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Entry/Exits at Fusion – 12/26/24
Lift and I were able to swing by Fusion on Boxing Day for a quick visit when Caitlin & Chaia had ring time booked. Mo & Huey were happy to practice a short sequence while we waited at the gate (Complete with banging teeter!) Caitlin even had a sequence that ran right by the entry gate near the end so we could practice going in right after that. I managed not to send her over any jumps this time! Did treats on the startline in the first rep and then tricks, leash & out. Had treats on me, but saved them for outside the ring on the 2nd rep. After that we did a short stint in the practice jump area with a wing while Lu banged the teeter.
I think I blocked those high pitched sounds on the 24th out because they were so annoying. I think it was a boarding facility employee in the neighboring hallway? Either that or someone was strangling a cat or something. And yes, Kaladin was barking for an added level of distraction.
I am undecided on when Lift should make her “NFC play in the ring and leave” debut. I want it to be on her home “turf” at Fusion so my choices are Jan 11-12, Feb 15-16 or May 3-4. She is in the novice session with Casey Keller at Fusion on Feb 14 so I would leave her at home to chill out on Sat and then try NFC on Sunday for that one. I am also secretarying a MAC trial at On the Run on Feb 1-2 but think I should try to get her in there for a mini seminar before a trial. (Jacque may have one on Jan 31 if her knee surgery goes well) Lift has tagged along several times when Kaladin is trialing there but hasn’t done anything in the ring, just a few short sessions on the practice jump when it was quieter and played in their back room. There is also a Mar 22-23 UKI trial at OTR that I am not secretarying but am considering for her assuming an earlier Fusion debut goes well. (Kaladin would stay home since it’s right before the Invitational) And I have a longer term aspirational goal of having her ready to run the SS Challenge at MAC’s Classic at OTR over Memorial Day weekend. (maybe NFC but no food reward box for a Classic) While she has made good progress going in and out with other dogs/people, I feel like January may be pushing it. Between now and then I’ve got ring time booked with Khamsin & Kristin on 12/30, ring time booked just for us on 1/1 and 1/10 and Lift is in a Jan 7 fusion drop in class. Thoughts?
Does MaxPup video review end on the 30th or the 31rst?
Fusion Training 12/24/26
The Fusion mats got their annual deep clean on the 23rd and I was the first one in there the next morning so Lift got to play in an empty ring and Kaladin got to do jump grids in the other half.Session 1 – Used a holiday decoration and a tunnel bag for my novel/neutral items. Didn’t intend to have them both in play at the same time but clearly had the tunnel bag too close. This was harder for her than I had expected but maybe the completely empty ring made the item stand out like a sore thumb.
Session 2 – Practiced going in and out. first 2 reps with no treats on me and rewarding outside the ring. Last rep I rewarded her with treats in the ring. She didn’t shake the first 2 times but I also didn’t give her much time for it.
The reverse pet often works to get a shake from Lift. I use it after massages if they don’t shake it off on their own.LOL! They don’t leave the NFC box up. I assembled it and tool it down again when we were done.
We had a nice empty half of the ring this morning to experiment with new/neutral and interesting things and leash games/recalls. The Mats got their annual deep clean yesterday so I came in to a completely empty ring. Took the opportunity to set up a huge Salo Figure 8 oval grid for Kaladin in one half and left the other side open to play with Lift. I’ll post video after Christmas.
She is cleared for official (aka longer) sprints on the 31rst and low jumps the 2nd weekend in January.
I think the shake off is her way of regulating arousal. She needs to do it and then she is good to go.
Happy Holidays!
Entries/Exits with People – 12/22/24
Had a great session on Sunday with Kristin, Khamsin & Dean. (plus Kaladin & Mochi as extra distraction dogs). Kristin brought muffins to bribe us (Dean was most appreciative)Rep 1 – Mochi exiting as we enter
Some of the barking at the beginning was cued and some was Lift’s arousal at the increased activity however she had great focus going in with Mochi finishing and still stayed engaged for tricks when Khamsin had a delay in leaving. We also tested being able to leave the NFC reward box to go out and do a thing (running by Kristin too) and then leashing up to leave.
