[Amy Sannes]

Here is a clip with the simple decel exercises. Pleased overall. I probably need more structure around his stays – words or signals or setup props – though he seems to kinda get what I’m looking for here.

This was fun to play with him between reps. Loved the thinking moment on the first rep where he wrapped the wing. Also liked the assumption that he needed to do so on the next couple. Cameo by my dad…nice to have a human distraction he worked really well around!

We’re getting close to the end of class…thank you again for the valuable and kind feedback! Looking forward to MP#2

[Amy Sannes]

Helpful feedback:
>Do you mean him being a little wide?
Yes – I meant wide, and it makes sense that he’s trying to look for me to know what’s next.
Also appreciate the explanation of the words you use and why L/R are probably not needed here.

Here’s a little of strike a pose. I realize that I should have sent him to a dead toy instead of throwing one. I also need to be careful not to add too much movement with torso or hand gestures. I like his great attitude here – happy and engaged.

Hope the UKI Open goes really well!

[Amy Sannes]

Thanks for the feedback and discussion.

Skizzle has been very fun to work with lately.

Here’s our barrel threadle wrap attempts. I was a little caught off guard that he didn’t stick to the barrel on wrapping. Not sure why I thought he’d know this without practicing. Can already see he’s catching on quickly.
Can you remind me about the words you use for this? Is it “dig” or “in”? One word, or 2?…left or clockwise and right or counterclockwise? I should really watch more agility, so I can connect some of these exercises with the end result. 😉 Though I’m content with trusting the process, and we’ll figure things out as we go.

[Amy Sannes]

Hi Tracy –

Appreciate your feedback.
>The 80% rule is a good one but I like to be a little more like 90% with adolescent dogs due to their ever-shifting adolescent sensitivities LOL!
This stuck out to me – good to know, and makes sense as they start to process/remember more things.
>The shaping process for finding a jump is definitely key and getting it sorted out now will bring great commitment to his career in any sport with jumps 🙂
Also helpful. I had already decided that this exercise (which surprised me that he didn’t “get”) is going to be one where I need to put in some time and be patient to let him learn how valuable that space is. Appreciate the confirmation.

Skizzle and I participated in a nosework trial this past weekend. It was a great “trial weekend” for him – just 15 months now. He handled the dogs, site, people, environment quite well – not without some moments of distraction, but very good considering his baby brain. It was also a bit of a break from agility things, which is ok.

We’ve done a few more sessions of parallel path. Here’s the latest – a shorter clip from the garage where it looks like he decides to go through the jump (yay!) and one outside with some of my clumsy handling and rewarding the fetch (bother). I sometimes cue him to come through my legs, but when I see it here, it makes me think that may be “connected” to fetch. IDK – seems like through the legs is valuable for setups/training for agility (and obedience, etc) – where maybe I need to incorporate it more into multiple settings instead of reserving it for fetch? Good to know that sending through legs may increase the challenge level for an exercise.
Also – I still haven’t sent him over a jump bar yet (only cavaletti) – so he cracks me up with his hops over the bar on the ground.

We also did some backside slice – started in the garage and then moved to the yard. There is some discrimination (front vs. back) and a strike a pose after the backside. I could use some practice for my pieces 😉

[Amy Sannes]

Hi Tracy –

Thank you for your beautifully split feedback!

I appreciate hearing your take on pay-for-performance. I have some baggage from early training days where I tried too much too soon and thought better treats should overcome the challenge. This was not a successful strategy, and even thinking about it, I have feelings of frustration. I also felt like I was trapped always using the best treats – which then lost their value. I misunderstood some instruction, and underestimated the challenges of training.

Today, I am a more savvy handler, and Skizzle is an easier dog to work with – he works for his kibble every day! And toys!

We have continued to work on the parallel path – I’m trying to help him understand the relevance of the jump equipment, instead of playing fetch in the presence of it. I’ve done a couple games in the garage and a couple in the backyard again. Here’s the latest. It seems like the food in the dish is helping his brain to see the jump…most of the time (esp. when the dish is closer to the jump – further to travel to miss the jump).
Should I be more patient with this, and continue working on it until he’s correct more (>80%) before moving my parallel path further from the side of the jump?
This exercise – and his playing fetch, instead – make me think “uh oh.” It seems like having value for going through the jump standard is very important. I appreciate the process, though…shaping the dog to run through the uprights.

[Amy Sannes]

Thanks for the feedback!

>When offering the toy as the reward – he was engaging but the play was very short so it was hard to tell if he would stay engaged – you can play for longer and move away from the barrels to engage the play, keeping the toy moving so he can grab it before heading back to the barrels

Yes, compared to in the backyard, his toy play is less enthusiastic away from home. Skizzle’s offered play is also shorter or not at all when he’s worried about barking/whining. It’s a great gauge of his arousal/engagement level. If I’m reading this right (?), you’re suggesting I use play (increasing the time and moving away from the barrels) to help him get to an arousal level that’s optimal for the game?
So if I notice him taking off instead of wrapping the barrel, I can play longer and attempt again?

