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Hi Tracy,
I tried introducing bowls on the gravel parking lot at class Tuesday. Ven could not focus on them nor eat cheese out of them. He was too high and fighting to get to the field. I’ve booked another field rental for tomorrow (Fri) evening to see if by ourselves he can focus and play the game. I’m also going to work the game in the back yard after work today. Depending on how he does at the field, I’ll try adding as much distance from the field as possible. Of course Mr. Social finds it hard to focus when there are people and dog friends he wants to go greet even though I rarely allow him to do so.Here are 2 of his 3 turns from class at the field Tuesday. I let him walk the course with me, on leash so he had an opportunity to sniff and dismiss a bit. We could hear bunnies (at least we hope bunnies not skunks or other critters) in the bushes on the edge of the field during class. Do you see any other things I need to work based on these 2 turns?
Thanks,
Jean-Maria and VenHi Tracy,
Help me think through this please.Venture does not like to eat treats off grass, dirt or gravel. That’s the reason I haven’t been able to use the pattern games with him at his class at the field. It’s also a challenge at trials where everything is dirt. He will literally sniff and walk away from food if it falls down in grass or is covered in dirt.
I tried using the lotus ball but the time it takes to reload it after each throw seems to negate the benefit of the pattern. Sometimes I can do up/down pattern by putting the treats on my shoe. Sometimes he’ll go for freeze dried treats that don’t pick up dirt but it’s not a reliable solution.
Ideas?
Jean-MariaHi Tracy,
Finally able to get back to work – the work that pays for all the fun got in the way.I rented the agility field at Best Friends last night. Ven has really struggled in his class there on Tuesday nights, often having a hard time even putting 3-4 obstacles together. The edges of the fenced field include bushes, small ditch along one side, a few trees and a LOT of animal tracks and smells. We’ve had suicide bunnies run across the course during class. Whenever the course went near the edges, I would lose Venture to a sniffari and have to run and hide until he realized I was gone and came back.
So my approach was on-leash, wander the field, mostly along the interesting edges but really wherever Ven and his nose wanted to go. My only rule was no going under the trees and bushes because I didn’t want him to catch anything. Basically give him as much time to sniff and dismiss the surroundings that he told me he needed. It took him about 8-9 minutes of this before he started offering me attention and asking to work.
Reminder of the game / working flip layout – I chose to feed rewards from my hand to keep him coming to me / focused on me. At the end the video stops because he went sniffing but did come back to me much quicker than he has in class
Wk 1, challenge 1, Combo 1 flipped – I realize now I messed up the direction of #1. Lost him once but got him back pretty fast and continued
Wk 1, challenge 1, combo 1 back to original layout – I got lost the last attempt so rewarded him and took a break.
Wk 1, challenge 1, combo2 – I brought out the lotus ball since he was doing well at staying with me and working.
I can tell his focus is split even though there was no one else around. During class there’s the instructor and 3 handles and dogs he loves. I’m going to try starting with the sniff and dismiss walk around the field while my classmates are walking the first course. Any other thoughts on ways I can help him learn to ignore the distractions and focus. He runs far better at his indoor class and I think solving this is the key to Ven being able to trial successfully.
Jean-Maria and Ven
Hi Tracy,
Here is second round for handling challenge 1, positions 1-3. I was mostly focused on me getting the spin for the jump. I did post one time on accident and knew it as soon as I did it. He had one mistake that was my fault I think, I was saying tunnel but did a spin.Do you think he’s comfortable enough for us to try position 4 next session? We are supposed to get 2-3″ of rain in the new couple days so we won’t get another chance to work until Monday or Tuesday.
Jean-Maria and Venture
Hi Tracy,
Yay, only 84 this afternoon and I FOUND VEN’s LOTUS BALL! Here is our first session for handling challenge 1, positions 1-3. We had been out long enough so I didn’t try position 4 (little/no connection) yet. In watching the video, I realized I need to angle the jump a little bit more and probably shift everything toward the camera so the jump landing isn’t too close to the tree. I have a new 10′ tunnel if you think we need more tunnel to get more drive.Am I correct with front cross to tunnel and just post to jump? Any benefit to switching which side the obstacles are on or which side he starts from each session?
