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Good morning!
>He struggles with change more related to his training space like all my dogs have so now I have a train with chase class where I invite 2 students I really like and feel zero pressure and they get to train and give Chase the distraction he needs and Bella has been able to come too! It’s been amazing!!>
This is wonderful!!! This will all make everything easier as he learns to do agility in different places.
>Sometimes he needs a few sessions simply to catch on so I could send out first one and by the next time he’s got it!>
Latent learning is magic! The first session is an intro, then he sleeps on it and knows all the steps 🙂
>Our biggest challenge is food. He likes it but doesn’t like it when training. Me learning to use a toy for some set ups has been a learning curve!!>
Yes, using a toy is a good thing to have in your toolbox for him! But also you can build value for food as a reward in work. I do it by making ‘eating’ the behavior we are training, sandwiched between something fun that he loves and tugging. For example: does he love tunnels? If so, play tug, give him a cookie to eat (make sure he swallows it LOL) then when he eats it: tunnel tunnel tunnel! Then tug, then cookie, then tunnel. So it is a fun sandwiched with eating being the behavior we are building. It works GREAT! Start with high value food and as far from the tunnel as needed to get him to eat it.
Tunnel video: This game is great for inserting eating into. He definitely seemed to enjoy the tunnel!
The first rep started on an awkward angle so he was looking at the other end of it, but then things clicked into place nicely! He did a great job finding the threadle entry – he was a bit wide on the exit of the 1st tunnel as part of the double whammy, but I think that was a product of you throwing the toy as the reward on the first couple of reps. No worries, though – you can call him sooner (when he is still 6 feet before the entry) but I prefer pups come out a little straight from the tunnel so it gets easier to put them on a big line after it.Minny Pinny: To really attach the verbals, hold him by the collar, say the verbal 3 or 4 times… then let him go so he moves independently and you don’t use physical cues to get the behavior. That is the general mode for attaching all the verbals (new cue of the verbal before the old cue of letting him go) so be sure he is wearing a collar LOL
After adding the verbal without also moving, you can add in the bumps for him to go over as he zips around the minny pinny.
He was interested in the toy so was barking a bit and jumping up a little – keep the toy a bit lower in a more natural hand position. When it is up high near your shoulder, he is going to be more drawn up to it than he would be if you had it in your hand down at your side (also great impulse control practice to be able to hold it naturally).
Serps and threadles:
He is doing well with the toy on the ground, the stay, and with coming to the serp or threadle cue. Very nice!!
Be sure you keep the threadle position different than the serp position: at 2:41, your body was entirely between the uprights and your hand had maybe 2 fingers in threadle position 😂 so he serped. It was a little better at 2:53 but your threadle position should have most of your body outside the line of the wing so it is very different from the serp position (where you are between the uprights).
You can move to the game where you are slowly adding motion to the serps.
He did well when George came in! Keep the toy moving because they is most engaging. When you put the toy down in front of him and it was stationary, it was not as engaging as it was when you doing it away from him.
>This last one was real life using pattens to help when George came in. He’s still pretty shy of people!!>
He did really well with the patterns – George was venting 😂 and dogs read that – he was a very good boy and ignored him. He doesn’t have to be a love bug and snuggle with all the different people, but the patterns and other fun games will help him ignore them and be comfy working around them.
Great job here! Have a happy Thanksgiving!!!
Tracy
Hi! Sorry for the delay! I replied in my mind but clearly never put it in writing – I blame US Open brain fry 🙂
This went really well:
Jump to tunnel looked great! The line up was important when starting on the jump – when she was facing the jump, it was no problem at all. On the 2nd & 3rd reps at the beginning, it looked like she was on t he line to the threadle so she read it as a threadle. I think putting it into context with the sequences is what will make that question go away.
Tunnel to jump took a moment to solidify when you were working it fro the tunnel exit: letting her see and hear the cue before entering the tunnel was key, along with your motion to the tunnel so she could commit to the tunnel. When you were working it from the tunnel entry (like at 2:06), the switch away was a little more like a RC on the entry but it still worked beautifully! Being able to get the switch away from either end of the tunnel is a great skill so you don’t always have to be miles ahead of her.
Great job here! Onwards to the mini sequences!
TracyHi! I am excited to see her work in MaxPup 2! I am biased towards these hounds!
