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Hi Margaret,
I love the comment from your instructor about how much better she looks at 20″!!! YAY!One thing I would really try to work on is your reward placement. Do you see how many times you fling your toy away from you? I would either get her to chase you for the toy and either take it from your hand or throw it on the line. Break it down and think of it this way. If you are teaching the dog to walk on a plank for the first time (or go even more basic and let’s say put all four feet in a box), the reinforcement either comes from the object itself (plank or box in this case). If I am constantly rewarding the dog after all four feet are off the plank/box, I am not building very much value for that object. Now, put it on an agility course and ultimately, we want the dog to be on the “path” or “line” so the reinforcement should be on the path or line. You do a nice job with this around 2:28, but it seems when Kelsie exits a tunnel, you fling the toy away from you. See at 2:28 how you reward straight in front of her on the line? That’s what I would aim for. I would also make her chase you for the toy. Years ago, I had a border collie who loved frisbees. Well, the problem with frisbees is that you are constantly reinforcing the dog for driving away from you to chase the toy. She also didn’t want to come into the pressure of returning it to me. Agility worked pretty much the same way. She had great distance skills, but we could not do a serp to save our lives and hated coming into me for a front cross. She needed more reinforcement for coming TO me and less about driving away. Perhaps some of what Kelsie is doing is because she is used to getting reinforced away from you. Does that make sense?
Again, you rewarded on the line at 3:04. I think it has to do with her exiting the tunnel.
Okay, so good call on the jump heights! I think she ran great for all three turns! So, where do you go from here? Well, the answer is up to Kelsie. Keep adding handling. So, you can mix up the speed circle by let’s say on that last sequence doing a front cross after the tunnel and going back the you came. Adding more and more handling all the time. Some key things to remember is to reward often (especially when you make a mistake). This will teach her to handle mistakes and not to worry when they happen. If you start noticing the speed change, then backtrack some. This will happen. I remember last summer when I was getting ready to fly to Germany for the Border Collie Classic with Pepper and we couldn’t get through a master’s course all weekend in AKC. She sensed my frustration and the pressure and was much more thoughtful and not as fast. At the end of the weekend, I told my husband “well, we will have fun, but I’m not sure we will have the speed”. SHE PLACES 12TH PLACE IN ONE OF THE AGILITY (STANDARD) ROUNDS OUT OF 400+ DOGS IN EUROPE!!!! Boohoo on ME!!! When you have a run that is less than stellar, PUT IT BEHIND YOU!!! And most importantly Margaret, BELIEVE IN YOUR DOG!!! You have worked so hard in this course and I am really very proud of the progress that you have made. Kelsie is a lovely girl and enjoy that! Be proud of what you have done in 6 weeks, just think of where you will be in another 6 weeks! Embrace the mistakes, they are part of the learning process. You must make them to move forward! PLEASE don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you have questions or get stuck!!!That’s great! I think this session was really good. She is bringing the toy back to you quicker. Here is where I would have a second or third toy out and get her to chase you for another toy (as she is doing her victory lap). She will learn that there’s nothing to get excited about there. Another thought is you could put the reinforcement on cue. Meaning that she doesn’t get to go for it until you say the magic word.
Regarding the play, really reward her when she is tugging. Meaning that when she pulls hard, mark that behavior and get really excited. I would even let her win when that happens. Meaning she pulls hard for a few seconds and you release the toy. If she runs off with it, you bring out the second toy and get her to chase you for that one, playing a bit of a two toy game.Hi Janet!
I am glad you are seeing progress and also that you recognize when you and your dog need a break (that is a hard thing for some of us to do)!!! Keep up the hard work 🙂Hi Laura!
I totally agree and I think those of us who like to train dogs are guilty of doing that!!! I think this will be very helpful in his success! Take care and thank you for taking the class!!! I look forward to hearing about all your progress!!!Hi Susan,
I personally would chalk that up to some success! If he did very well the first time, then that’s great! Given the fact that it was so hot and i’m sure humid there, my best guess is that the sluggishness was more to do with the heat than anything else.
