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Hi Shirley,
Sounds good! Have fun with Lori, that should be a good time! Yes, I wouldn’t let sniffing become part of the “play” factor in agility. If they get to sniffing, I would find an exit and leave (meaning look for a line of jumps or obstacles (1-3) and head towards the exit. We will talk about this more in depth in lesson 5.
Nice job on the game and the speed circle. The only thing I would do differently is start the “game” as soon as you start to lead out (rather than lead out, then start the game). Does that make sense?Hi Susan,
Glad to have you back! To answer your question, be sure you are looking forward too. I generally tilt my chin forward and then have my dog in my peripheral vision. Yes, sometimes distractions can be helpful in the initial phases. I see what you are saying, you two are staring lovingly into eachothers eyes 😉 The second attempt was better, but I think if you look forward she will too 🙂
Invitational #1 – Fantastic job!!! Congratulations on your run!!! How did you train your weaves? That seemed to be the place where the motivation ended and then begins a little later?
Invitational #2 – This one wasn’t bad at all! The important thing is that you got her back. Her weaves were better that time, but that was also away from the stressor. How does she do with acclimation work, or just hanging around outside the ring with cookies or a bully stick.
Speed circles: These look great! I thought the speed on both was nice and fast!!! You can also lower the jumps (assuming she doesn’t have any jumping issues) with speed circles. I usually do one set at my dog’s normal jump height and then keep the rest lowered.
Does all that make sense?Hi Melissa,
Great to have you back!
Reinforcement station looked really good. I love how you broke it down for her in the beginning and work up to using it in a sequence. I also like how you are paying attention to play before and after! Nice job!
LBG: I see what you are saying about her jumping. I would just be sure your treats are delivered early and that you are rolling them across the floor to elongate her stride. You did a nice job being early with the delivery of your treat!
Drill 1, how did you feel about the speed? I thought it looked good! I like how you played with her at the end and got down on her level. All the hand touches and tricks were really great!!! NICE JOB!!! Look forward to more video.Hi Charmaine,
Merry Christmas!!! Looks good with both. I think I actually prefer the motivation with the toy over the food (even though the food is easier to work with). So, the long term idea of this game is to say the word ready and the dog immediately locks on to the agility course. So if I am leading out and I tell my dog to stay (or I can even use opposition reflex) and say “ready” they will forward focus on the first obstacle (or path of the dog). I am not necessarily trying to get the dog to look at me, then look forward. We will talk more about this exercise in the next lesson. Does that make sense?On the weaves, the only thing that I would do a little different is I would be sure that 12 poles is done in a “comfy” environment. Also, keep in mind that if she ONLY has entry problems and is great with the other weaves and exits, then we work the 4. So it depends on what you are trying to accomplish.
So, for the handling more aggressively, I would look at Stacy and Pru’s thread. I will cover it in the next lesson, but we were working on the same thing with her and Pru. I posted a video I did with Pepper and it shows the difference between standing still and handling and really moving. Let me know if you don’t find it! Merry ChristmasHi Sara,
I thought those were really good! I am thinking the bar came down because there was a HARD connection on your blind when you switched sides. Perhaps that was too much pressure for her? Does she seem to slow down and question you when you are looking at her? I had another student I worked with live and all we had to do was change where she looked when she was running and her dog quit knocking bars!
Your crosses were timed nicely and you do a super job with your rewards. How did you feel about her speed?
I will have time to check courses, just send away 😉Hi Kirstin,
Nice work! On the first sequence, my thoughts are yes, the dog was distracting, but also, you kept your feet pointing towards the other dog for quite some time actually indicating that jump. I agree that your spacing was tight, but sometimes this is the case on courses. So a couple things that could’ve helped. Rotate sooner, call his name, did a take off side front cross rather than a landing.
On the second rep on this video, I would have for sure rewarded him after the 2nd or 3rd jump since that was hard from him to work away from the distraction (and he was FAST)!
One thing I would like you to start doing is when you are warming up/playing, I would like for you to include 1 obstacle. Play, play, play, jump, frisbee throw
First drill on the second video was great!
Yes, late on the blind around 1:23 so I think I would have rewarded him anyway. Much better the next time. The two jumps he went around during the rest of the course were due to distraction (1st jump) and lack of connection (2nd jump). Super easy fixes, but here’s the fun. 1st jump I would have had him go back and take the jump, rewarded and repeated. Second jump I would have started back at the tunnel (via speed circle) had him repeat the jump tunnel and rewarded him for doing so. Because the 1st jump was his mistake and the 2nd jump was mine. Does that make sense? It is hard to see that when it is all happening so fast.
