[denisewelk]

Good evening!

Today we broke things up into two sessions. I know I was pushing her a bit hard because I’m behind and trying to catch up.
At lunch, we did the tunnel discrims and added in some of the remote reinforcement for after the run. Not sure if you can see that clearly, but we left the ring on leash and tugged.
Video: https://youtu.be/Nz2eM3DpvNE
After work, we rebuilt the course for the Package 3 “go ons” and worked those a bit. The warmups went well and the first sequence I thought was great, but I’m really messing up the second sequence where she is coming out the far end of the tunnel. I seem to be directing her to slice the jump after the tunnel so she misses the second jump.
Video: https://youtu.be/3nEDbz-AMx8
I’m hoping we don’t get too much rain on Sunday because I want to rake and respread the stone in field. I noticed today that there are some really hard spots and then some really “deep” spots with lots of stone. That probably isn’t helping her with the jumping on top of my bad timing. It is amazing how I consciously try to make sure that I don’t talk over the jumps and then watch the video and….I’m talking over the jumps!

Thanks!

[denisewelk]

Good morning!
More coursework from Package 2 including some tunnel discrims. Most of the dropped bars I understand because after watching the video, I was talking over them. However, I’m not sure why we kept dropping 4 (the bar perpendicular to the tunnel). That one seemed to go down a lot. Am I not supporting it enough?

Video: https://youtu.be/DBP32kfzCRU

Thanks!

[denisewelk]

I’m definitely starting to trust her more! And I ran her with my other dogs barking like idiots for a distraction.
The judge was Pamela Bryant-Meeks, she is from Texas and has judged for FIF before. I usually like her courses.
Novice Jumpers 2: I was going to put a BC in there, but I’m still hesitant and I chicken out! 🙂
Contacts: When we train at home, I use the Manners Minder and she usually drives to the bottom; however, without that target, things aren’t quite as smooth. Also, I need to handle the contacts better and with more speed and smoothness (my older agility girl would blow contacts if I “pushed” her in any way, so I learned to back off and send her to the contacts, let her get her contact behavior, and then move on). I try not to do that with Syn, but I catch myself doing it sometimes out of habit. Also, we work 2o2o in practice but I know in trials I get overly excited and sometimes do a quick release once she hits the yellow without verifying the 2o2o.

One question I forgot to ask: So, in trials, she is running up to me after the run to bite me now. Never even thinks about it during a run, just when she knows the run is over. Yesterday, in practice, if I didn’t get the toy out fast enough after a run, she was coming at me like she does in a trial. How do I work to stop that? Do I not celebrate or praise her excitedly until after we calm down a bit and get out of the ring. Interestingly, her littermate was there this weekend (they look/act EXACTLY alike), and Rogue’s owner said that in the last trial or so, she has transitioned from the biting at the end of the run to jumping up and biting him during the run whenever she gets frustrated. I don’t want to get to that point because Syn seems to run so clean and focused right now, even when I mishandle.

Thanks!

[denisewelk]

Good evening!
Finally back to it!
Synnie and I worked the mid-course challenges from Games Package 2 (yes we are that far behind). We had some bars down but other than that, I think things went well (except that my video cut off, so we are missing part of the session).
Video: https://youtu.be/o0GgE3clGJc
Tomorrow, we will work on the tunnel discriminations from Games Package 2.

Last weekend we did the FIF ASCA at Quicksilver. We didn’t get to do a lot of pattern games, volume games, etc. because I was running 3 dogs and there wasn’t a lot of time. However, interestingly enough, she was the calmest outside the ring that I ever saw her. Quicksilver and ASCA are much lower key than something like AKC at Oak Ridge, so that may have helped, and there were more people there that she knew and was comfortable with. We ALMOST tugged outside the ring! Unfortunately, again because how busy I was, I forgot to set up my tripod most of the weekend, but luckily Syn’s breeder got a few videos.
Novice Jumpers 1: https://youtu.be/K0cQxoqv-48
Novice Jumpers 2: https://youtu.be/KYSzuaUD7Rs
Novice Gamblers: https://youtu.be/031umnKSwlU
Novice Regular: https://youtu.be/GgTsGofGlfc

Thanks!

[denisewelk]

Good morning!!

So, crazy times here and I’m getting ready to head to PA for Thanksgiving week, so we did not do a lot with the mid-courses and tunnel discrims and I didn’t get any on video. However, we ran AKC agility league last night with the other dogs, so I ran Synnie on the course and I’ve attached the videos. My main concern is the 2 jumps after the second set of weaves. Both times she knocked both bars, so I’m obviously doing something wrong. Am I trying to get too far ahead. Should I handle from the other side and switch to the next jump? Hoping to get back on track with course work the week after Thanksgiving! We do have ASCA the weekend after Thanksgiving but then nothing until at least January.
Have a great holiday!!
Videos
https://youtu.be/YhkMn436kDQ (first try)
https://youtu.be/_bNifU4iOKw (second try)

Thanks!!

