[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Space will likely become a challenge for us at home. Right now, no real snow (the dusting from Thanksgiving day), but it is cold AF. At least the sun was out. We managed to get out there to start Turn & Burn and then some more with the prop games with more space – I had to take the gloves off to throw the treats and it was brutal! The things we do for puppies.

Thnaks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

We did a little more of the proper games -parallel with me varying my position. Then more rear cross ones. He did great on the first side, then when I changed sides, he really struggled – he had quite a few reps of turning the wrong way. Should I not work on both sides during the same session?

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Happy Thanksgiving! or, National Day of Washing Dishes.

I will try the above suggestions on toy races. Today we had like a snow globe or Hallmark movie type day, which is great until you remember it won’t be 70 degrees tomorrow. So we’ll see how the ground is. It should be ok for a bit.

On the video: backing up and the prop games. I have always used a prop for backing up. This method was what worked for him – it was a hard skill for him to learn. I started with a Cato and now I am at the point where I vary the target and he’s good. I’ve started using the word back, but I know that he does not know it. If there’s no target, he struggles.

Then we did the first prop games. I was having a hard time timing my leave with his send and go. Then the RC were just a hilarious blooper reel.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,
Welcome home!

A couple of things from the weekend. We did 4 toy races. 3 with him on my right and 1 on my left. Interesting that he head checks each time on the right, but doesn’t do it in my left. And I mixed the left side rep in between.

Then some trash can wraps with no motion from me.

We did a bunch of other stuff too. I did the arousal exercise with the plank – tug, do the plank, etc. and forgot to turn the camera on. Doh!🙄 I thought he did pretty well with it.

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Judge is pretty level headed and not as bitey as some Mals – so he loves tug and toys and biting “stuff”, but thankfully he does not bite me when he’s frustrated or not getting his way. He’s pretty cuddly (with us).
I find him a bit less serious than the girls. Dellin was (and is) so serious, even as a puppy and she’s so sensitive.

I took the trash can outside for a few wraps. I have already started using his verbals some. “Dig dig” is right wrap. “Check check” is left wrap.

Then I did the next step of toy race – some counter motion. I don’t know what kind of cross I was doing, but it’s not a front cross! I am horrible with these kinds of exercises when there’s no jump – I’m always turning the wrong way!!

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Yes, he’s my first Mal – I am really enjoying him – he’s super fun to train. And I haven’t had a boy in quite a while. So nice to have a dog that likes both food and toys, unlike Dellin who spit out every type of food as a puppy.

I will be using the same verbals for him that I use with Dellin – since I can finally remember and get them out while running.

I still have a bit of time left to take the wraps outside to get off those mats, but it has gotten a lot colder this week. Hopefully the snow stays away for a while.

I will try the pile of stuff with my helper!

Here’s the plank and toy races. The only thing he has not been able to do on the plank is back up (I may need to put a target on there to help him). He can back up onto it without an additional target, so maybe I could build off of that.

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

“I think his quick inspection of the object was mainly because you were tossing the treat right at it. That might have caused him to think you wanted him to expose or offer behavior on the object. Since we are going for ‘ignore it completely’ you can have the stimulus off to the side and toss the cookie past.”

My bad – I misunderstood and thought we were supposed to toss the cookie relatively close to the object.

We did the shaping #2 with the inflatable donut. When I’m standing close to it, he thinks he’s supposed to pivot! When I took a step away, then he hopped onto it. Typical of the breed, he has no issues with things that move or make loud noises. He loves to bang the tippy Cato board. he can also get onto 4 pods – front feet were shaped and back feet were lured (to cut down frustration for him).

Then we wrapped a large trash can.

Then some toy switching skills. He has very good toy skills – his very first class right after he came home was for toy skills. He switches toys easily. These 2 toys are roughly equivalent in value, the green one may be a bit higher – it’s more of an outdoor toy and he wanted to go out and run around but the weather was horrible (welcome to late November).

I have also taken a class with him just on markers. I found it lowered his frustration quite a bit.
His food markers (some I use more than others):
“Yes” – move toward me to get the food
“search” – one thrown cookie
“floor” – one cookie put on the ground
“snack” – one cookie delivered to him – he does not move
“dish” – one cookie in a dish, he is sent to the dish
“scatter” – a bunch of cookies put on the ground
“catch” – one cookie thrown to him

His toy markers:
“strike” – he moves in and grabs it
“chase” – I’m throwing it far
“toss” – I’m throwing it close for him to catch
“get it” – dead toy on the ground

Have fun at the US Open – too late in the year for us to get there and back in the RV without hitting bad weather.

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

I did the first step of the stealth game yesterday and today. I tried 3 objects yesterday and all of them ended up just off the camera! He behaved the same way he did today. If he checked them out at all, he came right to me when I said his name. Today I have 2 different objects – the basement is definitely the place to be for novel neutral objects. He give a cursory sniff and heads right back to me. I was delaying giving him the toy so he had time to swallow the cookie toss. Otherwise he was coming back and hacking or spitting out the cookie.

Then we did a re-do of the blind cross foundation – I did not realize that the toy should be much more visible to him and not just a reward. Thanks for clarifying. I felt like I was giving him enough space – then I watched the video! Clearly, I have not had a large dog in a number of years and I need to starting paying attention as he continues to grow.

