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Okay, that is good to know. Do you have video of before and after? I would love to see the difference.
Hi Laura,
I would have it on you, but hidden, have another on a table in the middle of the course and sometimes one that’s visible). When you first go out there, show Flynn the toy on the table and place the table towards the end of the line or even at the end of the line. You will get Flynn excited and take off running to the toy. When you get to the toy PLAY!!!
When I went out the the bite work guy and we talked about my toy mechanics, we discovered how BORING I was!!! I will get you a video of exactly what I am talking about later this evening. I need you to be more engaged when you are playing with him. I realize that there is a VAST difference in how he performs with the toy/food vs without it. Much of that I think has to do with you knowing that and your body language. If you go back and really watch your body language, you will see how much MORE confident you are with the toy and food than without (understandably so). I will get you that video and we will work from there (I live in the southwest, so it is super hot at the moment and needs to cool off a bit for me to work dogs). Later in the course we talk about reward stations. I think this concept will help clarify things for Flynn. He is not always convinced there is a paycheck at the end of the day. Does that make sense? Also, did you try to post a video around 1:40? It looks like there was an attachemnt, but there is not a link for me to click?It is hard when the human lacks impulse control 🙂
Okay, I was thinking it was all in the same day. The important thing is to try to quit when things are fun and moving fast! You can also back chain your speed circle to a lotus ball (meaning start with the lostus ball on the landing side of the last jump – let’s say #6 – then dog 6 to the lotus ball, then 5, 6, losut ball, 4, 5, 6 lotus ball and so on. If you loose motivation during any one of these, then repeat the easiest one – 6 to losus ball – and quit. Does that make sense?
Hi Margaret!
THERE IS A LOT MORE SPEED IN THAT DOG!!! Couple questions, in the first video, Kelsie is running at 20″ and the second at 24″? Just curious about the difference in jump heights? I assume she measures into 24″?
On the first video, there are quite a few places where you are late with your cues/crosses. I am not sure she tolerates this well. On the start, I understand why you ran with her (good call on your part). But this put you behind for jump number 2. Your most powerful turning cue will always be deceleration, so therefore, if you are behind her her (unless you have a dog that REALLY drives to the weaves – which will come) then the table becomes the most obvious obstacle. We will talk about handling more aggressivly later in this course.
The weaves the second time were much better. Have you worked weaves much? Or is Kelsie still very much in the “learning phase”? Depending on your answer, we will talk reward systems here. On the blind after the tunnel, one thing I really want you to see and work on is do you see how you blinded and actually slowed down to reconnect? This is super common watching many people do blinds, but you will get further down the line and increase motivation from your dog IF you keep moving. This breif hesitation is what cost you the teeter. Can you see it?
On the front cross between the panel and the broad jump. If you freeze the screen at 1:00, you will see that your feet are still cueing extension over the the jump. Your feet, shoulders and arm are all still pointing forward. This is where I really want to create clarity in my handling. The more clear I am, the more confident my dog will be. Here is a great example: My first border collie/agility dog’s name was Dolly. She was fast and fun. I went to my first trial years ago (NADAC). I had her in a tunnlers class. I wanted her to qualify and basically get the course right. She would be headed to the wrong side of the tunnel (according to the numbers, but correct according to my physical cues). I would call her off to get the correct side. This happened at more than one trial and in more than one venue. Over time (because as a novice I didn’t know any better), she got to where she would question what side of the tunnel to take. I retired her at 11 years old and even then, I had to be VERY clear regarding what side of the tunnel I needed her to take. She was not soft and not much of a thinker, more of a doer. Take that behavior and put it into a thoughtful dog and 99.9% of the time, they will slow down to be correct or stop and sniff because it is STRESSFUL!!! If you had an employer that constantly gave you tasks and as you were doing them or after they were done, you were told to do it another way, that you were wrong or simply quit paying you (reward) for your job, how would that effect your motivation? Does this make sense?
When we offered this course in the winter, I had a handler that could not trial her dog in dirt (too much sniffing), we did some exercises (you will see them later in the class) in a dirt arena first with just the dog, then later she took a couple jumps, but she worked through it and the dog did VERY well at the next trial with dirt!
I know I am goin in deep here with just a couple videos, BUT I see a few key things! I want to help you and Kelsie be successful 🙂 Let me know if you have any questions or need further explaination.
The second course was nice! I would LOVE to see you run her on the same course (maybe in a few weeks when she is healed) at 12″. We will talk about jump heights and pressure in the next couple weeks.Hi Susan,
Much of this can be related to HOW you are playing with him too and your anticipation of him NOT wanting to play with the toy. Since you have a working spot, I would like to see what you are talking about regarding the toy at home and the toy vs food in other environments. Sometimes this is a super easy fix and other times it takes a bit more. I am certainly okay with using food for working with my dog, but if I can have both or my dog has great toy drive at home, but not in other enviroments, this could easily help indicate where the stress is. Does that make sense?“So honestly Kim, I was not holding out much hope that anything would really work with my super soft scared cat Potter. So color me COMPLETELY surprised when I set up the first sequence (your 2ND seq. on that page) and not only successfully got him reved up but he jumped the bars literally faster than I’ve ever seen him! He normally stutter steps which has nothing to do with ETS but cuz he’s afraid he might drop a bar. Holy crap I have never been happier to be wrong!
But teeny snag tonight…he started well and did speed circle but stopped fetching the Lotus ball I was using (they all love that thing.) I stopped then before I was tempted to make any big issue out of it but very perplexing. An hr later in the house would not fetch a diff. toy either. Hmmm. Thoughts?”
My first thought is that maybe the second session was too much. It is super easy to get eager and excited. Then we go out and work it again. Some dogs can handle it, but some dogs are more sensitive or just plain tired. Pepper, my thoughtful border collie would get super creative if we repeated things again. Meaning I could run it the second time the exact same way and she would do a backside. I learned really quickly to change the picture. Start at a different jump, run it in reverse or handle it different with different crosses. This really helps the “over thinkers”. The other thing is you always want to quit while you are ahead. I teach my dogs running contacts. It is HARD!!! I have found that if I go out and have an exceptional session, I will skip the evening session and possibly the next morning (so revisiting it +/- 36 hours later and they are awesome again!!! Sometimes latent learning is SUPER helpful!!!
Hi Barbara and Potter! Great to have you both here! You can post all your questions and comments here in this thread (it helps keep things “clean” for classes). I look forward to working with you both.
Hi Patrice and Emma! Great to have you and Emma here! Interesting that you had that much of a change between March 15 and the seminar. Have you been able to do agility or a regular exercise program since March?
Hi Lisa,
Great to have you and Jet here! If you decide you want to upgrade to a working spot later, that is not a problem! I look forward to working with you both and please let me know if you have any questions.Hi Sandra,
Trust me, I know the feeling!!! My first three agility dogs were not soft, then it was super hard for me to find someone who could help me with my first “soft” dog Jack. I am glad that you are already recognizing Marvel’s needs and ways that you can make things easier! That is half the battle. Let me know if you have any questions 🙂I sent it again, but here is a copy of my response:
Hi Margaret,
Thanks for reaching out! We will be doing speed circles with minimal handling in the beginning. My young PRT was spayed the beginning of May and my vet did not have any problems with her doing speed circles 2 weeks post op, bars on the ground, she had her sutures removed and had no issues with the surgery. Most of it at this point is working through reward systems and reinforcing movement. There are minimal turns or “handling”. If you need a week or two following the end of the course to catch up, I would be completely fine with that!
Hope you join us!Hi Rose! Glad to have you both here!!! Please let me know if you have any questions!!! Terriers are fun 🙂
