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TracyGood morning!
This went really well!
The interactive play with food here went better when you had it in your hand to reward her – that was when she was at her most responsive and most engaged. When you were tossing the treats out into the grass, she didn’t find them as easily and lost of train of thought so the responses were not as snappy. It was almost as if the the food coming from your hand increased the energy in a good way, and the food on the ground decreased the energy.
>When I tried to get her to turn L & R you will see she went to her fav – MIDDLE! lol!>
The ‘left’ and ‘right’ cue needs the obvious hand cue to help – when she went into the middle, there was no hand cue with the verbal and she loves the middle cue. And she probably considers that foot position to be a middle cue 🙂 so the hand cue is helpful to show her exactly what you wanted. When you added the hand cue, she did really well!
You can also try this with a toy, and with toy & food in the same session.
Great job!
TracyHi!
> I’m still frustrated with her lack of interest and focus with the toy. She is super into it until I try using it as the reward for agility… then no interest. Goes off and finds pieces of bark to chew on.>
OK, so I read this right before I had to hop into a shower and I had a thought (I do my best thinking in the shower LOL!!!)
I was thinking about why she loves the toys but doesn’t really want to tug during training that much (or at all). It is entirely possible that she is not that into tugging right now because it has all that weight shift into her hind end – where her knee is possibly feeling unstable or weird. And maybe it doesn’t hurt now, but aybe it has in the past and she has a memory of that, and is avoiding it. That would explain why she seems to love the toys but does not want to tug in that context.And, you’ve not had a lot of time to strengthen her knees/quads because you’ve got a zillion other things going on – that is entirely understandable!!!!
So maybe, for now, we don’t worry about tugging during training because it might be the pesky knee – and we bring back tugging when you’ve had the time and energy to strengthen the quads.
But we can still do things like throw the milker which she is bringing back:
> If I have treats in my pocket she will bring the rubber “milker” back and drop it at my feet. If I don’t reward that then it’s zoomie with the toy time.>
That is basically a retrieve – dropping it on your feet is a good start! I think it is ok to have treats and reward her for dropping the milker at your feet! That worked well on the video. And if she will do the same with a disc or her flying squirrel – cool!
>Switch to food and she seems to be all in, but not with the drive that we used to have with the toy. She still seems to be not totally committed to the wraps so it is difficult for me to keep moving on with the counter motion. I noticed that I have a tendency to slow down, and even take a step backwards in order to help her stay committed to the wrap. >
On the video – she committed to the wings really well with the food (bettr than she did with the toy) as long as you didn’t step backwards away from it. She had a question here and there about the countermotion, so you can toss food to the other side of the wing when she goes to it and you are trying to move the the other direction (like at 2:01 and 2:10, for example). You can be moving forward and throwing the treat behind you because she thought it was hard to finish the wrap withtyou moving the other way.
She is giving good speed with the food but not as much with as with the toy or ball. Since she commits to the wing better with food but goes faster with the toy, you can reward a wrap or two with the treats then break it off and fling the milker. That can bring the excitement and speed up even more (because, toy!) while maintaining the commitment you are getting with the food.
I really really want to get the balls involved:
>Also try taking her to the park on a long line and throwing one then reeling her in, give a reward and throw again. She hasn’t caught on to this one either. >
Do you mean she still needs to be reeled in? But when you reel her in, is she trading for a treat then happily chasing the ball when you throw it? We can totally use that! She can be in a very light line like a light piece of rope and we can use the ball while she drags it around wings and/or through a tunnel – we can test drive it and see if it will work. You can also have a ball with you and use treats for all of the reps til the last one: then she gets the ball because we don’t need her to bring the darned thing back 🙂 Then Jack can join in and the session ends with the balls. The visibility of the ball might pump up the speed even if she only sees it for the first few reps while getting treats.
Does she like any huge balls, like big jolly balls or soccer balls? That can be super stimulating but very hard to run away with: you can reward and roll it around, but easily pick it up because she can’t easily run around with it 🙂
>Anyway, can you feel the frustration coming through?>
Totally! And it is fine to be frustrated because that is where we will find the answers – if it wasn’t so darned frustrating to crack the code of her reinforcement, we would not be as far along in figuring out that puzzle.
