[beverley thomson]

Hi thanks for your comments

One thing to add at home is getting her as aroused as possible, then asking for simple stays.
Haha still working hard on in between ie presence of agility equipment – then will move to high arousal- doesnt take much to crete that three or four jumps will do it..

. She is not 100% sure about the layering, so that is where we will want to look at reward placement to help build the skill.
Yes this is new to her. I realised later I should have had her bag out there. I stupidly thought are she sends she will be fine- forgot that adding the tunnel in changed the picture.

Remember that these are not gamble sends, they are parallel path lines. If you are sending and not moving, she will correctly read that as turn cues and curl in.

Yes I realised that too. I think it was because turning a corner it felt easier to stop..

– Send to 1 and 2, then run run run 🙂 no standing still!
– throw the reward out on the line, don’t reward from your hand (more on that below)
is it okay to have reward ahead of her

Back to reward placement:
To really build the understanding, though, throw the reward sooner and out on the line. It looks like you were rewarding from your hand which builds more value for coming to you and not staying on the line. Yes can be dumb sometimes – she cant be bothhered finding food if I throw it. need to use a toy or a placed reward.

This means you will need to run with the toy in your hand so you can throw it easily and on time, which is great experience for her as she learns to self-regulate arousal. If she is not great about bringing it back right away, have a 2nd toy to call her back to. You can also use a food toy like a lotus ball or treat hugger, as long as she can open it herself and not need you there to open it.
Alaways use two toys or a placed anchored toy. Treat tuggers etc only interested in as a toy will not look for the food- too much effort for food.

One more idea about reward placement:
To get her to not jump up on you: don’t use a ‘yay good girl’ because that is not super clear and she will jump up. Instead, use a reward marker and throw the reward. Ifyou are throwing the reward, jumping up won’t be a problem. You will likely need to work out getting the toy back after you throw it so you can really work on the distance and layering skills.

will do

Sequence 2 went well too – when she lines up between your feet (fun skill!) be sure to step away and have her on the correct side so she knows which way to go rather than releasing from between your feet.
working on it. This is the first time tried it in presence of jumps and she is still not 100% sure of me moving (she thinks I might stand on her) so I didnt want to push it so didnt move. But it is proving the easiest way of getting her facing the jump rather than yelling at me..

Seq 3: If you are not layering, try to run that opening line 1-2-3-4 silently, so you crank up your connection – that is where her questions are (not enough connection). Same goes for any sequence not layering: run silently to really emphasize connection and not high arms looking ahead. Yes, I am evil 🤣😂😁 but it will make a huge difference!
will do

Sorry did some more work while weekend as limited daylight and chances to do

We did some more work on sequence 5 with her bag out there and she layered beautifully – why- I was moving and she had plenty of speed and it was the second time. Unfortunately the videoer stuffed up and didnt get it on film. Pity as she did some really nice work and it felt almost smooth and calm…Its didnt last

Then tried seq 6 – things went abit to custard. Waits started to fail and I was all over the place. I couldnt get the first layer and the second layer she did the first jump fine but was going wide and missing the next jump then cutting in bypassing 11 and coming to 12. Because I wasnt getting the 1st layer i wasnt in the right place to get the slice to turn around and go back. on video I can see arms and everything going in all directions.
first go

the rest sorry not pretty

[beverley thomson]

Hi

In Synch is a work in progress with waits. I now have a good stable wait away from jumps and often in presence of a couple jumps at home it is still very difficult elsewhere. I tried a plaftform and yes she was stable onplatform but hard to get her to be settle on platform. I have been experimenting with a between the legs this has been helping alot although not as obvious in this session. I placed her there a couple of times in this session havent tried that before I think it helped. Here is first 4 jump indep exercies the far jump (no 4 in first exercise) was hard to get she tended to curl in unless i went the other side of the tunnel. Something to work on. After 4 exercise In Synch said she had enougn and so we finished it was nice she told me and didntjust go silly. Did also with Fusion and she aced them all – showing me how far she has come- if only we could get in the ring.