I’m a bit worried about maintaining his drive to the obstacles if I’m not connected. Plan to bring out string cheese as a reward for that session.
Thoughts?
Jean-Maria and VentureHi Tracy,
Thank you. I re-watched the backside jump commitment videos and we’ll work them this weekend. I have used a frozen toppl to throw as a reward in the backyard. It doesn’t work well indoors because stuff spills out of it when it bounces on the matting. I think we’ll stick to thrown treats indoors and try to use other options in the yard where Venture doesn’t like to eat his treats out of the grass.Getting stuck – I agree there must be a stress component and also, it’s been really hot and humid. Even in the room, I’m completely soaked by the end of our hour. Add in taking Ven for walks before and midway through the session leaves us both sitting to cool off before continuing.
We had another ring rental this morning since there were no classes due to the holiday. I felt like we’d worked a lot of tough stuff and had more challenging sequences today so we started and ended with a novice jumpers + teeter course that was already set up in the room. Ven is still working to do weaves in sequences as you’ll see in the video but he still had energy at the end and ran well the last run.
Pk 5, jumpers popout 3 – worked in 2 sections. We stopped when we were struggling with the tunnel so I could review the video. Couldn’t tell exactly why he decided I was asking him to jump on top of the tunnel so I improvised when we continued and added another jump to the sequence so he could see the tunnel entrance and stop inventing a new obstacle, the top o tunnel.
Pk 5, jumpers popout 4
Pk 5, jumpers popout 5
We have class Tues evening and a lesson on Wed so we won’t be back to camp work before Friday or the weekend.
Jean-Maria and VentureHi Tracy,
Ring rental Saturday morning. We worked a couple of the popouts from the jumpers course in package 5. They were hard for us with all the backsides. I mostly tried to work small sections, breaking down each skill/obstacle along the way.Two themes I see when I review the videos is that Ven is continuing to get stuck in his start line stay. Need some thoughts on how to work them so he releases. If I were to remove the sound a person would think it was lovely proofing on holding the stay until the right word is said, LOL. Second issue is that he often treats the back command as a go around the entire jump rather than taking it from the backside. I don’t know if this is from all the “back” wing work or if I’m doing something that makes it unclear he should take the jump.
Pkg 5 – Jumpers Popout 1
Pkg 5 – Jumpers Popout 2
Jean-Maria and Venture
Hi Tracy,
Vacation time. I’m headed to a photography workshop on the west coast of Lake Superior and the pups are spending a week running the kennel fence line with the baby cows. We’ll be back to training after the 24th.
Jean-Maria and VentureHi Tracy,
In my “what was I thinking” stupidity, we had an hour ring rental this morning. Friends had lowered the frame for us last night to 4’6″ so we were able to do a few passes along with some weaves and a loop that included dog walk out of a tunnel and teeter. Ven only avoided the frame once and that was my fault, I didn’t ask him to take it. I have some video if you’d like to see it.I’m really stumped on how to reward contacts and weaves in the ring. Ven only plays with toys at home in the house. He will play a little tug, retrieve some toys, and catch a soft frisbee but I’ve never had any luck even transferring it to the back yard, much less a trial environment.
I found a UKI trial a few hours away labor day weekend that includes double and triple speedstakes. There’s no mention of food box in the premium so I don’t know if they allow it or not.
Thoughts?
Jean-Maria and VentureHi Tracy,
Here are today’s videos.Nov gamblers – there was an aframe in the game so I just planned a flowing opening rather than event attempt the gamble. Not sure why he ran past the dogwalk entry.
Nov regular 1 – no idea why he took the frame backwards but I was not about to ask him to take it again
Nov regular 2 – he did hit the weave entry at least. No sure why he bailed on the teeter
Nov jumpers 1 – one stinkin bar
Nov jumpers 2 – on stinkin bar
So do we keep trialing? I struggle with whether I’m asking for too much by trying to run in a trial setting. Our choices in Sept are travel about 4 hours away to one ring AKC trials indoors on turf or not trial because it’s too hot for the local venues that are not air conditioned. Oct-Nov we don’t have many local options other than one ASCA trial/month in a dirt horse arena because I don’t think Ven is ready for 2 ring trials. We’ll be tracking every Saturday so no out of town options.
