Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Oh gosh, I had forgotten that a quiet arena used to be a nemesis. I think my first assignment needs to be to look at the data I have (and keep taking data) to train myself to coach myself. Reviewing video from a practice last week, I realized she had a mild objection that I didn’t notice to an (apparently insufficient) turn cue. Since I didn’t notice, the next time her objection was much “louder” (she wandered off and I couldn’t get her back) and I let it crush me. Yes, I’ll see you in July, working or auditing, whatever is appropriate based on what you’re offering.
BrendaHi Tracy,
Before our time is completely up I want to thank you for all the time you gave us in this class.
Over the last 12 weeks we broke a lot of my muscle memory and therefore some bad habits, and got started replacing them with more clarity for Zippie. I’m really thankful to have access to this content (including the forums?) going forward because I still have so much to figure out.
She worked really nicely in that private lesson, but yeah, it’s not the kryptonite exposure needed. I’m going to work on finding another regular class that is more aligned to what we need.Safe travels!
BrendaGood Morning!
I really appreciate your excitement.
Yes, the covered / open air training arena is familiar to her, and there was a barn hunt class going on behind us, I didn’t realize how much noise was getting picked up, LOL.
Good to know that I can party “food from the hand” in Find My Face because that will lower the latency — every piece of cheese or meatball gets icky gross in the arena dirt – blech!
I’d like to start adding more speed to this game – but I assume I don’t need to slam on the breaks for a disconnect? I’m thinking a clumsy blind cross or running off her line without cuing a pull would be good examples? Or maybe we don’t want to practice bad handling at speed intentionally (it happens often enough without)? What I think I’m hoping for is, if / when we get separated on course, she should either take an obstacle and come find me or just find me, and since IRL that happens at speed do we practice at speed, or does the money we put in the bank in these small set ups set the concept, and as long as we reward when it happens IRL (cause it will), that’s the better carry over?Thanks for the note on depletion, I will keep that in mind. We have a private lesson tomorrow in a new place, with someone I’ve discussed our goals of “wind in our hair” front sides of jumps running. We may find that this private lesson approach replaces our group classes in that it’s a better fit for the course design you suggest we focus on. I’m mindful of over training but trying to find a good fit for all that we’ve been working on these last ~ 10 weeks. we’ll warm up with the various games as appropriate then see what we have.
Brenda
You are going to be proud of how clever she is:
(was tough to incorporate tunnels, they were set up under the dog walk)
I also have a standing appt now to work on kryptonite exposure for ~ 6 min at the end of my friend’s class.
It’s a lot of video for one post, but I figured you’d want to see it. Usually the first time she made a good choice I was all “YES GOOD GIRL” but on the next pass I tried to just cue the next obstacle like a good handler. The one time I did lose her I think I was tentative on my send in the first place plus no “yes” marker. Fun session!
Thanks …. I couldn’t do this without your optimism and specific “what to do next” steps – I’m just not seeing it by myself but your suggestions have been exactly what we needed.
Here is some find my face in the living room. Not really set up for equipment so after a warm up we did some cued tricks then I disconnected abruptly. That went well, it’s just another trick!
Later I set up some “obstacles” and that went well I think too.
I can practice tomorrow in a bigger space with jumps & tunnels.
Brenda
Thanks Tracy, I really appreciate your perspective, it’s encouraging. I agree she is taking off a lot faster, and without a leadout we get disconnected almost immediately. She also doesn’t have nearly the “obedience / commitment” to verbals as I thought she did – or at least not in the presence of so many people. and there was so much ring crew / spectators against the exit wall. (I don’t think she was looking for “reward” at all, just exit / people. Our reward station was required to be in another part of the arena).
I decided to not run today — I want to be able to work on all of the above when I can actually control the setting / distractions / rewards and have a plan. We went to the trial but I couldn’t come up with a course plan for the first 2 games that could avoid running straight into ring crew.
