video:
She loved playing with the squeaky toys at the start here! And retrieving them! She is definitely teething, trying to chew the cone LOL! It was good to end the session, and we will approach toy play with the wings a little differently.
For this stage of the wing wrap, where you are stationary – no need for toys at the moment because I think they will be too stationary for her. The next step which involves running is posted tomorrow, and we will use that game to get her hopped up on toys for wing wrapping too 🙂Great job here!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Today we did two runs at the fun run. >
What a fantastic opportunity to bring him into a challenging environment and play fun games!! Wow!
I love how you ran in and got right into the party – he loved the toy races and the drive to handler games, and did great going from food to toys.
>There was a little distraction and also crumbled treats that didn’t help for disconnection.>
I think he got depleted, meaning he got mentally tired. It is possible that after the initial blast of energy, he got brain tired and needed a quieter game with treats. Ignoring all of the distractions is ‘expensive’ on a puppy brain (burns a lot of oxygen and glucose, and then needs a recovery period). He is really young so depletes pretty fast!
The interesting thing here was that the depletion happened on both turns at 1 minute and 15 seconds into the turn. He was full blast for that time then needed a break. That makes sense, based on his age – he can’t go for a long time and be mentally engaged. And if you think about it: 75 seconds is the length of 2 or 3 full jumpers runs, so that is a long time!
> We only had one dog between these sessions and it was his friend the 6 month old BC that we did the rental with. He did well with her being outside the ring>
Even the short time between his sessions allowed him to recover. So you can shorten the time in the ring in these kinds of events – set a timer for 30 seconds and keep the high energy stuff to 30 seconds. Then maybe lower the energy and do some hand touches for treats, or lineups for treats, for another minute or so.
His ability to work at home will last much longer because his brain doesn’t burn as much fuel trying to process all of the stuff in the environment as he has to do in a ‘trial’ environment, so keeping the sessions short and sweet (the length of one run LOL) will really help at this age.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning! These sessions looked really good!
On the Wind In Your Hair video, she did not want to drive ahead into the RC on the right turn side. She was turning left to look at you. It indeed could have been the ball changing hands was distracting, but it also could have been that the info was changing sp she turned to her left to see it. And the left turn RCs looked great! So perhaps it ws partially a ball-in-hand question, and partially a side preference question and she is a lefty 🙂 When you revisit it, start with the left turn RCs and see how she does – then try to right turn RCs. You might need to place the reward on the correct line to get the right turn RCs, and that is perfectly fine to do to help her sort out the turn.
>I was feeling so awkward getting connected to her for the slice jumping. Kyla did a few reps with her and I saw she was rotating both hands, which seemed to get her better connection.>
On the proofing game, the upper body rotation on the serp and threadle looked good here – you will feel it in your waist because that is where most of the turn is produced. It might feel like you are rotating enough to show both hands, because that really opens up the connection. She read them really well!
And a big gold star for the last rep when she drove to the tunnel with the strong verbal. Super! You can keep adding motion to this, and changing her angle a little bit too!
She is also doing well with the ladder grid! Her jumping in the gaps looks really good – lovely form and head position. She has a question right before jump 1, because she was a set up a little too far from it to get a good hind end push off. You can see her approach to 1 was a bit disorganized (changing front foot position) at :09 and :35 (hit the bar) and :49. She was not disorganized at :22 and :28 but she did do a front foot tap before jump 1 on those 2 reps. Ideally, she doesn’t touch the ground with her front feet before jump 1 after she starts moving, so you can move her start position closer to the jump – the sweet spot might be getting her front feet approximately one hands-width away from the jump, so she is closer and has to push off from her hind end more and won’t need front foot involvement til after she lands.
Looking at the diamond game: excellent job with your connection after the tight blinds!!! Perfect connection there! Your timing at :41 was perfect and she read it brilliantly (left turn). I thought your timing at :14 and :24 was also super good, but those were right turns so it was harder for her to organize. She was a definite lefty in these sessions 🙂
The race tracks are also looking really good! The one oopsie was at 1:03 when you went too close to the wing then ended up pulling away, which turned her off the line to the tunnel entry. Being connected and a little further away like you were on the other side set up great lines.
Nice work here!! Stay warm!
Tracy
Good morning!
>t’s funny that for months Aelfraed has said he’s a lefty but just in the last 2 weeks he has suddenly switched and said that right is easier. >
Interesting! Adolescence is certainly a wild ride LOL!
>Today Aelfraed was having an overall mad day. He was mad that I didn’t get him out of his crate swiftly enough in the morning, then mad that it was way too cold outside and he couldn’t stay out as long as he would have liked, tHe continued to be mad later and was more annoyed than he has been recently about waiting subsequent turns. He was also even mad in his car crate when we left the training facility (not normal).>
Weird! But also… adolescence is a wild ride 😂 They get extra fidgety and emotional, and maybe something was going on like a slightly upset stomach or disrupted sleep – enough to tilt him to be mad, but not enough that he had any other signs.
