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Hi! I feel your pain about the weather, it was gross for a while there!
He is doing really well here! Those threadle entries are HARD and he was getting them from crazy angles.
Question. – is slalom going to be your real cue? Is so, hold off on using it here for a while longer, til we get more weaving behavior on 4 poles – just use more of a noise or interim cue here. The reasoning is that he isn’t weaving yet so we don’t want to name the behavior yet.I think he had no problem with any of the challenges you showed him here. Good boy! You can keep adding more motion to the various angles, but you can also do that on the next step with these 2 poles straight 🙂 That moves you closer to getting to 4 poles, and he is totally doing well that if the session on 2 straight poles goes well like your session here did, you can add poles 3 and 4 on the session after that.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! She is doing really well with these! There is always going to be at least one hard entry, we would be bored if there wasn’t, right? Ha! Yes, you can spread them out and click for the bend and drop the reward right in. Or revisit it in a day or two to see if latent learning did its magic (based on your follow up tonight, I think that you will likely find that she has it next time you try it).
One thing that I do notice is that she is waiting for you to run in order for her to go fast too. When she hits the entry and you then start to run, she picks up speed – this was on a variety of entries, not just the hard ones. So, we want to convince her to run even when you don’t 🙂 And also to be accurate on the entries and exits when you are already running. So – on the next session, you can alternate between sending and moving before she gets into the entry so she sees motion the whole time (which will challenge accuracy) and sometimes not moving at all, standing still (but throwing the reward really really early). It might take her a session or two to lock that into place and chang it up from the current rhythm (where you are letting her hit the entry then running) but when she has it, I think it will be clear sailing as you tighten the poles up.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyYou can definitely lower it and then raise it for the uphills. I don’t think you will need to for the downhills and bang game, because we can change the tip & height pretty easily without changing the full teeter.
I is probably a pain in the petunia to to raise and lower the teeter especially in different places, so I think we should look at the bang/elevator/rebound and downhills with the teeter here and see what he does 🙂 Let me know what yo think!Hi!
Yep, I think she REALLY liked this, holy wow she is fast! Ha! She had no trouble wrapping the wing (that was supposed to be the hard part LOL!) and it was fine to start her by holding her collar… she could have totally ignore you when you let go and run to grab the toy – and she chose the wing every time. Excellent! It looks like the only question she had was about which side of you to be on after the wrap – so over-connect and really insist she come to the correct side before you give her the Go cue. For example, compare :21 where you were not as clear and she was on the side you didn’t want, to :29 where you were SUPER clear and she was perfect.
But seriously, she was so fast, I had to check to make sure the video was not playing in fast forward. So fun!! I am just going to start calling her Fast Forward Ruby 🙂
>>I just had her regular store bought treats. Hmm…that seemed to keep her more wanting the toy. I think there will be a fine line between having really good treats to keep her off of the distractions in the environment and too good of treats that she don’t want the tug>>
I totally agree, it is a fine balance that swings back and forth. It changes based on value, environment, type of activity, which way the wind blows hahaha but you are doing the right thing and experimenting with what works best! It all evens out soon enough.
Great job here!!!
TracyHi Jill!
I am jealous that you are in shorts!!! I am ready for some warm weather LOL!He is looking really good here!
On the set point videos:
Having the jumps a little wider apart is fine to start, so he can learn the setup before we ask for jumping form. He did really well, so I think you can now go to the 4 foot distance and because he is not a baby puppy – add a little height to bar #2.
About the stay – I thought it was quite genius to distract him with a treat and then you were standing still at the MM when he looked up. Perfect! It was like a stay! So you can do that as you keep building the stay. Other ways to work this can be having him stay on a mat if he likes to do that, or in a crate if he likes crate games – anything fun so he can play the game while being successful on the start line.
You can also send him through the grid ahead you – so you can be at jump 1 with him and click the MM then send him.Wind In Your Hair video –
>>Should I not be using the manners minder as a target? In the video it says I should throw something. >>Correct, you can throw something (lotus ball is perfect for this) so he targets the jump and not the MM 🙂
He did really well here – his commitment to the jump looks fabulous (chasing da momma is his FAVORITE thing!) I don’t think he loved the collar hold before the wing wrap, so you don’t need to use it – you can have him stand next to you and then send him. Just be sure to stay connected as you move up the line after the wing wrap – on the last one, you ran away really fast so it looked like he was going to wrap but when he saw you leaving that fast, he changed his mind and chased you instead (but still found the jump, good boy!!) I think he is ready for more distance here so you can move the wing further away from the jump. Question – I heard you using a cue for the wing but I couldn’t tell if it was “go” or the wrap cue. If it was the wrap cue: perfect! If it was go – switch to the wrap cue there and use the go go go on the jump.>>he’s not quite going through the tunnel by himself, with me not on the other side, consistently, but he’s almost there, maybe another practice session or 2. So we’re practicing that presently, and once we get that, we’ll do the discrimination part of the exercise.>>
Perfect! You can use the MM on the other side of the short tunnel and reward the wing wrap from you hand when you add the two together. Not sure if you had a video (I don’t see one here).