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

A beautiful day here, so we had the space to do the driving ahead/focus forward. We’ve done this type of exercise before, but usually I just say “get it”. I started saying “go go”, and I think that’s why he looked at me (whaaa??). And I have not been running as much toward the object with him – I’ve been running away from the object. So I changed up the game on him.

We also did the blind cross foundation. Camera angle not the best – I manage to block him part of the time but he does end up on the correct side.

Going to try the first stealth game later. He’s a dog who sees everything (no surprise), so it will be interesting to see what he says about the game.

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Giving him some more room helped him to turn the correct way. I will say that when he chases toys outside that almost 100% of the time, he turns left after picking up the toy – even if it would be easier to turn right. We will address that with our conditioning person. He circles cones, etc. equally well – does not seem to have a strong preference that I can see.

We did a few forward send with the toy – he got a bit sloppy as his arousal went up so I need to figure out the correct balance of cookies to toy. Then we did some side sends and rea sends for cookies. He did fine with both.

I re-did the decel exercise and circle – trying to make sure he kept his rear in.

Darkness prevented us going out for the driving ahead- so tomorrow!

Question on the cone work. We have worked through all of the baby steps, starting the same way – with bowls. He is now at the point where he does multi wraps of cones, wings, trash cans (I don’t use cones anymore because he’s so big). He can can that with distractions- me holding food out in my hands. I’m at the point where I’m starting to name the wraps. Should I wait a couple of lessons to do anything or do you want to see any of this now?

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

I got a bigger prop for him since he’s already pretty big (“we’re gonna need a bigger boat!”). On the video, we did Prop Game 1 – forward send and then we did the start of the Decel and Turn (dizzy time).

He has done quite a bit of the driving ahead for the toy, including with my motion, so I won’t go all the way back to the very first baby steps. Which means I need to go outside to give him enough room – will do that later today. Full disclosure – he has been working through another online program, so this is not his first class. But I like how everyone has different skills and approaches and I know this class has a lot of things I can do in a small space as winter approaches here (sad face).

[agilitywawa]

Question about the assignment – since Didi’s issues are purely fear driven, I do not intentionally put her into a place where she’s going to have the kind of reaction it seems that we are looking for in order to assess how long it takes her to recover. If she trains at home, she’s fine. I can note if things that might distract her in classes or at what point I reach an issue if we are out in the world, but I am trying to avoid creating a reaction by keeping an appropriate distance and working incrementally on her big trigger (strange people). At times, objects in the environment might worry her (trash dumpster for example) and then I can gauge her willingness to interact with the object and how her body posture is at the time – is she stretched out long in a fearful posture or is she more relaxed and how her recovery is from the encounter.

I guess I’m not sure how to go about the assignment given that I am trying to work under her thresh hold and not elicit a huge fear response in her. Or am I reading too much into it and I can note things like how she behaved at her new barn hunt class this week in a new place? And how she did at agility class this week.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

We are working with Dr. Jennifer Summerfield (remotely – she is working with my regular vet on the prescribing). Didi’s on 5mg of Fluoxetine once daily. Didi weighs 11 lb. We have worked with Sharon Carroll on the behavior mod work.

She has also been taking Purina Calming Care for months. I don’t really think it does anything but I’m afraid to stop it. lol.

I have started doing Fast Cat with Didi as a confidence thing – being able to work with people in the area. I have seen a lot of improvement – she basically runs straight now instead of veering when she goes by the lure operator. She seems to enjoy doing this. At the last event, she was able to do her end of run procedure that she does in agility class – she heard her remote reinforcement marker (“candy”) and as part of that, she was able to present herself and jump up to be picked up – then we get the cookies. This was a first in this environment. She does not run off, but this was the first time I got full buy in from her at the end. This is how I would want our agility runs to end if we can compete.

It has also been suggested that activities that involve using her nose could be beneficial, so I signed up for a 3 week intro to Barn Hunt to see if she enjoys doing that.

[agilitywawa]

Hi Bobbie,

No, I no longer live in NY, but I remain devoted to all their sports teams. LOL (Go Yankees! – Didi was named after Didi Gregorious who is sadly no longer a Yankee).

Didi and I started working with a Veterinary Behaviorist about a month ago and we all believe that Didi’s fear of people is a genetic thing. We started some meds 3 weeks ago and I may be starting to see little glimmers of them helping although it’s still early (and there’s room to increase the dose too).

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Continuing on the decel games – I did a few sends. Then worked again on the FC/turn and burn but focusing on not taking a step back to make sure I have those mechanics cleaned up. on one side of the turn and burn, the house is there, so no real estate for her to take off running to.

Then a little of the sequence. On the “go” I should have had the toy out as a target, but forgot.

As to the resilience piece – interesting stuff.

You wrote: “have you taught her the pattern game/coping mechanism that you taught Didi? I can grab some video of it in terms of how we are doing it recently, but it helps the dogs explore the environment, breathe… and also offer engagement with you with a specific framework for doing so. I have expanded how we use it a whole lot since we last looked at it”

I have not specifically taught her that, but I have used treat tosses on occasion if she has had “a moment” in the basement training area. Sometimes chasing the treats will get her up and running around again. It’s harder with her since she does not share Didi’s love of cookies over everything else. But maybe I should try this in more of a pattern game when nothing is going on?
If there’s a new way to do it, I’d be interested to see video too.

I could certainly try the come to my side, throw toy too and work on a loop. That’s not too dissimilar from some of the toy work we have done.

Thanks,
Joan

• This reply was modified 3 years ago by agilitywawa.

[Author]

Posts