[Elaine Norton]

Thanks, we will try out this routine in class tonight and see how it goes.

>> Did you also build in rest time so he could have a good snooze in his crate (or in the car)?

He won’t rest or sleep amid all the excitement or in the car until we head home which took a long time to get to that point. That’s why I take him outside for him to chill out. He slept really hard once he was home. He also won’t relax in crate so I was thinking of taking a raised bed to class so he can chill away from the action. He likes his platforms and will lie down on those.

>> Loved your energy with the clam-on-a-leash! He seemed happy to chase it,. You can let him grab it more as part of the play. Was there a cookie in it?

Yes, it did have a cookie. I didn’t stop to let him get it as it seemed to interrupt his fun when I stop. He likes to run and chase. At the end of the run, I did move it around to let him get him and he had no interest.

>> He gets rewarded during his training session and then at the end of a sequence, give your remote reinforcement word and run to the treat pockets.

I’m sure he will be fine without the pockets, me I’m not so sure. I do leave the pockets at the crate for trial and just take his water and the cheese treat dispenser.

So at the end of his run should I leash him before going to the remote treat? What if my instructor has feedback, should I wait and then go to the treat?

[Elaine Norton]

>>Pattern game definitely add this in to your next class, getting as close to the other dogs, people and ring as possible.
I did this at the run thru today and it worked really well. I was wondering at what point and how often? I went thru two pockets of cookies and I purposely packed extra. In class, he’s in the crate while the other three dogs run and I take him out for his turn. We usually have 3 runs. I was thinking I would take him out earlier when the dog before him is running to play before each run. Or leave him out after his run while the next dog runs as he often goes first.

>> Was the reward in a bowl on the ledge?
Yes, it’s in his measuring cup so I took a few pieces out on the ledge and fiddled with them each time. Showing him the cup would be much easier 😁.

>> Do you have his in-person class on Monday night?
Yes, it starts at 8:15pm so I will be driving during part of the chat.

Today, he did two runs at indoor Run Thru set up for AKC novice. These went really well. I practiced the mechanics with leash this week so much better for me too. Although, I forgot to zoom out on the first video so you can’t see his ring entry, but it worked well and he was focused with no running off. For the second run, I did remember so it’s very similar.

We did the engaged chill in the back room, especially after I had done the pattern by the ring. The first pattern I started by the ring on the far side from the start with a low key dog/ handler. He did really well and would briefly glance at the ring but returned back quickly. We disturbed the dogs crated under cover in the corner but they did not affect him. He was breathing hard when we went back to the room so he enjoyed his massage. He was still able to respond. We hung near the entrance on lineup and did pattern. Disturbed another dog in crate and he checked out the dog briefly and came back. I played the pattern closer to the ring near start end and he was fine here. He was more distracted by the noisy terrier and loud handler who used to be in his training class so moved a little farther back. He was perfectly fine with the dogs running on practice area in back room. I took his fit bone to chill out in the back room so he was good with it. I took him outside between the runs so he can sniff, walk, and chill out. Outside here he did enjoy his massage on leash and even snuggled up between my legs. The temp was only 61 and lots of wind so he was happy.

Run thru 1
Ring entry is not visible due to zoom level but same as 2nd. We skipped weaves/tire and dragged the clam on leash. Near the back jumps he took off for the tunnel instead of weaves so I called sooner 2nd run.

Run thru 2
I was able to capture the ring entry. He did briefly look back at his harness when I took it off but actions kept his focus. He couldn’t jump all the way up on legs when walking but did on 1st round. Tried middle for these starts. Dogs and people are lined up right outside the ring area near the start so no issues with focus.

[Elaine Norton]

>> Neighbor dogs can be a massive distraction!!
It was just the sound of the human rolling a trash can down the driveway in the dark. Fortunately, I don’t have dogs on either side now.

Engaged Chill Outside
I tried to do this first but he can’t chill outside.

Pattern Outside
He’s still responsive with no energy from me

Remote reinforcement outside
I didn’t realize he started the weaves until I saw the video. He’s still happy to leave.