>Leaving for Seattle tomorrow so may not be posting till things are settled and treatment started. hope I get in a better head space.>
Safe travels! I am glad they are getting this started. I will check in if I don’t hear from you and if I get any other thoughts baout Jazz while I am in the shower 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
>Ball is life…she dropped the entire tricky treat ball onto my lunch plate the other day, but at least it kept her busy cleaning all the nooks and crannies. And if I don’t remember to put a specific ball away the night she is loose, she wakes me up repeatedly squooshing it in my face. So, yes Ball IS life.>
OMG that is hilarious especially because it is not my lunch or sleep being interrupted by a ball LOL 🤣😂She is a big personality!!!
>but I think I rushed her reps here. I am not giving her the time to focus or get set up correctly.>
Overall these reps went well. About giving her time to focus & get set up – yes we can always be extra precise with that. When you felt like you rushed her reps, do you mean it felt like she was thinking about going past the serp jump? You were stopping to help her come in which does mean she was considering going past it. It doesn’t mean you were rushing – just that she needs you to move more slowly (sloowwwww walk for now) so she can process the upper body cues without you needing to stop. You can also angle the jump a bit towards her line so the bar is more visible – that will also help you be able to stay in motion.
She found the start wing very nicely with the sends! Good job with the verbals on those too!
Nice work!
Tracy
Hi!
Looking at the set point: the bodgy wings worked great!
I couldn’t see him on the first and 3rd reps because of your position so we will call them perfect 🙂
You can add in throwing rewards back to him when you put the toy on the ground to keep the waits nice and solid
I like how he organized setting into the bump and then the jump when the toy was dragging at 2:07 and 2:59! So we definitely want to keep going with the dragging toy 🙂 It is a little short because you had to bend over – to prevent that you can tie it to a leash or long toy, so you can be upright and moving the toy. Bending over adds pressure on his line so he won’t drive into the release as much as you being upright will.
Nice work here!!
Tracy
Hi! He is doing well here!!
Question about the verbals: is ‘over’ left turns and ‘swing’ right turns? Lots of folks use swing to mean turning away so I wanted to be sure I knew what his were.
One thing to add to help make the harder stuff easier:
When holding him, say the verbals 3 or 4 times before letting him move. If you say it once and let go of his collar at the same time, he is likely to default to whatever he is looking at (like turning towards you) which makes getting turning away harder. And it was definitely harder here!
When you add more turning away, letting him hear the verbal more before moving will help but you can also give him a visual aid: As you are holding him, place the toy out between the first and 2nd jump bar to help give him the ‘aha!’ moment that turning away is a good thing 🙂 That will help him not get frustrated (like at the end) and be able to turn away.
Nice work!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Much less coordinated than an adult dog with all the size and substance.>
Very true! I am sure if I didn’t know she was only 9 months old that I would think she was fully adult by looking at her… but then she reminds us of how young she is sometimes 🙂 But she is really lovely and when the coordination catches up to the body, she will be a force to be reckoned with! So fun!
She definitely remembers the minny pinny! Her left turn reps were smoother than her right turn reps here. I can’t remember us figuring out if she was lefty or righty in MaxPup 1? But she is definitely telling us lefty here!
>She’s ticking the bar. Should I ignore that for now? >
Yes and no 🙂 We don’t need to mark hitting the bars or touching them, but there were 2 patterns emerging that caused her to touch the bars. If we clean that up, she will stop touching them:
On the first bar, if she was not fully ready, she would touch the bar. So if you were moving into it without giving her a moment to settle and look at where she was going, she would either touch it going to her left (:09) or hit it a little harder going to the right (:24) or really splat it if you moved more going to the right (:46).
So at the start of each rep, line her up at your side, hold her collar, say the left or right verbal 3 or 4 times, then let her go. That will give her a moment to get mentally organized, especially as you add more angles.
The other bar hits were on bar 3: she was looking at the ball because clearly BALL IS LIFE! LOL! On the reps when you tossed the ball after she landed from jump 3, she didn’t touch it. When you started the throw movement early, she smacked the bar (did I mention BALL IS LIFE haha). You can see that at :19, :25, and especially :29 – when the ball option gets activated, all thoughts of clean footwork go away.
So you can either delay the ball throw by not moving the ball at all til she has cleared 3 – or use a food reward followed by the ball throw. As she gets more experienced, it won’t be a big deal to be waving the ball around. And you can revisit the MaxPup 1 Shpile game which is all about proprioception – and now you can wave the ball around as she is balancing on planks, etc.
The good news is that I didn’t see her touch the middle bar at all! She is bending over it really well!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>She I got a short video of the door behavior, its not full blown because we are working on it, but in this my husband is coming back in the door after taking garbage out. After that you see him attacking my personal trainers equipment as he tries to leave, this one we let him do it so I could video. Its a similar type of reaction as the doors.>
Wow, that is some impressive behavior LOL! I can see why it would maybe drive you mad 🙂 And I am glad your trainer has a good sense of humor to let you video that.
