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Our ring rental went well! The first time I brought her in she was super excited thinking people would be inside lol. Then she was a bit confused that it was just us. I brought her in on leash in the ring and let her sniff around for about 2 min. She checked in a couple times ans ate treats, put her paws on the a frame and teeter (all on her own). She didn’t seem nervous, but was definitely interested in sniffing and gathering info. Then I gave her a break in the car and ran Lazlo.
The 2nd time I brought her in, she checked in with me quickly upon entering and we did some back and forth ringside. Then we entered the ring and I took out her bunny fur toy right away. Because she was much more engaged ringside I felt confident she would play. That’s where the video starts. I cut out about 15 seconds of play with the toy, but otherwise thats the whole session. She was a bit hesitant to eat food at first after playing with the toy, but was able to switch with just a little more time.
Then we went outside for about 5 min. She pooped and peed. I was going to put her in thr car again, but she went right to the door of the building. I let her in and she went right to the ring gate and looked up at me. So we did a 2nd session with the sheep toy!
After, we went for a trail walk with Lazlo and she had a great time!
I took her to Lazlo’s class this morning as I do every week. I was of course worried she’d be nervous, but she was totally fine! She likes exploring and playing around outside, sniffing (and eating) sheep poop lol, and easily ate treats around the other dogs who were walking around. We have a little game we play where she jumps up on me and we bounce around, and she was excited to do that too.
Inside the building, she did really well. We usually do the back-and-forth game in the crate room. Today there were actually more dogs than normal crated, so she was pretty excited, but was able to play the game. We had a Christmas party too, so I brought her inside and she loved saying hi, getting pets, and was also able to do back and forth and some hand touches to the side of where everyone was talking and eating.
So I’m relieved that she doesn’t seem to have suddenly transformed into a nervous puppy lol!
“Was she bananas for the salmon treats at the baseball field too? The feta cheese sounds yummy LOL! How did she react to it?”
No, she was eating the cheese and salmon treats, but not like super into it. I think I could have had freshly cooked bacon and she would have been meh about it. She’s usually a very good treat eater. She readily eats when she exits the van in all sorts of locations. She’s not picky either.
“If she is happy on Friday, I would take her to the facility on Sunday! Is it a class or something?”
Yes, it’s like a pop-up class that an instructor planned at the last minute for Christmas Eve. I thought it would be a nice, low pressure way to get her into another location.
Thank you for the advice regarding the rental and the class. I will absolutely be advocating for her! I’m introverted, but not when it comes to my dogs’ emotional well-being lol!
Here’s the video of her at the baseball field. At some points we go out of frame so I cut those out for time:
We tried Rocking Horse today…some challenges with more distance between the props. I was starting to feel frustrated so I stopped and played the food flick game haha! Maybe I’m not giving enough connection?
After a break upstairs, I put them close together and then used a toy and that seemed easier for her.
Tonight we tried doing the back and forth thing with toys. First time for us, I think she did pretty well! A little hard keeping her grip, but she didn’t seem discouraged. It looks like I’m ripping it away from her, but I swear I’m not pulling hard. Let me know what I can tweak here.
“Was there anything in the environment that was different or weird? High winds? People? Just curious.”
Nothing that I could tell. It was a really nice day today, not too cold and not windy, so that’s why I planned to take her out. No one else was at the entire park the whole time we were there. The only thing I could think of is if there was a weird smell or maybe the smell of a coyote? It does border a forest and I’ve seen deer and coyotes there in the past. I’m guessing she has smelled wildlife on the trails, but who knows.
“What type of treats were you using?”
I had some freeze dried salmon treats that I opened last night for Lazlo’s nail trim and she was going bananas over them. I gave her a couple and she was very into them, so I brought those to the baseball field. And some chunks of feta cheese.
“Was it with just her, or with Lazlo there too?”
Just her. I can’t recall a time she looked nervous when Lazlo was long with us. It’s not that she’s nervous all the time without him, but I do notice that sometimes at the very beginning of a solo walk, she is a little hesitant. For example, yesterday I took her to a book store where she had never been. It was just her, and she was super happy and wiggly. We played the back and forth game in a few aisles, then left. Not nervous at all. More often than not, she’s very confident when alone.
We will follow the plan you laid out and report back!
I do have the time at the park on video, if you wanted to see it, but no worries if not. I’m sure you can picture her behavior from my description too.
I had planned to bring her with me to Lazlo’s ring rental on Friday. I thought I’d bring her in the ring for a couple short sessions. Do back and forth, maybe play with the baby tunnel (since she loves that and it’s easy for her). The main goal is just to practice engaging and working in a location away from home (she’s been to this facility every week since she came home for Lazlo’s class). I also signed her up for a drop in session on Sunday at a facility she hasn’t been to. Now I’m wondering if I should just scrap all of that. I’m worried she’ll be nervous. Thoughts?
