Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi Margaret!
I think this looks really good!! She likes the “pink panther” type playmode from you and she really loves the cookie toss game! Cheese is a great idea. If she sniffs, take off running and get her to reengage with you through motion and “chase” for the food. If she grabs jumps, you can use a “oh, does that mean you want to play?” keep her excited and engaged. I know in agility we used to say (some still do) not to let our dogs take equipment unless we ask for it. I think for a soft dog, this is like telling a shy kid they need to be quiet and not talk so much! This may change later, but for now let her take the obstacles. You were a tad late on some of your crosses, but at 2:00, your timing was GREAT and your turn was GREAT!
You can also get a couple more lotus balls and use them for the treat toss. Another idea (this depends on Kelsie’s ability to handle this) is if she doesn’t find the treat right away, run over and grab it and take off running. One of the easiest ways to teach a dog to catch a treat (this is a seperate skill – same concept) is if the dog doesn’t catch the treat when you toss it to them, you grab it when it hits the floor and don’t let them have it. Still being fun, but they will work harder to get it the next time. Does that make sense?
I think there are some really good thing here!!! When you feel comfortable, you can start raising the bars and if there are other sequences you want to run with more handling, you can send those to me. I think she has a harder time when you are late with your handling. I would like to see more crosses so that we can start to work on that part. She is looking good and she is HAPPY!!! I love the energy from both of you!Hi Susan,
That lools really good!!! I think any kind of “active” movement will really help!!! Yes you can use anything to help with the backup and using a wall or a fence along one side is perfectly fine! Let me know if you have any questions!Hi Laura,
I am seeing some good things here though! He is reengaging quicker all the time! You are being very conciencious of your upper body with him and as the session goes on, he gets tighter and tighter. I have a couple thing I would like for you to try:
1 – There is a collection exercise with a tunnel and towo wings I want you to try. Set up your tunnel in a soft “U” shape with a jump on either end (simular to drill 2 in week 2 but only two jumps instead of 4. Initially, I would like the jumps about 18′-20′ from the exit of the tunnel, but then I would like them to move further and further away. Send over the jump and into the tunnel, wrap the inside wing of the second jump (third obstacle) and back into the tunnel. Make sure he is tight and collected. You can go back and forth with this game several times using your collection cue nice and early (before or as he exits the tunnel). I like to just use a wing so that they can get low and really dig into those turns. I would also send around the wing once in a while and (me) run between the wing and the tunnel presenting the toy on the dog-side hand and having him chase me across the yard. He will be wrapping the wing 360 degrees. Does that make sense? I am on the road, so I can’t send you a video example, but I will message you a picture.
2 – I would also like to see a second toy avaliable so that when he checks out, you can get his head and run with the second toy away from him getting him to reengage with you and a BIG party when he does.
3 – Since his porch is a safe zone for him, I would place his reward station on the opposite side of the yard. I think I have seen you vary the location? This is good! I would try not to put it near his escape area.
I understand about the neutering. I was so worried when I neutered Keen. You will know if/when it is right. Heading to your neck of the woods! The weather looks nice where you are 🙂Sounds good! Look forward to more video. They also have a Facebook page and may be more responsive there. I think it’s TouchandGoUSA
Yes! http://www.cleanrun.com sells a variety of them. If it is the pouch, make sure the opening is big enough for your dog to put their nose in and get the treat.
Hi Susan,
Here is how I get started on backing up:
Backing up.
Planes of motion: Medial/Sagittal. With this exercise we are warming up the muscles in their hind end – hamstrings and the glutes and increasing rear-end awareness. Some key points are: In the beginning it is especially important to reward ANY weight shifting backwards. Then ANY foot movement backwards. One of the big mistakes handlers make is to ask for too much too soon, reward the little steps/parts. When I say reward, I mean mark then reward. That said, MARK WHILE THE DOG IS MOVING BACKWARDS and better yet, reward while the dog is still in motion (cookie placement in a minute)!!! For years, I was rewarding my dogs when they would take 4-6 steps back, then stop for the cookie, so I was rewarding the stop. They got VERY sticky!!! Which brings me to reward placement. I try to throw the cookie in between the dog’s front legs to generate
a few more steps backwards.
• Try to reward on the ground rather than from your hand. In the video, you can see a distinct difference in the dog’s head position (translating to other parts of the body) when I reward from my hand.