It is probably all rooted in a combination of herding dog control desires and anxiety and overarousal. You said you’ve been working on the door behavior – what has been helping? What has not helped? I have ideas for you, such as teaching him to go to a spot and get rewards when he sees the ‘triggers’ (environmental cues or context cues) as well as teaching him a redirect behavior like picking up a toy rather than putting his mouth on something undesirable. I use this redirect behavior a LOT with the whippets and whippet mixes because race-bred whippets (and Malinois, which is mixed in with whippet in one of my youngsters) are VERY bitey creatures LOL!! And the redirection has helped a ton in terms of household behavior: no teeth on humans, dogs, furniture, etc – only toys 🙂 The dogs learned to redirect themselves when they get aroused which is soooo nice in a multi-dog household.
On the 2nd video – you noted it as threadles but I rhink you meant serps. He did great! You can keep adding more of your motion: can he still find the line when you are running? If so – start flattening out the angles til they are they more traditional flat jumps which are really hard serps. .
When he was on your right at the beginning of the video, he was not looking down the line as well as he did in the 2nd part of the video – he would be heading to the 2nd jump and bark at you. More motion will help, but you can also click the MM sooner: as soon as he looks at the 2nd jump, click it so he doesn’t look back at you. He was looking ahead brilliantly when he was on your left side!
As the jumps get flatter, you can make the serp handling more obvious by having your serp arm fully extended back away from you. You might need the MM remote to be in your hand so you don’t have to reach for it (which will change the angle of your arms).
>Glenn and I leave for 9 days on Thursday to go camping at Sleeping Bear Dunes. >
That sounds fantastic!!!!!!! Enjoy!!!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
It was great seeing you and the FF crew! I am so impressed with how well all the dogs worked, especially the baby dogs!!!! Torch was a superstar!
Your ‘me me’ threadle wraps are off to a great start! You were giving her extra help by showing bigger pull cues to get her to the correct side of the wing then flipping her away – that is perfect for these early stages. As she gets used to doing them, you can fade out the help by keeping your feet moving forward (like you did at 2:14 and 2:17) rather than moving them away then back to the wing. And you can also make the hand flicks to turn her away less and less obvious, so she turns herself away 🙂
The wraps to the ‘normal’ 😜side of the wing and the circle wraps were all terrific!!!!
The blinds are going well – you were connecting back to her as you finished the blind, which really helped her see the new side nicely. You might have felt like she was a little sticky getting into the blind: it was when you were not as connected to her on the tunnel exit before the wing.
Connecting more on the tunnel exit (like at :29) helped propel her to the wing better, which allowed you to start the blind sooner, which made everything smoother and faster. When you were not as connected (looking ahead a little), she would look at you and slow down to be sure of the line – that required you to show her the line to the wing longer, which delayed the blind. So definitely keep adding more connection on the tunnel exit, which will make that blind easier too.
Great job on these!
Tracy
Good morning! This was a really good session to sort out adding this game to his toolbox!
The hand touches and spins to the left and right are perfect tricks for this game. The sit versus spin confusion was adorable! And also very normal: as arousal increases, processing the details of cues is harder for young dogs (this game helps teach them to process even when pumped up). You might have to give a bigger hand cue for the sit (or no hand cue, just the verbal) – it looks like he was mistaking the smaller hand movement as the spin cue 🙂 When you gave the bigger hand cue later in the session he got it really well.
I agree, the toy is definitely very stimulating but in a good way 🙂 We can see him getting a bit more aroused based on how he was having a harder time giving it back to you. But he was great about trading for a cookie, so you can totally use that here: tugging then trading. The toy brings a lot of engagement and the cookie can help keep the arousal balanced without going over the top.
You were super exciting with the food too! So fun! You really made the food into a fun game 🙂
So the next step is to bring this game to other places, like your class. When it is his turn, do a couple of trick-tug-cookie moments and see how he does after that. Perfect engagement? Or toooooo stimulating? Or not stimulating enough? His responses will allow you to lock in to what he needs in new places to solidify that optimal engagement.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
The threadle wraps on the barrel looked great! And she was good about not touching the barrel too much – you totally read my mind after a gentle touch on the first left turn almost knocked it over, and you put something heavy in it. PERFECT!!! She was really good about NOT pushing it out of the way. Happy dance!
