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Good morning! Great to see you here!!
>>Her toy retrieve is a work in progress still 😩. But, I’m seeing signs of progress>>
No worries, most of that is just a self-decompression thing and it goes away without training as long as we don’t add pressure. I do a lot of trading to help get the toy back 🙂
The set point work is going well – this session and what you have already done is the framework for where we take this 🙂 I have an evolved version of it for these pups, compared to the more traditional Salo style of it 🙂 it might sound crazy but the results have been amazeballs 🙂
>>We’ve been setting up about 1.5-2 feet away from the jump bump, but I think the spacing was closer to 4 feet.
I think the 5 foot spacing works for now, she might end up at 6 feet at some point. And, to get the dogs powering in off their hind end and no extra front foot step in before the first jump. I like to have the pups set up pretty close, more like where she was at :45 and 2:09 – note the push from her rear when you released her at 2;14 and also at 2:53!! That is what we want – no extra front foot steps before that 🙂 This is different than the Salo style, but it has been great for hind end organization and power – when there is front foot patter before jump 1, the dogs are reaching into the grip instead of pushing into the grid – a subtle but important difference.
You can totally use a cookie lure to line her up into a tucked sit about 6 inches from jump 1, rather than a rocked back sit or being further away, because when she is too far away (like at 1:25 and on the last 2 reps), she doesn’t power in using her hind end. Instead, she ‘patters’ before jump 1 with the one front foot touch then ends up pulling through the grid instead of the power push.
>>We did this exercise first thing in our training session and I initially got her a little too revved up between, >>
I have no problems with the dogs being a little revved up 🙂 As soon as the dogs understand the framework (which she totally does) we go to adding more excitement and arousal while maintaining the good jumping form.
So…. onwards to the moving target reward instead of the Manners Minder. This is the big departure from traditional Salo because with the reward target as close as the MM was here, the pups are preparing to *stop* and decelerating and lifting their heads – we don’t want any of that here. We want that powerful hind end, and it is the moving target that produces that and also introduces the handler motion that the dogs need to learn about as well. Start with the moving target pre-game so she has experienced the moving target on the flat and on one baby jump – and after a session or two, add the moving target to the set point (you can see the video of that posted in week 2).
Yes, people might think it is insane… but it is actually super helpful for the dogs because introduces organization with distraction sooner, and emphasizes better jump form with power and plyometrics all the way through. You will see the difference immediately 🙂
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! He is doing well here!!
>> I started off with a toy but quickly switched over to food, as he doesn’t have a good “out” and his retrieve is a work in progress (any suggestions to improve on both would be genuinely appreciated :)!>>
He definitely seemed less enthused for the food, so I think you should keep working with the toy rather than put it away (because it is possible that the food is neither a motivator nor a reinforcement). However, you can use the food to get the out of the toy (just trade – when he is tugging, show him a cookie and toss is on the ground). Or you can trade for a 2nd toy.
The retrieve is a separate skill – so if he won’t retrieve yet during these games, it will be easier to hold the toy in your hand as a reward and then trade for a cookie or another toy. Has he played the reverse retrieve games from MaxPup 1? That will totally help the retrieve!
On the video:
He was doing well with the wraps! 2 things to help make them even sharper:Use your wraps verbals here so you can start naming the wraps, rather than saying go or a release. Be meticulous with mechanics to add the verbal: Start with a gentle hold of his collar (instead of a stay). say the verbal 3 or 4 times… then let go and step to the wing. This will help him process the verbal before he starts moving.
And when working on just the wing wraps, use only one wing – you had 2 wings at the beginning which does imply the option of going straight or him asking which wing it is. That was why he was wide on some of those reps (not sure if it was a wrap or go straight, or which wing)/
You can also use your wrap verbals on the smiley face game! Rather than a stay at your side, you can begin the same way with a gentle collar hold, the verbal 3 or 4 times. then let go and start to move.
>>I didn’t do much of the “smiley” sequencing because he would dart behind me or go wide so I wanted to hear your thoughts before I continued.>>
These were all handling questions from him – because of his age and inexperience, the handling needs to be insanely clear so any errors were handler induced 🙂
One thing that will help is to work on sending to the tunnel so he accelerates away from you to it (and throw a reward at the exit) and also have the wings closer for now – that way you can get ahead and show the line with the next wing easy to find. For example, at 1:08 you had gone in deep to the tunnel and were not that far ahead when he exited, so he didn’t see the wing. Being further ahead and having the wing a lot closer will really help – the wing was pretty far away here, so it can be more like 10 feet to start and then when he learns to look for it, you can start moving it further away. Don’t worry about any wideness, that will clear itself up as he gets more experienced with wrap games. I am not sure if he has done all of the MaxPup 1 games. If not, you can definitely revisit those!
