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Bobbie, thanks for the additional thoughts. I don’t mind high arousal at the start (if you’ve ever seen Chelsea run, that is pretty obvious—LOL). My concern is that Callie’s barking is not “fun arousal” for her but a bit of anxiety. It is the same bark that she uses when she thinks she is wrong/has made a mistake and reflects that edge of anxiety. What I don’t want to happen is for this to morph into more ring stress that would develop with time and perhaps could lead to disconnection (whether that is zoomies or shutting down) so I am trying to be proactive about it.
I am also seeing continuous improvement in so many other areas that have been issues for us. For example, she has been prone to crate guarding but I realized at this past weekend’s UKI trial, that she barked only one time in two days and that was when a dog was walked immediately in front of her crate. And it was a quick bark and then done.
I happened to have video going of her in her crate at agility class yesterday. I often give her a Lickimat while I am out walking a course or if I am away from her crate and I didn’t even know that this had occurred until I watched the entire video later. In the past, she would have exploded at this puppy, but she never batted an eye here—super happy with this.p.s. Thanks for the start line tip as well. 😀
Bobbie,
To save time, I am also going to post the video montage of the start lines/ends of runs so you can reply to both of my posts together. This was from the same UKI trial as the RC video above. Callie and I had several runs over the two days so I have included some outside the ring stuff as well as before and after run material. I also included some video of the first few obstacles of some courses so you can see that, once we get started, she seems to do well. Of course, any hesitation or repeating/calling her back on my part results in the barking again—she really can’t handle not being right. I need to be better at just continuing in every run, regardless. The tone of her barking conveys anxiety to me, not anticipation or excitement. It is plaintive in nature—I can hear it. (Chelsea has the excited, “let’s play” barking at the start line and it is completely different in tone). And, even in the runs where there wasn’t a lead-out, Callie does it. I really need a plan for this for her—I want the agility ring to be a happy place for her. You can see that I try some hand touches as we move to the start line which seems to help but as soon as we stop, her demeanor changes.
I also show some of my end of run routine that we have so far. At the end of the run, I say “leash” in the ring and she sticks her head in it, then I let her get her toy right outside of the ring, we tug a bit, then I say “chicken” and she drops the toy for some food reward as well. I am praising her continuously during this time.
Thanks in advance for watching my two long videos but I felt that this was crucial for you to see and the crux of what I want to take away from this course.
Bobbie,
Bobbie,
I hope that your back is feeling better.
We were at a local UKI trial this past weekend and I did some relaxation work with Callie there in a little room away from the ring. Now, I had been away for the previous 7 days so this was our first time in awhile. I am including the entire session for your thoughts. You can hear some of mine during the video. 😀 I am also working on the montage of start lines from this past weekends and will get that along to you. Overall, she ran amazingly well but I still am not comfortable with how we enter the ring and the start line. I feel like, if we don’t do something now to develop more confidence there, this will escalate into a big issue down the road.
I also just printed out the modulation exercises and will get started on that as well.
Hi, Bobbie,
Just as an FYI, I have been away from home since last Friday and won’t be back until this Friday so I haven’t been able to work on things with Callie not observe her in the evenings. I am submitting this video collage from two recent training sessions to show you a few things. In the first part, I am working on collection with Callie. I think that I am doing a pretty good job with her here. You can see that after she does her “laps”, I just do some quick chase throws before asking her to do another task. She seems engaged and happy in this training session. In the second part (which was a different day), I am not as good a trainer. I was working on angled weave entrances and, some reason (ugh!), I seemed to think that using a NRM (whoops) was a good idea. Even just calling her out of the poles with her name was a NRM/punishment to her and you can see how she reacts by the barking. I really need to remember that she cannot handle that type of thing.
You ask about my goals. I really want to work on the barking/my perception of her being stressed at the start lines at trials. I think that I will put together another short video montage of recent start lines to show you that. Like you mentioned to Monica, I may have caused her to associate agility with anxiety. Thanks for your feedback.
Bobbie, how should I be progressing with Callie at this point? Next steps? I took an all day seminar yesterday with Callie and did intermittent raised bed work with her during the day. She is chewing a bully stick here while other dogs are working nearby. This is huge for her.
Bobbie,
I submitted a reply and video on Sat night but I don’t see it here. I was doing some mar work with Callie near running dogs in a ring while at the SOJAC trial and wanted your feedback if you thought that she looked ok in it or if it was too much for her. Even though this trial is now over, here is the link again.
Bobbie,
Where is the link posted for Wednesday’s live chat? I was sorry to miss it but wanted to watch it.