Volume Dial Outside
Added more cookie movement and he looked more energized. I don’t think I dropped anything on the ground but he thought so.

[Elaine Norton]

Thanks, will work on these scenarios.

>> One thing we will look at are which games need energy from you to help start and maintain the game… and which do not need energy from you because we want him to do the work
He comes fully loaded with energy. The minute he sees training is coming he lights up and goes into work mode. He’ll start offering everything in his toolbox if I don’t tell him fast enough. In the 1st volume dial video he snuck in the side movement before I asked for the touch in air but he was following my movements. In distracting environments, I have to bring the energy to compete.

Pattern game I was able to do outside on porch so he did take a moment to look but came back pretty quickly. Will try at the run thru. We usually do these further back in smaller room behind ring. Only a narrow space with dogs and people in room with ring. Small room has practice equipment so he gets excited if dog is running.

I did finally find a way to get a leash attached to his clam. This did up the excitement. I was able to use it to draw him away from barking at the neighbor taking out trash while outside on the porch. Will test it with dogs at the run thru.

Volume Dial I will animate the food and try with clam on string.

>> What is his favorite massage body part?
He likes full body massage! He tends to lick my arms during it. When he’s in middle, I mainly do his chest since that’s all I can reach. I took a dog massage seminar so I go underneath, down his front legs, and down his sides and back. When I massage his thighs, he leans from side to side to take the weight off the leg. He even spreads out his toes on his back feet but not as fond of the front.

>> It was interesting that he was breathing hard here – was this after the games with more action? Or does he breathe harder when massaged?
I did it after the other games. In the order of the videos so I was calming him down after the actions.

[Elaine Norton]

Thanks for the suggestions. I also need to practice my mechanics and the action tricks when he’s on leash.

>> The pattern games will accomplish 2 things that are helpful: helping him assess the environment and ignore distractions, and also grab the treat off the ground and immediately return to engagement.
He definitely struggles with disengagement with dogs or wildlife. Tossing food in the direction of distraction was helpful as part of the naughty but nice. I have lots of wildlife around my house so many chances to practice.

>> do you have more than one class a week?
No, once a month I do a run thru at a different place so next is this Saturday 3/26. And, my training facility is offering a mock trial Gamblers on Sun 4/3 so it will run like a trial with line up but allow toys and food. Yeah! I can practice. I did one run in Gamblers USDAA at a trial to get him practice but he does not do distance.

Pattern
We played this quite a bit from his other training so I use it when I arrive at class. I go early to let him check it out, toss cookies (on concrete) and feed from hand.

Volume Dial
I stopped the video a little soon to observe him but he was engaged and not over-aroused. I did this with food on table.

Remote Reinforcement
Food on table he happily leaves with me. When I measure his food in the morning he heads off to wait on top of sofa. Someone gave chew stick before dinner and both dogs dropped when they saw the measuring cups with kibble. Kibble games > chew.

Engaged Chill
I used massage to help calm him so he usually asks for it when he’s excited or twice daily morning and bedtime. I’ve tried this waiting in line at trial and it’s harder to keep his focus off the dogs.

Practice Action with Leash and Cookies in Hand
I needed to practice the mechanics when he’s leashed and cookies are in my hand. Leash reduced his ability to respond as well.

[Elaine Norton]

Whew, much tougher than I thought. I’m not used to having cookies or toys in my hand so I forgot a bit and harder to remember the course trying to keep him engaged. And forgot not to retry parts so he barked at me for interrupting his fun.

He was quite happy to see his flirt pole going with us and ran in front of me in the garage and put two feet on the bumper when I loaded it in the rear. It did not hold as much value in the environment. And when we got home he showed up at the rear of the vehicle looking at me, normally he runs off and waits at the door. He was much calmer when we got home as normally the other dog engages him in chase and stirs him up but he was just hanging with me and happy again to see his flirt pole unpacked and played with it.

The weather was nice so we were outside and temp was mild for him in low 60s. But it’s noisy with the freeway, someone banging metal in one session, and the trainer had dog in open vehicle so it barked and distracted him a few times. Fortunately the bunny I saw during my walk thru did not appear when he was out. The sand makes it harder for cookies and cheese is really no fun on the ground.