[denisewelk]

Switching gears for a moment…I signed one of my other dogs up for a working spot at Brain Camp on December 1 and 2. Can I switch that from Juno to Synergy? I learned today at Juno’s ophthalmology exam, that her eyes are getting worse, and we probably won’t be trying to compete in agility any longer, and that is where her biggest problems were that I wanted to deal with at Brain Camp. Thanks!

[denisewelk]

Good afternoon!

You are going to have to keep pushing me with the BCs. I have the least experience with them and I am less comfortable!:)

Here is our run thru video. Very happy with her focus and tugging in the ring in the new environment. However, outside the ring, she was nervous. We tried some pattern games, but with the grass and my selection of treats they didn’t work so well. Neither did our rally run thru. Just too much for her.
Video: https://youtu.be/AVBAjlWjwXw

Yesterday, we worked those sequences for the last time before I had to build the agility league course of the week. Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling great and was really tired, and we walked out to the ring, I forgot the course maps. So we worked on what I could remember and it went okay. Onward and upward to the next set of sequences!

Video: https://youtu.be/6InDoKu9y04

Question: I’d like to try to use the snuffle mat for decompression after runs. Is this something that can be waiting for her in her crate when we are finished or does decompression work best outside of the crate?

Thanks!

[denisewelk]

So I posted this the other day but somehow I messed it up and it didn’t actually post.

Thanks for all of the information. Very helpful!!

Thursday, we did back&forth and find my face in the field. Afternoon practice really provides more distractions. This day, we had people taking down trees across the street and some kind of construction behind us. We also have a little farm behind us so the construction had all of the animals vocal also.
Video: https://youtu.be/HDHj0lUgjPs

Then we did Sequences 1-3 again. Sequence 3 is still a bit of a challenge, and she is still uncomfortable with jumping the jump to the fence.
Video: https://youtu.be/rP7HGlLo7P0

Sequences 4 and 5: Sequence 4 went well. She loved that she could go directly to the tunnel and not take that jump. During Sequence 4, the people across the street came home and had a crying child. That made Sequence 5 difficult on the start line for Syn.
Video: https://youtu.be/Ebuylc4xecY

First in Flight is having run thrus today in an outside grass field. We are going to work tugging and rewarding in the ring.

Thanks!

[denisewelk]

Thanks!

Lots of great information for me here. Much appreciated!!

We reworked Sequences 1 and 2 from the first week and then added Sequence 3. She definitely seems to take issue with jumping the jump into the fence on the right side of the tunnel. And we were knocking a lot of bars tonight. Not sure if I was feeling more confident that she had these sequences and wasn’t handling them as well or something else.
I missed the Zoom call on Monday night, but got to watch it last night (thanks for the Synergy shout out!!).
We did start working on the “find my face” game, which seemed to go well when there were no distractions. We will move it to the agility field tomorrow and tape it (it got COLD here: 85 on Monday and 51 on Tuesday…I haven’t adjusted yet!!)
One think I noticed after listening to the Zoom call last night, and I don’t know if it is a decompression thing or a reward thing or ??
After a sequence, if I reward Syn with the toy and say good job or something like that, she tends to take the toy away from me and play with it a bit. I go over to her and grab it and then we tug. However, if, after a sequence, I throw the toy and also say “Yay Puppy” or something similar, she runs back to me and offers the tug for tugging. Does she need more than just the tug for reinforcement (needs me to say Yay Puppy) or does she need some decompression if I don’t add that extra layer of reinforcement, or ??
Sequences 1 and 2: https://youtu.be/h9ZBFlmFTlM
Sequence 3: https://youtu.be/HY5BxOWn-po

Thanks!!