Bobbie,
Here is our shadow handling homework. We used to do a lot of circle work but haven’t in a long time—my bad. 🙂 In the first part of the video (which was yesterday), I noticed that Callie would frequently look to the ground so I changed directions frequently to keep her attention. (I also dropped some treats on the ground and she knew it). I tonight that today’s attempt (second part of video) was better. I will keep up with this.
Yes! Magnet feeding is definitely my friend and part of our toolbox! Didn’t get to video shadow ah doing today—will try tomorrow.
Bobbie,
Since Callie has started trialing in the last couple of months, I do usually try to pick a crating space where we are “off the beaten path”. In fact, at this location, I try to crate upstairs but it wasn’t available. I was lucky to have a good amount of space around us for the most part at this trial—-the site is usually packed. To answer your question, I have never liked having my dogs in a car crate all day long at trials—they get to fully stand up and move around more/stretch out in the ex-pen. Also, the super hot weather in the summers in Virginia is not conducive to that so I am trying to acclimate Callie to indoor crating. That said, I definitely have been giving Callie “crate in the car” breaks during the days at trials. So far, I always put her out there while I am running Chelsea and a few other times during the day so she can decompress with a Lickimat, frozen Kong, etc. She really has only been entered in a handful of trials so far, so I am observing her as we go along and it is a learning curve. Today, I attended the Labrador National Agility Specialty in MD with both girls and it was a very highly charged, loud, and very crowded environment. I DID crate both girls in the car but brought Callie in and out of the building several times, not just when it was her turn to run. I even brought her mat inside with me, found an area, and we did 10 minutes of RC—-she did super well.
Here is a video of one of her runs today (T2B) with us outside the ring beforehand. You get a glimpse of how crowded it was. I was really, really pleased with how she handled it all today. I will try to do the shadow handling exercise tomorrow.
Bobbie,
Since I hope that this course will help foster calmness and confidence at agility trials for Callie, I am going to post two videos from a trial that we attended today.
Video 1 is of Callie and Chelsea in the ex-pen. (Chelsea is the one with the gray muzzle :-)). I wanted to show you how Callie acted in there. The first part of the video shows where they were and where the ring was. Luckily, the show was pretty small today. Callie seemed good watching other dogs mill around. I was super happy to even see her lay down. She did go over threshold when the person next to me put her dog up into the chair right next to our ex-pen and was right in Callie’s face. I do think that Callie recovered pretty quickly. Toward the later part of the day, she even laid down and closed her eyes. This NEVER used to happen at trials as she was always alert/monitoring so I feel that we have made huge strides.
Video 2 is of a typical pre-run routine prior to Open STD today. Some of my observations are that she can focus on getting treats and doing simple tricks while waiting outside the ring, didn’t really want to be pet on the head, and immediately starts to bark when she realizes that we are about to enter the ring. (Have I somehow poisoned this?). I did some simple hand touches on the way to the start line to see if she was with me (she was), then middle position before leading out. Although she is barking the whole time in the ring before the run, once we start I feel like she is engaged, focused, and enjoying it. I am not pushing for much speed but I am handling her as I would plan to in the future (blind crosses, lead outs, etc).
I look forward to your thoughts. Thanks and I hope that you feel better soon!
Bobbie,
I completely agree about her completing the stress cycle which is why I don’t try to shut down her laps.
I did her first relaxation session out in our yard today. She did super even though there were some deer in the pasture on the other side of the fence and some guys doing gardening work at my neighbors. I was ready to stop the session if she couldn’t relax with all of that going on but she really seemed ok. I intentionally set the mat so she should be facing away from the deer—that way, I would have been easily able to tell them if she kept turning around to look at them, which she didn’t.
Here is our first session of “Find my face”. This came very naturally to her so I did all of the things, including “getting lost”—LOL. I did try to ping pong back to easier throws after the hardest ones.
We have a trial this weekend—let
Me know if you have any suggestions for our routines yet.
Thanks!
Bobbie,
Answering all of your questions:
Video 1–I like your advice about the T&T but this type of barking happens even when it is not part of the picture at all. She has minimal resilience if she even gets a whiff of not being right. I have to reward all efforts, with jackpot rewards for what I am looking for. Sometimes, it can be tedious.Video 2-yes, When/if there is running around with the toy, I always make the next throws easier. When we walk into the ring with a toy during class, Callie will tug on the toy (sometimes I think it is displacement or stress tugging). I don’t always use the toy and will sometimes use food for doing things like spins as we walk into the ring to the starting area. If we do a sequence and I reward with a toy, she may run around but she will come back on her own. Of course, I would love to not have the “victory lap” but I feel like it is her stress release valve and don’t want to necessarily shut that down. She does LOVE to tug with me.