And, maintain a huge connection to his eyes at all times, because that is what really helps the young dogs find the lines (and when he goes behind you, it is 99.9999% of the time caused by disconnection).
For example, at 1:14 you disconnected and looked forward as he exited the wing wrap, so he read that as a blind cross (which is a natural thing the dogs read when we do that). He switched sides and then got into the tunnel as you moved towards it and said “tunnel” – GOOD BOY!
Totally reward that because even though he did not know which side to be on, he still tried super hard AND got in the tunnel.
When something goes wrong in these games, assume it was handler error and reward him like he as totally correct (because he probably was 🙂 ) It is confusing to him when he doesn’t get rewarded, because he thought he was correct based on the info. So reward him as if it was exactly what you wanted – then watch the video before the next rep and play it in slow motion: did he see your eye contact? And with young dogs in particular – if they go behind us, it is a disconnection thing so reward then amp up the connection on the next rep.
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
The snow has been insane for your area this winter!!! Hopefully it is all done now and will melt so you can add in bigger pieces at home.Tracy
It sounds like you all had a GREAT time!!! A mere 30 hour drive to the West Coast Open, no problem…. LOL!!
Good morning!
He is doing really well with his switches!!! Your timing got earlier, which really helps: he can be hearing and seeing the switch cues when he is still at least a stride from takeoff.
He was able to find the jump after the switch really nicely. When you do the switch to the tunnel, he was finding the tunnel but it was a little delayed because you were running the same line as to the jump as you got around the switch jump. When switching over the jump to the tunnel, you can set it up as a layering moment so you can stay on the landing side of the switch jump the whole time, which sets up a great turn to the tunnel and gives you amazing position for whatever is after the tunnel exit.>> this is a good demo of what happens when I don’t plan my words!!!!>>
Ha! So many words – I do mini walk throughs before each sequence so I can spit out the correct words LOL!!
When you added the left turn on the jump then to the tunnel:
the switch verbal will work, and supporting it with handling will work nicely too. I think the switch verbal will work best if you are not driving in and instead setting up a layer on the tunnel. If you are doing more of a traditional rear cross on the jump (which is what you were doing here in terms of line of motion), then a left verbal works really well too.The “jump” verbal was confusing to him at first because jump implies a gentle turn towards you, never away – so you had to override it with body language. The physical cues TOTALLY helped and using the switch or left verbals (depending on where you want to be on the line) will seal the deal 🙂
He was doing well on the tunnel exit switches too! Your timing of beginning the verbal and using a little convergence into the line was great (before he entered the tunnel). He was looking at you when he exited – I think more upper body handling will help, using your hand cues to turn him away. He didn’t see upper body so he was waiting for your feet to turn. You can begin the upper body cues at the same time as the verbal (before he gets into the tunnel) and then finish the ‘swoosh away’ motion as he is exiting.
>.we both had fun and I think we made some huge progress with our verbals in this class, >>
I am glad you had fun and agree that you and Sly made tremendous verbals progress!!!! These jump-tunnel discrims are popping up everywhere at all levels, so I think you will be really prepared for whatever you see on course!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
This is the other side of the set point: also looking good! The first rep was really strong – I think you had the perfect line up spot at :20, nice and close, so he powered in and was nicely centered over the bar/bump and between the jumps. Yay!!
He was further from jump 1 on the other reps – he did use his hind end, but he had to ‘reach’ more so he was not as centered and landed closer to the bar and bump. I think the toy was further away on this session which helped, so having the toy further past jump 2 like here and setting him up closer to jump 1 will be perfect 🙂
Great job! Enjoy your weekend!
TracyGood morning!
This setup is definitely getting the power and organization we are going for! Watch it in slow motion – very cool!!! He is pushing form his rear into the first jump then doing a power stride to get the 2nd jump. Super!
He was touching the 2nd bump a little – my guess is that the toy was a little too close to jump 2 when he started so it was not quite far enough away when he was between 1 and 2. The was causing him to shorten up a bit. And also, it looks like you released and ran – I think we will get the best results when you split the difference: lead out more so the toy is 10 feet past the first jump when you release him, and when you release try to walk forward instead of run.
Nice work!!
TracyHi!
