Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi Bobbie. I’ve been oot a lot the last several days. 2 of those days, Dellie and I attended a trial. It was a commitment I had made to her breeder. We used relaxation every am, then a good walk before going to the arena. We crated in a small room away from a lot of activity. We used the snuffle mat a few times each day. We did relaxation in her crate – me sitting in front, dropping tiny treats about every 5 sec just inside the crate while she was lying there. We played pattern games and did shadow handling most of the time we were in the building near the rings. She responded well to all of it. Day 1, Run 1. She was doing well with games and shadow handling. We try not to be in the vicinity of the ring until 2 or 3 dogs away. There was a lot of confusion and delay when we were a couple of dogs away. Dellie got stressed, so I aborted the run, and we played games as we left to go outside. The next run was AKC T2B. A very fun easy course. All went well. We had a couple hr gap in our schedule so we went back to the camper and chilled out. 3rd run was Std. All went well during the wait for our turn, so we ran. She wasn’t as fast as she is in practice, but had a respectable performance. By the time jumpers came around, I was pleasantly surprised. She was happy going up to the gate. But. When we got there, they had added 4 conflicts in front of us – not posting it ahead of time. By the time she ran, she had been at the gate too long. I should’ve done what I did in the am and scratched right then, but I didn’t. And she was slow. Dragging around the ring and not making time.
The next day, we pulled from the first 2 runs, and took a long walk, did relaxation and snuffle, took a nap in the camper, etc. She was in good spirits and responding to shadow handling going into the 1st run, and it went well. But she was more worried about the judge – which had not been a significant issue the day before. She slowed down a few times when the judge was around. So our time wasn’t all that good. Her 2nd and last run looked like it was set to go well. Then, when we were waiting at the gate to go in (her tail was up, she was focused on me, getting her last few treats), a guy comes up and starts teasing me. He didn’t mean anything by it, of course, but he got right in Dellie’s space and she shut down like a light being turned off. Just took Seconds. Again, I should’ve walked away, but it’s just hard to do that. I didn’t want to make a big deal over what happened. So we ran. She was slow and it was like pulling teeth to get her around. She actually double Qed, but that’s the first time I’ve ever gotten a jumpers Q with zero points.
I try never to let her know I’m the least bit disappointed after a run. I praise her, we run off for treats. Don’t know if that’s the right thing to do, but I don’t ever want to contribute to her having a negative experience. I had only agreed to take her for 2 days of the 4 day trial, so we went home after that.
My question is, what do you do when things don’t go as planned at the last minute? When the stars align, and we time it just right, and she’s happily playing games and taking treats, things go pretty well. But it only takes a few seconds for her to shut down at the gate.
Could you address this?We do play Find Face. I call it watch me. We’ll video in a different environment along with the other pattern games and shadow handling.
I see what you mean about the relaxation work. We’ll start doing it like you say. I know how to do boring. At least my dogs think so.
I’ve already seen a big improvement in Dellie’s behavior, the further out of season she is. I still don’t trust the dogs together unsupervised, but I at least can let them interact freely in my presence now. I plan to have her spayed in a few weeks. The vet thinks she may have also had a false pregnancy, complicating things. I’ll hold off on a vet behaviorist while these things are playing out. I may well go forward with that at some point, however. Both pyr sheps are quirky in different ways, and adding a big(to them) male terrier puppy into the mix has been challenging…
That said, I’d still love to do some private virtual work on this with you, if you’re still ok with that.Skittish is a euphemism, and always has been😂. Aggressive, unpredictable behavior hasn’t been….
I’ve been working through all the lessons – readings and games. I’m sending vid of our 4th relaxation session and a short video of what we do before trials or other stressful events. It’s actually a compilation of pattern games and shadow handling…
Hi Bobbie. I hope you’re feeling better.
Re the relaxation video. Dellie is always high strung, no matter where she is. She’s been more intense since she came in season. We’ve trained in this bathroom before. We’ve trained everywhere. I don’t think it’s the location.
I’m in New Orleans now for a wedding. As soon as I get home, I’ll begin the daily 10 min sessions. I did this before with her when we took your class, but I didn’t keep them up. If I recall, she did settle some. But not a lot.Jen video. Dellie is much better when allowed to be on her on in her environment. She does NOT like to sit or down on a leash while I stand there and talk to someone. After a session like that, she’s pretty down. Of course, when waiting for a run in a trial, she really dislikes being still at the end of a leash. She becomes increasingly more focused – and worried about her environment. The shadow handling we learned in your other class has been a godsend. Totally changed her to focus on me and the handling. And she really prefers to be moving. My standing still with her on leash, feeding her or doing “still” tricks (like sit, paw touch, shake, etc) won’t keep her from becoming worried about her environment very long.