Beverley

[beverley thomson]

Yes. I did it and it was reasonably easy not surprising as both have strong drive to jump but got thinking why couldnt they do it in the ring then. Realised more obstacles behind them in ring when start is away from course. They go but arent we go the wrong way in the ring so will work on this.

InSynch says its not the wait itself that is hard it is staying still long enougn to get a wait. Once she sits still (In Synch says shouldnt be allowed) can get some lead out but all or nothing at the moment.

• This reply was modified 1 week, 6 days ago by beverley thomson.

[beverley thomson]

these look fun. As expected neither of my dogs cared about be being behind them. But I thought I might set up the same exercise with more equipment behind them as I think they will find that harder. In Synchs biggest issue was waiting !! no surprise there so great exercise for reinforcing her wait.

Beverley

[beverley thomson]

hi is there supposed to be something under agility 2 bits

[beverley thomson]

thanks that worked

[beverley thomson]

Had a weekend away last weekend. In Synch was going great we just had a few off courses because I either didnt see something when I walked it or I couldnt get the commands out early enougn to prevent. The courses were all at the hard end for the level.Will post videos when get round to editing them. Nice that I knew each time what went wrong although after a mistake is made it is hard to get a smooth run back.

Waits need a lot of work – she has totally worked out the game so lots of work happening here.

Interesting getting alot more drive over the last jump but no longer wanting a pick up she is growling with excitment as she goes around. Was very pleased so much value for the bag as when she didnt want to be picked up we just headed to the bag and moved away. Got the treats out and she was putting her head in lead for treat. This was our original plan before she started coming to me to be caught. So no panics no pressure just a practised finish.

Interesting she was highly focused on food especially at the end of a run this is new usually toys are all she is interested in.

Lots of wait training going on at home and else where. Plus some weave work.
Weaves I opened up and got more range in terms of direction. When closed again didnt see any change in that still going fast and from different angles. so the opening was a good move. Have added a jump before the weaves and she loves that.

Contacts have been using a target at the end of the dog walk – she is much more confident on my dog walk and getting a run down to the target.

Overall pleased with progress – just need to work hard on generating value for the waits.

Beverley

[beverley thomson]

Is she offering different behaviors after 2 reps, even when she has been correct? That is something to work through at this stage before closing the weaves because it might be a sign she is still guessing on the first 2 reps. So you can open the weaves up for more success and more reps.

so obvious.yes she starts offering different behaviours after a couple of reps unless go do something else and come back. I think it is because she is unsure and starts to think too much and starts to think she is wrong also weaving is hard. I have opened up and this allows me to move around more ie different angles so this makes different I think in her head. If I send several times in same place I get a look that says why again- but she is more confident and fast when it is more open. I like this as I like to ping pong difficulty and struggle with this with weaves – so stupid not to have thought about opening up again. Have never trained channels before so didnt even think about it.

Also discovered if I am in the right place she does backsides and threadles- so just need to add the verbals and move me out of picture slowly.>

This is good!!! And yes, you can add more independence. How often are you seeing backsides and threadles in course design? I am guessing you see them at the higher levels – we see them a lot at the higher levels of one organization but much more rarely in the others.

None or if they are so open dont need the handling at her current level but alot in next level up. Although happy to stay current level am aware this may not happen . If we get it right and no spins or stops in a split class she is likely to win. If we get it tight and correct good chance she may win in unsplit but somew fast mid dogs so this is less likely.

Beverley

[beverley thomson]

Oops I am good at that when loading from phone

Leash off games are off to a good start. She found it exciting 🙂 TThe next step here is to be standing, then moving: take the leash off and reward after she sticks with you. Then if that goes well, take the leash off and reward after you move a few steps and she sticks with you. Then add a jump to the picture: for her to ignore and not to run to, when the leash comes off.

we have done quite a few of these games- I was feeling lazy and also wanted to go back to easy stuff as felt it was losing some value when always done around jumps. So this week have been trying to get alot of success and value in with very little failure just to reinforce the value of head into collar. Trying to see how many places and ways we can do it without pressure.

weaves ony really get two reps before she starts to try other things. I do sometimes use a wing – yes entrance needs some work but just pleased she is now driving to the end fast . She is better at getting entry when I have a toy rather than food. This morning added with me at a different angle she didnt care but need to add more and more severe also need to add me moving at the moment I am out of the picture