He did REALLY well with his tunnel sending here! He is a fast learner 🙂 After you showed it to him in the previous videos, he found the tunnel beautifully here. Yay! And he also did well with his wraps. So the only thing to add here is holding him for longer so he can hear the verbals before you let go – and definitely add in the mini sequences and Advanced level, he looks ready 🙂Great job!
TracyGood morning! Nice work on these, he is so cute!!!
First video: the wraps look good! Try to hold him for a few seconds while he hears the verbal, then let go of him. That will help him process the verbal before you both start to move.
He had a little trouble finding the tunnel on these with just the verbal – you can step to it more directly to help support his line as you teach him the concept that he can drive to the tunnel even when there is a wing there 🙂
One more suggestion – he didn’t seem to love it when you moved him around by his collar, so you can line him up with a cookie at your side, then take his collar to hold him as you start the verbals. This can also help him learn to love his line ups!
Nice work :)
Tracy
Good morning!
Hooray for the sun being out! Finally!!The stay looked good on this video – maybe she was struggling with a stay in front of the MM? She was definitely a good girl here with the stay!!! You can try getting her to stay a few inches closer to the first jump so she powers right over it and doesn’t put her front feet down again in front of it.
She was a little leapy over the 2nd jump, but that is something that the MM does with dogs (I have a video somewhere of one of my youngsters leaping straight up in the air in front of the MM LOL!!!). To help her, you can move the MM about 10 feet further away so she can jump the 2nd jump then stride to the MM. And you can trigger the MM as soon as you release her, so she focuses on it directly.
One other thing will help her look at the line – when you lead out, stand right next to the MM. You were lateral and in different positions, so she was trying to figure out if it was a turn cue or if she should go straight (good girl for watching where you were placing yourself on the lead out!!!)
The other option is to use a toy instead of the MM – but that might make the stay harder? So if that is the case, you can work the stay in front of the toy away from the jumps with the moving target pre-game 🙂
Great job! Fingers crossed for more good weather!!
TracyHi!
The proofing game looks great too! Nice job making the verbals sound very different in pitch and energy, it really helped her. She was a great with the wraps and the check, and also found the tunnel easily without a lot of handling helped needed. Super! The only thing to add here is holding her harness while you say the verbal 2 or 3 times, then let go and don’t move (but keep saying the verbal 🙂 This will challenge her to do the wrap or tunnel on a verbal alone! If it is hard, you can help with handling of course 🙂 But she seems to be a very verbal dog so we can try it with just verbals.
The smiley face game also looked great, and I think she really liked getting to go fast 🙂
At 1:29 – there was no connection so she ended up on the wrong side of you. The video edit makes it hard to see what happened before that, by usually this happens when you were looking st her on your left side, then you disconnect to point to the wing – so the dog reads it like the beginning of a blind and changes sides (good girl). Always reward these things, because it is a handler error 99.9999% of the time, even if you don’t feel it in the moment (the video always shows it as handler error :))
Nice adjustment at 1:32 to get great connection!
There was a handler disconnection error at 1:40 as well – on t he way to the tunnel, your shoulder closed forward, your left arm pointed ahead to the tunnel, and your feet turned towards the other end of the tunnel (play 1:39 – 1:41 in slow motion and you will see why she thought she should blind cross to the other end, she was correct :)) Good job rewarding it! It was one of those moments where you could probably see her, but you were not connected so she was correct.
To smooth out that line to the tunnel – point your fingers back to her nose when she is behind you, look at her eyes, and say tunnel tunnel tunnel right to her (while you run directly to the tunnel). It gets easier as the pups grow up but for now the youngsters all require exaggerated cues 🙂
>>I am going nuts now
In a good way, hopefully! She looks GREAT! She reminds me of my dog Contraband at this age (the blue merle in the demo videos) – thoughtful and balanced in these early trainings, and he has grown up to be wicked fast while retaining the thoughtfulness and accuracy. Mitre is on her way to that: fun times ahead for sure!!!!!
Great job :)
Tracy
Good morning!
Ms. Mitre looked fabulous here!!
One thing I have seen with sport mixes in the past is that they can get frustrated or chase the momma or jump up at the momma… she was PERFECT here and found the jump EASILY. YES! We totally want her to lock onto the line like this. That includes when you had the toy dangling in your dog-side hand, super visible: she had to choose the jump or grab for the toy, and she chose the jump beautifully. YAY!