So when you revisit the threadle wraps, you can show the obvious hand cues like you did here to help her know it is coming… then make the little flick of the hand to turn her away smaller and smaller, til she starts turning herself away 🙂 That is ideal! And you can add the verbal at some point soon – she is getting really reliable with this so she is ready to hear the verbal.
Tunnel threadle videos: these were interesting because what we think should be ‘easy’ was hard, and the hard stuff was easy 🙂 I don’t think it was because you were moving through the progression too quickly.
The first couple of reps of turning away into the tunnel to the right were terrific! The left turn aways into the tunnel were good too – maybe not as smooth as the right turns, but she might be more of a righty than a lefty in this game. No need to add the verbal yet – that will be easy to add when you have the word you like and she has more practice.
She was surprisingly having trouble going straight into the tunnel in both videos – maybe it was because you were not moving? When you ran with connection, she did it perfectly. When you were a little disconnected and ran (beginning of the 2nd video), she ran alongside the tunnel but didn’t go in it.
So definitely connect by looking at her, but also – I think this was more about the environment outdoors being hard and less about the tunnel itself. The great outdoors at this time of year offers a LOT of things that pull puppy brains in all different directions! I think I heard some birds actually singing her name! And going into the tunnel was hard because of it. What you can try to do is incorporate a toy! The food is something she likes but it might be too ‘chill’ in the harder environment, which causes her brain to see/hear/smell distractions more and have trouble processing all the things.
A toy will be more stimulating in a good way – it can increase arousal in a helpful way so her brain can more easily ignore the hard distractions. Having a toy on a leash so you can throw it and drag it for her to chase might be ideal: it is stimulating and fun, but she won’t take off for major victory laps with it or anything. Let me know how that goes.
We’ve added the volume dial game, so feel free to skip to it – it is all about increasing arousal to get great engagement and focus, even with insane distractions 🙂
Great job here!!
TracyThank you for the kind words 🤩 It is fun to see you work with your pups because you are always so good about breaking it down and rewarding them – that is why it is so easy for them to put the bigger pieces together.
Have fun!
Tracy
Good morning!
>OMG!!! ****BREAKTHROUGH!!***MIND BLOWN!!”
I see what you are saying. It makes perfect sense. I went back and watched your video again and paid better attention to how you send and I can see what you mean about the arm lower and back rather than swinging forward and pointing. That little tidbit alone makes this class worth the price of admission.>Perfect! The little details are truly the make-or-break things in each run. And he totally sees *everything* you do and makes quick adjustments based on the info.
Nifty first video:
The timing on both was really good!!! On the first rep, I think the conenction was good but on the 2nd rep, the connection was much clearer (the opposite arm was more visible to help grab the connection :)) So definitely keep getting that arm visible as you fly through the blinds.2nd video:
Timing of starting the blind was good!Timing of finishing it ended up being a little late at :03 because your left arm was pointing out to your side. That blocked her view of your upper body and the next line, so she had a little zig zag line there. (More on this below)
Timing of finishing it was really good on the other reps! The exit connection was very clear!
When adding the 2nd blind – you got a little too close tot he wing at 1:18 but you still worked the timing and connection, so she almost got it even though it was a shade late. It was not the blind that caused her question – it was when you tried to send her past you with the dog side arm and the shoulders mmovement made it less clear if she should stay on your left or go back to you right. So if you are ever feeling late on a blind 🙂 hold onto the connection extra so she is sure of where to be. Good reward though, because she totally tried!
The last rep with the 2 blinds was great! You got the first one really well then sent her miles away to the 2nd wing. That allowed you to easily nail the timing and connection of the 2nd blind. Gorgeous!
Looking at Canny’s videos:
I see a pattern emerging that we can tweak to make things easier for you and both dogs!On the first video, the timing of the first blind was good but the connection was not as clear as the 2nd blind rep here. The left arm was pointing out to the line and blocking his view of your connection.
On the 2nd video, the blind connection can also be clearer with your left arm blocking connection a bit by pointing out to the line instead of being behind you (pointing back to him) so he can see your upper body clearly. That is why the bar came down at :05 – connection question!Compare to the blinds where he ended up on your right side – that right arm was back so the connection was super clear. He found the new line easily on the single blind AND on the 2nd blind at the end!
So the pattern I see is that on the early reps, when the dog ends up on your left side, you are not as comfy showing the exit connection as you are when the dogs end up on your right side. Aha! That is good to know. The left arm ends up pointing ahead of the dog and blocking connection. So when you have a blind that will end the dog on your left side, walk it a few times without them to remind yourself to get that left arm back and right arm crossing the body to really emphasize connection, so it is like that on the first rep. This will be especially important when you are at trials, because they will only give us one chance at the course 🙂
Great job here! You are ready for the more advanced levels and sequences!!