For the contacts: at this point, try to be more systematic about moving across them: you can back chain like you did on the last rep here, but that also means not letting her start without you 🙂 If the contacts can’t be lowered, then definitely back chain. You can bring her over to it on leash then pick her up (thankfully she is small :)) Also – you will want to add criteria for the end. Does she have a target you can use? On the video here, she went down the plank but jump off the side (did not touch yellow) and turned back to you. So definitely time to add a target to help her complete criteria.

haha great minds think alike – used a target this morning much better driving down. I had just been pleased that she was going up and over in one direction I wasnt watching the bottom so much. Previously was rolling a ball down so driving to the end. The reason for the difference is that one direction she will go on herself and go over happily in the other direction she bails before goes over the top so I was thinking I would keep backchaining by placing her on contact in direction she is not confident and encourage her to go on herself in the other direction but can go back to keeping both the same.

Also discovered if I am in the right place she does backsides and threadles- so just need to add the verbals and move me out of picture slowly. Have also been working on 270 with the three jumps to work on getting more nighter turns.

[beverley thomson]

hi
Great job on the good weekend! I think that the dogs missing the same jumps are probably also a connection issue. You look at the video and look for when you are calling them (before the tunnel) and if you are connected on the exit.
definitely and I didnt pick up that that without an instruction that their natural line after the tunnel was wider so they missed the tighter turn to line up for the jump. My bad I didnt see it.

Okay have been having rest but also a little training.
Doing lots of lead on off work – video here I am sitting but varying it in terms of my position and location- wanted to reinforce the value of this. Also doing abit with toy and also doing close to a jump


weaves- feel as if gone off script and doing what she wants. She can do six weaves quite close not completely straight but almost. have gone to 12 because didnt want patterning six. Widened them out at the start. and slowly narrowing them. Alterating according to success and failure. So in middle widest as that is where she kept failing and second six wider than first six. Have kept first six wider than when just six. I am also varying the distance I am to the weaves. I havent done alot of me changing the angle of the send since went to more poles. But firstly she seems to be having fun and when I only do 2 high rate of success although if dont eset her up right she will miss the first one. So each session making a little piece harder and then doing two attempts and finish. Totally not what I have done before The weaves are in a line just middle wider and on a slope. on watching video shouldnt have let her bounce in and out coming back.

Contacts. Dog walk mine she will go in one direction on her own and robyns also one direction. coming further yup ramp on second side and okay if start her on middle plank. A frame she has offered a go over on a lowered aframe a couple of times but most of time still running up and doewn or if lace gher at top she happily runs down

[beverley thomson]

You can buy pool noodles (not sure what they are called in NZ :)) and make a tyre. Or a small bicycle tyre? Just wrap it with tape so she doesn’t get a paw caught in it.
Yes that is my plan- couldnt do that with a big dog.- she handled the tyres well at the weekend but there placement suited her.

Definitely struggled with the wait this weekend so top priority to get that reinforced again. I am a bit concerned with her doing tricks with no lead on at the moment as she could easily decide to start but need t do more of this with training and I now have a small group of friends I am helping so can do it in a situation with other dogs running.

I think the big difference fusion and InSynch in the ring is all the brain camp stuff we did (plus slightly different natures) so she knows how to stay more focused. Fusion is doing so much better (not there yet) but when I get the timing right reverse spins and brake arms are huge. I did a reverse spin on one course when she was in full flying and she pulled off the jump in front and then stayed focused for the whole course (pity about the rail on second to last jump) and another course missed first brake arm (too slow at start) but second one I saw her collect and glance at me before she went in tunnel and turned. the other difference I think is the number of strides (although same speed) in that she has time to still turn.

It is funny! They will be very friendly at this stage, early in her career. Then when she starts winning a lot at the higher levels? They might be less friendly. People are odd like that!
haha I can already see that happening.. She is getting too many ribbons – the dog that is currently beating her is relatively experienced 3yr old- she is on freebies ie already won out but entries closed before she did.and has learn to be tight. me and Insynch will have no trouble getting there and no pressure to graduate on my side. when you have a dog being successful it is easier to step back and laugh at peoples attitudes.