I am always up for an invite to the North West when things settle down 🙂 I love that area! I have enjoyed working with you and Raven. Please don’t hesitate to ask questions in the future!!!Hi Margaret,
When you say 2 reps of the same pattern, do you me two successful reps? I am asking because, if she does it correctly the first time, why repeat it? <lightbulb> moment for me what when I quit repeating the same thing 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or ……….times, my dog quit getting bored and checking out on me, OR she would get creative and make stuff up!!! Say, go to the backside of a jump when I never cued it! If you get it right the first time change it up! Start at #3 or send the dog to jump #1 from the other side wrapping a wing and start that way of if there is a tunnel nearby, do the tunnel first, then start. If that is not the direction you are headed with your question (though that’s some good info to remember), you can do what other dogs do and goose Kelsie. Of course, in a fun, playful manner. So, if you are watching two dogs play and one of the dogs starts to ignore the other, they will run up to them and goose them to play. I usually sneak up behind the dog and goose them on the rear, then run the other way when they turn around. Get her to reengage with you.
Some of this will depend on her mental state. If she is playful and excited, bring out the toy, but always quit when she still wants more. You can move to food at that point but let her “win” the toy first (carry it off and drop it), then call her over, do some simple tricks/behaviors and reward with food at that point. Another thing you can do is to use low value food (Charlie bears, cheerios, boring things) and switch back and forth between that and her most favorite toy. Do this in a quiet place away from agility and see how she does. Make the toy a more exciting reinforcer than the food.
Personally, I really like to have both food and toy drive. I think you can have both too. There is a time and a place for both!
Great to hear that you are doing the fitness class, I think you and Kelsie will really enjoy it!Hi Barbara,
Great to hear that you’re seeing positive things with connection!Yes, those are actual course maps from AKC trials that either I have been to or my students. $29 is SUPER pricey!!! WOW!
Great that you are seeing a difference with the larger treat sizes. I have found that makes a big difference for some dogs!
THAT WAS FANTASTIC!!! Things I noticed big time, he was engaged the entire session, even when he took the toy and ran off, it was more of a play “thing” than anything stress related (Pepper does those “victory” laps). His tail was wagging and there were zero signs of stress that I saw on my end. I would keep this up! Flynn has some great skills, you have done a nice job training those skills, I think short sessions like this one several times a day (if your schedule allows) would be super beneficial to his training. I think what it boils down to for him is his mental stamina in a training/trialing environments? I would guess that around the house he can be pretty chill? This is a great start and I really think it goes back to the idea is quality training (which you are a great trainer) is better than quantity. Nice job!
Hi Margaret,
I wouldn’t worry about it at all. It looked like she didn’t collect going in and had a hard time recovering. PLUS, you were running ahead, and she followed you 🙂
So, when she is done with the hollee roller, I would try to get her on a favorite toy first and if that is successful, then quit. If we constantly default to food, we ultimately reinforce the dog for not taking the toy. Does that make sense? We must be a bit careful about our mechanics here.
I think you can start running her at her normal jump height. It may take her a bit to build up her stamina, but then you can move her down to 16″ when she starts slowing down. She is past the lowered jump height stage, but if you are working on something technical and she gets overthoughtful, you can easily drop the height.
Yes, you can use the MM, just vary the placement. Put it by the shop, near the tunnel, in the middle of the course, on a chair. The idea being that when you say, “get it” (or whatever verbal you use), she can go get it.
I did a UKI trial at home and the beginner level (smaller course) was a little tight and I felt a little “crunchy” for my dog. I have heard that the larger courses have more spacing. That was early on, so I am not 100% sure. The SS that you ran was nice. I think you could do any course (any venue and see). I am happy to look at whatever you send!Hi Margaret,
As far as a plan, I would incorporate your weaves and maybe an aframe into the speed circle.I would love to see what you do in class and how it goes!
Yes for the SS class, but you can send the new one if you would rather do that. I would run her at 16 or 20 the first time through. Handle it like a trial and keep going if she makes a mistake. I would like to test our progress 🙂
Yes, write it down, memorize it and carry it close to you!!!
Hi Laura,
That was nice!!! I agree, shorter sessions are better. Another thing you can do (assuming he will drive to a static toy) is when you are serping and he has to come in to pressure, you can drop the toy on his landing spot (or even food). Break it down and do a 180, but that will reinforce him coming into that pressure. I liked this for you guys and your course choice! You worked both ways of the serp (though I do think it is much harder for him to jump into you! Also, make sure that when you are wrapping the wing of the jump, you are already rotating towards the direction you want the dog to go. I tell my students all the time “upper body tells the dog where you are going now and the lower body indicates where we are going next”. Let me know if you have any questions.Well, I appreciate that!!! As I mentioned, this is a topic that is near and dear to me. I want to help teams be successful!!! I have a former student who was in this class the first time I offered it, and she and I both are taking and online skills and drills class from another instructor and I have to admit, I LOVE seeing her videos of her dog running now!!!