• Right now, I am not concerned with whether my dog is backing up straight (I can fix that later). Your focus in this lesson should be in teaching the dog to back up in proper position (head NOT positioned up and arched back).
• Remember to use your nose touch and/or reset cookie to reset the dog if needed. Or you can bring them in for a game of tug!
As I mentioned, there are several different ways demonstrated on the video. You can try them all if you want but find one (or more) that works well with your dog and then go from there. The video cut off and in the end with the x-pen set up. You will want to move your target further back to fade the x-pen out and just have the dog back up to the target. Please let me know if you have questions with this and I would be happy to post another video.
Video: https://youtu.be/EVHLmQ_wDV8Hi Barbara,
You certainly can reward with food! You can use a plastic container (small tupperware where the lid fits tight so you can throw it). If you want to run with food, you can use a lotus ball or an old sock with food in the sock. There are lots of food stuffable toys on the market too. Let me know if you would like some suggestions on the ones I like to use. I would be sure to acclimate your dog to anyone of these away from the agility field, then once they know that they both dispense food and they are chasing the sock or running to the thrown container, then I would take it out and try it with agility. Please let me know if you have any questions.Hi Laura,
Thank you! She was very deceiving in that she really didn’t look like she was running that fast, but covered a lot of ground 🙂 Good times!Okay, so a couple tweaks I would like for you to try in your handling. One is if you watch the playback of your video from 0:40, you will see that when he missed the jump and if you pause it at 0:44 seconds, you will see you rotated off the jump before he was fully committed. I would have addressed the turn at #3 with a reverse spin (I don’t tend to do many of them, but this would have possibly been a place for one) or simply decelerated before #3 for collection. This caused the big wide turn that caused him to look for the tire when you powered down the line. For Flynn, it is going to be extremely important for you to set the line. I assume you walk the dog’s path when you walk a course? Remember he needs information VERY early (like 2-3 obstacles before). I am not necessarily talking about verbal’s, but more about deceleration and being very aware of his line. You can also play around with dropping your shoulder back to invite him in on the line from #4-#5. Some dogs are very responsive to this and need that invite. Not as efficient for the handler and depending on your threadle cue, it might not be consistent. Great job with the reward station here!
On the second go, you were much better about your shoulders at #2 and do you see how you had more of a lateral send to #3? That deceleration on your part cued a better turn here and your shoulders were physically rotated more towards the tunnel. I liked this for you!
Next repetition: Great job rewarding the deceleration here and sending him to the reward station!
When he leaves (like around 3:20 and a couple other times), what is he hunting? Is it an avoidance behavior?
He does a nice job at 4:15 sticking with you. I really like the active behaviors where you ask for easy things, then send him to the reward station or toy.
Lots of good things here!Hi Margaret,
Below is the video on food play and here is the email for the toy. I would contact them ASAP, they were going to place an order to the UK and may either have extra inventory or there may be time to add yours. I paid $40 for the toy and they would calculate shipping when they were ready to send.Video: https://youtu.be/3MMtcOKrD3I
Treats: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0747T1WCS/ref=twister_B07XPXBJP2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=
Okay, sounds like you are doing all the right things! I’m sure some of this he will grow out of. My recommendation is to get him out several times and let him settle on his raised bed, take food, then he can go back into his safe zone where he is comfortable. The objective being having him settle earlier, then working on duration from there.
Hi Kathleen,
She’s looking good and happy to work!!! I think you are doing a nice job addressing commitment (when she comes in and then doesn’t take the jump you asked for). She doesn’t seem to be stressing or overthinking things. I am glad that your friends are noticing a difference, it is always nice to have that reassurance!
Nice work!Hi Margaret!
This was GREAT!!! I am starting to see some nice extension in her stride!!! The drills were great.
Regarding food and movement, you can still use food and get her to chase you (I will get you some video tomorrow). When I went and learned from the protection sport trainer, that’s how they start their puppies is with food (since is it a dog’s primary reinforcer). You can also toss the food to the dog and have them catch a treat.
Personally, I think it is time for you to go shopping 😉 I actually just ordered a toy that is a lotus ball thing on a bungee tug. Might be something to help Kelsie transition to food/toys? They are located in the UK, but have distributers here in the US. Here is the toy: https://www.touchangok9.co.uk/ultimate-chase-the-ace/
I can send you my toy contact if you are interested?
