Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
HAPPY NEW YEAR/DECADE!!
You’re 100% right, all dogs are different, they teach us something new every time!
In regards to playing without toys, he definitely might have met his threshold, since right before that we were playing, but toy on my body.
And we do like to do lots of heeling work, I should have broke it up during the LBG when I saw him heeling. Will remember for next time.
Ugh, I know, my waving arms are very distracting, its always been a problem. I have ran with hands in pockets before, but never with cups of water. That would definitely teach me a lesson! Any mental tips to help me remember more about my arms? I definitely tried harder to move smoother (slower) and less jerky in the next few videos – I just need help remembering it, along with everything else I have to remember, lol!
In general, in all these videos he is running slower, I think it is because it was hotter than I thought it would be. He is quite sensitive to heat. Should have pulled him sooner. I have a video of some errors at the end I would like you to critique.
Drill 1, mirror image – tried to run smoother/slower arms. Toy on ground. Was before his error video below.
Drill 1 with weaves at the end, toy on the ground. He is entering his first AKC Novice Std and JWW this weekend! Excited and nervous, thought we should get some weave training it, which we don’t do too often. He did this after the error video below, so he bounced back from the stress well I think.
Toy FF Weaves – last exercise he did. He was tired and panting. So less energy, but he played still 🙂
Tails Errors.
0:12 – He misses weave poles, didn’t collect in time, novice dog?
1:20 – He misses the tunnel, I didn’t cue the tunnel at all (bad mom!) and did not connect with him after the jump (bad mom!), all handler fault, correct?
1:43 – breaks start line, I think he is starting to get stressed. Ugh, I’ve done too many reps?
1:57 – knocks a bar, jumps next jump then completely stops to sniff. I think he is completely stressed. I should have stopped sooner (and he was starting to pant cause of the heat, and I was sweating!). I put him away and let him rest for a bit. He was much better after and did Drill 1 with weaves as well as FF with Weaves. Should I have handled his error and stress any differently? I talked to him and gave him treats, may be I should have asked for him to do tricks than treat? *this was a BIG problem in the summer 2019 when he would stress and shut down and I would lose him (I thought we would never be able to do agility), so I think I’m hypersensitive to any signs of stress he shows*Some more fun times with Tails! Also, just wanted to say I love your lecture notes. They are always upbeat, concise and the personal stories help make it seem we aren’t the only ones going through these issues.
Playing with Tails with toy on me, but not in my hand
Playing with Tails, toy on the ground near the camera. He knew the toy was not on me, so he seemed not as into it, and mildly distracted, but he still wanted to play.
FF with toy. He was happy to play!
LB game
Drill #1.
I had to tweak the setup a little, as I’m always afraid to put a curve tunnel close to a wall or near the edge of my elevated yard.
The first running-with start he misses the tunnel, can you tell me why? am I just not clear with me cue? The second running-with start is successful with the tunnel, but it forces me to rear. He does make mistakes and you’ll see the way I handle them. We don’t practice 270s (we need to!). When he make a mistake, I treat and keep moving. The next 2 times I do a startline running start, which he was great for. On the last rep, he does a lead change right before entering the tunnel the second time. Thoughts on how I pulled him towards me during that part of the run? He also knocks the bar on the same jump several times. I think it’s because it was a pretty extreme slice for him.
Drill #2
A little bit of a tweak in the course again. First time was a running-with startline (I was a little too grabby with him I think) and second time was a startline running start. I also placed the toy on the ground at the end of the course for each run. He was great!
A start line video with Tails
The video has been edited due to a lot of the time we’re off screen.
I definitely like the running start line to keep his attention and motivation up.Okay, looking forward to the next lesson!
I feel when I present the toy with focus forward he already looks forward (yay!), so I should start adding my “ready” word then?
Some FF with a toy https://youtu.be/QIvwxXfsT_U
I was very discombobulated with a clicker, toy and trying to wrangle him.
I switched to food right at the end.He seems to “know” to look forward with the toy. I guess assuming I will throw it.
With the food he seems to look at me first.Have a Merry Christmas with your family!!
AKC FAST run this morning
So proud and happy with his speed and engagement! Never thought we would ever get here.
Unfortunately, I have to record from a tripod, so no before the ring or after the ring videos. We do use a reinforcement station, so after he gets his leash on and we leave the ring we run to it, I let him eat out of it, then I pull his toy out of it and we tug and play.We are going to enter Novice in Jan and see how it goes. I may be able to have to some one film the pre and post run parts since more people will be there during the Novice runs.
Shaping exercise makes sense!
I did a quick video at lunch – before I read your advice to do it with toys instead.
But here it is with treats again, though he seems more excited this time!
