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This is our 6th or 7th session of relaxation. It turned out to be a great one to video. In all of her other sessions, she’s lasted the full 10 min, and I could see slight signs of settling. This one was different. You can see that around 6-8 min she gets bored with the whole thing. I’m using a relatively high value treat that I’ve been saving for this exercise.
She finally went off and sat on one of her other beds and watched me. I continued to stay there for the full 10 min and scattered – or pretended to scatter -crumbs. At the end, I quietly got up, picked up the mat so she couldn’t have the leftover treats, and left. Ignoring her. This dog is very food motivated in general, unless she’s too stressed to take it.How do I proceed?
I need clarification on the Cato board. She knows this. I can leave her and wander around and have her stay in a sit for a while. Or leave and release after testing distractions. I haven’t used it in locations other than my home and yard. How should I proceed? I’ve never just put her on it and fed for doing nothing on it…. Should I use it in different locations?
Hi Bobbie.
Due to a series of unforeseen events, I’ve been unable to work on this course much for the last several days. Before that, I was out of town.
I’ll try to get some video in the am. We’ve been working on the relaxation exercise almost daily since back in town. I’ll video that as well.
She has a sit-stay on the Cato board. Is there something in particular I am to do with that? She’s pretty good with it.
I have a snuffle mat and we’ll pull that out tomorrow, and practice the circling.
JoanI’ve not done station work but have 2 Cato platforms.
Yes, the dogs and people make her skittish. Very. But she can also be very distracted by any unfamiliar environment. For instance, we have one outdoor area where we train. She’s been going there almost weekly for over a year. When we arrive, if the instructor’s dogs are out (all friendly and well trained) she doesn’t want to leave her crate in her car. The agility field isn’t fenced, and is surrounded by woods. Deer, other critters wander onto the field at night. I usually take her out on leash, then put her in an open crate near the field. She can venture out to visit the other dogs and the field, but she can also return to her crate. No other dog bothers her there. Sometimes she visits the other dogs – very cautiously – other times stays in the crate. She’s always very sniffy on this field and wary of this instructor, and often focuses on the woods beyond. Gradually, I’ve gotten her to work with me on the field, but she’s still easily distracted.
I do try to feed a lot in these situations, but I can do better. She’s generally very food motivated, but if she gets too worried (often!), she stops taking food. Toys are more difficult. She’ll play with me in the house with toys, getting very excited and wild, but I can’t get this in the yard (a large distracting yard) and I get no play whatsoever in other environments. I train with a lotus ball or treat n train. She’s very motivated to go to these.
As far as having a certain distance from the trigger where she’ll take treats, this is difficult. She’s often very distracted by things far off in the distance. There’s no practical way to get far enough away to feed. Unless we just completely leave the environment.
I envision this like being in a huge expanse herding sheep (their original job) and being highly alert to dangers miles away….We went to a small group run thru today. Only 5-6 handlers. This is a place where she trains weekly, but generally private lessons. She’s only been to 2 other run thrus here, but the instructor always has several of her BCs there (crated). I have several short videos of Dellie’s behavior, but I’m not sure how many I can send. I’ll start with one where we’re just hanging around waiting to run.
For Dellie’s start line stay, see the second video. She actually has an excellent startline stay when not feeling pressured. In video 3, she was worried about the people nearby, and I was afraid to take hands off her. Afraid she’d bolt.
I’d say the general tendency is for performance to deteriorate as the day progresses, but it’s really more complicated than that. For instance, at the last trial (unfamiliar surroundings, new people), during her first run, she was moderately distracted. Slowed her down at places, so we progressed by fits and starts, but she ran well when I could get her attention, and we Qed. The next couple of runs were better, faster, and she was more focused on me, but there was always a point on each of the runs, where she would disconnect. Pop out of weave poles because a dog barked loudly nearby. Freeze in the middle of the dw because the judge was nearby and looking at her. Refuse to come off the teeter for same reason. Step out of the weaves because a ring crew is sitting too close. Last run of the first day she began to slow down and seem overall stressed. First run of 2ND day was great! Won in premier standard!! Fourth and last run that day was the crazy run, where I had to drop and fly. Didn’t attempt a 3rd day. She was way too stressed by everything.
So, there is a sort of pattern, but it can change a lot based on changes in the environment and distractions. Seems to be extreme flight or freezing, based on the situation.I’ll video next week, when I return home to the dogs.
Joan
The first video was one of her “good” runs. The second was at a seminar, where she seemed more comfortable than at trials. The 3rd was a later run at the same trial as the first. She had become increasingly more worried.
We have been to a few more trials since that one. Each time we’ll have a few good runs, but increasingly more with problems.
The first run of the trial, she’s usually happy but easily distracted. Then we have a couple of very nice runs where she seems to get past the environment a bit. Then something happens – someone too close, a dog barking loudly, the judge getting close and staring – then things break down. I’ve limited trials to 2 days, but the last day of the last trial was tough. Only 2 runs. First, she was slow and would freeze. Second she ran like a “bat out of hell”. It was actually a good run! Not zoomies, just ran the course fast and furiously. Would’ve taken first place if I could’ve made it around to handle her (only one error). But I literally had to wrestle her into the ring, struggle to remove her leash, drop and go! Yes, the third video is more the behavior. I was worried she would bolt, she was so focused on the people nearby. This is very common, as is freezing on the dw and teeter.I’m out of town for a few days and unable to work with her. We did 2 sessions from the first exercise. During the first, it began to rain and thunder. She stopped taking any treats and tried to escape the room. No option except to end the session. The second one, if I didn’t produce the treats fast enough, she’d come bully me for them. Suggestions?