Rep 2 – Exiting as Jimothy entered
Cameo from Dean as the pushy leash runner right after Reacher had a barking eruption in his crate while we were getting ready to go in (cropped out of the video but it was loud enough that both Kaladin & Lift just jumped off the couch looking for the alarm when I was playing it back)
Rep 3 – Entering as Reacher exits
Cropped out the beginning since all but the tip of Lift’s tail was off camera but we were doing some pattern games, barking on cue, and then engaged chill standing in my lap as I was crouched down as Kristin & Reacher were running. Bonus Khamsin played the forgetful leashrunner coming into the ring right behind us. Lift was engaged on the start but watching the video I think her weave line up was a touch less snappy than the earlier reps. (maybe getting tired. Maybe the added distractions). This one also features Mom losing track of where the obstacles are and doing a lazy send for Lift to take an 8in jump – Whoops! (and then agreeing with Judge Dean that I totally sent her right at the jump). Then our discussion where I was telling Dean to pretend it was Snooker and he didn’t think her spinning on cue warranted calling out a number. I think this was the first time I tried multiple runs into the NFC reward box and back out to do something. She seemed happy to chase me out of there and back in but I did have treats in my pockets and was rewarding in the ring since we were mainly working with the other dog/people distractions. I did like how she had no trouble running to her treat spot at the end even though Reacher was waiting very close by to go in next.
Rep 4 – People Distractions
Her brain was almost done here – got an extensive shake after the leash came off (Khamsin was having fun with the velcro sound when adjusting tunnel bags) and a bark on the weave line up in the middle of the ring, but she was a rockstar running to her leash with me with Dean cheering. I also left Kaladin in a crate around the corner from the ring exit and he obliged me with a few barks as we were working.
We did this last rep because Khamsin mentioned that Jimothy was distracted by all her friends cheering for him. I hope she’s posted her videos – I did a great impression of Holly Sikora gushing over Jimmy.
Didn’t do much of anything with Lift today other than a longer sniffy walk (she’s been approved for up to 40min walks now). I have Fusion booked for tomorrow by ourselves so am planning on some of the MYOB framework games and maybe also playing with the NFC food reward box again but without treats on me. (since I won’t have extra people/dogs for her to process & deal with)
And yes – the Fusion practice jump is blocked from the ring visually but it’s still plenty exciting when dogs are going through a tunnel just on the other side of the wall!
I realized today that I missed Lift’s 18 month B-day yesterday! So technically she’s UKI & USDAA legal for all classes. HAH!
Practicing for NFC – Entrances & Exits – 12/21/24
Kaladin & Mochi got to play today to serve as distractions for the young dogs. Lift got her snuffle mat between reps and had a trip outside between the 1rst and 2nd reps.
1rst rep – Entries with Mochi as previous dog
Also got to practice me being distracted and talking to Khamsin as I was making my way to the entrance! Plus the guy from the bulldog club that walked through to fill up a watering can (no idea why their meeting in the other building required a watering can…) I picked Lift up for that because I couldn’t tell until he came around the corner on whether his bulldog was with him or not!
So definitely aware of Mochi and increased arousal (boing!) because of it but I think she did brilliantly. I had smellier treats in my pocket for rewards but not in my hand when asking for the leg weave.
2nd rep – Exit with Jimothy as next dog
They were both so brilliant! I left in the first bit where I thought Khamsin was coming into the building earlier than she did so I threw in some engaged chill (even though there wasn’t really much to chill from). Then more of me talking while in the ring with her still on leash because I know that will happen all the time as I joke with the ring crew and judge or point out that a jump isn’t set right! What I really like is how she followed me off towards the camera at the end while ignoring Jimothy playing on the line. (if she’s not tuned in, that kind of activity would result in her trying to check it out or boinging/barking at it)
3rd rep – Practice Jump & Entry
Fusion’s practice jump is pretty secluded in terms of not having any view of the ring but you can certainly hear what is going on (Khamsin was so funny!). Lift also got to go right by Jimothy’s toy on the ground on the way in. Not sure if the boing at the very end was her blowing off steam or just happy she got stuffed full of beef lung and St Roccos treats.
We’re back for more fun with Khamsin, Kristin & Dean tomorrow. (Lift got her sniffy walk, in 16deg temps, and has been busy with her collagen bone as I upload videos.
Khamsin and I were talking about how with each dog we focus more on the “non-agility” stuff for preparation and were wondering how on earth we got as far as we did with our first few dogs that didn’t benefit from this!