First up – Find My Face in a bigger space and with equipment. You’re right, I haven’t really begun to stretch that game beyond the first step.
The good news is that at the trial this morning she drug me over to the practice jump and was super with our silly walk lead outs. I’m glad to have stopped for the day on that positive note.
Re: lost post – I was at my laptop, never happened before, not going to worry about it.
Re: sequence and or / where the other games fit – Thank You. I think my missing post might have explained better why I was asking, but I think yes, I was uncertain as to what you wanted me to try was for that day or for the future plan. I think I get it now.
Back on our home turf we had a CPE trial today, where I ran a mix of Toy in the Hand and Toy in the Pocket. My logic for Toy in the pocket was to just get it out of my hands, as I never run with a toy in my hand in class / at home and I wondered if it was adding some weirdness to the picture for her. I did like making sure the judge knew it was an FEO run and why I was cutting his course short, and no chance of me trying to “Q.” There were some really nice moments of ignoring ring crew, but it was mostly a day of Very Well Staffed rings (like no less than 6 people in the ring – including a photographer sitting on the floor – sigh). I made some future dates with friends to practice together. I’ll be more mindful tomorrow of where I need leadouts / must run faster / cue earlier. Several of the times that I lost her I was really quite late.
Ugh! I wrote a long post yesterday and apparently it didn’t stick? waaaaaaa!!!!
Let’s see if I can remember what I was sharing and asking.I shared that when we got to our home turf for classes on Wed she was super comfortable, pattern games -shmatern games, let’s start tugging (tugging! she jumped up to grab the fluffy leash handle!) so that was really good data for me of what comfortable looks like.
I wanted to ask if you want the Pattern Games and the Volume Dial separated by a total break – like put her away between. I know that if she wasn’t getting comfy then I wouldn’t continue and if it has been a few minutes then yes we’d take a break. But if she is comfortable quickly then may I move into Volume Dial aka Cued behaviors in the same session?
I also asked about other games — over the last week / the trial in Utah I’d been showing video of PG VD and RR and you gave me a clear 1, 2, 3 order to those, but there’s also Engaged Chill, Leash Off/ Offered Engagement, and Find My Face, and Zipp’s version of FMF is to give 1 pull on the leash (like ringing a bell to be brought tea by her servant).
My understanding is that when arriving at a class / trial: Pattern Games is priority. Once she’s comfy then I can do some “temperature checks” with Find My Face and Leash Off / Offered Engagement, or should I do some Volume Dial things to bring her up and THEN do FMF etc? Followed by more VD closer to our turn in the ring including a Reinforcement Station check in?
I know we don’t want a fixed ritual / routine, but I want to be sure I understand your suggestion of the 3 games in Step By Step fashion, and my take that Find My Face and Leash Off are both CUED behaviors, so they come after pattern games, but they are not energy rising games like spins, pop, “ready” etc.
I think I phrased that all more clearly in yesterday’s post but ugh, hard to re-create.
the other thing I mentioned is that her stays seem broken now with the silly walk lead outs (in class), but she holds them with an All Business lead out. My thought is to work on strengthening the stay in an easier environment but keep investing in silly walk, vs switching to all business.
Hope this post sticks!
BrendaGood morning, Tracy. Yes, that all makes sense. Watching my videos from yesterday I think she was better but also I cued a couple of times perhaps a little early. I know sometimes I was looking for any approximation of engagement to get the game started. Its going to take practice.
Looking forward to getting home where things are a little easier, I hope!
Hi Tracy,
No, I don’t think you need more coffee, maybe I do? 😉
I think where I get confused is me thinking Pattern Games = easy for dog= feed no matter what, but I do get flustered when she NEVER stops sniffing. But I will repeat it so it sinks in better : wait for engagement, dont cue it, and reaching for cookies IS a cue. If it’s too hard get further away.Yes, we have been doing RR too!
I’m not sure yet what we are going to do today… Will let you know!
