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Sat and Sun were rough days. Pull the jumpers on Sun because he would not start in the St course because a dog growled at him and then was too upset and worried. So we left the ring at the start line.
Standard course 1
https://youtu.be/HkKmZZmDVzQ
Jumpers course 1
https://youtu.be/rLdPs0MDAJw
Practice at PKs with Sue and Barb Sunday May 14
Warm up and Run 1 etc
https://youtu.be/x2UgrTwzURs
https://youtu.be/_m-X8T3Yb20
https://youtu.be/Ktxw8SyRSpE
https://youtu.be/qnS7IGRJR4A
https://youtu.be/7_afdDFMl8Q
https://youtu.be/x_w4AB0nJ7I
https://youtu.be/fnfvvuIrNxs
https://youtu.be/fnfvvuIrNxsResponses to what Tracy Sklenar wrote:
Good morning! Thanks for the videos!!!
>> It was very hard to keep my mind positive. I think I get so upset that we will lose connection, I think that’s the problem and I know it’s me. As the weekend progressed finally Sunday we kept it together for T2B.>
While I do think the dogs read handler stress and that can contribute to struggles in the ring, there are also a lot of things we can do to help him (and then you will be busy and won’t have time to stress about whether you will lose connection or not :)) I find that I am most positive and do my best when I have set a very clear plan for myself – and that has nothing to do with the handling or trying to Q 🙂 The handling and the Qs will come much more easily when we have the dog’s total engagement, so my plans always begin with helping the dogs engage and learn how to be in the trial environment.
I watched the videos straight through, looking for themes 🙂 Here is what I see:
He is at his best and most focused when:
– he is more active outside the ring, doing more moving tricks and tugging on his toy
– when the start of the course is fast and flowy, and not choppy or highly technical
– when the leash is loose
– when the reward is visible in FEO runs
– when you keep moving
– later in the weekend when he is more relaxed in the environmentHe struggles the most when
– there are cookies outside the ring before the run but he is not really moving
– the leash is tight
– when the opening of the course is really technical
– when you stop and fix, or stand still
– when the course swings towards the exit gate, especially early in the weekend or if there were stops earlier in the course
– in the proximity to people, especially men like the judge being nearby or a ring crew person being too close.– early in the weekend, avoid the highly technical classes (like Premier, or using the premier skills in FAST) because there are lots of technical lines and not a lot of flow. Stick to the fast, flowing courses – no need to enter in the technical tight courses especially early in the weekend if he is going to struggle. Get the weekend off to a great start with very fast lines!
OK
So looking at how to get the best focus and speed from him, here are ideas on how to play the games and plan his trialing:– before his first runs, walk around by the entry gate and play pattern games til he says ‘ah! I know these!’ and whips his head back up to engagement immediately. Then play some volume dial games! This is all good to do when you arrive at the site, and not in conjunction with getting ready to run – consider it to be just acclimation.
OK, I haven’t been doing this so will start this routine at my next trial which is the first weekend of June.
– don’t fix anything in the ring 🙂 Just run run run! Fixing stresses, him and he ends up leaving & sniffing. The Find My Face game is the gateway to being able to fix things in the ring, but until that game is really solid in a variety of environments and if you are trialing him before that game is solid – resist the temptation to fix things because then there is more rehearsal of sniffing.
OK, I will try very hard.
– when you are outside the ring waiting, getting him tugging on his pouch toy like he did later in the weekend, that was great! That, plus more action with the tricks, brought him into the ring in a better state of focus and engagement, and those runs were better.
– you had an ‘all business’ approach to the ring entry and the lead out, but I don’t think he is an ‘all business’ dog right now. I think he is a volume dial dog! So, when you move from the ring gate to the start line: engage him 🙂 Talk to him, jog to the line, ask for a trick or two or three. If he can’t do the tricks, the fast-moving entry and the engagement might be enough. And check out the cartoon mashup game – I bet that is going to help him too, more than the ‘all business’ calm lead out does.
Oh, my I forgot all about that lead out. I will for sure do it next time.
– he did well with the FEO runs and it looks like he was even tugging in the ring! Yay! Try to reward more in the ring, in the middle of the run. The two spots to add more reinforcement will be: OK
when he passes a wide open space near the back of the ring, or a ring crew person close by when he sees the exit gate/last jump and turns away from it to continue on the course (like in T2B where he took the jump and turned away from it to do the weaves – that is a GREAT place to reward as it will build value for turning away from that exit jump, rather than keeping all the value on the exit jump).
Ok, I was so excited that he was doing the course I forgot to reward him. I will try very hard to reward more when he is doing good.– Also, with those FEO runs: doing the “just like home” FEO run with the visible mixed in with full, real runs is too big of a leap in criteria for him. We definitely want him to have success with the FEO ’empty hands’ where the toy is in your pocket and comes out after a few obstacles, and then the 3rd step of short, fast fun runs with no toy in the ring at all – and when he is successful and engaged, then you can do the full runs again. You were going from step 1 here (which looked great!) to step 4 and that was too challenging.