In general, I try not to up-the-ante with higher and higher value rewards to keep his attention. (Trying not to beg him to play with me 🙂 ) I haven’t really thought about this in the context of toy/play – though I like to use different toys regularly so I have many options. Fortunately (or maybe not?) he doesn’t have a toy he’s dying to have.
It feels like a balance – accepting the information he’s providing vs. upping my excitement level to up his.

Curious to hear your thoughts.

[Amy Sannes]

Thanks for your thoughts about Skizzle’s playing fetch with me in the presence of the jump standard ;). We don’t play much unstructured fetch in the backyard, or anywhere, but I agree with you that it’s exactly what his behavior looks like.

We’re working well together, but I’m still trying to figure him out for training. He’s not toy-obsessed. He enjoys playing with many toys much of the time. But I don’t have a toy he’s motivated to play with all of the time. And sometimes he prefers to work (play) for food.

Today, I tried the same backyard setup and same time of day, with 6 different toys – 2 trips through the uprights with each toy. It was similar to what I posted here from yesterday. I was hoping a lower value toy would lead to more thoughtfulness. Skizzle was thrilled with the new version of the same game.;)
I like the idea of the food toss (or run-back to food in bowl) before proceeding through the jump…will give that a try.

We played rocking horses at the local (rural) park that we frequent. As far as distraction level, there were no people in sight anywhere for the duration of our session. He’s much less intense for the toy here vs. at home.
I started with a toy, but Skizzle was a little distracted from the start, and then further distracted by my 2nd dog’s barking. Switching to food seemed to keep him in the game better in the latter part.
I felt like I was decently connected with Skizzle from the 1st barrel to the 2nd.

Skizzle and I had gone for a short walk at the park at a different location, then driven to this one for the game. To do over again, I would’ve given him a couple minutes once out of the car here, with some pattern games before starting the session – to help him acclimate.

[Amy Sannes]

Thanks for the feedback, esp this piece:
>It might be 🙂 If you were using left & right to mean come all the way around the wing, then yes! But we work on left and right in a few weeks to mean “soft turn” of about 90 degrees, so your wraps might have been different and something like ‘dig’ or ‘check’.
Super helpful. I’m glad I asked. I didn’t know I had verbals for both all the way and soft turns. 😉

Skizzle and I had fun with the toy races. Nice to see his confidence in the game.

I’ve been attempting the parallel path. First, I tried it in the backyard, with me running a little. It didn’t go so well. So I took it to our normal training space. This seems fine.

Then I took it back to the backyard, again. Well, this also didn’t go so well (though Skizzle is super cute this session, bunny hopping, growling when tugging, and racing around). It’s clear I’ve missed the precursor to this exercise, given his interpretation.

I was trying to replicate what we’d done in the garage (walking), just in the backyard. Skizzle is Excited here!! It might be the toy reward vs. the food. And maybe my shoulders are pointed to the outside of the jump standard? On most reps I’m not really ready when he’s starting his run. Should I bring the toy inside? Or food bowls outside? Or have him stay before each rep? Would you handle the running outside the jump standards as I do here?

[Amy Sannes]

Appreciate the feedback…here, using the wrap verbal. I had to go back to my journal from last year’s class to find my key for verbals. Am I right to assume it’s the left and right verbals?

And I practiced the toy races again. This was fun. I think I could have let Skizzle parade with the toy instead of grabbing it so quickly. But it seems much better in that Skizzle isn’t concerned with my being close.

[Amy Sannes]

Skizzle and I are playing the pattern/resilience game in new places. It’s going similarly well to the previous video.

Here’s our work on rotated sends. It seems decent, but i’m open to suggestions for improvement and or next steps (maybe distance?).

[Amy Sannes]

Thanks for the great feedback.

Here’s Skizzle and I trying a resilience game. Behind us, from L to R are fields, a playground with kids playing, and the school. Just before filming, and capturing Skizzle’s attention at the start of the video was a couple that walked past (from the road with the yellow median to the right side of the video) with two dogs.
I like the time this pattern game gives Skizzle to check things out, though I can see he still needs more time even by the end, as he’s no faster to return attention to me. Good information to have. And he is able and interested in looking at me, which is a very nice place to start from.

[Amy Sannes]

Thank you for your fantastic, positive, and constructive feedback. You are very gifted in this regard – so again, huge thanks for teaching these courses!

>What was your sport?
Long-track speedskating. Maybe the flyball equivalent in dog sports? Repetitive movement where good technique makes it look effortless and has a huge impact on performance.