BrendaHi Tracy,
I decided to not run in the trial today and just work outside the ring instead. It was really windy, and Jumpers was at almost the same time as conformation so we would have ~ zero warm up time for that, and the standard course didn’t have an easy way to modify for In and Out, so we did lots of mostly happy games around the ring. Tomorrow may be more of the same, or if the circumstances line up I will try a few more advanced things.I can’t believe I’m the first person to invoke the silly walk reference? But then I call Volume Dial VD.
We are at a trial, and I’m planning runs that keep us away from tricky handling, weaves, and ring crew, and getting data.
Videos don’t show pre ring activity well. I tried to have active tricks but I was bested by the smell of the ground right around the ring entrance – and it didnt look like avoidance but more like “seriously have to find a dropped treat” work. I will have to make a plan to be further away tomorrow. 2nd run was better than the first as far as pre-entrance .
I was unprepared for when she didnt look at me when I set her down, and that really went badly in the second run (although once we got running she was “ok”)
I want to try again tomorrow with an actual cartoon mash up lead out – I’m not sure why I didn’t today in Jumpers except by then I was already flustered?
Temps tomorrow drop to a pleasant 55-60, and Nov Jumpers is the first class up, small to tall. If you tell me i should scratch entirely I will, but my sense is I should experiment with the order of things and see what we get. She ended both mini runs doing the obstacles I cued so I’m not devastated with the awful start to the jumpers run. (I lost her in std at the table when I turned to the judge – totally my fault, lesson learned I think)
Tired,
BrendaHi Tracy,
We are at a new location – brand new! We went for a walk earlier in the day, but after I had my session props set up, I started by having her Instant Focus Prop on the ground coming out of the car (perfect!) and then started with really early stages of Remote reinforcement and Leash Off games, and worked up to Silly Walk leadouts. I realized I should have done some tricks to warm her up, so after a break I started with that, and added a jump like object to the picture. This was a little harder! Especially going towards the RR station. But man I love how she looks up at me as soon as I set her down.keep in mind that we are rewarding behavior in the context of agility, not agility 🙂
Good point!!
I haven’t been able to set up any kryptonite opportunities so my class engagement has dropped off. We are on the road now, lots of opportunity for leash off offered engagement practice.
Hi Tracy,
I appreciate the feedback, I need to hear it over and over (apparently) because I forget in the moment do do what I planned to do. I had cookies in my hands with my friend in the ring yesterday because in my head I wanted to go back to an earlier step in the game – but she didn’t really need a lower step, tho greater distance from the person would have been smart.I got to class early today and was able to get some chairs in the ring and some helpers. I wasn’t able to do on leash cookie tosses IN the ring but I did set up just outside the ring with a person in a chair and worked several there – no problem there.
In the ring I forgot myself and tried to get her attention back rather than wait for her to offer (again). But then I waited and when she came back I did a little VD to bring her up before the wrap start.
She ran past Kryptonite #1 at 0:42, but nearly visited #2 at 0:45. My “yaaaay” to mark the send jump (after the tire) was a bit of emergency handling, knowing that “yes” is a reward marker and would help pull her back – it’s extra verbals I don’t use very often / working on saving my oxygen.We have also been working on Pink Panther lead outs – She kinda thinks I’m nuts, but she’s used to that by now and is waiting to see what I’m up to and if it’s worth it to her. She held her stay about half the time, ears a little flat and only watching me out of the corner of her eye. When she broke I just laughed and through a cookie behind her. When she did stay her releases were fast – faster than when I did an “all business” lead out. My instinct is that we should sleep on it a day or two and see what she does next time, because I think the silly walk is more explosive though she understands all business better – because that’s what she’s had more reps of.
It occurs to me – I probably should practice the lead out as a “lateral” as well, yes? Because I often have to move laterally to get around the wing after setting her down, depending on how the course goes.
Looking forward to your feedback!
Brenda