Focus Forward with Tails: https://youtu.be/WhTa67_a0qg
It’s an edited video. Initially I didn’t have the right treats and he was not interested. Found the right treats and we did a few.
Two questions:
1) Okay to use a clicker?
2) I have done “focus forward” where I leave an empty bowl in front and if he looks forward I mark, let him run to the bowl, then I throw treats in the bowl. So the bowl is a little of a lure. Is this form of focus forward beneficial at all? Should I quit doing it with the bowl?For video 2: You’re right! Makes so much more sense to blind after the tunnel and have him on the correct side before the jump.
He loves the clicker for the LB game, both pups get super excited for the clicker so I’ll continue using it with that game. He got pork roast too for it, so I’m sure that helped, lol.
For drill 2, I’ll try with 2 jumps this weekend or next week. I’ve been trying my hardest not to do too much course work with him, and I think it’s really kept him peppy for all our sessions.
Will work work on focus forward next!
Thanks as always, so insightful!
Some more drills!
For both pups in drill 1, I had to eliminate jump 6 due to not enough room.
Cricket drill 1 – done once: https://youtu.be/cTh_ibZoCJ0
Cricket drill 1 – mirror image: https://youtu.be/geenr6z5VA0
Cricket LB – with clicker: https://youtu.be/dKiMJcP2seI
Cricket drill 2: https://youtu.be/f-Zb8H98gBs
For drill 2 she missed jump #9, but I kept running.
I repeated drill 2 from #6, she had a little tunnel refusal (not sure why?) and she ran it well!Tails drill 1 – done twice, one with a startline: https://youtu.be/Afu982yCk3Y
Tails drill 1 mirror image – he missed the 2nd jump, I still rewarded and then repeated: https://youtu.be/b6oUmn8LPbA
Tails LB – done at 12″ with clicker: https://youtu.be/oYqlG1w7oSs
Tails drill 2 – only ran once and he did well: https://youtu.be/8CpxDLO3QlM
– I felt that drill 2 was technical for him because I didn’t have a lot of running room and he didn’t get to really extend out. But he was happy and ran fast. I’m also confused what I did between 3 and 4, what should I have done? I think I wanted to blind but did a spin?I definitely do!
And with your guidance (and seeing the advice you are providing other teams), I’m learning signs to watch for and how to tweak things to make him AND her run faster and happier!
I think for Cricket: One run a day right now is the best thing for her. She came home so happy today.
For Tails: Being more assertive to the obstacles is needed. He is not a dog I can send to obstacles yet, need to run with him. Hopefully when his confidence builds, we will be able to do more sends.
And for both pups: need better start line routines!
Both pups went to an AKC trial today.
Here are their runs! (sorry that the videos are dark, they turned on the lights after, lol)Tails: AKC FAST Novice (we have only done FAST) https://youtu.be/XNJXY54RJRA
I just ran with him at the start line. He got distracted/stressed after the first jump and went to sniff something, but I got him back (this was an impossible task about 5 months ago). He also refused the jump right before the A-frame, and the jump after the A-frame. I think both times its because I decel too abruptly and tried to send him to the jump rather than run with him to the jump.Cricket: Excellent JWW https://youtu.be/hItBJx1gMeU
She was also signed up for Standard. But she ran JWW so well (with speed! though she didn’t Q), that I scratched her from Standard and just let her hang out and get lots of pets from people. In the video you can see our start line issues (I have no idea why I didn’t ask her to do her spin trick), she also ran around one jump and she only did about 7 of the weave poles before popping out. You can also see how I handle her mistakes, I ignore them, I just keep running!I use reinforcement stations after each run outside the ring.
More backyard training tomorrow!
You are right, I did set it up as a back side. We do have a back side cue and I should have used it. Cricket does not like back sides as much cause I think I decel quite abruptly and its too much pressure for her. I run her mainly doing all kinds blinds so it’s all speed all the time.
Good to know that I need to moderate my speed better and great analogy! Will be more conscientious of that. Timing is everything!
With the lazy bastard game, would using a clicker be okay as well? Or do we intentionally have to stay quiet? I have trained mainly everything with a clicker and I think it would work well to click right when I see them committing to the jump then throw the food to other side. I will try to not acknowledge the jumps so much next time as well – after watching the video it definitely seemed like I was partly cuing since I was looking directly at the jumps.
Will work on toy box drive… I usually put food and a toy in there. So once I open the box he gets to eat first then finish off with tugging. I did not add treats for these exercises as I was having issues with meatball crumbs every where and I was trying out his hol-ee toy. He will definitely drive to a dead toy, or his favourite is an empty metal food bowl. Issue is I can’t leave a toy or metal food bowl at the out gate at a trial without it being in a container. So toy box training will be intensified!
