Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hello-Here is a session that we did with her dinner bowl on the ground. She definitely understands how to offer engagement in this context when I take the leash off. There is a fun run this Saturday that I have Dora entered in. Do you think I should take Char and practice this with treats in my pocket? We’re allowed to use treats in the ring! If so, I know you told me to set her up before I take the leash off. So if I set her up and take the leash off and she looks at me should i give her a treat? Or is this exercise better done with taking the leash off as soon as we enter the ring? I feel her disengagement occurs right when we enter the ring but maybe that doesn’t matter as long as she re-engages when she’s in her start-line position? Sorry if I’m making this more complicated than it needs to be but I really want to get it right so it will help her. Thanks!
Off Leash Offered Engagement Part 1. Char says “that was easy!!” We really don’t do any of taking the leash off outside of a trial environment. My yard is completely fenced so Char always goes out without a leash. When we go for walks, she is always on leash for safety reasons. Sometimes, I will practice walking into my agility yard thru the little ring gate with her leash on and then taking it off and going to the first jump to do my line up. Should I be doing this more often? She’s even good at the practice jump when I take the leash off. It’s only when we go into the ring and I take the leash off that she starts to look around. I could try doing this at a park where there are no cars if that would help? Also, how often do you reward the line-up when you are practicing at home?
Hello-Thanks again for the feedback. I used to not take the leash off until she was lined up at my side but in one of the courses I took, the teacher said it was important to take the leash off right away to see if the dog is consenting to line up for the run. Looking back at some old videos, I think she did better with me lining her up with the leash on. I also never used to have her line up between my legs, so I guess I need to revisit whether that is the best line-up procedure for her. Looking forward to the games!!
Hello-I’m attaching a video of our T2B run today. It’s just right before we enter the ring and the actual run. I did use a longer toy which she seemed to like more, but I still can’t get her to walk into the ring tugging and her line-up is still slower than I would like. Should I be asking for some hands touches right when we enter the ring? That’s where she seems to disengage. I think part of it is that I feel pressure to rush the start and that might be stressing her too but the AKC trials do seem to rush people to get to the line and start. But I thought everything else was nice. Look forward to your feedback. Thanks!
HI Tracy-Thanks very much for the timely comments. I will put these into practice on tomorrow’s run. Char is not that into toys in the ring but she is very much into them at home. And she loves me to throw the toy which I can’t do in AKC. Will try to be more dynamic right before entering the ring and get her tugging. Then walk in with toy in hand. I was confused because some trainers told me not to let the dog see you have the toy in an FEO run. But looking back at your comments, I think that is stage 2!
So here is a video of my FEO run this morning. It’s over 6 mins long because I wanted to show you the whole thing. When I got her out of the crate there were 6 dogs in front of us. You’ll see right as we are about to go in the ring at 1:58, she starts looking for her Dad who’s been filming the whole time. She didn’t pay any attention to him until we are about to go in the ring. When she didn’t take the tunnel and ran to the fence it’s because he was standing there. I’m supposed to run T2B FEO tomorrow morning so if you have any suggestions, please let me know. Also, Dale never comes to the trials with me so that was a different picture for her but I didn’t have anyone who could film the whole process. Thanks!
Here is our remote reinforcement session tonight. She has such a hard time facing away from the food bowl!
HI Tracy–Thanks for the FEO info. Here is our remote reinforcement 1 game. Char is very well versed in this game but I don’t think she recognized it. I’m also adding a video of how we typically play it and maybe we need to change something?
HI Tracy-I actually do some ball throwing just a short distance when we’re waiting for our turn. Char is all about the chase! I really don’t do USDAA or UKI because until recently, there were no UKI trials close by and there are only two USDAA trials a year. So I have to be able to work on things at AKC trials. As you may know, even in FEO you cannot throw the toy. I entered FAST and T2B next weekend and plan to scratch my JWW and Standard runs since you said I shouldn’t have her do weaves. I’ll try to get video of my runs. Can you give me a general plan on how best to use my FEO runs? I’m attaching some links to old FEO runs. What I would like to change the most about Char’s runs is her speed off the start line. do you think rewarding after the first few jumps will help this? What about just pushing her back and running off the start-line? Obviously, this is not the way I would want her to start when I’m running for a Q but do you think it would help to alleviate her stress at the start-line?
HI Tracy-Another one of our active tricks is tugging and retrieving so here’s a short video of that. I also had her do tricks while her breakfast bowl was on the wall in the yard so she could see it. We do this all the time for her breakfast.
Hi Tracy-Thanks for your comments. I would love for Char to be happy in the ring! I agree she doesn’t like front crosses and I’m almost always late so I’m really trying to do more blind crosses, which are also easier for me-it’s just old habits die hard!
You’ll see in the video when she does not know I have a treat or toy on me, she is not interested in performing any tricks. This is characteristic of her behavior. She has to know there’s something in it for her before she engages. When she sees I have treats, she engages.
I think I fixed the history link!
HI Tracy,
As far as I know, there was absolutely nothing that happened outside the ring before the run where she pooped in the ring. It was January in CA, so the weather was perfect. This was only her third trial because she sailed thru Novice and I think she may not have been ready to do 12 weaves in a trial environment. One thing I learned about Char (unlike her Dad) is that she is VERY sensitive to making a mistake. Even if I did not start her over when she popped out of the weaves she would have known she was wrong.I’m attaching videos of her next three trials so you have the whole picture. You’ll see on the third video, I didn’t even try to get her to do the weaves and she still pooped. After these trials where she pooped in the ring and wouldn’t do the weaves, we stopped trialing for 18 months, but even when we resumed she never ran the same. I did put a link up to her history. Can you open it?
here is a link to our history (hopefully!)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/19ytHnASzhzBEXPzy_zUNm3sG0a1_RK_Ee5msnnMf-WQ/edit?usp=sharing
