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We took a few days off agility this week to work on Nosework and learning how to behave in the world lol. Chapter also ran into our piano and smacked his leg pretty hard on Tuesday. He limped for a outlet minutes and then seemed fine but I wanted to play it safe.
Back at it last night and we tried the combos with the jumps in different directions. This was very challenging. The first rep I can see I was too early and I was pulling to the left which. See him run around the jump. The second rep shown he finally went over the SERP but then we were way too left to make the third jump. I really struggled (as you’ll se when we tried the next sequence) with the third jump in the sequence. I’m not sure how to handle this so he has a good line to the last jump. We did finally get it but he was also running slower.
I tried the 7 obstacle sequence and had many of the same issues with the third SERP jump. The last rep I just did whatever to keep flow going. Maybe I need to watch your demo videos again! I also had lots of focus issues with him last night but I think that’s independent on my handling issues!
We tried some three jump serps and sequences last night. The three jump serps seemed to be decent- I had to remind myself to keep moving! Old habits are hard to break!
Things got tougher on the sequences with the extra jump. I had a hard time knowing how much forward motion I needed to get the first jump on the SERP. The third try I wasn’t sure why he didn’t read the SERP- I’m thinking I was maybe too far ahead? We did end up getting two runs where it seemed to come together.
Great tips! So in terms of what he’s looking at- there is the gated potty area and door inside. I wonder if one of the other dogs were out in the potty area at that time. The sessions below I started using stationing between sessions and as a start button behavior to help the focus issues. It did seem to help a little.
I went back and filmed some baby grids with three jumps. Things went well so I’m hoping to add a fourth and start progressing
We also started the SERP exercises. The one jump went well on both sides. The SERP when he was on my right went well but the left was a challenge. Maybe the same issue with overstimulation? The one rep I did get I feel like I lured him over with the toy. The second one he read as a threaded which was interesting.
It’s so hard to watch them get old!
So for chapter’s Left turns being wide I did notice last night when we were trying the cue combos he runs in circles around the yard but only to the left. He also runs around the pool mostly to the left but not exclusively like the yard. He does tend to run out left for the frisbee as well. When we tried herding he was very strongly herding left and almost refused to go right. Any thoughts on how to encourage tighter wraps on the left? When we were working foundations with single wing wraps I didn’t see this difference and when we do spins Left and right I don’t see a difference with the left being wide either.
For the video- I did some sequences. I have five clips in here because I worked all the different combos so I hope that’s okay. The last rep was after we went back and did some single jump wraps. I also realized I forgot to use my wrap words for the earlier tries, but I don’t think that made much of a difference. I still think he’s turning wide- even on the right. Should I take a step back and do one jump wraps with less motion to build the behavior back up?
Thanks!
Totally makes sense and I agree about Maddy. I noticed that as well and I actually put her away for the end of the last session. She’s struggling with separation anxiety a lot and dementia and all sorts of things so I have to experiment how to keep her occupied.
Last night I tried FC wraps. The right wrap went much better than the left. Then i switch to rewarding wraps on one jump and then went back to the two jumps and that stemmed to help. He is very one sided so I’ve noticed left turns are harder for him to take tight.
And thank You for the thoughts on stays- that makes sense!
I tried the tunnel turns again with the cone to help me. I think it went much better but watching the video I think I’m still a little late but he read the turns well
I also tried running rewards. I tried a couple different rewards. The first rep is ball on a rope which Chapter didn’t seem too into last night (too cold) I switched to the frisbee which he was WAY too into (too hot) and his teenage brain couldn’t handle it. So I went back to the treat ball which is what I use most of the time. He was able to think a little more clearly (just right?) but I’m not sure I’m getting the excitement at the end like we’re aiming for.
Quick question about startling stays. Since Chapter was having some Goldilocks moments with the change up in toys I opted to ignore startling issues to preserve enthusiasm. In some reps not shown I did go back and reward good stays but if he broke early like in the videos I just went with it. What are your thoughts on whether or not to stop at rep for a broken stay at this stage of our training?
Thanks!