Video 3–Callie tends to do this type of behavior in the evenings at least once a night. It does last a much shorter timeframe than it used to. We don’t always know what sets her off—-it can be the TV or something else. I do give both dogs lickimats, snuffle mats, rawhide bones, food puzzle toys, etc which helps. What REALLY helps the most is if she gets a lot of exercise or a hike during the day—then she is way more relaxed.
Start line routine:
My ideal “vision”: We walk into the ring together with her not vocalizing and being able to do a few easy tricks like hand touches on the way to the start line. Callie gets into the middle position quickly when asked, and confidently sits without anxiously barking there while I lead out. That would be my goal for her.
As far as Suzanne Clothier’s course, I saw results but haven’t kept up with it as much as I should. But, here is some video of us doing the relaxation exercise homework. This was about 3 minutes into the 10 minute period. I was super happy with her body language and her flipping into one hip. (And, you get 2 for 1 since Chelsea wanted into the exercise) 🙂
Bobbie,
Thanks for your comments. I wanted to submit homework assignment # 2 to show some either reactivity, disengagement, or stress barking because these are typical of the struggles that I would like to work on/address in this class.1. Callie at agility class:
At about 0:56, she starts barking and hesitates to come to the “middle” position which is her start button, lasts about 11 seconds.
2. Agility training in yard:
At about 0:24, Callie starts to zoom around. This lasts about 30 seconds before she re-engages. My trying to get her attention is something new that was suggested by Shade Whitesell.
3. Callie evening reactive behavior:
At about 0:04 seconds, Callie starts to bark and walk around with raised hackles. Last about 23 seconds before she recovers on her own. We have no idea what she thinks she hears or sees but this happens frequently in the evenings, more so on days that I work or work or when she doesn’t get as much exercise during the day.
Bobbie,
Here are some of the Fenzi courses/Workshops/Webinars that I have either audited or had a working spot. I have not yet worked my way through all of them.
Amy Cook:
The Play Way (working spot) —completely changed my relationship with Callie—amazing results
Mgmt for Reactive Dogs
Conquering Noise SensititivySarah Stremming:
Worked Up! Arousal in Sport dogsJulie Daniels:
Baby Genius
Building a More Confident DogShade Whitesel:
Developing Cooperative Toy PlayKathy Sdao:
Transforming Triggers into CuesKristina Spaulding/Irith Bloom:
Improving Canine Lives by Increasing AgencyDenise Fenzi:
Calming Games for High ArousalSuzanne Clothier:
Really Real RelaxationDeb Jones:
Control without ConflictPetra Ford:
Touch it games & Tricks to Build Confidence and Resilience in Performance SportsSharon Carroll:
Behavior Modification for ReactivityNancy Gagliardi Little:
Ring Entrances/ExitsLemonade Conferences
I also had a virtual consultation with Leslie McDevitt in 2020 and worked with a CU instructor for about a year with amazing results.
I am still working on developing a consistent “crate to start line” routine—it is a work in progress. I usually take her out to potty first and walk around a little bit. Then, do some warm up physical exercises (spins, weaving through legs, stand to down, backing up, sit pretty, standing stretches, etc). I will take her to the practice jump and do some basic things (she will get aroused and bark there). I have varied between being near the ring before we enter and being further away. I would love for her to be comfortable near the ring if eventually possible. You can see some of what we do from the beginning of the video that I posted above of her Open Std run and here is a video of Somme of our pre-run routine from last night during a local Agility League that we are doing. My phone battery was dying so we didn’t get the ‘after run’ routine which is to say “leash” at the end of the run so she sticks her head in the collar, then I say “chicken” which is her cue for leaving the ring to get rewarded. Right now, I have a tug toy and treats outside the ring—-we tug for a few times and then I actually give her chicken. 🙂
If it is ok, I am also attaching a video of us doing some cot training at the agility league last night. I want to make sure that I am not over facing her with what I am doing. My goal is to have her be as comfortable as possible in the trial environment. I realize that what I am doing in this video is NOT relaxation work but more of focus work. I do also do cot time with the goal of her just hanging out but she is not really (yet?) a ‘chill’ kinda gal.
I will get the assignment videos to you as well but I thought that this was important to see first. Thanks and let me know if this is not what you asked about.