>And using slow motion and freeze frame has really helped tons in agility and general dog training too!
I’ve been playing around with slo-mo for nosework to help pick up changes of behavior earlier. I hope to train the “it’s right here, dummy” alert from Skizzle…but while he’s young and everything is new, that’s unrealistic, and his specific changes of behavior are easier to pick up with slo-mo.

>So to get him to be *less* polite 🙂 and grab the toy, 2 ideas for you…
Thanks for these – will incorporate in my next toy races.

Also want to mention that I watched your Playback to Podium webinar – on-topic for me this week 😉 Really appreciated your suggestions about taking videos and editing, and also the general theme: Reward the dog, because it’s probably the handler’s fault! As a hope-to-be novice agility handler – important for me. I have so many mistakes to make before I figure things out!
I also appreciate your emphasis on pausing training to review video. I’m good at taking video, but almost never evaluate during the session. It seems like the efficiency should almost double by reviewing mid-session – because you can fix-yourself before the next session. I imagine Skizzle would also appreciate the break!

Ok – so I’m looking for your feedback on distractions. (There’s some handling issues, too – I’m late to run and late with the toy.) Here’s video from two different sessions away from home. The first is my norm – training at the Trailhead. I brought the (unplanned) distraction – a dog with FOMO in the car. The second part of the video is at a busy local park. I think there was too much going on for Skizzle to think/work.
The FOMO dog has been with us 3 months…and she’s here to stay. I mostly stopped working the dogs in the same area, because any time she barks or whines, Skizzle stops working. In this video, she’s quiet initially, but then whines when the intensity increases, and Skizzle reacts. It seems like this is something I need to start working on for our future sports career. Trials are noisy with barking and whining!
And the second part at the park – I’m glad Skizzle is able to do hand-touches and a little chasing. We haven’t done so much work in busy places, but I feel like we need to work towards it. I imagine I need to start with less distraction and/or more distance.
Happy to hear your thoughts on dog noise and level-of-activity distractions.

Thanks again!

[Amy Sannes]

Thank you for the advice for the retraining the backing up – and re-framing as a challenge.
>My advice is to stare at where you want his back feet only, rather than trying to see all of him.

I also really appreciate your suggestion to review in slo-mo. I’ve been videoing my dog training sessions almost daily for 7 years, but I’m not sure I’ve looked at them in slo-mo before this week. I was an athlete, and slo-mo was integral to reviewing video for my sport. I’m not sure why I haven’t used it in dog training yet…but I’m excited to start!
I’m also relieved to hear that I’m mostly not super early moving my hands 😉
And I agree – with cookies, there may be a component of impulse control affecting his response.

We went camping in the Arizona desert – and had room to run. So here’s our practice of a few running games. I cut out a bit of play as we returned to the dish. All of the reps started with releasing Skizzle to get the cookie from a dish – which gave me time to run away from him.
On the whole, I am really pleased with his enthusiasm here.
On the blind cross coming towards the camera – I start out with the toy in the correct hand, but then transfer it to the same side he’s coming to.
For the toy chase – really toy race – maybe he looks caught off guard by my presence close? I think this is the point, right, to get them used to running adjacent to the handler (for agility)?

[Amy Sannes]

Thanks for your suggestion to stay bent over – so he doesn’t have to look up/get awkward. And I will try to play with clicking precision…the movement is not as fluid as I’d like it, so it’s probably a good time for me to play with this 😉 [this is me trying to convince myself that I can use the clicker to bring the “pretty” back to his backing up]

Shifting a bit. Here is a session with Skizzle where we play around with reinforcement markers. At this point, the ones I think are most fluent include “get it (chase food),” “here (food in my hand),” “toy (dead toy),” “cookies (food in bowl),” and “chase (moving toy)” (not used in this session), though he seems to understand “catch (food or toy headed behind you)” by where he’s anticipating the treat going.
Besides saying the words in a voice that could be heard and waiting for him to finish chewing his food, what adjustments could I make to help make things more clear for Skizzle? For “cookies” – he misses the cue twice. It’s one I’ve practiced more with a pause, which I didn’t really have for these misses.

[Amy Sannes]

Thanks for discussing the relevance of this plank work to future dog sports.

Here’s a bit of backing up. I’ve been stuck on backing with him…relying on a platform. Here, we did a bit off to the side, which seems like a reasonable transition to getting the behavior on cue without the platform. Also, as an aside, he moved backwards really pretty as a puppy. I “broke” the behavior when I worked on single-leg lateral rear leg lifts, and it’s never quite been the same ;). In this video, he seems to dip his hips a bit, and reaches for the prop. I’m pleased with his responsiveness and that he’s moving straight back here.

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