On the higher level courses, are there more turns? That might actually be easier to handle with her, in some ways.
Tighter, more turns and changes of side although it varies as can get C at top end and B at bottom end. A few more obstacles and time tends to be tighter not that we will notice hat. no backsides or real threadles at jumpers c and not really serps. Any there are tend to be very wide. I also think she will enjoy the more turns once I get my head around it. The other thing about B is slightly less tolerance for baby dog behaviour as having won out of C you are supposed to have skills so am happy to play in C while we are sorting things out but if we dont its not a biggie.In terms of standard agility there are weaves at starters and then contacts at novice both of which I could enter her in but staying away from novice. Starters and novice dont have as much handling generally as a jumpers course.

We had a good weekend this weekend.
Just one starters where I took a toy in to reward some behaviours esp the wait at the start. I put her in a wait then released her away from course to the toy in my hand and then we lined up and went. but it did confuse her a little on course but I think it helped rewarding the wait. First jumpers I didnt call soon enougn (story of my life) so she turned and took a tunnel the rest was beautiful. Second course she broke her wait and was a little spinny but got a second. Third course was late in the day did some lovely send work. But missed a couple of jumps – fusion missed the same ones suggesting I missed the fact they would come of of a tunnel so wide but she tried hard .

[beverley thomson]

try again- lost last reply

Run 1 – WOW!! Look at her driving lines but also turning when asked. Also WOW!! Look at you running brilliantly AND with connection. So exciting!!!!!
Run 3 – 2nd video here – also super nice!! Her line driving gets better each time and also you are handling assertively which really helps.

yes loving her drive and she listens

Run 4 – also super nice! She is not yet driving 3 full obstacles away on those huge distances, but it is coming along nicely and I am sure that will lock in soon

also tyre was the last obstacle- although she knows it a little it is still a gap and she misses if any question. need to create a look alike tyre at home so becomes normal.
Run 5:
>run 5 had too long a wait before hand and lost her at the start should have stopped her and restarted>

Was the wait at the start line before the run began? Yes, you can re-start or re-start at jump 2. And if you feel the wait beforehand is getting too long, you can see if she will do a trick or something to keep connected to her when you are waiting.
Yes was doing tricks and then took off lead- which lead runner removed and realised the dog before me was taking for ever..could have made a cup of tea while waiting. She definitely relised this weekend that lead coming off means we are about to run and she got very skirmy when we were still waiting. lesson now need to keep her on lead until previous dog is almost finishing.

You both recovered nicely and the run went well!

Run 6 – this video link was the same as the run 4 video, can you repost run 6?
much the same as others she is getting quite consistent in how she runs in that the errors are easy to see in terms of timing etc.

>got a wait but argued over it and a second ribbon had a tyre at start which she managed.>

She might have been a bit brain-tired by then, but I am glad she was able to do it. And yay for the tyre!!I think it was also because she broke the wait in previous one (will slid out of my arms and started) and I wanted to make sure she didnt break again.

Overall thoughts for you:
There are a bunch of things I see that I am really excited about:
– your running and staying connected/ getting verbals out
– She is finding lines super well- I love this about her runs
– when she is not sure, she is looking for info but NOT getting frustrated or barking or jumping up – she is waiting for info and then getting right back on the line. Super!!! I love this too- at home still get the frustration a little but she is all focus and working in the ring.

A couple of ideas:
– to help her stay on the big lines after tunnels, you can give your tunnel exit verbals sooner (they are happening as she exits) and repeat them, such as saying GO GO GO GO if it is a straight line exit. No time for taking a breath or anything LOL!!

– that also applies to the very end – start your GO cues sooner and repeat them more.

I had been sick so lungs not workng well and she was running harder so now I have to catch up definitel need to do more commands as she responds well.

– Train the tyre 🙂 for her to find independently on lines. I also have to do that this week, with the smaller/weird looking tire the dogs see in UKI events here.

>next show back to nc as stand with weaves and still training those so will work on waits in ring and getting smoother.>

This sounds great!! She is doing REALLY WELL! If you listen closely on some of your videos, you can hear people in the background commenting on how cool the runs are! Yay!

