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I’ve done good and toy pattern games with all my dogs and repeat them often. I have a different version of find my face but will try yours too. I have snuffle mats but haven’t used them lately. Tried the 10 min relaxation with Robbie last night but he didn’t relax. He was confused and offered behaviors or gave me odd stares…moved around on the bed, got up etc.
I will try again. We are just back from a 4 day trial (he wasn’t entered and didn’t get as much attention as I hoped. Too aroused to have near rings when I was just wanting to watch other competitors and couldn’t go off leash to run until the trial was over each day.. And Yes I found his trigger free distance and could work with him there when I wasn’t needing to do something else) and long drives..he says he needs to work not rest right now! 2 yr BC….Again, there was a specific segment on a prior video of me rewarding Robbie for putting his head in the leash. Did you see that?
I filmed a new session with the slip lead for you anyway. He was very playful, i edited out him tugging with the leash initially.
I used some luring but mostly shaping for him putting his nose then whole head through the slip lead.
I do want to say it’s demotivating to see so many assignments posted so quickly. as a working participant I expect to be able to complete the course within the allotted time and receive feedback on them. I hope there is a catch up week or 2 in the middle?Ok glad you liked what you saw!
This was a clip lead but I will do it next with a slip lead. Again, traveling rest of the week but will have some time to work with him but it will be away from home.
(Also on the first long video where you thought Robbie looked pressured and stressed with me doing leash stuff there is a segment in there with me treating him for putting his head through the slip lead)Ok i’m posting most of what turned into a 6 min session. a few disclaimers:
1. I’ve been working on teaching a head down while lying down position with him in anticipation of upcoming mirror photo sessions at the WCO this week, so he kept wanting to do that and didn’t want to just sit.
2. I don’t normally train on top of this pad but wanted it for my knees…he loves to roll around on my exercise pad…
3. treats may have been too high value for this exercise. He barely acknowledged the leash or actually pressed into it..Def not worried about it.Ok just re read the leash instructions. Went past step 5 on first session 2 days ago not a sign of problems but I will re do starting at step 1 and video for you.
To me it’s more of a recall issue under arousal than leashing but will do this so you can see.
Plus, it won’t hurt to have higher value for leashing.What I was trying to say is a naturally more resilient bolder puppy likely wouldn’t be having the issues he is having as far as the shutting down or leaving me. He’s a softer more sensitive dog than is ideal for me.
As far as the over arousal/play drive he displays at trials that seems almost the norm for many young BC’s that haven’t had a lot of opportunities to experience the trial environment throughout puppyhood (Covid).
Again, I haven’t seen aggression from him in the context of agility.
He has always had some food resource guarding from other dogs… Won’t eat near them, will guard his bowl if they approach his feeding station. He does not resource guard from me. I personally don’t have a problem with this. It is easily managed and has never escalated. He otherwise plays well with both my male and female BCs and other dogs. When we have group tricks time (me and my 3 dogs at home or my training barn) where each is given treats in close proximity to each other he is fine with that.
I started the leash exercises yesterday and he didn’t resist or show any sign of discomfort or hesitation whatsoever. I’ll film for you next time.
I’m getting ready to leave Wed for 5 or 6 days to a big event so idk how much I’ll do while gone. He is coming with me but not entered.Well… I did edit out most of the toy play. I can tell you he wasn’t sure intially what game we were playing then latched on once it was clear. I can show you more of that session if you want.
He is not what I consider a bold high drive dog, which is what I had wanted and what the breeder thought he was.
I have thought many times about sending him back but then he does some amazing stuff… And I keep thinking he will be “that” dog.
I really need a dog I can move forward with… Not getting any younger and like to compete at higher levels.. So… Idk. I don’t have room to add another dog (I have 3).
But I still have him, he’s basically a good dog with potential…so I’m willing to try a different approach for a little while.
I am familiar with conditioning behaviors. He used to absolutely refuse a leash over his head so he has come a long way since that.
I will follow your outline and see if he can be
Even more receptive.
And why would you suggest a professional consult? He is not doing anything harmful or over the top! And I am a vet with some training in behavior. I see nothing here that would suggest need of a “professional”. I am a little shocked you would suggest consulting a professional, and a little offended. He had come a long way from not being able to have a slip lead even put on! Plus: aren’t you a professional in this? That’s why I’m trying to learn from you…And time wise I can either do the leash exercises or the relaxation. Not both on same day.