Power Patterns with Leash Runner – 12/18/24
Guest appearance by Dean! First rep I had cheese in my pocket but not in my hand when cueing the leg weave. 2nd rep was no treats on me. My dishes were upstairs so the stinky St Roccos treat were right at her nose level when we finished the 2nd time.Kaladin is on an agility break this month, but Lift and I stopped by a Fusion class taught by a friend earlier today. 6 people in the class with a mix of dogs. I spaced out on bringing really good treats (beyond cheese) but luckily I had a sample bag of these chicken nibbler things. Variety for the win. She did so well! (sorry no video)
Did pattern games on the way in and she was able to walk by 3 crated and 1 on leash dog even doing several steps forward while looking up at me before I tossed the next treat. Settled on her cot in the corner where I set up shop when I secretary. Then pattern gamed (it’s a verb now!) and did a few tricks across the aisleway that borders the ring entrances while a dog was running and another was waiting. Into the practice jump area (it is blocked off from the ring by tall office cubicle walls and a swinging gate but you can hear all the noise from the ring). Did a few reps of leash off, leg weave, catch treat/release to wrap a wing, leash back on. (she was definitely aware of the ring sounds but had pretty snappy responses). Then back across the aisleway while a dog was running to her snuffle mat. Repeated the whole thing to the practice jump and back after she hung out on her cot for a while. Then we left.Khamsin, Kristin and I have plans for this weekend which include bringing Mochi & Kaladin to act as other distractions outside the ring when a young dog is working and to let them play in the ring when a young dog is waiting. Kristin had the great idea to practice entering while another dog was leaving and leaving when the next dog was entering. I’ll have to see if I can talk Dean into coming for part of it. I thought I’d also have him play leash runner in my basement ring setup.
Remote Reinforcement Power Pattern – 12/16/24
Set up a mini ring (sans gates) in the basement. Kinda cramped so we weren’t able to get very far from the stations. Is it important for me to show her where the ending station is? With Kaladin, I’m in the habit of showing him his meatball container on my chair or the treat counter as we leave to head to the ring, but that’;s habit and I”m not sure how important it is.
I’ve also done a bit of the freeze dance with her tug. I haven’t been trying to ramp her up too much as I am trying to limit how much she jumps up. I mean she’s doing it despite my best efforts less than 2 weeks post-spay so figured I shouldn’t push her to it in training just yet. And the down hasn’t been heavily reinforced which is why I found that interesting when she picked it the last time.
Oh – and Kaladin thinks the freeze dance with his frizzer outside is da bomb. My line up for him follows a similar pattern whern I have him jump up and tap the side of my leg for him to sit. I just did a more obvious freeze for myself and his butt hit the ground without me tapping the side of my leg.
USDAA has always had such awesome competitors and I’m careful who I hire to judge. Like many people, the issues I’ve had with it have been with the office (and the high fees they charge trial hosts)
12/15/24
First time trying this and I picked a time when she was already about to explode because she had been crated while I was playing with Kaladin in the back yard (poor Dude misses playing with Lift and had to settle for his hooman and a frizzer). Thought she did pretty well with it. Doesn’t seem to have a favorite default position but guess it doesn’t matter as long as she freezes. I didn’t wait too long before releasing since we hadn’t tried it before but got the sense that she could have handled a bit more delay.That is totally it about the leg weave then sit. She thinks the sit is the fun part (maybe because she knows it precedes a release and eventually a reward). There was nothing in my hands for the hand cues. The hand cue does seem to help her. My leg position alone is too subtle. I’ll add in a wing for a jump bump in a bit.
My idea with the leash cue is that it gives me something to say at the end of the Run that isn’t “yay”. If she drives ahead to it that’s great but even if she keeps moving with me to it and expects to stick her head through the loop next that will do the trick for giving her something constructive to do ar the end of a run.
I need to email USDAA even though they backed down on requiring the tire in Jumpers. (But why no option for a frameless tire l? Guess I should be happy they didn’t bring back the chute). I looked at Kaladin’s stats and it took him 19 months to get an ADCH (from first Masters Q) with a 75% Q rate and in an area that had 9 USDAA trials/year (5 in the twin cities and 4 trials 1.5-2.5hrs away). I didn’t enter all of them but I did prioritize them. I also typically run him in 3 (maybe 4) classes/day. He’s partway to the new ADCH requirements but I think it will take at least 2.5yrs and I feel like he probably has a higher Q rate than the average team and MN has more available trials than most of the country. Just seems like a huge barrier to entry that the first main championship title could easily take 2.5-3yrs after your dog is in masters.