Great job on these!! Let me know what you think!
TracyThese are true words – and basically sums up agility entirely 🙂 The dogs are almost always doing exactly what we have cued them to do LOL!!
Hi! This is going well too! This particular game is more about handling than dog training 🙂 And it is also all about getting connection.
The wing to tunnel moments at the beginning look good! AS the game adds more, try to move more and point less. My challenge to you (and everyone :)) is to see if you can spread the wings out even further apart and run and connect… but don’t point.
For example, as you exited the FCs at :47 and 1:05 – you were beautifully connected to her eyes, she knew exactly where to go, and you didn’t need to point. YAY!!
When you were pointing forward, she was having more trouble – for example, when she was exiting the tunnel on the right hand side of the screen, you were pointing forward so she was cutting to the inside (rather than staying on the outside, which is I think what you wanted? So make connection to her eyes as she exits the tunnel and keep moving, keeping your arms low and back – and I bet she picks up the line perfectly. You were clearer with the connection on the tunnel exit on the left hand side of the screen here and she was really strong with finding the correct side of the wing 🙂
At the very end, the jump was little too tempting and close, plus when you pointed forward it actually presented the jump and not the wing 🙂 So that is another good spot to exaggerate the connection 🙂So the next time you try this – she is ready for more room (yay!) and you can try to run it just with your eyes and motion, no pointing 🙂
And also – great jump adding in your verbals!!!! The more you practice them like you did here, the more they become second nature 🙂
Nice job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I think this went really well! She is coming along very nicely with her commitment to the wing an the jump!!!
After the first rep, there was a chunk of blankness on the video, I am not sure if it was my bad internet connection or if there was blank spot on the video – I just want to be sure that I didn’t miss anything.The vast majority of this was really spot on! I think you did well on the short distances AND on the long distances, the whole session was strong. The main thing is it make a very direct eye contact with her on the exit of the wrap wing (keeping your dog-side arm back behind you – think of it as your hand is pointing back to her nose). That will fix any of her questions, like at 1:55 when she went behind you. When that happened, you had a moment of connection as she exited the wrap wing then turned forward while she was behind you: so she didn’t know which side to be on. You immediately worked on improving your connection and definitely did it at 2:17 and 2:48. Yay! You can keep exaggerating that – young dogs really need us to almost over-exaggerate that eye contact, arm back (but keep moving of course) to help them find the line.
The hollee roller toy is PERFECT for this, so you can squish it up and hold it in your hand rather than tucked under your arm – that should allow you more freedom of motion, as the games get bigger and faster (and as you will need to run more :))
Great job!!
TracyHi! This wrap proofing game is something that is hard even for Masters level dogs!
>>I have no clue what my verbals for wrapping were supposed to be and Ria just LOVES tunnels. I guess I probably used them in the first MaxPup, but I just can’t remember. >>
I couldn’t remember either, so I went back to the MaxPup camp class to see what you used… and you were quiet during those games, no verbals 🙂 That would explain why neither of us could remember which verbals you used there! Ha! So you get to choose – popular ones are ‘dig dig dig’ or ‘check check check’. You can use a left or right too, if you prefer – and then we would pick other verbals for the ‘soft’ turns (L turns that are not wraps).
Smart to move the wing away from the tunnel to help her out at the beginning, it made a big difference!
And when you started close to the wing, with the cue, then stepped – lovely!! When you balance it with the tunnel, you can give a little step to help her. When you gave that little step, she was really good – so there is no problem using one step to help with the wrap or the tunnel, using your toes to help with the cue.
You can also be softer/quieter in the wrap cues (and super loud with the tunnel verbal) as that will help her figure out the difference.One more idea – You can also reward tricks in the middle or use cookies to line her up: this is a really hard skill game and she was getting frustrated when she was not getting reward (thus the jumping up on you or grabbing the toy). So even if she is not correct with the wrap or tunnel, she will be getting toys or treats for lining up and she will be happier to do it 🙂
Nice work!