Agility people funny. My rea friends were more excited about Fusions ribbon as they are hard to get. Other people suddenly want to talk to me because we have an amazing dog- that suddenly means I am a good trainer as opposed to a shit trainer… I find this funny. Others just commented how lucky I am to have such a biddable easy to train little dog – I just sniggered – biddable she is not …

I find her harder to train than my other dogs- perhaps because she is small and feisty. But she is easier to run than Fusion. Although she has a similar commitment point to Fusion I can pull her off whereas Fusion once she is fixed she is hard to change. I am pleased that long term she is going to handle in a similar way as it will definitely be easier- part of this is due to training in that try to encourage her to find the lines- see too many people here micromanaging the little dogs to get tight lines and this slows dogs down in that they dont drive their lines.

This weekend only two jumpers and rest have weaves so fewer runs and training runs only. hen several weeks to teach weaves, contacts tyres need to start on serps, threadles and backsdes In case we win out by accident ( I like seconds…) but think sshe will be easy to teach the handling as already done alot of it.

I am loving her drive and energy and that she seems to love the game so much

Beverley

PS she is the size of a larger pap so runs in the lowest height class here.- always had dogs in the highest height class before with Fusion being my smallest dogprior

Great job!

[beverley thomson]

Hi

We had a crazy weekend- with three ribbons no firsts which is good. She was getting cocky by the end. Plus baby mistakes – a few wides and spins plus tyre misses.

first video she got second for this by about 0.5 sec – just a little wide and couple hestitations

no video run 2 she had two spins and end up with five faults just 3 sec slower than wnner and a third place
Run 3 we missd the tyre towards end of course I lost her for a moment – tyres she is not confident on yet

sunday
run 4 missed tyre at end

run 5 had too long a wait before hand and lost her at the start should have stopped her and restarted

run 6 got a wait but argued over itand a second ribbon had a tyre at start which she managed.

next show back to nc as stand with weaves and still training those so will work on waits in ring and getting smoother.

Beverley

[beverley thomson]

Hi

Did a seminar last weekend- she did some amazing stuff. Lovely sends and got some blinds in. Instructor nearly stole her- I wasnt worried thought she would comeback fast. She kept working even when struggled. It was hot and I ran out of legs when we did the full 20 obstacle course. A few things to work on- leaving from the wraps, sending to a blind tunnel entrance-although she nailed this once worked it out and a backside wrap with me moving forward.plus waits. I was pleased with her work ethic in a class where the other dogs were more experienced she was a trouper. After watching foundation some simple exercises I need to go back too. Plus Fusion we focused on reverse spins- Fusions class was easier than In Synch and wonder whether should look at these for In Synch as well long term

Since then have been crook so have done very little. ysterday put her thru six pole weave almost closed and she nailed it. then asked her to backchain on dog walk and she did and then offered a full dog walk. Big party and stopped as I was ready to crash again.

Beverley

[beverley thomson]

I agree

Oops sorry about that doesnt really matter. My impression is that she is starting to work things out. I just need to get my stuff together and she is getting faster and driving more all the time. Waits we are working hard on but trying to do without pressure.

What we did this week- I didnt feel like alot of training.
first video actually end last week was working on extending her run on- decided the first jump after tunnel wasnt issue more the later jumps so did the exercise with jump 2 and 3 close together and then moving three further out not that these two show very well in video. Definitely helped.

Then here is where we are at the weave – she is more confident and best when I only do a couple. Only got six at the moment will add in more when get rest back. The toy has made a huge difference as worth trying to get it right when toy available. huge zoomies and play between attempts which cut out

here is start of back training on dogwalk- think it is too old to pull apart and its not mine. Have now done from about 2/3 of dog walk .

on all of these would like to place toy or havesomebody else throw it but neither possible. so thinking about options so dont get bend back. wondering whether if placed a jump a little on it would give me time to toss forward more as dont want to toss while she is doing dogwalk or weaves. and she loves jumps so might add even more value.

have a seminar this weekend so will see how that goes and hopefully get more ideas.

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