My most favorite saying is “Remember WHY you started”! No matter where our agility journey takes us, I think it is so important to remember that!
Things are not always going to be successful and training sessions will not look picturesque, but as they say it ebbs and flows. When I have “less than stellar” training sessions, I remind myself that this is part of going from point A to point B and that the next day will be better!
I am so glad that you and Kelsie took this class and hope that you will share your successes (because I think you two are on the brink of something really REALLY FUN)!!!It is hard to say. I would work on those based on the effort she is giving you. If she does 1-2 correctly, I would move on. I RARLY did much at the practice jump with Pepper (or any of my dogs for that matter). For a couple reasons, but those included the surface in our area usually gets crummy at the practice jump, but the big one is my dogs get super bored there and if I repeat too many things, they tend to get slow and creative. I took an online class one time and the instructor said she never repeats the same thing twice if the dog gets it correct fast and efficiently the first time. I think this is especially important for the more thoughtful dogs. I hope that answers your question?
Hi Laura,
Okay, so I am SO impressed with your ability to run in rubber boots!!! WOW!HAHA! I loved the boring vs exciting and she LOVED the exciting! LOOK AT THAT SPEED!
Forward focus looks much better, I would just focus a little more on delaying the reinforcement. Rather than throw the toy out there, hold the toy and when she looks forward, you throw it. Does that make sense?
If you pause the video at 3:33, you will see that your feet and shoulders are rotated towards your toy (or the opposite end of the tunnel). I would have just driven harder to the correct end of the tunnel. One thing you can do to help keep her off the toy when you don’t want her to have access to it is to place a bucket over the top. Then just kick the bucket over when you drive to the toy. 4:25 was much better on your part!
Same thing at 6:20, you are rotating off the entrance of the tunnel and she is pulling into you. She took that off course jump because you were connected to her, you looked up and then you reconnected. If you watch the video in slow motion, you will see that when you look up, she focuses on that off course jump. She is very literal. I would really try to trust your peripheral vision with her.
MUCH better on the next rep at 7:00! If you watch both videos, you will see a vast difference between the handling on both. She is super honest 🙂 Nice job on the last rep too.
I think I would agree with you on the jump height given her age. I would rather see you do that because you want to run her for a few more years than because you HAVE to.Hi Laura,
I think that some of the wide turns was due to a little lack of clarity from your physical cues? On your first rep, I was a bit confused just watching whether you wanted him to wrap the jump or do the rear cross? On your second sequence, right at 2:18 you were headed down the line, but there was little connection as you were leaving. If you pause the video at 2:20, you will see you are standing at the 3rd jump in the serp. I would have focused more on the take off point (or at least pointed to) on the serp jump. Yes, while it is important to get down the line on serps, we still need to address each obstacle.
Then the stress begins. As you know, Flynn is not very forgiving if he thinks there has been a mistake made. One thing I would like for you to try is to just play with him anyway. You can ask for a behavior (say, a hand touch or a silly trick before you present the toy), but this really helped Pepper break the “trance” when stress was present. Initially, I had to just play with her. I love the phrase “reward the effort”! Meaning that any effort that the dog makes in the right direction, needs to be rewarded. Now, that being said, I am a BIG advocate for rewarding the dog especially when I make a mistake!
On your next rep when he takes the tunnel, I think this is either a bit of overthinking on his part or it could be an avoidance behavior (knowing that the serp was not all that reinforcing). There was a time in Pepper’s training (I am sounding repetitive, but this is IMPORTANT) where no matter what happened, she got the reinforcement. This was HARD for me since I ultimatley did not want to reinforce behaviors that I did not want! BUT, I had to break it down in my own head of rewarding behavior for NOT leaving me to showing signs of stress (which means I had to be quick to catch her before it happened).
I’ve noticed that Flynn is pretty sensitive to noises in the neighborhood? Mostly other dogs barking? But also, there was a lawn mower that started in one video and I believe a motercycle that drove by in another? Of course, you knew at 3:05 that was the big distraction there. Though at 4:03 the dog did not bother him at all.
Much better connection at 3:29, but then your blind was late at the next jump. If you pause it at 3:30, you will see that you are still driving forward when you should be indicating the jump. BUT, you still went into reward mode and that kept his drive up!
Two other things, when you say get it and present the toy, I would love for you to move. The other thing is I REALLY like your running starts and Flynn stays much more engaged here!
Your last repetition was MUCH better! More verbals for the turn at #2, Flynn likes this! Much better connection on the serp line and the blind was much better! Nice work!