Leash Off/Leg Weave – 12/14/24
10 days post-spay and so far she hasn’t gone completely stir crazy yet. (Luckily she does like to snuggle on the couch so I’ve been catching up on Outlander episodes since there is way too much drama going on in the USDAA & UKI worlds. And a lot of egg cartons and paper towel holders have been destroyed)
I have been playing around with some offered stand stays (no video) and the leg weaving. My original thought was that she would weave a leg or two and then stop in the stand and I could use that as a way to get from taking the leash off up to the start line. Well she started offering sits after one leg weave and they were really happy & snappy sits lined up next to me so we played with leading out from that or throwing the treat back to catch. Then I thought that I could evolve the leg weave into a behavior where she would keep weaving if I kept stepping another leg forward but would stop and sit if I stopped and stood with my legs together – incase the leash off point was further from the startline. Well then she started getting confused and either sitting after 1 leg weave while I was waiting for her to weave again or hesitating on the sit and swinging her butt out more. (you can see this when I ask for more than 1 leg weave near the end of the video even with a hand cue which makes it clearer for her). So I went back to just 1 leg weave since that seems to make her happier. I am guessing that the confusion over more than one weave is partly that the behavior wasn’t that strong to start with and that my stepping forward vs stopping isn’t coming soon enough for her to tuck under for a nice sit or to keep going forward. I also experimented a bit with leash off, let her shake, move forward and cue a spin next to me before a leg weave. That didnt’ seem to flow so well with her because she started having trouble with the leg weave after the spin. After thinking about it a bit, I decided I wasn’t sure I wanted to work on it that much more since I have used a spin and then I take off running to start in the past and I don’t want her to be second guessing whether she should come out of the spin blasting forward to chase me or collected to weave between my legs.
Anyways – here’s the video where I also added in her leash going on and off. (plus a bit of cueing “leash” while it’s still on the ground and then moving to it and picking it up. That part is still pretty new) Also I am not doing any cartoony lead-outs or anything since she’s not cleared for exploding out of a sit stay even if she’s only taking a few strides)
I’m still catching up on the How Dogs Learn and the pop-up motivation webinars, but am looking at the MYOB Puppies/teenagers one since I am guessing it has a bunch of relevant stuff for Ms Lift. I audited MYOB last December/January but was super-busy at the time so didn’t really do much with it.
Finally had a chance to watch the Games 4 webinar recording (since sitting on the coach with a napping Lift works well post-spay – everything went well and so far she hasn’t tried to eat her suitcle but it”s only been 24hrs)
I am so glad that I had all the games fresh in my mind because I needed pattern games and volume dial for Kaladin waiting to go into Gamblers finals. For some reason they thought it was a good idea to lower the score sheets in a bucket banging down the concrete wall from the scoring area in the stands and then have someone run them to the office to do the cummulative scoring. Not sure why the cummulatives scorer couldn’t have sat up by the scoring table or used a Google Sheet but it is what it is. Kaladin thought the martians were invading the first time he first saw the bucket being lowered and then the racket that it made. Luckily I still had lots of treats so I had him doing pattern games on the concrete steps behind the podium since tossing tiny brown treats on dirt can be a bit too hard when the bucket aliens are about to attack you. I got him mostly back but he was still over-aroused going into the ring and he actually jumped up and pushed off my belly pretty hard before I cued it at the start. I asked him for another one and then we just ran. I still wonder if part of the reason why he popped his weave poles (in the opening since I knew the gamble was an exercise in futility) was a bit of a holdover of him still getting over the craziness at the startline.
And – I have a Galican Dogwalk with a brace and I use it. It’s not the Intercan line they have at the US Open – I think it’s their Lite line. I didn’t notice that the DWs didn’t have a brace at the Open until after the issues started happenign. (and Kaladin never ran on contacts in the covered arena because we scratched Natl Rnd 2).