You can also work that step-by-step progression in classes, (no classes here) adding in friends/instructors/classmates to show him how things look in a trial ring – basically doing the Kryptonite games! In classes, we tend to always run with reinforcement in our hands but it is really important to also show him the other 3 steps of getting the reinforcement out of your hands and outside the ring. So we show the dog the distractions and the reinforcement process mirrors the FEO steps: at first, the rewards are highly visible. And when he is very successful, the rewards are in your pockets. When he is highly successful with that (it won’t all happen in one class 🙂 it will take multiple runs and classes :)), then you move to showing him the distractions with the short in-and-out runs (no rewards in the ring, they are outside the ring but the runs are REALLY short and easy because distractions are very high). And when he is successful with that? You can mix in full runs, reinforcement outside the ring, distractions inside the ring.And remember that trialing should lag behind training. So if he can train at the step 2 level (rewards hidden in pockets) with distractions, then he can trial at step 1 (easier skills because distractions are MUCH harder). When he can train at step 3 (in and out) and he has been successful with step 1 in trials? Then trials can go to step 2. When he can train at step 4 and he has been successful in trials with step 2? Then trials can go to step 3 – and when he is successful with step 3? Then you can go to step 4 in trials too.
So, for the trial first weekend in June, I should pull him from all runs that aren’t FEO. (FAST and T2B) (need to pull regular runs)
Then there is a local trial that I could enter him in FEO only the second weekend in June. (Not entered yet)
The third weekend is a local NADAC where he can run everything FEO. (I’m Trial Sec)
The fourth weekend UKI at Blue Springs all classes FEO (not entered yet)
Did I miss commenting on anything else to work on? Thanks for all your feedback. Do you offer private feedback after the June 1 deadline that I could buy?Let me know if this all makes sense! I am going to put together a flow chart to help folks plan their training and trialing and to keep getting those successful runs 🙂
Tracy
Well, we went to a trial here in town this weekend. It was very hard to keep my mind positive. I think I get so upset that we will lose connection, I think that’s the problem and I know it’s me. As the weekend progressed finally Sunday we kept it together for T2B. So here goes the weekend:
Valley Watermill Facility Springfield, MO
4/6/22 Friday
FAST FEO
https://youtu.be/B7RMTzFjy8g
Friday Premier Standard
https://youtu.be/Tmen91gbUwo
Friday Standard
https://youtu.be/CFMB6lkK_ds
Friday JWW
https://youtu.be/MgTQB2tqYhs
After run
https://youtu.be/fb2cbFvc5YQ
Saturday FAST FEO
https://youtu.be/HF0xZvkqx1Q
Saturday JWW
https://youtu.be/Ne7pvAVOD8E
https://youtu.be/Ar4u-BccgD8
Saturday Standard
https://youtu.be/45exkQD2mN8
Sunday
T2B FEO
https://youtu.be/Q3blxyyH3f8
Standard Sunday
https://youtu.be/4nnCY1h-UCc
JWW Sunday
https://youtu.be/-mOcQk_rYxg
After JWW Sunday
https://youtu.be/r8ExSfEnnacHey Tracy Ihave a questiona about the cookie on the shoe. when I have tried it I haven’t had him on a sit or down and I can hardly get the cookie on the shoe because he is trying to get it so I was wondering should I put him on a sit first since I can’t throw a cookie to get him away from the shoe?
Thanks for watching my Blue Springs videos. Here is the warm-up video from Saturday that wouldn’t play
https://youtu.be/OO2AwXolZ741. In a class setting, will he play with the toy and chase it in the ring 9still in your hand)?
The toy playing is hot and cold. When he is interested he is over the top and when he is not interested just won’t interact. I will try to play with him more at home.
2. (maybe someone tried to shoo him away? Or another dog was there? It was not visible on camera.) Yes someone shooed him back into the ring. I had a new video person who didn’t know they should be filming the exit. I think he is distracted by the open gate, people standing close and talking, or that somewhere out there are his treats. It’s all of the above!Blue Springs April 23-24, 2021
Warmup https://youtu.be/OO2AwXolZ7as making him shake his dead also before the weaves4
Ex ST https://youtu.be/zvq8rdOO_ds
Master JWW https://youtu.be/NRhnh5xY8TY
Sunday
T2b https://youtu.be/s10OOHEBuDk
Master JWW https://youtu.be/woK3R4tKI9M
Well, all I can say is the exit was wide open with lots of people standing and chatting at the open exit gate. But something was making him shake his head before the weaves on Sun JWW.