>hen really really mad that he got left in the car when we arrived at the training facility while both Sól and Lennan worked before he got his first turn. >
Seems rude, according to Aelfraed. LOL!!
>Considering his anger, I made a poor choice of first game as I decided to do the serp proofing game on the opposite side. >
Looking at the proofing video – the reps here were very good! He was very successful even with motion and different angles added. Was the poor decision part of it that he was breaking the stay? You can totally make the stay out and start him on a platform if that helps, or toss a treat away (or use the Treat n Train) to set up the start position.
> there was a lot of sassing the mama (removed from video) about coming back to set up again. >
This is where a good ol’ lure helps – you can use a cookie in your hand to led him back, letting him nibble. Sometimes a lure saves the moment with adolescents.
>Some of the reps start from a down and not exactly the positioning I was going for as he absolutely refused to sit and huffed himself down instead. Probably should have just moved on from this one sooner but he wanted to do the equipment so I thought he’d get happier about the game (I was wrong).>
Not wanting to sit might be a bit of something not 100% feeling good so you saw it manifest there. Or it ight also be the super fidgety/frustrated feeling that a lot of humans also get during the winter when we don’t have as much access to sunshine and the great outdoors (lots of science on how good this is!) For me, it is a weird fidgety feeling as if I have had too many cups of coffee. Dogs are tuned in to our daily cycles so while there are no studies that I know of about canine daily cortisol levels and melatonin levels, it certainly makes sense they would also be disturbed like our human levels can be at this time of year.
You can also plan to have running games as your first game of the session – more running, less thinking, so he can blow off some steam. Winter is HARD for young dogs in general (not a lot of sunshine and time to romp) and this winter has been particularly challenging.
He did well on the ladder grid – it was a wise choice to take the stay out of it 🙂 And I am glad he was happy to be held! His form is good! And consistent! Consistency in form is sometimes underestimated – we don’t want one good rep then a bunch of crazy reps haha!! We want the same good form in all reps, which is what you got here. His head can be a little lower, I think. But that was probably due to the toy moving as you released. You can start dragging the toy for 3 or 4 steps then release him, so he is more locked onto it as he moves through the grid.
The rear crosses went great! This might be a good game to do first thing because there is running and it is easy for him. The rear crosses went well on both sides – great timing especially on the left turn side!!
For the backside wraps – you are correct, this is the first time we put them on an actually jump. He did great! Your line of motion was very clear so he knew to go to the backside each time. Super! To get him to commit to the jump: shift your connection away from his face and to looking at the landing spot (you can also point to the landing spot with the arm closer to the jump). And toss the reward so it lands right near the landing spot. That will help him know where to look to complete the commitment.
The diamond is another good one for starting a session because it is al running and not a lot of thought needed.
The tight blinds are going really well! The 2nd and 3rd reps were nicely timed, so he had nice tight turns there.
When he didn’t go to the wing after the blind at :25, I think you were blocking the line a bit. You were a step further away at :35 so he could see it clearly and zippers right around it.
The race tracks are also going really well! His commitment looked good! You might have felt him be a little sticky going to the tunnel at 1:07 – that was because that tunnel entry was slightly offset from the line (not a straight line for him) so he checked to be sure it was correct and also he had to sort out the lead change away to get the tunnel. Good boy! The tunnel on the other side was on a straight line from the race track, so he was not sticky at all at 1:32.
He only had one question about the line, at 1:19 – as you took off up the line, too much shoulder rotation with you ahead which looked like the beginning of a blind (connection break) and with you laterally away from the wing, he came of off it and toward you. Good job continuing and rewarding after the tunnel! You were more connected and stayed closer to the line on the last rep, and he was perfect. Super!!!
Great job here!! Stay warm!
Tracy
Good morning!
Super nice run with Benni!Yes, the lead out push at 2 is a form of a serp, and you did a lovely job with the arm back – and while you moved, you held that arm back long enough that he picked up the turn to 3. Then you released the arm and ran normally again. Nice! In this case, you did swing the arm back a bit. You might not need to, or you might swing it back on both the serp and threadle. As long as you are consistent, the dogs will get it right. But we would also want to proof them coming in based on poison and verbal, so you don’t need to be perfect with the arm movement.
>I thought I was supposed to set him up close to the first jump?>
Up close, yes, about 6 inches away. On the rep where he was too close, it looked like an inch away which doesn’t give a lot of room to lift his front feet.
> So when I try it again with the long toy and leading out more, should I still just use 3 jumps or add one?>
3 jumps is good for now. No need to expand it until you can get out on grass. We have other grids coming that have 3 jumps too.
>What do you think I should focus on when I get home from the trial before week 5 begins? I couldn’t do the diamond game or any other game that needs much more space. I was bummed not to be able to do the “find the jump” game. Do you think I could modify that somehow in my basement?>
Since the tunnel is what takes up the most space on those games, you can replace the tunnel with a cone or two cones pushed together. That will allow you to set up both of those games in a smaller space and will transfer with no problem to when you do have room for the tunnel outside.
Have fun!
Tracy
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