Other stuff from the webinar – I think I’ll add the swing behind running start to Lift’s toolbox in a few weeks and see what she thinks. Also wondering if another option is to take the leash off, let her shake, move towards the line, ask her to push her collar into my hand, say ready and take off. Might not work if she’s too aroused and bouncing, but offering her collar is pretty strong and there’s no stay involved (set position or her choice) We’ll also work on the offered stay which will be a new skill since I don’t currently have a “stay” cue for my dogs -it’s the position not an additional stay cue.
The Loretta seminar did have other dogs there but the ring itself just had Loretta and us. Plus we didnt’ spend much time at the front of the ring and I had treats on me the whole time. I’m planning on stopping by a class or two the week before Christmas just to do pattern games/volume dial going into the building, hanging out a bit and leaving. She’s cleared to do more active things by then even if she shouldn’t be sprinting or jumping yet so doing motion tricks will be fine.
I also had an interesting FB Msgr chat with the gal who has Lift’s brother – the other little one. He’s also very boingy and is the one that will jump up and try to bite her at times. Turns out he’s very similar to Lift in thinking that toys are great fun outside the context of agility but can’t handle the arousal of them while doing his agility work. When I met him at the end of August at the Canandian Open he was a tugging fiend even with that much excitement around, but apparently that doesn’t transfer to his agility job right now. The other male litter mate is with Bev Benson in Winnipeg. She’s not training him for agility now but he’s also incredibly boingy by nature. So it’s got to be some kind of a genetic component in there (or genetics plus early environent flipping that switch on or something like that).
Drop in Class – 12/3/24
Determined that leftover turkey is yummy and enough to keep her fairly engaged to go by other dogs in the class (including a pretty energetic Doberman and a barking mini Aussie- the latter took more turkey). And that the 5 rabbit fur tug toys I tied together for a monster toy was not to her liking in the ring even though she thought it was super awesome at home. For both of the reps, I had our happy hour station on my chair in the corner of the room by the desk. (it’s conveneintly where I’ll have it at Fusion trials since I keep a dog in a crate under the desk when I”m scoring. I used lots of turkey & cheese in the ring, but figured it couldn’t hurt to also throw in running to our happy hour station after we were done each time.Rep 1 –
Wanted to see how she did with taking the leash off sooner and then moving a short ways to where I wanted to start. Don’t think I have a clear answer since I think she wasn’t in the building long enough to settle in (I deliberately left her in the car a bit longer because the mini aussie 2 dogs and 2 height changes before us screams its way around the course and I thought that would be a bit much for her). Then we got held up a bit before going in as we waited for the Golden to leave (and I didnt’ expect her to exit where we were waiting but hey – good practice!) My plan was to do a short sequence and reward with cheese on landing after she did a backside slice. Then try a straight ahead short sequence and reward with the toy. That changed when she took the front of the jump and then I realized I had forgot the toy. She stayed engaged with tricks and cheese while someone passed me the toy but that was clearly too much delay of game and she cussed me out after that. She did take her first panel jump and double though. Then wasnt’ sure she could put her head through her leash.
Rep 2
She hung out with me for a bit after the first rep (snuffle mat, bully stick, and on her cot) and then I popped her back in the car before screaming aussie was up. This one went better – she had a bit more time in the building before our turn. She also seemed to like having a chance to shake after I took the leash off and before we started. I hadn’t originally planned to do an extra leash in the middle but after she had hesitated on that in the first rep, I thought it would be good to ask her to put the leash on, reward and then take it off and do another short thing.
After this we practiced a a few minutes of engaged chill with her standing on my thights while I was crouched down and also with her in my lap while I was sitting in a chair. She had a view of the ring (with the last dog running amok) but we were back about 10ft from the barrier and she was interested in watching but didn’t make any move to try to get off my lap (I was scratching her chest) and didn’t add any commentary to the shenanigans in the ring.
I watched her video from the Loretta M seminar we did back in August where she was running 10 obstacle sequences mostly silently and comparing that to the last few weeks and I think her pop rocks moments are happening more often now. Not sure if that is from asking for more hard stuff lately with the remote reinforcement etc, doing more sessions with other dogs/people, or some other reason. Guess we’ll see what some enforced time off does for her brains
OK – shopping at Clean run which maybe is not where I got my current furry lotus tug.
The other potential issue is that she can get mad about giving up a tug (if she is in the mood to play with a toy) and I won’t have a handy treat in my pocket to toss for her to settle her arousal down a bit again.