Do you want the leash and relaxation exercises filmed? If so, how much editing do you want me to do?
(fyi… just looked at assignment 4…very basic stuff. Do that with all my dogs from early on…)Here’s an edited video of leashing Robbie at home. I was so surprised he initially turned and ran away! But readily came back.
Edited out some play time and some food rewards.
If you want to see more let me know.
Thanks.Question on the relaxation exercise: do I need to leave my other 2 dogs out of the room? They will all want the food. it won’t be easy to feed Robbie and keep him relaxed for 10 min with or without them in the room since they may be vocalizing outside the area knowing he is getting treats etc.
Thinking I should try with the other 2 closed in a different room. Or I can take Robbie into the bedroom and leave them out…The way I see it as far as him running out of the ring in trials is he is simply more interested in things outside the ring… And isn’t recalling right away.
I have been doing shaping to put his head in a slip leash with high reward. In trials I do not always use the same lead etc… I want my dogs to be ok with whatever I have with me etc. At first I just used a clip on lead with him but a few times switched to the slip lead. No real difference in his end behavior.
I will film a leash session at home for you!Also…yes most of the time I either reward him even if mistake made , or do another obstacle properly then reward or even a hand touch to reward instead of simply repeating a sequence without a reward in between. It doesn’t always happen that way at seminars when someone is telling me what to do but i try to do the right thing for my dog. That’s why in one of the seminar videos when he went off to sniff female pee due to his stress…I then did some simple tricks and sent to tunnels etc that was not part of the sequence just to reengage him and have easy fun things to reward.
Thanks!
@Bobbie: havent heard comment on several of my posts or videos…
In answer to your prior questions:
Yes would be ideal for Robbie to come to me Or wait by leash at end of a run.tricks he knows easily :hand touches, spin right/left, backup, down, sit, crawl, give paw, chin rest on my hand, collar grab, walk on my feet (with him in middle of my legs), others..He is still somewhat shy about being leashed more so with a slip over head leash than clip on. I’ve done a lot of work on collar grab/present neck to me but need to do more.
Plus I have done a fair amount of rewarding/shaping putting head thru leash loop… None of that holds up in trial environment yet, need to do more and maybe with higher value treats. He is not much of a foodie.I don’t have video of him being over aroused at trials. Only those few I posted showing some stress in training, and leaving the trial ring.
I do want to work on his mental resilience but have more concern for working on overarousal, maybe need some CU exercises. . I have no doubt he simply wanted to join the play with the other dog in the ring event that happened but still…( For now if I trial him I will be asking next in line to please wait until I have him leashed before they enter the ring.. Not an uncommon request for young agility dogs.)
Video 1: compilation from 3 runs at different trials from june to august. Can see him leave the ring in each, but good focus from start until end. In the snooker run from the Cup (prof video) one can really appreciate just how many distractions a dog has to deal with at a bigger trial! He hasn’t been trialing a lot we don’t have all contacts trained yet but I try to enter him in a couple classes either NFC or for real whenever I trial with my older dog (who has a different type of ring stress…).
2nd video: from an international seminar at a location he is familiar with. He started shutting down after she had us do multiple weaves and he felt too pressured. I told the presenter it was too much but she kept pushing…i tried to take care of my dog but……things happen. He did come back around but it took awhile. There also had been a BIS there..likely had sat or peed in that spot he kept returning to. you can see I ended up doing a few simple behaviors with him and doing some things that I could reward and sending to tunnels to get him to refocus and want to perform with me. this is a slightly different problem from him leaving the ring without permission but is still relevant to him listening to me and focusing on me and recalling.
One more intro video of Robbie at one of our seminars with regular presenter Taner Dogan (once a month approximately) same location as last video. He leaves after a mistake, I get him back and go on..
I mostly have trialing and seminar vids. No regular class. I mostly train with online classes /@home and or my own training field at another location. My home training vids are specific to different classes and generally very short once edited for those classes.
I’ll look and see what I have that’s fairly recent.
One other note as far as needing to know end behavior in trials… After last obstacle he doesn’t always recall or wait at gate.. He has started to leave the ring but never goes far.
So I have doubled my recall training (I’ve done a ton of recall work with him but he’s been difficult from the start with recall and retrieve altho both are so much better now).just hard to mimic the amount and intensity of distraction at trials.