Jean-Maria and Venture
Hi Tracy,
We are playing ASCA this weekend so we’ll get back to the reward options in a few days. Here are 3 of today’s 5 runs. I’m bummed I didn’t get his first jumpers run because it was lovely except for a few knocked bars which were because he needed to poop. Missed his second regular run which went well except no weaves and he dodged the frame. I didn’t not retry either obstacle.Novice jumpers – guilty of calling him back a couple times. I caught myself when I watched the video and tried not to do that the rest of the day.
Novice gamblers – I wish I had planned a more flowing course but lesson learned for tomorrow.
Novice regular
Jean-Maria and Venture
Hi Tracy,
>> I think it is a hard approach at speed and he doesn’t quite know how to organize to hit it without slamming, so he avoids it. When he did get it at speed, you can see he kind of lands on the up contact which might have a lot of slam on his body.
Yes, I think you are right. He often takes it the first time and then avoids it after. We focus so much on end behavior, I can’t say I’ve ever worked on the upside. I tend to try to get him to have some speed going into the frame so he doesn’t struggle to get up it.
Other side of the dog walk
The world according to Ven can be so amusing. I setup the tiny tunnel with a couple of wings on each side so we could work going to the jump with me behind the wings. The toy I used for this session has a lotus like ball on the end and yesterday morning we played with it while I listened to a long conference call. I would load it with treats, throw it, he would open/eat the treats and bring it back. Then yesterday evening he decided he could not possibly open it and even started retrieving it back over the jump. What a goober?We struggled so I need feedback on what I should do different besides finding a toy he does believe he can open outside the house, LOL. I thought about adding more space to show the line before the tunnel which leaves less space on the landing side of the jump. In reviewing some tunnel video, I’ve noticed he usually curves towards me as he exits a tunnel when I am behind.
Jean-Maria and Venture
Hi Tracy,
>> white fuzz was there so he probably thought it was a treat LOL!!
Yep, all white fuzz must be investigated because it might “taste like chicken”Video question – Venture often runs past the frame. I’m hoping you can see what/why he didn’t take it when I ask him to “pounce”.
Bar knocking – this is our second turn from class last night. Ven knocked a bunch of the bars. I know the wrap closest to the camera looks like it was because he was looking at/distracted by everyone sitting there but not sure about the other knocked bars, especially at the far end of the course.
Thanks,
Jean-Maria and VentureHi Tracy,
Yesterday I did an experiment with Venture using one wingless jump. I screwed up and didn’t capture video from the first session but he knocked the bar 3 times. I added a second bar to the jump and he cleared it twice and then once without the second bar. Here is video from the second session using just one bar and varying start points. He cleared them all.
I was able to get a ring rental this morning. I tried replacing one jump in a short sequence with a wingless and ran it in both directions. Ven missed the jump completely on the first time through but that was my fault for not supporting it. He didn’t knock it a single time so at this point, I’m just going to continue mixing in wingless, especially at home where space is so tight.
The other side of the dog walk – discovered Ven wouldn’t go out to jumps so this session I worked getting him to “go jump” from the tunnel exit. We have class Monday evening so I’m curious to see if this session translates into him being able to take a jump in class.
Package 4 – jumping pop out #1
Package 4 – jumping pop out #2 – this one was tough. We first worked through parts of it, then took a break, then tried to put it together in the second video
Yes, Ven “left” briefly to go get a drink of water during part 2, I didn’t try to edit it out since it was very brief.
Package 4 – jumping pop out #3 – discovered Ven could not release from approx 15′ leadout. So a chunk of the video is working through the leadout release
Jean-Maria and Venture
Hi Tracy,
Here’s a video example of the wingless. Note – this was last run of third day so he is tired but still working well. My wingless at home were old style with bottom bar until about 2 weeks ago so we’ll be working jumps with no bottom like you see in the video. We ruled out the early take off coming from me being too far ahead so I think it’s mostly experience learning to “see” the wingless bar.I’ve decided Ven is a 12″ dog. If we get a favorable measurements, we might have the option to run UKI at 12″ without having to run select. We’ll run preferred AKC and Ace ASCA. I have never run UKI but think we might have fun trying it. My fear is the huge ring size.
Jean-Maria and Venture
