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I’d like you to you crate her away from the action so that she has times to let her mental reserves refuel. It’s important to give the dog time to decompress.
Then practice the exercises near the action. If Skylar doesn’t eat or seems uneasy, then more further away and keep practicing. As Skylar appears more focused and less uneasy while doing the various exercises, you can start to move closer to the action. Make sense?
Looks good in both videos!! How nice to train next to a waterfall! 🙂
The Relaxation comes with regular practice in those contexts. Just keep doing it.
Great idea to video your current Pattern Game behaviors at home! Please do. 🙂
Can Maddy people food? Steak, Trader Joe meatballs, string cheese?
Regarding crating her in the car- where do you live that is so warm? Also, I understand the intention to expose her. You actually are exposing her when you practice the various games from this course in the competition space. And you’re doing it in constructive ways that actually build her resiliency over time. The problem is you’re not giving her any time to decompress. She needs brain breaks away from the activity to refill her mental reserves. Make sense?
Hi Susan!
If Avery has a Hand Touch in her toolbox, it’s a great behavior to test the temperature of where her head is. My assumption is that agility dogs know that behavior. I apologize for not being clearer!
I totally understand the food concerns. Do what you think is best.
In terms is a cohesive plan, here is what I think you should do:
Arrive at the site.
Take a walk around the property and let Avery explore.
Put Avery back in her crate (are you able to crate in your car?
About 30 minutes before you run, practice Relaxation Conditioning for 5-10 minutes, then put her back into her crate.
Take her out again to mentally and physically warm her up as you typically do before her run. I recommend using the Shadow Handling exercise as one of your warm up tools.
Then go to the ring as you typically do.
After the run, use the Snuffle Mat.Can you ask a friend to video you doing these various things and the run itself? Just 1-2 min videos each.
The Snuffle Mat and Relaxation Conditioning can be used throughout the day to reset Avery’s brain, help her focus more.
Hope this helps!
What a GREAT idea!!! To use BAT in the ring for Misc!! It makes sense that he needs to see everything from the perspective of the ring. I’m going to have to use this in the future with other students. 🙂
I think you should practice the various exercises at the trial as well as go into the ring and practice BAT.
Great questions!
Re: the campus- keep bringing Maddy there and practicing Shadow Handling. What treats are you using? Can you up the ante? Just keep practicing it and being super generous with the treats. She will start to feel more at ease.
Are you not creating in the car for a security reason? Or temperature?
I’m also curious about how crating in the RV will impact her. Keep me posted!
Regarding the Relaxation Protocol- revisit the steps. Play around with them, in order, out of order, etc. I’d like you to practice the protocol daily, for ten minutes each day, if you can manage. If not, then every other day.
I’m glad you’re seeing the effects of RP with your other dog too!
You ask a great question! You should be doing both movement and calming exercises in real world situations. They both help in different ways. 🙂
If your dog is struggling, trying doing the exercises farther away from the activity.
Behaviors that occur in repetition help to soothe the dog. I usually ask students and clients to use freeze-dried treats because they can crumble into small pieces. Is it imperative that you ration Avery’s meals as such? I have a 7-pound dog and am able to feed his portions as well as treats for training. The amount of exercise he receives balances it all out. And the exercise includes hikes in the woods, some ball play, and training agility a couple of times per week. It’s not intensive.
Yes, I was arbitrary in choosing 5 reps. 10 is unnecessary to achieve the same effect I have seen with about 5 reps. I have found it helps humans when I give a specific number. Doing it once doesn’t have the same effect as doing it several times in a row. I can anecdotally say dogs tend to calm down when given the opportunity to use the Snuffle Mat several times in a row.
The article I posted from The Bark magazine shared a recent study on how sniffing lowers the heart rate, which in turn brings down arousal. The intention of the Snuffle Mat is to be able to give the handler the opportunity to help the dog at any given moment because it travels. Plus, the mat itself has value for the dog due to the reinforcement history and experience.
All that being said, since you have expressed your concerns about her diet and food limitations, please do what you think is best for Avery. She is your dog, afterall. I am only here to coach the students and offer exercises and guidance to help improve behavior. 🙂
First of all, I LOVE your training field!!! Is that turf? So jelly!
Shadow Handling looks good! Now keep practicing it, with Mango on leash, in different environments. Reward generously, even when it appears that Mango understands the skills. This is not just about walking in a circle–this is a Pattern Game that involves counter-conditioning. 🙂
I love that she smoked you!! That is dog who is having fun!