Tracy
Good morning!
> I bet you suspected that there would be a tunnel in today’s video 🤣 There is!>
Well, since Lew went through the work to clean it out for you, it makes sense to use the tunnel 🤣😂🤣
> So it was really my body language that was working not the verbal. I had a lightbulb moment that, if I am seeing what I want in my head, while I say the verbal, my body actually does what it is supposed to. Like “believe in your verbal”.>
Yes! Believe in the verbal and say it to the dog (not to the jump, the jump doesn’t care LOL!) That matches the body language to the verbal. She is still pretty young, so if the verbal says one thing and the body language says a different thing, she is likely to question or follow the body language.
>We went back to week 1 & did the Tunnel game. I was late. a lot. Bazinga gave me lots of grace!>
That is where we see her really maturing nicely – she doesn’t get mad if you are late and she tries hard to help you out 🙂 That is because we pay her with treats for trying hard even if the info is not quite right 🙂
What might have felt late on the blinds that were cued after she exited the tunnel was that you were decelerating til she exited… then accelerated before doing the blind. That is a bit of reverse motion, because the acceleration would cue her to stay straight on her original line rather than change sides. Your connection was really good so she got the side changes really well! So the blinds on those (at the beginning of the video) were not late, but definitely don’t slow down to wait for her – keep running 🙂
> I was so slow to react when I saw her headed to the tunnel!>
You were not slow on the video I was watching here! You had that blind underway nice and early, she had no questions. She had GREAT tunnel commitment so you were starting the blind perfectly! Maybe it felt late because it was not 100% finished before she went in? But it doesn’t have to be perfectly finished, as long as she sees the cross well underway (shoulder rotation/disconnection for the blind, feet connection for the front). She was always a solid 8 to 10 feet away from the tunnel entry when you started. There was a rep or two with the FC where you were working to remember to move into it, but those were still good!
> It really felt like a “cheaty” front cross, so I’m not sure I did it right?>
It was good! You were basically in the FC position when you sent to the wing, so it was really easy to turn your feet and do the FC 🙂
The one jump session went great! Her wing sends were 100% correct even as the angle of approach changed as the wing position changed. You were super clear with connection and not pointing ahead of her.
>In the first half, I see that I was early a few times. I need to remember to stay connected to her until she finishes the wing. I guess I’m rushing.>
I only saw one that was a bit early but she still figured out the line 🙂 The rest of the timing ranged from super perfect timing to really good timing. So she had no questions. YAY!!
The timing questions will actually get easier as we add more jumps and sequences, so you can move ot the 2 jump games 🙂
One thing to remember is to find your mouse line (the perfect line she needs to run on) and do the blind on it, so you don’t block her line to the wing. At :23, you were not quite on the line so she didn’t see the wing til after she was past you. Compare that to :43 where you were on a really good line and she found the wing after the blind easily.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! I hope your back continues to feel better and better!
>You solved the mystery of why Georgie sometimes drops the first bar! That’s huge!>
YAY!!!! Keep me posted on how she does with that in trials.
Georgie was a rockstar about being sure to NOT touch you on the video (thanks, Georgie!!!) I think she would rather do ANYTHING to avoid hitting you. I truly appreciate that and it will hopefully keep you feeling confident that you will be safe adding all the blinds 🙂 She was also really good about quickly finding the new side when you were deliberately late and in the way on the blind at the end of that session 🙂 Super!
The one jump blinds went GREAT! You actually made it a little more fancy (and harder!) by doing a rear cross to show the line to wing 2, but then you still easily got the timing of the blinds. Super!! Based on the position of the 2nd wing, the RC was needed to get the wrap because when you did it as a regular send (2:57) it took her to the threadle wrap side. You gave a little extra push to the wing at 3:20 and got the wrap side (she just needed a couple of more steps forward on that rep at 3:27 to get the balance rep to the wing without the blind).
Either way – you were nailing the timing of starting the blinds! And some really lovely conenction happening on the exit of the blinds/the new side – my favorite connection moments were at 2:59 and 3:50 where you finished the blind with plenty of time to reach back to her with your eyes and arm. Georgie had zero questions and was able to change her line with speed and accuracy. LOVE IT!!!
Since this went brilliantly in terms of timing and mechanics, you can move on to the 2 jump games! You can use a shorter tunnel if you don’t have enough room, or replace the tunnel entirely with a jump or two.
Great job!!!
Tracy