I tried
Flirt Pole with fur squeaker – mildly effective but did not hold
Sheepskin tug – no interest
Clam – got his focus and works in both places
Cookies caused issues with sniffing ground which is not normal

Actions
Paws on leg and circle still worked well
Fit bone and walking around on it worked really well here

Working with his favorite dog Rio, the golden was too much when close to the start so the flirt pole did not help. It did mildly distract him when walking in from the parking lot and a dog from earlier class walked by. I tried running it around a lot further away on the concrete and he would engage some but still distracted and looking back but not madly barking like when he was too close. The fit bone away in the same area on concrete really kept him engaged and he did not look at Rio. I just kept him moving around on it and he was offering lots of fast front/rear movement and head up focused on me so I tossed Charlie bears to catch or tossed on ground.

Cookies/Sheepskin tug

Flirt pole, no focus with another dog

Clam on short rerun

Fit bone start

[Elaine Norton]

Thanks for the insights and plan. We will try these tonight and see how it goes.

>> For both of these, bring reinforcement into the ring and do tricks for treats or toys (whichever is higher value in the moment) as you go into the ring
At what point would I start the tricks?
Would I do them leash off or on?
In class, he’s in crate so I take him out and put leash on, then walk to start line, take leash off. Other dog finishing might be out if he’s not first. They always have to set the bars for him as he’s only dog his height.

>> Separately, at classes and the run through – make being in the ring the most incredibly reinforcing happy place filled with reinforcement (so we can eliminate stress by building a positive conditioned emotional response). For now, that means he can see the cookies and use the high value toys (I promise we will fade those, but not yet :)) and only do the most super fun easy things that he is no going to get wrong.

Ok, so cookies or toy in hand, not pocket. So I should skip performing weaves obstacles since he does not do those unless inside, right? I never know what other items he may do wrong so I should continue and not correct, right?

>> And check out the remote reinforcement game
Ok, so you want us to do this one now before the other two?
The naughty treat machines have given him a good practice in delayed rewards.

>> the PT is the best one on the market!
Yes, it works well as dispenser. It eats batteries in the remote so that usually does not work when I try to use it. I also use only a small amount for the session and kibble is so small it dumps most of it during one run and runs out too soon.

[Elaine Norton]

>> When is your next agility class?
Tomorrow. It’s on Mondays at 8:15pm so I have to drive during the chats. He has a run thru on Sat 3/26 so toys and food allowed.

>> Does he seem happy to patiently wait for it to spit out treats?
Yes, for him it’s good as he is calm, wags his tail then looks at me. I do have a treat and train, ready treat and Pet Tutor. It was the pet tutor as the kibble is so small it outputs too much and runs out. TNT does the same since I don’t put much in it. Have the mini on preorder which should help as it will take 15 small items.

Another session with food on table. Unfortunately I had the fur squeaker on the table so he was a little distracted by it – that’s why he was sniffing the table.

Action Tricks with a few different toys
Fur squeaker too high value and he ran off with it. I put on flirt pole and was the most exciting item but video did not record.

Clam worked well off flirt pole. On the flirt he was excited chasing it but getting food out was harder and video did not record. It was hard to hold in hand and do leg weaves.

Sheepskin tug worked well and not too high to drop plus he’s played toy switch with it

Food duck did not work as well as clam and tug as it’s harder to get the food and not as high of tug value.

Flirt Pole Fur Squeaker

He was more engaged the first time I used the pole but it didn’t record. He was little more tired as I tested the pole with weaves and he had an earlier toy switch session.

Now he’s started offering circle instead of middle even with my legs open. I couldn’t get him to turn loose the first time so I had to drop tripe treats. Now he’s looking for the cookie on the floor. And leg weaves are hard with pole in hand so he rewarded himself.

[Elaine Norton]

>> I * think* your hand was empty as you were cuing it? but watch him reach for the hand with an open mouth
Yes, my hands were empty. I saw his air snap which is probably from magic hand where I drop the food for him to catch. I was able to use my empty hand to keep his focus walking in during training and run thru but didn’t work at trial. I did notice in walking in he tends to jump on my legs so maybe would work better.

