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Yes! Perfect with the walking around the field and paying her for engagement. This helps her take in the environment and then she gets to be rewarded for engagement with you. Pretty soon she will be less worried about the environment and more excited about the yummy reward coming from you. You are not asking for engagement, but waiting for her to offer it on her own.
Do you have an xpen? If you do, I would set it up near the ring and when you are building she will have the opportunity to take in the environment. You can also pair that time with a peanut butter kong or a bully stick or something along those lines. I would spend more time on the wobble board and make those part of her everyday life. You can lessen the wobble at first by putting a pillow or towel under it and that will also muffle the sound. My young bc was the first dog I ever had that was scared of heights and unsteady surfaces. Make sure you are using the HIGHEST value rewards you can get (even if that means steak dinner). And for sre do some plank work. I think she is associating the teeter and the dw with each other. I assume your cues are different, so she knows which one she is getting on?Okay, so some nice stuff here and some things I want you to work on with your play mechanics. One is, put more effort into the finish play! You do a very nice job paying before he starts and you get the engagement, but then he takes the jump and you give him the cookie or tug and a few times you literally walk away to reload your cookies. I want you to spend 10-15 seconds after the obstacle playing. I still like the energy you get with the tug over the food. Tails seems to be a bit more thoughtful with food and in “play” drive more with toys. We really want to heighten the play mode. On your creeping away, I want it more pronounced. This is one of the startline games I will introduce next week. I love it and it really got my dogs super focused on me when we started building our startlines. Make sense?
Okay, lots of video here so I hope I can cover everything. I love your energy in the videos today and I think Zoe did too!!! So, have you ever had a conversation with someone who was on their phone or computer and the whole time they never look up and are completely distracted? I use the scenario with my students in that I ask them to tell me about their recent vacation and as soon as they start talking I turn my back on them. I ask them if they feel like I am engaged in the conversation with them, and of course the answer is no. So, when you go to the agility field and she is totally distracted, give her some time to engage with you FIRST before you ask her to do any obstacles. If she chooses to engage with you or the obstacles, you can reward her. Jackpots for you, if she takes an obstacle, a cookie is fine. As she works through her environment, she begins to get more engaged with you and what you are doing (yay). Do you take her on a walk around the area and let her decompress a little? She would certainly be a dog I would do this with. Jackpotting for any and all engagement with you! I also would have quit in the second video around the 2:15 mark. Great job with your rewards, I just want to see them more often.
With regards to the teeter, have you played other versions of the bang game? I can send you some video of it later this week. Also, I would start with a plank on the ground and work from there. Get her to run across it. You may be able to detach the teeter plank and use that. I would have her do it several times a day for very high value treats and perhaps when she is a little hungry. She is definitely worried. There are lots of things we can do to build on, but I would like to see how she handles the plank on the ground first.Let her lose her mind. I would rather have a thoughtful dog make mistakes than be slow and correct 🙂 It is hard to do, but so worth it!
Hi Diana,
Glad to have you here! Scary about the kennel cough in AZ! I hope it clears up soon.
We are going to start out startline games in week two. In the meantime, how good is her stay? Can you leave her one the start and jog out to your position and release her while you are moving? This really helped Pepper speed off the startline.
How did you train the rdw? Did you use a mat or what it more foot placement in relation to the end of the dw?
You absolutely can name a behavior or put a name to motivate her. My crazy dog loves bubbles (she is a bit psycho with them – literally). We discovered this when we were working through her fears with my kids and their noise level. When things got tough for her (too much noise), I would yell bubbles and run outside and play bubbles with her. It brought her out of her trance and turned into a game. If you use the word, pair it with Endo’s favorite activity. When we made it to our first Steeplechase finals and AKC finals, I used that word on the startline to get her fired up. Make sense?Hi Christy,
Great to have you guys here! We are going to talk about the speed at the end of a run 🙂 In the meantime, let me know if you have any questions regarding week one!Hi Debbie,
Great to see you here!!! It is hard to have a dog that is so in-tune to our emotional state! Have you played the two toy game with Cash? Will he come back for a second toy of equal value?Hello Sara and Jinx!!! So a couple things. Glad you guys are here! He is super cute and oh what fun! It looks like at the seminar with Chris you were working on rear crosses? While that is a super useful skill to have, I would focus more on blind crosses with Jinx. You can run, she likes to chase you, and when you rotate into her, the pressure is hard to handle. I also really like how you get her into bark/play mode when you are getting ready to run her. I would make sure this happens ALL the time, even at a trial. I didn’t see that in the trial video, looks like the barking dogs on the other side of the ring gate stressed her out a little? Can you take him to the building when other classes are going on to let him play ball or eat cookies for short sessions?
Hi Kyle,
Okay, that gives me a clearer picture. So, I like what you are doing at the start (a bit of opposition reflex, then a running start). HOWEVER, do you see at 0:10 how she looks behind her? Does she often disengage when you are leading out with the running start? In week two, I am going to introduce startline games. I think there are MANY people that need them in class 🙂 That is a BIG disconnect for more thoughtful dogs.
With the weaves, I would just like for you to go back and reinforce them a bit. It never hurts to go back to foundation work to build confidence and speed back up.
What I meant by the last sentence is when the dogs are struggling with 12 poles and let’s say they are popping out at weave 6. If they get to 8 and pop, I will reward the 8, and build from there. That is at home, during practice. Make sense?Hi Kathy,
Thanks for all the information. As far as uploading video, what will you be using to record and then upload? Camera on your phone? Iphone or Android? Video camera then transferring it to a computer?
Do you have some video of her runs in training vs in the ring? I would like to see the difference. ThanksHi Gwen!
Glad to have you both here!!! There are several dogs with working spots that sound like Al-Vinn, you can subscribe to their threads and follow along. Let me know if you have any questions!We will cover startline games next week, but in the meantime, work on a back up with you and him both backing up at the same time. He takes a few steps back while you step back the other way. Think of it like he is at the startline, you are leading out, but cueing him to back up as you walk away. No obstacles at this point. Make sense?
Use the speak cue. This often is a “play” trick. It is fun for dogs to bark.