> I think a bit unsure of things that she doesn’t want treats. After a while she might take some. I have gotten her to play some and tug in stores though and she loves to meet people.>
You can use toys in the pattern games! With one of my lurchers, I used a frisbee in each hand that he would tug on because early on, he would not eat. The pattern was something line: tug the toy, let go of the toy. Re-engage with me, then tug on the next toy. You will need to have decent markers for getting the toy back and for telling her to grab the toy, but the toys can be very effective in pattern games. I have video of this somewhere, I will try to find it.
Then I was able to incorporate food by getting him to eat a treat then rewarding eating with tugging on a toy 🙂 The eating was just a behavior at first in a hard environment, not a reward. But then he relaxed and the eating did become a nice reward and now he is intensely food motivated too.
> I think I’m going to bring one of my older dogs with us to some stores to help her feel comfortable, etc. >
Yes! Social learning works BRILLIANTLY and do it with all of my dogs. They go out to places with one of my confident, relaxed adults.
Keep me posted on how she does!
Tracy
Hi!
>
First, there have been a few bumps along the way with my knee replacement surgery (Nov 14) and recovery, so unfortunately I won’t be able to attend Friday’s workshop at LevelUp. My recovery isn’t going nearly as well as PoweR’s mom. But I hope to take one of your workshops in the near future.>Oh no! I will miss seeing you!! But I know you will be able to join us in the future 🙂
>The other thing….something you mentioned in the live classroom last night about repeating this class or the variation of it. I wanted to get your thoughts on what would be most appropriate for Carly and me. Carly just turned 6 months old, and between her health scare a few weeks ago, my unexpected hospital stay, and now the knee replacement we’re about 4 weeks behind in this class. >
Yes! Some of the pups started really young, so they are between 4.5 and 6 months old right now. Because they are young (and because of other life happenings) a few want to do a repeaters track where we basically have a discounted, extended enrollment for anyone who wants to get feedback on more games/advanced levels of the games. It will entail a coupon code, which I will post here and email to everyone. I will probably get it done on Saturday, it looks like the tech folks got the next MaxPup classes posted today.
> On the other hand, she is a quick learner, and I’m fairly confident that once I can get back to training (hoping for next week in limited capacity), we could catch up before MaxPup 2 starts. Thoughts / Recommendations?>
That is also a good option: see how the next few weeks go then decide. This class ends on December 16th so you have plenty of time here! Then the MaxPup 2 class (and new MaxPup 1 classes) begin in January, so you can make the decision as we get closer to the classes beginning. You won’t get locked out of a spot so you can take your time and decide 🙂
Keep me posted! Happy Thanksgiving!
Tracy
Hi! These games are looking strong!
Perch work:
Good job taping the PVC to the floor so it doesn’t roll!He was able to move his hind end when you were stepping towards him, but I am glad that you tried the cookie toss version of the game after you got a bit of moving with the body pressure.
Based on how he pivoted back to center after the 1st tug break, I think he might prefer the cookie toss to the side and pivot back to center version of this game – he was offering it really well! So keep trying the cookie toss version and let him offer the pivoting because that was working really nicely.Strike a pose:
Fantastic job with the rewards and with getting into the position then releasing him separately from the stay. The release happened separately from any movement and that is very effective. He was easily able to do his serp and your position next to the jump was nice and close.When you added movement, you did have to release while moving but it was still a nice clean release and a lovely serp.
>he did break once but I confused him by touching the stanchion to space myself correctly.>
Yes, I think he was just anticipating the rhythm of the release there – nice job just resetting him. I don’t think it was because you touched the wing (you did a rep of basically the same thing on the other side with no questions from him) so that little bit of anticipation was probably what caused it.
You can mix in having the toy on the ground instead of a food body (it ramps up the self-control!) and you can accelerate your motion a tiny bit too!
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
His waits are going really well!! And he was great abut getting the toy that you placed and then really great tugging on the other toy. He was SO CUTE on the 2nd one, where he pounced and had a small victory lap. What a good boy 🙂 This was a fun easy game to help him come back from his busy weekend!Great job :)
TracyHi!
>I was away judging at the weekend. (My WAO-inspired senior course had many people talking lol)>
Fun! I want to see it – I requested access because the link would not let me in.
He had a big weekend – very fun! And I am glad he did well and doubly glad he is getting to see a physio. We really need these pups to enjoy the bodywork, so well done to you for getting him in nice and early in life 🙂
That is totally relatable – Tuesday might have been too soon to train, you both needed a longer recovery. It is Wednesday here and I still have not recovered from weekend travel LOL!
