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Thank-you! It was other dogs walking nearby that got him the most excited, including his kangaroo impressions. Letting him assess the environment and choose when to disengage with whatever he’s watching and engage with me works really well for Lennan and we had done this earlier in the day with more distance away from all the action. I think I was a bit nervous to let him watch too long when dogs were coming closer as he has a bit of a history now of showing me he can get overstimulated quickly and lose his mind if I allow him to watch for too long when dogs are close. When I walked him out to that area I thought it looked like a good time with not too much traffic going back and forth, but it got busier. Lennan was being a very good boy though. I will have to try to work on me trusting him and letting him have that chance.
When I worked with him at the practice jump. I was actually planning to just work near the jump and not let him actually take the jump. Totally agree it is not ideal with leash on and I wasn’t brave enough to take the leash off at that time. He really wanted to do the jump though, so I thought I would cue it just once.For the turning, yes, turning right is his stronger, easier side. This is funny to me because when he first learned to wrap around something, he preferred when he was turning to the left. Every since he built more understanding though and we started to do more things with the turning, it has seemed that turning to the right is easier for him.
Good morning,
I am posting two videos.
This one is from an agility trial on Saturday. I had my other dog entered and took Lennan along. He was very interested and excited about all the other dogs around but he wasn’t acting like he disliked all the dogs even when we first got there, so I was very happy about that. I had him out a few times. Mostly we walked around and he checked everything out. The outing that is in this video, we worked on some training as well.
This video is working on head turn again last night. I realized after I got out and ready to start that I’d only been rewarding with food for this training before and I had only brought a toy for this session. I decided to try to see if he could think about it with toy reward and it turned out he could. The first couple of times I had the clicker in the hand I was directing him with and I realized he thought it was something I was giving him, so once I started using an empty hand that was better.
Hello!
Our vacation spot was to my aunt and uncle’s cottage that is on an island in Georgian Bay, Ontario. It is an amazing spot and was so nice to get away for a few days.When I commented on Lennan doing better when turning to the right, yes I meant the second turn that he was offering. I did not at all realize I was leaning in when he was turning to the right and not for the left. I went and re-watched the video and can totally see it.
Is this what you meant by rewarding the first head turn?
Hello,
Here is a video of some improvised head turn training while we are away (with very happy dogs and mostly taking a break from training things). Lennan seems to totally get it when he is turning to the right but not quite yet turning to the left.
Also, when does this course end for posting videos? I’ve lost track. Thanks!
Thanks so much!
I watched the video and thought how normal it looked too! Lol. It wasn’t quite normal. We all wore masks for walk throughs and practiced physical distancing unless already in the same social bubble. It was all very relaxed and fun. I can imagine things are different for you though.We did have times of watching and checking things out as well.
Recently, Lennan has been overwhelmed in situations with groups of dogs. Even though he likes dogs, when arriving in a situation with many dogs, he acts like he doesn’t like anyone at all until he relaxes and remembers that he does in fact like dogs. If I ask him to do specific things too soon it takes longer for him to relax. He also will not at first be able to engage in toy play even though generally for training he would prefer toy to food. He will eat cheese though, even at the beginning.
What I did for the fun match was first of all I didn’t even enter Lennan. I entered my older border collie, Niamh. 4 runs total. I planned to take Lennan along to experience the environment, then if and when he was ready we could try some training, and if he was really ready, he could have the last turn in the ring instead of his sister.
First when we got there he had some time in his crate to just process the new environment. The first couple of times he came out he was allowed to watch everything, periodically being asked to turn away. He’s not big into sniffing except to sniff stuff to pee on it, lol, so we also practiced appropriate places to pee. He told me when he was ready to do things by helping himself to a toy from River’s bag when he was just hanging out.
At different times he got to watch people and dogs moving about, dogs in the ring, got to greet some people, also had to learn that you can’t always greet someone right away even when you know and love them. At one point I was distance chatting to a friend, Lennan had greeted her, and then just lay down and chilled beside me.
I actually think he would have been happy to go in the ring on an earlier round but I kept with my plan of him going in the last round.
I hadn’t thought to take two toys in the ring. That sounds good. Not sure when the next time will be but will keep that in mind! He really was bringing the toy back quickly mostly. He ran off with it after the tunnel mistake and took it to visit the auntie who was filming outside the fence. I was like, that’s fair, I messed up. I totally did take off too fast on that tunel and was like, sorry! Then he found the other end and I thought that was clever.
I was very happy with our day overall!Good morning,
Yesterday, we went to an agility fun match so got to practice tricks and sits with real life distractions! We were there from 9am until 2pm.
I only took Lennan in the ring once but had him out and about a few times and he was also practicing being in his crate. Overall he was a very good boy.
This video, we worked on tricks and sits mostly farther away from distractions.
This video was when we went into the ring. Working on tricks outside the gate, I wasn’t properly prepared with the cheese. Lennan was a good boy waiting for the slow cheese prep.
Thanks so much!
Setting a timer is a good idea. I had meant for the wing session to be shorter but I hadn’t realized the length of time was the reason he was having more trouble at times. It is hard to see in the moment. Will definitely work with shorter sessions.
Thanks for the suggestions on the serp training. I will work on that next time.Good morning,
Thank-you for the feedback on the wing wrapping.
This is a session working on one wing with throwing toy back.
Also, this session we worked on transferring serp to jump.
Hello!
Thanks so much!
He really has been throwing his body around a lot recently. We’ve had several, omg please don’t break yourself moments. Will definitely try as you’ve suggested for throwing the toy back.
This is a session we did with wrapping two wings and front crosses.
Hello,
We tried some more prop training. I decided to try without putting the prop on anything to start with.
I still didn’t get the timing of the rear cross at first but Lennan was a good boy. I think we had some good success.
Thanks so much! It all makes sense. I felt like I wanted to reward him both when he did what I asked but jumped over the prop as well as when he realized he missed it and went back to hit it. I wasn’t sure if that would give him the correct information or not.
I was not trying to use a specific marker when he was “wrong” but will definitely try to be mindful to not indicate the error.
I will try your suggestions with the turns.Hello,
Thanks so much!
Your suggestion to tie the frisbee to the long toy sounds great. I will try that!In this video we worked on some prop training and following toy in hand.
What should I do when Lennan successfully moves in the direction I want when working with the prop but misses actually touching it? He was definitely losing enthusiasm when he missed touching it and didn’t get rewarded. He almost quit working with me a couple of times. He wants to go faster now which I think makes it more difficult for him to actually hit the thing. Is my prop too small?
When following toy in hand for turns, he seemed to be starting to figure out some of them. For some reason he seemed to get it better when toy was in my right hand.