>> we would like for him to run agility and there are no cookies! So I think the games will build up to where he can do all sorts of things with no cookies present
I do use different process in agility. I wear training pockets with toys, food, and treat dispenser loaded with cheese. I was running him in training with no rewards and my trainer said something. He loves the obstacles and agility. I was using the food to keep him quiet in between. So I use the cheese on contacts to reinforce stopping as that goes out the window in trial. At the end I toss the clam loaded with cheese over the last jump. At home, I use remote treat dispenser for agility. It’s unreliable so he gets a lot of standing in front of it with head cocked to side wondering where’s the reward. For fitness, it was mainly luring and slowing him down with food in my hands. For his daily meals, I use training games so it’s tossed or comes from hands so I can leave that on table or in pockets.

>> feel free to try this with toys
I will try some sessions with toys. Should I try different toys to see what works? Is it ok to use the clam with food? I was able to connect the clam to the flirt pole so he got excited (too excited to go to bed).

[Elaine Norton]

>> have you worked on any reward markers with him, like when the cookie is tossed versus handed to him
I use yes/nice for marker and get it for ones I toss. I’m not as consistent on the hand feed especially if luring and a little soft spoken on the toss. These are more noticeable in the below with cookies on table.

>> he was hilarious when you did the empty hand leg weaves and he looked around like you must’ve dropped the cookies hahahaha so funny!
Yes, he keeps my class entertained and trainers shaking their heads. I call him Mr Fun. But he probably remembers that I did drop cookies when I was doing it during his fitness.

>> have you used the toys for any of these: middle then a flirt pole, or circle then chase a clam on a line, for example?
Yes, mainly tug in middle but I did recently see the whip it and middle combo and plan to try it.
Have not used anything with circle. I have an extra clam and had planned to have on line but he chewed the end of my tug that allows attaching when he was a puppy. That’s his favorite part to grab. What do you use for a line?

He was calmer for his session with cookies on table

The orange top in the corner near the peanut is the Webster.

[Elaine Norton]

>> What is a Webster?
It’s for clearing spider webs so it has a long extendable pole with a round, large bristle brush attached to the end. The brush unscrews so you can clean it. I have two outside and one inside. Maybe I need a fourth. I have actually used it to get his attention when he’s out barking at the deer and I can’t get him to disengage. He latches on to the bristles and tugs hard. Pest control drives him crazy when he does the outside.

>> What is whip it?
It’s the name for the game involving a flirt pole. You flip it side to side and when goes dead they disengage, then you release them and let them chase it. There are variations and one involves middle.

Is a feather duster better than a tug?
Yeah, I had to move my laundry basket inside the tub as he kept stealing my duster and washcloths. And I have a hard time cleaning with him around.

[Elaine Norton]

His Action Tricks went way worse than I expected as his arousal went way up and I did not realize the session was so long until I watched the 7 min video. I did both steps in one session so I split it up. Sorry, the camera location was too close.

He added a lot of his own behaviors so you can see he loves middle. The rear foot target into the bed was his own doing I only noticed in the video but we had been doing fitness class for past 30 days.

[Elaine Norton]

>> what doe he really love that we can use as reinforcement (biting a broom? Barking on cue?)
Movement/chase is high on his list
He does go crazy over the broom and Webster and bites/tugs it but I don’t use that as a reward
Outside he loves sticks and nuts
Cheese or tripe worked when over threshold in class
Food delivery makes a difference so he loves to chase it tossed over delivery to mouth and chasing a toy like clam where he opens to get food
He loves squeaky balls, a little fur squeaker, and flirt pole
I did not train to bark on cue but he is very vocal and sings
when my phone rings, use blender, or play piano
He does respond to crazy, exciting sounds

>> When you did the Naughty But Nice program, which games were most helpful for him?
All of them!
Middle is his favorite which you’ll see in his action tricks
Recall games like catch me if you can or running away
Impulse games like whip it
Arousal up/down and thinking in arousal
Boundary games, especially the premack

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