[denisewelk]

Good evening!!
Here are videos from our AKC weekend.
First, the up and down game. I think this went pretty well for the commotion around us. We did this Saturday morning before the trial. Then Saturday afternoon, we tried doing back and forth upstairs. Well, first, I didn’t consider the fact that Syn has always lived in Ranchers and has never had to deal with all of those weird steps, so that took a bit. Then we did the back and forth by the gate overlooking the rings. She did it with focus but it was almost frenetic…like she we concentrating so hard on that so she didn’t have to think about her surroundings. It didn’t seem comfortable. We did a could versions today in different places downstairs and she seemed okay but definitely not 100% comfortable.
Up/Down Video: https://youtu.be/ruvrmvaz3BE

The following are her runs from the weekend. I tried to keep in mind what you said about not fixing things, but it was like my brain overrode that thought anytime something happened. I need to work on mistakes being part of the plan. We also need to work on our weaves. She always gets the entry and “weaves” but doesn’t usually make the turn to get that second weave.
For 90% of the runs, I was thrilled with her performance and okay with mine. I gave her a couple incorrect cues, most of which she fixed for me. I wasn’t thrilled with my handling or placement in the 2nd standard round. LOVED her 2nd jumpers round (except for the weaves). Overall, very happy with the weekend.
Also worked a bit on doing some behaviors while waiting in the ring for the GO. She definitely is still much more comfortable in the ring and running than anywhere else.
Standard 1: https://youtu.be/1ZakQ7hDh40
Jumpers 1: https://youtu.be/NpEBnB9DwNw
FAST 1: https://youtu.be/yiYS6c4NzxM
Standard 2: https://youtu.be/NwXrklNy3RE
Jumpers 2: https://youtu.be/mdJaNBQofGQ
FAST 2: https://youtu.be/DJpz_Ln7axQ

Thanks!!

[denisewelk]

Here are our first two opening sequences.
For some reason she was a little weird about jumping toward the fence. I’m not sure if it looked too close to her or what.
Also, you will see one try where she goes to the tunnel instead of taking the first jump. Do you see what I’m doing wrong here. She did that a couple of times in prior practice.
My timing was WAY off on the first run. I think it got a bit better on the next few runs.
I was really happy with both versions of the second sequence!!

Link: https://youtu.be/NKaXDiV1AOI

[denisewelk]

It will be interesting, because at the NADAC trial, there was a lot of space (small trial, big arena), so it wasn’t as “busy.” The AKC trial this weekend will be at Rising Star Ranch, which is a lot tighter with more people. We may have to start outside the front door and work our way in…

[denisewelk]

Thanks so much!!

The great thing about this trial was running the same course twice, so I could see where my mistakes were and TRY to fix them for the next run. This was also her first trial at full height (16). I definitely need to get my cues out earlier…for my older girl, who is a very fast BC mix, I was always so late that she learned to do the cue as soon as I said it and not after taking the obstacle in front of her. I’m trying NOT to do that with Syn, who is fast but not as fast as Flurry. Sometimes I catch myself holding for that extra second to cue, even though Syn has MUCH better commitment now than Flurry ever had.

We will be trialing AKC this weekend, and then we are done until the FIF ASCA trial the weekend after Thanksgiving.

Our goals this week will be working the pattern games with small distractions in the agility field and creating a start line behavior chain.

[denisewelk]

Good morning!

Yesterday we did an NADAC trial.

Here is a video of us doing the up/down game. This was about 20 feet from the ring during a walkthrough. This was our second time at this trial. We did it earlier about 40 feet from the ring before the trial started. After this, we did a back and forth game away from the ring but with her back to the steps where people and dogs were going up and down. That was actually too much for her. I didn’t think this attempt (on video) was too bad!
Synnie Up/Down: https://youtu.be/fYfF28bBarc

She seems to be okay in the ring once she starts running (although you’ll see in the 2nd regular run, when she is in the weaves, there is an altercation outside the ring and she needs to stop and evaluate), but she definitely is nervous in the building and around the other dogs when not in the ring. We did eat treats throughout the day, but I didn’t even attempt any tugging.

Here are her runs from the day. I was thrilled with her performance, and the great thing about NADAC, at least this trial, was that we ran the same course twice. So, I could watch the first video and try to alter what I did for the second run. We definitely need to work more discriminations!!
Synnie’s runs:
Regular 1: https://youtu.be/F44aXWk_g5I
Regular 2: https://youtu.be/rJG5Znhj2Ds
Touch N Go 1: https://youtu.be/Fff9i_1BrlA
Touch N Go 2: https://youtu.be/VhtB_ya5ufY
Jumpers 1: https://youtu.be/2c1gMaL8kvM
Jumpers 2: https://youtu.be/d2S7F9dhoRw

Thanks! I hope you had a great weekend at flyball!!

[denisewelk]

Thanks!

Regarding her pattern games without distractions, she usually re-engages fairly quickly. I did notice it was taking a bit longer on the recorded video. I also think my choice of treats was not optimal. I tried to pick something she would see clearly when tossed, but I think they were too big and too unique…she’s never had them before. No, she doesn’t always chew her treats, but she is a bit “careful” with anything new she is introduced to treat-wise. I will try next time with smaller, more familiar treats.

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