The barrel wraps are going well! He was a little less engaged than usual there but I think there were a couple of factors in play:
The wind does provide a big distraction but then the sister barking was a BIG distraction! The food brought him back int the game but the other thing you might have been seeing was the after-effect of the weekend. He had a LOT happening and did great but it also can take a week for his body to return to baseline from the stress of the travel. So give him one more day off, perhaps, then I think you will see him bounce back to normal 🙂Nice work!
TracyHi!
The working spots in MaxPup 2 are unlimited 🙂 The games can be tweaked to work indoors if you run into bad weather 🙂 And I encourage people not to edit the videos – just turn the camera on, turn it off, then post it 🙂 The editing takes a long time and that is where most of us fall behind. Let me know what you think!Tracy
Hi!
The minny pinny is looking good here! The quick collar hold/feed/release seemed to be much happier for him – I didn’t see him doing any worrying about being held (although he did like to yell at you when you finally let him start moving 😂 )
He had great commtment here, finishing the minny pinny even as you were doing a FC and going the other way pretty early! Super! You can have him grab a toy from your hand when he catches up to you, and you can also start him on slightly harder angles (instead of straight) to challenge the bending even more.
His barrel wraps into the threadle wrap looked great! He was able to move to the threadle wrap barrel when you were a little closer to it, but try not to step to it (keep your feet straight) because stepping to it might push him to the other side. Your line at 1:15 was the best one in terms of staying straight!
About the retrieve: I see what you mean about him not wanting to bring it back to tug. It is possible that one of his favorite ways to play is to keep the toy and run/shake/kill it, while you clap and praise and have your hand near the toy without trying to grab it to tug. I think the fly-bys are happening because he wants to engage, but doesn’t want to tug and sees you reaching for the tug. You can ask him and get his feedback by clapping for him and praising, then after 15 or 20 seconds or so, presenting your hands to see if he wants to bring the toy. If he does, cool, tug time! If not, also cool, keep engaging but not actually grabbing the toy to tug. And then when you would like to start the next rep, trade for another toy or treat. He will let you know what he wants to do based on where he brings the toy.
The serp with motion is looking great! Since he is being held on the serps and also on the threadles, you can have the treat already placed in the reward target so he doesn’t look at you at all and looks directly at the line to the reward target 🙂
A suggestion about adding motion to the threadles: make sure that you start cueing it while you were still way outside the wing. At :54 you were in serp position when he started moving so he serped. Compare to 1:11, for example, and the reps on the other side, where he could clearly see you still outside the wing. He had one blooper on the other side (1:31) but I think it was jut a blooper on his part, he was looking ahead – the rest all looked good!
The restrained recalls are silly fun and he did great! These really ramp up the excitement and he was on fire 🙂 Since he likes the tunnels and you might find yourself in a similar set up with tunnels nearby: you can also cue the tunnel sometimes! Fun!
I love the group pattern games with all sorts of different pattern games! So fun! A whole bunch of really lovely work from all the dogs 🙂 It is so important that dogs ca ignore each other like this and he was great (and his friends were great too :)) You can make the environment more spicy by playing music, or even having one person taking off to do a recall while the other pups continue to do their pattern games. Plus everyone can talk to their dogs too 🙂
Great job on these!
Tracy
This went really well! The food to toy ratio seemed to go really well. He seemed to need bigger hand cues in order to be more accurate with the spin earlier in the session but that is a relatively small detail. As the session went along, he didn’t need hand cues at all to be successful so that gives us a bit of insight into his arousal regulation developing!!
He did well with the toy to food transitions and the snuffle mat was really great to have there!
He also did well with the toy in your hand and also with you placing/getting the toy on the table. One thing to do is to be hyper-clear with the markers for when he is allowed to grab the toy. He was moving to the toy before/at the same time as when you were marking that he could have it (I had to watch it in slow motion to see exactly when he was going to it :)) So you can pick up the toy and let him settle for a moment (rather than him hopping up and down then to the toy) – then when he has settled, you can indicate he can have the toy. Basically, it is like adding criteria to the moment: he needs to either freeze or back up (not move towards you at all) until he hears the magic word to get the toy. Is that a bit nit picky? Maybe 🙂 But I think he is ready for it and it will be great for flesh protection!
Great job here! You can take this game to different places to see how he does when environment changes the arousal state too.
Tracy
Got it! Keep moving straight and you can also work it as a flip away: cue the backside wrap and flip him away to the tunnel after it. And if you are feeling spicy: so a BC after the start jump (give yourself a head start) and do a threadle wrap there 🙂
T
Hi!