A problem with waiting for a run is when we have to quit shadow handling to be at the gate – standing still, more or less. It only takes a few seconds for her to get worried and begin to shut down a bit.I absolutely want to work with you privately. I was waiting until things settled down a bit. I’ll go ahead and email you. I was sort of waiting until things settled down – but I don’t see that happening in the foreseeable future. 😂
I did want to send you one more vid from the Jen Pinder seminar. This is Day 2 after we had gone hiking on the afternoon before. The person yelling out to us and complimenting Dellie, has seen us run at some of the Nashville trials where she’s been pretty slow and shut down. She couldn’t believe this was the same dog! I will tell you that Jen kept saying “she’s a pyr shep she’s a pyr shep”. Toward the end of our work together, she said that I am a pyr shep as well!
Relaxation Conditioning. Right. I’m not sure this can happen during her lifetime…
Another clip from Jen Seminar. This was from the 2nd session of Day 1.
I know exactly what happened. I told her to Wait, and left her to do a short lead out. I turned my back on her, for one thing, and left her with an ax murderer (Jen) near by. I had told her to stay near danger while I left. Jen told me to stay facing her making eye contact and talking to her the whole time I was moving away. It helped.
I’m sending video of working on weave pole exercise in our yard today. The terrier is a distraction, but not in a big way because she knows him so well. She is actually pretty resilient in some ways, in that once she determines something in her environment isn’t a threat (in her mind) she’ll do some amazing work.
Hi Bobbie. I wanted to get Jen’s permission to share videos from seminar. She was fine with it. I’m sending you a clip from Day 1 session 1. I’m not sure what the best way to do this is. I used moviemaker and snipped and spliced. Maybe it would be better to just take an intact 2 min segment? Are you just looking at dog and/or me? Are you interested in the verbal? In what Jen says? The dog running? Or when we’re just standing around? We had 2 half days, 4 sessions per day, ranging from 5 min to almost 12 min. There are big differences from day to day. But also from session to session. I just don’t know best way to show this to you?
Dellie and I are just back from the Seminar. We did 4 sessions each day for 2 days, ranging from just over 4 min to almost 14 min. First day we were much more stressed than on Day 2 and it showed. After finishing day 1, I made a point of doing things to lighten up and de-stress. We went on a 2 mi hike at a state park, for instance. Jen noted right off on day 2 how much “lighter” I seemed, and how much better Del did.
I did video all of these. Some vids are far away (used stationary tripod) and some have a lot of noise interference. I don’t know if you want me to send any of them? Or clips? You can certainly see the difference in her at different points in the process. Also the way she interacts – or not – with Jen.I have run FEO in the past. I usually don’t since she’s been in masters, but I’ll turn FAST and/or T2B (I run AKC) into short fun runs if I need to.
I’ll email your work address tomorrow. And thanks!Oh no! I know you asked not to post again before hearing from you but somehow, I managed to upload the same video twice. Here is the August 26 video.
I would love to do some private virtual sessions on this new development, Bobbie. Please let me know how that works. I actually signed up for this course before I had this new issue with behavior. There has actually been improvement. No further “attacks” but I’m really managing it. Poppy is less fearful of being around Dellie, and I condone no bad behavior from Del.
Here sure some videos:
June. After taking the postcovid class with you. Had worked up to this trial site in TN which was a pretty big venue for her.
August 26. Just out of heat. Same location as the trial before. Pardon my handling. I just didn’t know where she was. She was so different. Her runs got slower and slower, and she became more and more worried and we left the trial early. Haven’t trialed since.
We are scheduled to go to a Jen Pinder seminar Fri and Sat. Mornings only, less than 6 dogs per session. She has always done pretty well at things like this. Do you have an opinion? These things are expensive and I can’t get a refund at this point. Plus, I’m looking forward to the opportunity to work with her.
Hi Bobbie. I still have a lot of info to digest from this course, and it’s all so helpful! I think I read that I’ll be able to access everything after Monday…?
I’m disappointed that I’ve been unable to send more/better video, but we’re at a trial this weekend, and I’d like to submit one from this trial for your review.
To recap from day 1, we continue to play all of the games – especially shadow handling and rapid fire treats just prior to a run. We have our mat for relaxation when we have a longer break, our snuffle mat when we need to take a shorter break, and our Cato board for her to go to.