Something that helps anxious dogs is creating rituals. If you can carry her in every time and ask her to sit (try asking instead of pushing her bum down), this could help create more comfort in the ring-entry context.
I look forward to seeing the your videos!
Awesome!! Now I would like for you to play the Go to Place game every time you are in a class, seminar, or at a trial. I will be posting the Take it on the Road assignment tomorrow.
Regarding the Snuffle Mat, sorry for the confusion! What I mean is once Avery finishes the first go around in the Snuffle Mat, eating all of the treats, sprinkle in more treats. Repeat this 4 more times. Make sense?
Try the exercise in class first. Do it a few times in a few different classes.
And yes! Do the other exercises as well. 🙂
Hi Amy and Matt! I responded below within the copy of your post…
Hello! First, a response to your most recent feedback and questions about “go to place….” Yes, since Maddy is already familiar with this, Matt has already been doing this exercise with Maddy at Flyball practices for months. We bring her mat every practice and, when he is not running Maddy or helping with another dog, he’s in the back, working with her. We have not brought our Kuranda to practice, but the facility has lots of agility equipment, so he regularly uses a Klimb or the ribbons platform to put her up on a surface. He can put her in a down stay and walk away to watch other dogs run and she’ll stay, typically. This area is a fenced off crating/warm-up area with gates to the turf area where we actually practice. I’d say he can put her on the mat and walk 20 feet away, no problem, though he probably doesn’t do it when really boisterous dogs are running, as the sound would probably drive her off the mat and he doesn’t want to set her up to fail. Some others crate and warm up in this same area while others crate out of their cars during practice. Most cover the crates with a blanket or sheet.
>> I’d like for you to practice Go to Place and stay close to her, whether in practice or at a competition. The idea is to be generous with treats. Stay close because you are supporting her by staying close, and keep feeding every 10-30 seconds. Please take video, if possible, so that I can see her body language.
Where do you crate her?
At Flyball tournaments, we bring the mat (but not Kuranda), and there are usually no platforms available. The environment is much more stimulating and there are not usually fenced off areas, so he might have her go to her mat for relaxation (if she can), or to send her to a place where we can then wrap her feet before she runs, but we do not put her in a stay and walk away (she likely would not stay, being more charged and tense, etc.).
>> Yes, do not walk away. Stay close to offer support. You are her safe place.
Okay, now a question from the Relaxation Protocol. Today we tried the doorbell but did not video. She was great with the knocking and going out the front door, etc. She didn’t budge. However, when it came time for the doorbell, she jumped up and barked, as expected. After some barking, she put herself back in a down on the mat, but wasn’t relaxed. Our question is whether we just keep repeating this part of the protocol until she relaxes and stays quiet for the doorbell? Do we just ignore the “bad” behavior (barking, jumping up) and move on with the rest of the exercises or do we re-set and try to get her back to a relaxed state again before moving forward? Doorbells are a tough one for dogs! 🙂 Update: While I was typing this, Matt was doing day 14 of the Relaxation Protocol with Maddy, and in lieu of the doorbell, he used the bell from a cat collar. Surprisingly, she had no reaction to that, though it normally drives the dogs nuts! Guess we’ll use this and work up to the actual doorbell.
>> Clever! I was going to suggest a doorbell recording on your phone, at a low decibel, and increasing the volume with time. Make sense?
Finally, today we took video of the shadow handling in the front and back yards, as you suggested. In the front yard, she remained leashed: https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=kNQ3n9SYuC8. In the back yard, we had her loose: https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=_lK2JssixlI And she waves “bye” at the end. 😉
>> Shadow Handling looks good! Now keep practicing it in different environments. If you can’t go somewhere to practice it because of your schedule, then at least practice it in your front yard because things keep changing in the neighborhood. 🙂
P.S. Looking forward, unfortunately we don’t have any more Flyball practices until after the New Year (after this class is over). If we need more stimulating spots to practice shadow handling, pattern games, or “go to your mat” before class is over, Matt plans to take Maddy to his campus, which would be different, with new sounds (railroad tracks nearby) and lots of squirrels (very distracting for her). Alternatively, there is a dog-friendly mall nearby (no squirrels) and at this chilly time of year, there likely would not be many dogs at all, but Maddy would still find it to be a different and thus more challenging environment than her home turf. We won’t try the dog park again for a bit. 🙂
>> Perfect! And go back to the park in a few weeks.