This was our first try at the tunnels for week 3. I was a hot mess and totally in the wrong spot at the start for the turns. The send was not an issue. Any thoughts on the turns? He seems to just want to drive ahead so I’m not sure he understands what we’re doing.
Thanks!
Yes! That makes a lot of sense. And good to know about the bars. He’s so tall so I didn’t realize that needed to be as low as 4 inches. Thanks for the tips and I can’t wait to try them out and make it fun!
It was super hot yesterday so once it cooled off a little I tried the jump grids with motion. I’m struggling with these because Chapter more often then not will run around the set up and not take the first jump. I’ve tried backchaining it several times and then I’ll get like one good rep. Are the jump grids too much pressure for him? Is it an impulse control issue? I included one rep where he bails and goes off running. While he does tend to get distracted in the other exercises it is much less so than the grids. Your thoughts are much appreciated. I ended up sending him on the last rep because I was hot and frustrated and I was surprised that he drove towards the end and took all the jumps.
We did some more the the sequences from week two. I tried to focus more in connection. A few times I lost connection and/or wasn’t clear enough on my sends. It feels like I’m far away from him (compared to when I handled Maddy) so I’m still getting used to being more lateral since I cant outrun him. But overall I think these went well and I can feel our teamwork slowly coming together.
Here’s the send to the BC (ignore my sequence numbers on the videos- I cant keep track of which one I was doing)
After this I tried sequence 2 and 3. Here are some attempts at those. On the last one I struggled with the send to three so i ended up just looping back around. This was probably my fault because the session was probably too long.
I tried to incorporate your corrections on sequence 1 and 2. We did two quick sessions today. One in the afternoon and one in the early evening (trying to take advantage of the cooler weather before it’s 100 out!) I felt more comfortable with these sequences. I still think my timing needs work but it feels like it’s slowly getting there. I increased the bars to 14 on this as well. I wasn’t too sure what happened in the reps where he ran around the jumps- was it my timing or a baby dog thing? Since i feel like this is me I have been rewarding him since his energy has been great. The evening session was tough for him to focus- lots of birds to chase!
I also dabbled in sequence 2 as well.
I tried the FC and BC exercise again tonight. I took the bars up to 12 inches. I tried to be more lateral and execute the turns earlier. Despite feeling like I was earlier, I can tell I was not watching the video. I also realized my connection wasn’t great because I was focusing too much on executing the FC so I tried to focus on connection and I think that went better, however he would sometimes go around me. Even the times he didn’t go around it looked like he had to correct his stride so I don’t feel like I’m giving him great info.
On a positive note when Chapter was a puppy he would shut down at failure or confusion. I worked really hard on building his stamina to work and I was very proud how he hung in there despite my unclear cues!
I thought the blind crosses went better, but blinds have always been my favorite. I do think that I was still late. I was confused the one time he ran around me because I thought I had good connection and decent timing.
We started week 2 assignments the last two days. I struggled with both the FC and BCs especially when I progressed to three jumps. I’m super late on the crosses (especially the fronts). These videos are from our second try at this and while I’m not as late as I was the first time, I’m definitely still late. I’m not used to running a dog this big lol! I also know I rewarded from the wrong hand a few times.
On the jump grids this was our first try doing grids. It took some backchaining to get Chapter to understand what we were doing but these are the two times we made through. I set the bars at 8 inches and six feet a part and then the double was at 12 and 16.
I did another session of lazy pinwheel and moved the jumps farther apart than before. He seems to be understanding and getting it. I’ll try moving the bars up next session.
We also did our first session of the send pinwheel. The first rep the jumps are closer and then the last three reps in the video the pinwheel jump was further out.
We tried lazy pinwheel again with your corrections/suggestions. I lowered the bars to 8 which immediately seemed to help. I focused a lot of the left jump (left is his weak side in all things). Then we put it together. I also tried to work on my connection. I’m having a hard time not flinging my arm (old habits are hard to break!)
I also had no idea my older senior dog Maddy was so in the way but I guess she wasn’t distracting to Chapter lol!