Nice job finishing when a speed circle. You are also doing a great job interjecting the play into training. Very nice work here!!!This was good! There is a fine line between the choice to reward in this situation and not to reward. I usually never let my dogs fail more than 2x. If they do, I will make it easier. I think there was a couple things going on here. One, you were not being super clear that you wanted the poles (running and pointing to the poles with intent). I want my dogs to send to the poles, but I also need to help them. Does that make sense? I would like for you to be sure you are making the poles clear. If she still misses, then maybe the entry was too hard and needs to be easier. If I am not guiding the dog very well and they miss, I may chose to reward. If I am communicating clearly and they miss, I might just say “try again” in a happy voice and try it again. BUT, in your case we are also watching for lack of confidence or demotivation. If she slows WAY down, I might reward any interaction with the poles and then move to rewarding correct poles as Zoe stays fast and happy. I like that you are only using 4 poles. Let me know if this clarifies things. And when in doubt, just reward.
As far as the crosses, I think you can easily get a blind in some of those places. Again, if you’re late, just reward. I would like to see some blinds and we can go from there. The LBG was good. I would keep playing it and work on more distance. Even if you just have a jump or two and a tunnel.
Finally, I want to mention that if you find yourself standing still, then we need to adjust your handling so that you are moving. When you stand still on a course, then dog starts to question lack of movement and they slow down. Make sense?Hi Tom,
Here is some work with my rear cross class I did this past year. This is my foundation program and if this is too basic or you need more video, let me know. As far as the weaves, I would keep the reps to as few as possible. Meaning, if Cody does one perfectly the first time, don’t ask for them again. Let me know if you have any questions.Drills-
Circle work with a human – I really like to start with humans 😊 This is a great way to get your mechanics down before you bring the dog into the picture. In this case, the shorter the human the better. First you will want to move your human to your side. You are going to be walking in a circle, so it is important to have your human on the outside of the circle (clockwise, the human will be on your left and counter clockwise the human on your right). Begin by moving in a ten-foot circle. You can have the treat in your outside hand (my humans like chocolate). Start circling. Show them forward motion, then stop, change the reward from the outside (human side) hand to the other hand, lure the human so that they turn away from you and begin moving the other direction (this part can be a little tricky if your human is tall, they may need to duck). Take a couple steps and reward. The human should be turning AWAY from you and never towards you in this exercise. A good thing to remember is your human will turn their back towards you as they turn. Again, you will move forward, pass the reward from one hand to the other, bringing the human in front of your path, have them turn away from you, and reward. Be sure to reward the human and work both directions. Video: https://youtu.be/Wy4Vjur8uE8
Rear Cross Circle Work with Dog – First you will want to move your dog to your side. You are going to be walking in a circle, so it is important to have your dog on the outside of the circle (clockwise, the dog will be on your left and counter clockwise the dog on your right). Begin by moving in a ten-foot circle. You can either have the treat in your hand or use a long cooking spoon with some peanut butter on the end. Start circling. Show them forward motion, then stop, change the reward from the dog side hand to the other hand (or you can have cookies in both hands – just be sure to mimic passing the cookie from one hand to the other), lure the dog so that they turn away from you and begin moving the other direction. Take a couple steps and reward. The dog should be turning AWAY from you and never toward you in this exercise. A good thing to remember is your dog’s tail should brush against your knees. Again, you will move forward, then lure the dog from one hand to the other, bring the dog in front of your path, have them turn away from you, and reward. Be sure to reward the dog and work both directions. As your dog begins to understand this concept, you can add a verbal. You can certainly use left and right or a word that means left and right. Or you can use a single word that means turn away from me (in this case, I use the word “switch”. As your dog gets better, you will want to make your circles bigger and faster. Video: https://youtu.be/Xz6k8dMBjII
Obstacle commitment – Here I would like for you to set up the same drill we did in the Pre-games for Obstacle Commitment. I would like for you to do the same thing in that drill, but you will cross behind the dog as they head towards their reinforcement. Here is an example:Videos:
Jump: https://youtu.be/2JRsqmdjm6Y
Tunnel: https://youtu.be/W1e2EFLjaMs
Rear Cross on the flat – This is an advanced version of the circle work. I would practice with a human first, then add the dog. Begin by setting two bars or markers on the ground at a 90-degree angle. You can either have the treat in your hand or use a long cooking spoon with some peanut butter on the end. Have the dog on the inside of the angle with you closer to the outside (or longer path). Send the dog ahead of you, have them turn away from you and then toss the reward. The dog should be turning AWAY from you and you MUST cross behind them. A good thing to remember is you are always crossing behind your dog.
Video:
Human: https://youtu.be/DyIJla_sVAs
Dog: https://youtu.be/ZpUEFcDWwjw
Reward placement – I want to discuss this a bit. When we reward from the human, we are building handler focus. Because we want the dog to be more in obstacle focus for rear crosses, I must reward wisely. Meaning that in my initial stages of learning a rear cross, I will reward from my hand. But as the dog gets more confident through the turns and circle work, I will start to vary my reward placement. Meaning there are times I will toss the cookie ahead, times I will reward from my hand and times I will use a placed toy or human with a toy. The reason for this is because where I am headed out of a rear cross varies and sometimes I will need the dog to remain in obstacle focus and other times I will need the dog to go into handler focus. Reward placement is also very dog dependent. If you have a dog that tends to be on the handler focused side, you will want to reward the line more or ahead of you. If you have a dog that is more obstacle focused, then you will want to reward more from the human.