TracyHi!
You are off to a good start here! I agree, she picked it up right away and has a naturally good form. YAY!!!! She was offering a down at the start AND she held it as a stay, so you can keep that as her start line position – the only suggestion is to give her a tiny bit more room in front of the first jump (but not too much more) so she can get her toes over the bar more easily.
If the 2nd bar is at 10″, the first bar should be at 6″ so she sees an ascending angle (and that bar will stay at 6″ for this set point – eventually the 2nd bar goes up but the first bar never does at this distance). Because she did really nicely, 2 ideas for next time:
give her more space between the jumps to add challenge – I think she can do 6 feet between the jumps (it looked shorter than 6 feet here?)And also, you can move the toy 10 feet further past the 2nd jump so she can land with more power, then take a big stride… then get to the toy.
Great job!!
TracyHi!
Yes, 24″ is correct. I think that is universal now and it will be easier on the big dogs to train on 🙂T
Whoa, this is exciting! It didn’t take long at all to figure it out! Good boy!!! And I see striding beginning to develop – GOOD BOY indeed! He had to think harder on the harder angles, but I am not sure if it was that it was harder or that he was watching you move away with the toy. If toy more valuable than the MM? Perhaps!
Great job keeping this session nice and short – he is doing real weaving for now so we really can’t go longer than what you did here. I am sure you will all get sick of hearing me bug everyone about training less now that they are weaving haha!!
On your next session, work the left side send angles like you did with the right side send angles here. And you can play with throwing the toy or frizzer rather than clicking the MM. Leave the MM out there as a focal point for him, but give a verbal ‘yes’ and early toy throw. We need to fade the MM anyway, so if he thinks it is a little stupid and would rather have the toy – then that is fine with me 🙂
Do you have access to channels? If yes – work the channels so you can give him the idea of staying in a longer set. If not – use 3 bases (6 poles) of 2x2s as channels to work that track too, it will be fast and fun to work the challenges!Great job 🙂
TracyHe was a good boy here! What treats were you using? I have found that smoked salmon and peanut butter is incredibly magical LOL! He was very happy here!!!!!
Also, have you noticed a preference for one game over the other? The last time we talked about it, he was showing a preference for the downhills – so you can shift emphasis to that game a bit as we start to build things together (new games added today :)) For example, with the downhills and bang game, you can release to a toy reward more quickly and he might find that to be the BEST.THING.EVER. That is what has gotten all of my dogs who had concerns over the hump into pure teeter love – you’ll see in this week’s videos that the frizzer (or shall I say: THE FRIZZER) has come out to play with Contraband and suddenly he is ALL TEETER ALL THE TIME LET’S GO!
The reason I mention it is that he is doing really well with the uphills!! And because the other games are getting complex, you can shift focus to the downhills and bang game which can involve more toy, more running like a crazy animal (him, not you haha) and more getting the heck away from the teeter (which is also a reinforcement for teetering :))
Let me know if that makes sense! I am super happy with how he did here, so maybe we leave it be for a bit and focus on downhills and bang games. The new games are posted if you want to look and see what I mean 🙂Great job! Have fun!!
TracyHi! Nice work on these!
Downhills:
He did really well here – more tip and definitely more noise! He seemed happy to do it – no questions from what I could tell. The sending was a little harder but that is normal and to be expected. Give him another couple of high value sessions here, no changes, while shifting more focus into end position games.>.But I am starting to get a little self release when I don’t reward for the dismount soon enough or get back to the target to reward for staying in position.>>
No worries! Because there is no end position involving a stay yet in this game, he is just resetting. You can release sooner or get back sooner or use a sticky treat that he has to lick for longer – the end position will come into play soon enough.
On the targeting session:
>. He is taking stuff in during the previous session and then I leave it for a few days and bam, he’s all over it!>>
Perfect! Latent learning is a real thing! That is why I advocate training LESS so the dogs can rewire their brains in between sessions.
He did really well offering the end position here! You might have to start rewarding the releases more LOL!!!!
I think he is ready for the next step: using the plank, introduce the bang game into end position on the plank with you holding him off the the plank near the target end, give him his cue to leap into position – and if he can do it with you stationary and cuing it, then you can start to add in walking past, doing crosses, moving faster, etc.
Great job here!
Tracy
