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Excellent work with the Cato board! I would like for you to practice it 2-3 min only. We don’t want to practice control behaviors for too long. Keep practicing this behavior in different environments. When you are back in class, practice it there too outside of the ring for the first couple of classes, if you go once per week. For now, ask Tina to hold Danny K at the startline when it’s your turn to run. 🙂
I love that you are doing Nosework in different environments! Once you are back in class, I would like for you to offer the Snuffle Mat for 2 min, run the course Tina sets up for 2 min, then give him the Snuffle Mat for 2 min. Repeat this sequence until your time is up. And please take video so that I can see, even if it’s longer than 2 min. 🙂
I would love to see video of you both for several minutes at a trial before you go into the ring, run the course, then a couple of minutes of what you guys do after a run. Do you have a trial coming up?
A chin hold is a clever way to move him from point A to point B. Definitely try it! But as you know from your zoo work, practice it everywhere to build value and generalize before doing it a trial. 🙂
Thank you so much for the additional information, Joan! I emailed you with time and date options to meet outside of this course.
Looking forward to the videos for this course!
So a few things- I really want to you practice the games as designed. Turning your dog on her side by handling her with your hands does not relax the dog. I saw her eyes get wide when you first picked her up and put her down on the floor. Perhaps, she does eventually relax. The thing is, it was never her choice. As per the conversation I had about the Resilience Rainbow, an important domain is agency- part of agency is choice. If a dog can experience agency most of the time, it helps build resilience. I’m not sure who the person is that taught you this method is, but it’s wrong. It actually can cause the dog to shut down.
Also, please practice Find My Face as designed. We want to have Journey default to finding your face when something goes wrong, whether a handling error or if something causes her to feel anxious or insecure. I want to condition this behavior rather than have you cue it with a raised hand.
The more you practice it, the more it becomes automatic for the dog. And you don’t need food. It will become a conditioned behavior. 🙂
Ok, so I would like you to change one thing- reinforce Bouy for checking in with you by rewarding him from your hand, then toss a treat away. I want to build value for him to check in with you as the default when there is a handling bobble or he is worried in the ring.
Addressing behavior issues never resolves in 6 weeks. The intention of this course is to give you the tools to carry into the next several months, or even years. It takes time to build resilience and address any issues that are occurring in the ring that has to do with behavior, not skills. I did say this at the very beginning of the course. And when addressing behavior and resilience issues, you are always assessing, adjusting, reassessing, adjusting.
As far as the number of assignments, I also said that every team place. Because of that, they each have different needs. If your training time each day is limited, I recommend using your time allotted to train Robbie on the assignments and concepts in this course, for the length of the course.
For the rest of the course, each week will have fewer assignments posted because now it’s just about doing the work and building on that.
Robbie looks so good in this video! I am loving the enthusiasm! Now its time to raise the criteria. I would like for you to raise it in two ways over the next few days: play this game indoors, but now you are standing and Robbie comes to you to put his head through; play this outdoors but you are sitting on the ground the way you are in this video. So choose one OR the other option to practice over the next 4 days. If all looks good, we will raise the criteria again.
Keep in mind that we are not just teaching a skill (he knows this skill already anyway)–we are working on building enthusiasm and comfort with this skill.
Have you had a chance to play the Pattern Games or Find My Face?
There are so many benefits to practicing Shadow Handling!
The one thing that I will ask you to change is to reinforce more often. We are using Shadow Handling as a resilience conditioning exercise, not just a skill for agility.
Oh! I didn’t realize he ran at your trial. Still a huge win!!
What do you think worked for Merc at this trial that helped him perform well? What did you do before and after?
Sorry I missed your posts!
Your cat is so funny! Some of the behavior-offering might also be a result of competition with your cat. You will be able to shape out the offering by continual reinforcement, placing the treats on the mat.
Snuffle Mat video-
You are ready to practice this around agility equipment. Let’s try the Snuffle Mat when it arrives- 2 min of training, 2 min of Snuffle Mat, then 2 min of training, then 2 min of Snuffle Mat. This will help him start learning how to self-modulate his emotions.Leash video-
Do you practice leashing at home when you are done training in your yard?Great job using your tools in a real-life situation.
The thing about these games to have real value for the dog is to practice them regularly when there aren’t any triggers around. If you are concerned about your dogs’ weight, you can use their meal time as a training opportunity. You should also practice them out in the world in different settings.
Once my dogs understand the concept of the game, I will practice it about 1-2 per week for 1-2 minutes, away from triggers. Once they are really good at the game and appear to be enjoying it, I will practice it 1-2 times per month for 1-2 minutes.
Yes, you articulated the essence of self-control depletion. Trigger-stacking can result in self-control depletion.
Ok, so if he hasn’t chosen to lay down by now and you have been practicing it daily, cue the down behavior. Once Fid is in the down behavior, continue with the exercise as designed.
Place a treat on the same spot on the mat, every 2-3 sec. We can build duration once he is more settled.