Today I planned to go to the baseball field again to do a little session there, but she was very nervous and I’m not sure why. She was shaking and even making dandruff. She wanted to either be held or sit in my lap. She’s been there before several times and there was no one else at the entire park. I stayed for about
10 minutes thinking she would acclimate and feel more comfortable, but she never did, so I carried her to the car and we left.She did eat some treats, but I could tell she was still stressed.
She has shown some nervousness before but it doesn’t last long. For example, when we get to a trail, she might be a little unsure at first, but within a minute she’s running around happily. She never seems nervous when Lazlo is with us, it’s always when she’s with just me.
A few days ago she did get really nervous on a walk, with dandruff, but I kinda thought it was a fluke. Now that it’s happened again, I don’t want to just shrug it off.
I’m trying not to catastrophize this in my brain haha!
Any advice? I was thinking of keeping her home for a few days and only walking her with Lazlo, then try taking her out alone again?
Yes, if you know of any flyball in the Chicago area, please let me know. I’ve checked around and unfortunately it doesn’t seem like there is, but you’re more connected than me. I did fine something up in Wisconsin but haven’t heard back from anyone.
We worked on our “away” (get out) cue this evening after her nap. Added in some motion. I think she did well! She had a hard time dropping her toy during our play break, which is unusual for her. Do you think I should have ended the session there? Or was it ok that I tried a couple more reps after?
We took yesterday off from training, just a short trail walk because it was COLD and WINDY AF. She had a grand old time. Me, not so much lol.
So, how can I differentiate between independent play behavior (not sure of a better way to phrase it) and decompression? If we go down to the basement just to play (not doing any training) she will often run around with a toy, lay down, chew it, fling it around etc. If I go down the basement to work on retrieves or toy play skills and she takes the toy off to herself, how can I know that she’s playing vs needs a decompression moment? Because she’s so young still, I’m not sure she fully understands the concept of retrieves or cooperative toy play. So to me, it seems murky deciphering what is self-elected decompression and what is her playing or not understanding the game.
Hopefully that makes sense! Let me know if it’s confusing.
I revisited the serp/strike a pose game, trying to keep my shoulders facing forward until she’s collected the reward. Used the RT on the first side, then switched to a toy. She seems to be waiting for me to animate the toy before grabbing it. Makes sense that whippet would find a dead toy less interesting than a moving one.
So I totally understand the importance of taking breaks and latent learning. BUT I also feel like if I take a day off every couple of days and only do one session a day, I will become buried in class material. Plus, she seems to like to really like to do the things and she does need mental stimulation. Would you say that one session a day and taking a day off every couple days should be my default training schedule or should I base it on what she shows me? Is it enough to just not repeat games/exercises every day, or should I aim to only do one session per day? Of course, I don’t want to push her into depletion, and then take a break. But I also feel like if I don’t train, she might get bored.
This question isn’t directly related to the class material, but it kinda sorta is. But if it’s too outside the bounds, no problem. I haven’t yet taken her to a trial setting. I know many people take their puppies along to trials, but I’m not trialing Lazlo (because we need MYOB skills lol). She does tag along to his weekly class, but she sleeps the whole class, and just comes in the building at the end where there might be a dog and a person or two hanging out. I never had the option of taking Lazlo to a trial because of covid, and even if I did have the option, I don’t think he would have coped well at all and it would not have been productive. So I guess I’m not sure if I should get Vesper in a trial environment while she’s young, or if it’s something I should work up to? I’m worried about it being potentially overwhelming, but also worried if I don’t expose her, it will backfire later? I know it all depends on the puppy, but I’m not sure what to do.
Thank you! It definitely feels like a balancing act, so I’m trying to be observant so I can tweak the variables as needed. Your insight is very helpful!
We don’t have a yard so that’s why I take her out on the trails/field almost daily. I have found that she starts to get a bit pent if we do 2 days of no walks, which has happened due to weather or me being sick. But I do think I should keep in mind the length of the walks. She’s so fun to walk with that it’s easy to stay out for a while. Not that that’s bad, but it’s something to consider.
Apart from that one day where she was like “tunnels? Never heard of them” she has shown me really great work in our training sessions. But of course, that can always change during adolescence, so I’ll be watching closely.
Today I got out the inflation and decided rather than throwing it for a retrieve, to just let her have it after some tugging. She laid down with it and shook it and chewed it but after about a minute, she did bring it back to me, climbing right up onto my chest (I was sitting). I was so happy! We tugged some more, I dragged her around (her fav) and then let her gave it again. She ran around a bit, then plopped. More chewing and shaking, then she approached me again with the toy! We did one last tug time then I let her have it and ended the session.