So…. Now you get to add more speed. You can jog, then build to running. And you can change your position, like we did a little bit of in the live class: start close to the wing so she drives ahead (you can totally place the toy out ahead on the line so you don’t have to throw it) or you can start near the jump, so she is behind you and finds the jump. She looks great here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>Think my dog needs a better handler………
Not true! He loves da momma! Figuring out handling for young dogs is HARD and we make tons of mistakes. No worries – you two will come together as a team and it will be GREAT!
T
Welcome back! Hope you had a great time!!!!!
On the first video:
Getting the backside that close to the tunnel was hard at first!! This was a really good work session for her – nice coaching from Jamie too!
A little more connection on the push will get it – pointing to takeoff without looking at her actually closes your shoulders forward so she was pulling to the threadle side.
And the arm send sent her to the tunnel.So split the difference: don’t use your arm much at all for the backside, but look at her eyes more. And your path can be towards the edge of the wing to keep your shoulders open and show the backside without any accidental tunnels (don’t pull away from the line by turning your shoulder). You had a little more connection and no arm pointing at 1:51 and that totally helped! A soft connection is likely all that is needed – an intense connection will probably send her to the tunnel (like at 2:40, which is good because you were cuing the tunnel).
Towards the end she had figured out the puzzle 🙂 so you moving the start jump to the 2nd position showed us that she does need more of that softer connection for the backside. It is a totally Goldilocks moment:
– too much connection, very intense? Tunnel!
– not enough connection, shoulder turning? Threadle side.
– just right connection, soft connection and a soft arm? Backside!And of course she will get better and better as she gets exposed to more of these puzzles. They are wicked hard and she is doing great!!!!!

The 2 backside circle wraps on the bonus looked great – you were really pushing to see how early you could leave, and she was super excellent about maintaining commitment to the circle wrap without grabbing the tasty tunnel right there 🙂 Nice layering to the tunnel even when you were behind the jump! SUPER!!!!Great job!!
TracyGood morning!
>>When I watched the Smiley Face enlarged on YT I noticed that I’m using a pointy arm and finger throughout the exercise. Looks like I to get rid of that? >>
You don’t need to worry about arms or finger position as long as you are connected. You will develop a handling style with her as you do more of these. Did I ever show you the Magnet Finger video? It will help explain the hand/arm/finger 🙂 I will go find it.
>It’s been so long since I’ve done anything agility related it’s all new to me again and felt uncomfortable to do a numbered exercise. >
That is normal! It will come roaring back. And personally, it feels uncomfortable to me every time I get a new puppy started on these LOL!

>>I had to walk the course about 3 or 4 times and try to remember the verbal cues to use, LOL! This is probably also a good brain exercise for me.>>Good for you! I try to convince people to walk through it to get the verbals going – these walk throughs really help!!
Mission accomplished: these looked great and connected. She was fast and seemed to have no questions about where to go. One thing you do earlier are the spins: if you start the FC sooner (as she is passing you and then trust her and go to the blind cross element immediately you will be re-connected before she exits the wing so she will see the line sooner. I think your best spin was at 1:18! You started nice and early and by the time she was passing you, you were rotating and by the time she exited the wing, you were done and on the new side. Yay! The only thing to add there is to reach your hand back to her nose and look at her eyes, rather than have your hand at your side (which makes it harder for her to see the new side).
Everything else looked lovely, and I particularly loved how different all of your verbals sounded!!!! That really helps her! If you wanted to revisit this, you can spread the wings out even more for more running 🙂
>>Also tried tunnel/wing discrimination a couple of times but it didn’t go all that well. I guess that one just needs a ton of reps before she gets it.>>
Feel free to help her with physical cues on those if she is having a lot of questions. The discrimination is not just about the verbals 🙂
>>Wish I didn’t have to lug the tunnel out every time to practice, though. I miss my training partner (Cathy) back up in VA.>>
We miss you up here too!!!! And yes, it is a pain to lug out the tunnel. Have you seen those tunnel movers?
>>I plan to do the set point tomorrow with jump 2″ higher and the WIYH with me starting super close to the wing. None of those will take many reps, we had lots of exercise today.
Perfect!
>>Then probably early next week the new tunnel exit exercise from Week 2 and maybe more tunnel/wing discrimination practice.
Sounds good!
>>Should I keep practicing Left and Right with Minny Pinny or the jump standard? I still need to go thru MaxPup 1 and see what I missed and should to catch up on if/when we have time. >>
You can hold off on the Minny Pinny for now, it comes back in MaxPup 2 soon and then you can refresh it 🙂
Great job! Have a good weekend!
Tracy

