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Here’s Lu’s first NFC run at a trial. We only did one Speedstakes run. My plan was to run the first half of the course then reward out of the second tunnel in the corner. Then reset and finish the course. Obviously she made the course 50 times harder than I intended but I just went with it 😂 I had two friends video so I put them both in. One of my friends mentioned she went around the 4th jump after coming out of the tunnel because I called her name and I think she was correct. I’ve been trying to figure out how to handle soft turns out of tunnels and have currently been using her name. Yesterday we went to a seminar and that’s exactly how I cued a soft turn out of a tunnel. So I’m actually kind of excited if this is the case because this has been a big learning curve for me with her. I think everything was me just pushing on her lines enough to send her somewhere else but I was really happy with how things went (even though I was pretty nervous at the beginning lol)
<That is where the freeze dance game comes in – I have never actively trained a stand, but a couple of my dogs have a stand stay on the start line 🤣😂
So for the trial – yes, hopefully the course design makes it easy and fun to do short fun stuff! Who is the judge?>
OK i’m interested in this freeze dance thing. I don’t know much about the zen game but i was going to use that to try to train the duration for the stand. Figured I could use that for a startline and/or measuring but if this would work in place of it I’m ok doing that too.
The judge for this coming weekend is Lori Michaels.
<she might be very excited and take longer to give the toy back… and with the short time in NFC, we want that toy back FAST! So bring 2 toys so you can make a quick trade to be able to do more in the run.>
Good idea! I wouldn’t have thought of that.
<One other thing to think about, which will help collection, jumping, etc: do you do any tight sit work with her, like getting tight sits on a small platform? She has a splayed sit and ideally her toes and hips would be more tucked into her body. That is a conditioning thing which will definitely play a role in behaviors that use hind end power, so it is something to add to her routine 🙂>
I reviewed the feedback but never got a chance to respond so doing it now. Her sit has been a pain point for a long time LOL. We did work on it a lot when she was little for her jump grids class but I need to revisit. I did get her evaluated too just this week at a rehab vet for a baseline. She gave me some conditioning exercises we are going to start doing. And yes – I have a small sit box that I made for her to practice 🙂
I also just wanted to post that we will be running our first NFC run this coming Sunday. I entered her at 16s in one Speedstakes run. My plan was no startlines and just something fun on the course (I’ll figure it out once I get the course map) with the toy. I think the one thing that I am worried about for future runs is her becoming over aroused. Especially with her startline. I’m not going to worry too much about it during NFC runs because I won’t be using it yet. But my plan in the next couple of weeks is to train a stand to see how that works for her and also add the behind the back starts. I’ve worked the behind the back a couple sessions on one side so we are making progress there. I’m not going to worry about it for now but just kind of want to monitor how she does with her startline (when I actually have to start using it) as she gets more excited about the game. Also, I’m very much looking forward to the support group because I think that will be very useful!
This was very similar but I think it’s probably more the TSA game. We tried to pretend like we were waiting at a trial to go into the ring. And it was helpful that we had other people training with us. I was actually really proud of her here because she’s never trained with these two dogs before in the ring together. She was completely focused even when the one tried to herd her at the end.
It’s been freezing here so really haven’t been able to do much outside. I was able to get some ring time this Friday so we worked the remote reinforcement just going in and out of the ring. I kind of meshed some steps together I think but thought that would be ok with her to just show her what the routine would be. She is really starting to understand that going into the ring and doing agility is REALLY fun.
We also practiced remote reinforcement yesterday. I was going to add in a bucket or something next so I could add putting the leash on too.
We tried Sequence 5 today while it’s still halfway “warm” out. This was just a big fail in general. Tried the sero at the beginning and maybe she’s not the dog to do it with in this scenario lol. She was reading my motion out the tunnel while I was trying to get to the serp spot so tried something different that didn’t work either.
Today at home we worked Sequence #2. The footing definitely makes a difference lol. The opening few obstacles were great. Straight lines were super hard. I’m just not sure how to help her get and stay on the line with a turn from 4-5 like that. Soft turn Achilles heel. I’m sure you’ll say brake arm but I just can’t seem to get myself to add it in, in the moment. Ugh.
We got a little practice time in this weekend. Don’t mind all the chatter throughout the video lol. We worked sequence 1 and 4 because they had the least amount of turning since the floor is not great. We also dropped the bars to make it easier too.
Couple game changers we’ve implemented on your suggestions have really helped our teamwork. 1) Startline connection. They are still hard but if I stay connected with her, she has really been doing well with them. 2) Five minute sessions (no or minimal editing of videos). This has really helped me a lot. I’m sure edited videos are helpful for you, but they have really helped keep me accountable. I think this has helped her so much because I’m not continuing to push for more when she’s done. So thank you for the feedback!
Here is Sequence #1:
I’m apologizing now for the mass drop of videos when you are offline driving home from the Open. Looks like it was a great time as usual ☺️. We had our second drop in class on Thursday at Fusion. This time it was a full ring (so much better than the split ring). I’ve been trying to figure out a way to get a class in for Lu and I’m thinking I might just start letting her have a turn in Em’s class each week. The setups are usually the best there and lines are always nice since it’s an international class. There’s not much to choose from for the level she’s at since most are filled or are too far away.
I hope you’re enjoying the Open!! Good luck! I’m so sad I’m missing out this year and am having complete and utter FOMO. I’ve been struggling with a back injury for the past 6 months so I figured a 21 hr drive to Florida for a marathon event would probably not be good for me.
I took Lu to Emmie’s class last night for the first time in the full ring and picked some little stuff to do. I was much more relaxed because it was my regular class/classmates. Had a real hard time with start lines but overall pretty happy with most of it. The last sequence was very hard for both of us. We have another drop-in class Thursday that I will try to get some clips of too.