Day 1, she ran all 4 runs from 8am til 4:30p, and ran well, although she slowed somewhat by the afternoon. She was only mildly distracted or bothered a few times, and didn’t visit the judge or freeze. Had some great longer lead outs.
This is a larger trial than I’ve been taking her to lately, and significant longer days, so I was very happy.
Yesterday, day 2, she was more worried – setting up screwy on the start line so she could keep an eye behind her. Other teams bothered her a little more, although we managed that pretty well with moving away and treats. At some point, she all of a sudden realized the judge was an unsavory character! This was really obvious in Std, her 3rd run. She froze on the teeter with him nearby, hesitated on the dw when she saw him. The table was particularly bad. She had definitely decided he was an ax murderer and went into this freeze/stare. When she did come off the table she jumped behind me to get away from him. Then she finished the course with me but at the end she couldn’t stop staring at him. Unfortunately, no video of this, but I did manage to get video of the jwws run later. I’m including it here. It demonstrates the startline issue, and you can see that she actually left me to go check the judge out! The run was slow as well….
I had decided not to run her today, day 3, but she was happy as a clam this am, and did pretty well in T2B. So I ran her in std. Same thing. I guess if she stays happy, I’ll do jwws too.
She has been noticeably slower this whole trial – especially the last run of the day. That’s even when she didn’t appear to be too distracted. I don’t mean terribly – she still runs well overall – but her last trial before this (a tiny trial) was a lot faster.
Any thoughts? I also think we’d benefit by continuing private lessons for a while. We still have a long way to go. I see a lot of potential with this little dog.Unfortunately, no. But I have one from the weekend before. We had promised her breeder, we’d go. This was a larger trial. Not big, but inbetween. The day before, we couldn’t complete a course because her breeder was there and she hadn’t seen her in over a year. Dellie kept looking for her from the field. BTW, Dellie was with her breeder for her 1st 6 mos. She was so frightened of everything, agility folks were afraid to take her. I saw something in this little dog – and I’m soooo glad she’s mine!
I didn’t really understand as much about the tools before the run. It really shows on the startline. Main difference between one weekend and the next was size of venue and use of shadow handling and rapid fire treats and distance from scary people and dogs. This past weekend, I’m certain the tools I’m learning made a big difference. Along with the size of the trial. When Dellie can get past her environment, she is pretty speedy.Hi Bobbie.
Dellie and I went to a very small agility trial over the weekend. I decided to go ahead, because we were already entered before this class started, and I would’ve lost my $. I had planned to try it with full intention of aborting runs and/or leaving early if need be. We did our relaxation exercises, used the snuffle mat and did shadow handling. As I mentioned, this was a very small trial.
The first day, she had trouble outside the ring, waiting to run. Very worried about, we’ll, everything, but especially certain people and dogs. I varied the time out of the crate before running, and was able to move well away from bothersome stimuli until time to enter the ring.
She seemed to do best coming out of the crate 3-4 dogs away. We got far enough away for her to take treats, do some tricks and respond to shadow handling. I kept getting farther away until her tail came up and ears perked. I fed rapid fire treats, asking for spins right and left, etc, all the way up to entering the ring.
Setting up on the start line was a trip. I did no long lead outs. She would sit facing the side. That way she could watch me, while still watching the leash runner, etc behind her. Even so, she held her stay and ran quickly when released. With each run, she became more focused – unless something unusual happened. In the beginning she did a lot of scanning her environment and watching the judge when he came close. No longer goes off visiting ring crew, etc. This was her 1st male judge, so I was pleased she didn’t freak. She ran her contacts better and better. No long hesitations on them now. This had been a problem. Weave poles were the most distracting for some reason. At home and in lessons, she’s pretty speedy in poles. In the trial, slower and more distracted. But not coming out like she had been.
When she can focus on me and the course, she’s a dream to run! My 1st pyr shep was like this, and we enjoyed a lot of success, even at larger, national events. Dellie reminds me a lot of her. Dellie is more wary, but she’s also very resilient, if that makes sense.
In previous trials, she’s often slowed and shut down as the trial went on. We often just left before it was over. No point in practicing that misery. This trial was different. She got better and better. I really think it was my better understanding of how to manage her and the tools we’re acquiring.
BTW, on day 2, she QQQed, with all 1st and 2nd places, and on the last day, QQ, with the fastest time of all dogs in all heights (she jumps 16). Love those running contacts!
So, we may not be ready for the big time yet, but as we build our tool box, I’m expecting it won’t be long.