So even though I wasn’t throwing it, she was bringing it back. I’m hoping she’ll connect the tugging and fun with bringing it over to me.
We worked on adding the verbal and a toy to Rotated sends, as you suggested:
And started the baby level of the get out cue, which I call “away.” I did a couple reps with just the visual cue but cut that out for time.
Then we had some fun adding the toy to our stays:
Today we revisited Rocking Horse. I added some more space between barrels and used treats.
Then, decreased the space and used the toy scrunched in my hand. She had a much easier time following the cues with the toy in my hand compared to the last session we tried it!
Added the tunnel threadle cue “pass pass”…initially she was a tad unsure, but not for long. I started with the collar hold…idk why it feels yucky to me. She doesn’t seem to hate it. Maybe it’s just not something I normally do so I feel averse to it, who knows! After the first couple reps she did wait for thr verbal. On the last rep I rewarded a couple times for her being at my side before I gave the verbal.
The last couple of days we don’t seem to have a retrieve any more. She either lays down and chew the toy right away or runs around with it. Any suggestions?
Here is our first stab at Rocking Horse. I added a basket as our 2nd prop for wraps. I introduced it earlier this afternoon and she took to it immediately. I’m remembering now they you had people in the live class put the toy in their pocket, which I probably should have done, but she did pretty well still.
Argh, just did the serp game, but forgot to hit record. She did amazing! I just did one side for this session. Started with dropping a treat from my non-target hand in each position (1 through 3) then set up the Ready Treat. She had no problem coming to the target hand even with the machine sitting there, I was thrilled!
I’ll try the other side at our next session and make sure u record it!
Okay, here is the other side. I did the same thing as the first session. I included her new “trick” during our after-session playtime hahaha!
Another tunnel threadle session with the RT. Are we good to add the threadle cue the next time we work on this?
And then revisited the lap turns…did I do better job this time around? 😬 I tried to not pull her wide.
More handling Combos today. First with the preplaced toy. Fx then arcing around to the toy. She followed the handling well I think! At 1:10 I think she wanted treats. She’s losing so many teeth so I suspect that may be why she was like “that cheese seems nice and soft for my mouth right now” lol. I amped up my energy a bit and that seemed to work in getting her back on the toy.
Then I preplaced the Ready Treat and did a little 360 turn after the wrap and then to the RT. I think her enthusiasm for the machine will increase the more familiar she becomes with the cue and the contraption.
We had a big hike today with lots of running ans exploring so that’s all the training we did.
I think I’m going to need a preplaced reward for the tunnel threadle, she was confused! Not sure why I didn’t think to do that in the moment.
Update! We tried again after her nap with the Ready Treat. I warmed up with one regular tunnel send with the RT since its still new to her (cut it for time), and since she had no problem I moved to the tunnel threadles. Should I start using a threadle cue now?
Rotated sends seemed okay!
She lost her 2 lower canines last night 😳
Played some retrieve with the inflation. She did well! Sometimes she stops short or drops it midway but comes flying all the way into me. But here she was pretty perfect. We had a tooth fall out while playing lol.
Added some angles to the tunnel. She really seemed to pick up on the verbal cue in this session. Started with toy and then ended with food, to switch things up. I usually start with food then go to toy.
Some Stay with catch, adding some more steps away.
I wanted to try the blind cross with the handling Combos, but ended up doing a spin on the first rep LOL. Got myself sorted on rep 2. Decided rather than doing more reps this session to end and try the other side another time.
I read the info for the running contacts info this afternoon and this morning I introduced Vesper to the Ready Treat machine, which I’m sure I’ll be using more of as we progress. I also want to try the Ready Treat with the handling Combos to switch it up from the preplaced toy.
I’m looking at the baby retrieve game from week 3, which I haven’t worked on yet. It says on only start retrieves if we have strong tugging behavior. Especially right now with teething, her tugging is not strong and even before that, she’s not pulling on the toy much. Should I wait to work on the retrieve games? She has a pretty good retrieve with things like rubber inflation toys and small fuzzy balls.
Last evening we brought Vesper to a friend’s house. No video but we practiced stay with “catch” and she did so well! I was able to take a few steps away and marked with “catch” while I was moving away like you said. Just 4 reps, all successful! And in a new setting with new friends around!
Here is parallel path with wings!
And we revisited the lap turn with prop and she had no issues even without the treat in my hand.
She’s in full on teething mode and really not gripping or pulling well on her toys. She seems to still in interested in chasing them while I drag them and biting them. Is it ok to keep using them?