Yes, plenty of time to sort out height – if he was a solid 15″ already, then I don’t think we will be able to get him to measure 14″ but it is something to keep an eye on. They do shrink a little after the finish adolescence 🙂Over the years, I have had multiple 15″ tall dogs jumping 16″ – zero issues, they all had long successful careers then dropped to 12P when they got older. The only thing I didn’t love about it was in AKC, my 15″ tall dog competing against 18″ tall Border Collies. It was hard to beat them 🙂 but thankfully AKC doesn’t require wins or placement in regular classes except at Nationals.
Before deciding on a jump height, get together with a sports vet for a pre-sports evaluation: muscling, structure, radiographs, etc. This is useful for any dog and it is something I do before putting the young dogs up to full height.
T
Hi!
Having it as one long video might have saved you some editing time! It worked really well to show the flow of the training here.
Good job starting on the flat, no problem at all. Through all the sessions, he is lining up and holding the stay really well. You were GREAT about getting just as many stay rewards as releases in each step. He is getting really good about catching the treat or grabbing it when it bounces up LOL! He did break one time, no worries, you handled it appropriately.
Your position looks to be a few inches too far from the jump, so he is landing then turning. You can be close enough to touch it so he turns before the bump on the takeoff side instead of having enough room to go over it then turn after he gets over it.
Next steps would be to have the reward on the ground! It can be a bowl to drop a treat into, a manners minder, or the toy 🙂
The concept transfer to the wing wrap went great – yes, letting him offer at the beginning was good and he offered it immediately! So clever!
Then transitioning into the turn and burn game: also terrific! You are able to do the FC nice and early: for example at 6:19, you were already doing the FC before he arrived at the wing and that was perfect. He only had one question (6:54ish) but then he got it on all the other reps. SUPER!!
Great job!!
TracyGood morning!
You had a ton of really lovely reps here on the serp-with-movement game! The MM is a HUGE draw and he did really well coming in over the jump and not just racing to the MM 🙂 I agree – it is hard because there is a ton of impulse control required to be able to do all this from a stay but he was quite brilliant.
The cookie toss start was great because it alleviated some of the pressure of the stay but it was not as easy for him to see the cue after eating the cookie when you were moving. So you can continue with the stay, but dofewer reps and break it up with letting him run around and maybe find some cookies in the grass 🙂 The quality of the reps when he was starting from a stay was top notch! So you don’t need a lot of reps because it is really hard – just a couple of good reps then onwards to something that doesn’t require as much impulse control.
Restrained recalls: OMG that toy in the beginning is AMAZING and all of my dogs want to come live with you LOL! The toy in the 2nd par of the session was good too but maybe a little too short, for the safety of your fingers.
>The morning I remembered to let him run past or maybe I did to preserve my body>
Yes, we don’t want him cranking your shoulder and we don’t want him to crank his neck grabbing the toy So just as his jaws are closing on the toy, let go of the toy so he grabs it and keeps running. As soon as he has it, you do a front cross and run back towards the person holding him. That way it becomes a combo of recall and reverse retrieve. That can help with the deplucking especially with the 2nd toy, like you mentioned. Many, many dogs do the deplucking as a bit of an in-the-moment decompression to help regulate the arousal of the recall. Several of my dogs do the same things. Having a couple of toys that are OK for him to de-pluck will be good because we definitely like that he is regulating arousal!!!!! But also, we don’t want him destroying the big expensive toys so I try to guide the deplucking into the cheap toys LOL!
> I forgot that I was supposed to call him back. >
I do sometimes give the pups a victory lap after the get the toy, and it is a good way to develop a ‘go for a run’ cue. Young dogs need to run sometimes and the ‘go for a run’ cue can be a lifesaver for that.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning! Nice session here!!
In the early reps, he had a few breaks: When he left the stay position, he was moving with you right away a you moved away. To help solidify the stay when you start moving away, you can take a little more time in the transition of you moving away: cue the sit, let him really settle for a second or two, cue the stay… then walk away. So there will be a little more time getting him into the stay but he is ready for you to move away and less likely to move with you.
Dogs are also brilliant at recognizing patterns in our behavior during stays 🙂 The releases were getting predictable which changed his understanding of what the release actually was: the reconnection when you get to approximately the chair closest to the camera. He was seeing your position and you looking back at him paired with the release or catch marker enough that it totally became the release for him.
When you started being a lot less predictable in the location and timing of the release in the lat part of the session – the stays were much better 🙂
And to help the reconnection *not* become the release by accident, you can mix in some other non-release things after it: quiet praise before the release/marker, standing still for a second or so before the release, sometimes releasing/marking while still moving, etc. That will be more unpredictable in a good way 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
