Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi,
I loved having the Zoom chat last night! It’s makes the online classes more personal and keeps me motivated! Also, I got in a working spot with Skye at Level Up! Can’t wait for you to see and work with him in person!!!!
This video is of the Toy Rewards. You’ll see Flurry has her head down here at times too. It’s not unusual for her to be in that position. There’s no physical issue, I think that she keeps looking for possible food options. I caught myself saying “get it” for the in the hand cue. Apparently, that’s what I say typically, but never really knew it. I had to teach Flurry to play with toys and tug, so I pair tug and toys with food a lot just to keep the value up. I also noticed that I’m going to need to teach a “bring” cue for Flurry especially. She likes to get chased when she has something, and we Do play that game. I call it “I’m going to get you!” So, I’ll have to work on “bring” and that game to differentiate things for her. I’m also going to have to work on Shhhh! with both of them. I’ve never used that for anything, and they’re both going WHAAAAA? I’ve done the other things, sort of, with them but not consistently and necessarily specifically trained.
I’m going to have to train myself to be consistent. I was at an agility trial this past weekend, and I had a tug toy in my hand. I said “get it”, and Flurry looked out toward the floor expecting to find a treat and didn’t tug on the toy. I also noticed missed opportunities to say “snacks” when I treated from my hand.
Best,
Tricia
Hi,
Here is a link to our first training session. Boy. . . I need to catch myself. Sometimes I say the verbal and toss/hand movement at the same time. I need to clean up my mechanics. Hopefully, it will eventually become muscle memory, and I won’t need to think so hard to not move until after the verbal. I’ve been contemplating/thinking/trying etc. on cleaning up my mechanics, but old habits die hard:-)
I video both Flurry and Skye. I though it mentioned somewhere that we could show the other dog but making sure to not go over 10 minutes a week. Otherwise, just ignore Flurry:-)
On the Get it, Skye has always tended to grab for the treat as it leaves my hand. (He does it with toys too) I’ve tried rolling it instead of tossing which helps a little and some other things, but haven’t been consistent and not quite sure how to work on that yet, so he’s had a lot of rehearsal:-) Knowing how the reward is going to be delivered should work, but I need some ideas on how to work on the grabbing out of the air thing that he’s been doing for a while now.
I don’t have video of this, but I can do Get it with cheese on my front walkway with leaves all over, and he doesn’t grab to eat the leaves. So, there is some success there. Just need to keep working on incrementally adding in plant material as distractions. I can take him on walks or hikes, and he won’t eat things for 80% of the time now. Oh! And, he runs to get in the car now! He started to panic on car rides, but Dr. Overall had me use Sileo to D and CC to the car and rides. It worked like a charm. He had associated my car with going to the vet. I’ve had to switch to a mobile vet for him. I’m working on the plan on how to get him back to going to the regular vet, but I’m not going to take him until I can go in with him. Flurry is now refusing to get out of the car at the vet.
Tricia
Hi,
Haven’t done much this week. Just really busy.
I started working on a go sniff cue about a month ago, but I also want him to still sniff a lot and practice not eating too. So, it’s a balancing act:-)
You spoke of rituals. I do have rituals at trials, but not at home. I see how that might really help him.
Currently, the recommendations for not eating things, is to keep his mask on at home and work through eating other places first since “home” is so difficult for him. I’m also doing a lot of Control Unleashed pattern games on my front walkway near the plants, leaves, and mulch. This is a challenge for him, but the pattern really helps him. But sometimes it’s just too much.
I found a place that I can rent that is inside to practice agility. He can’t eat anything in there, but then he marks. So, a scenario that happened . . . We were running a sequence, and he knocked a few bars. I had his tennis ball with me. I ignored the knocked bars and kept going. At the end, of the sequence, I tossed him his ball, but then as I turned away to set a bar, he left to mark something. (I had a belly band on him.) This is typical for him. If he were outside on mulch, he would have grabbed the mulch instead of peeing. I need to remember to stay connected with him and give him a behavior to do when I set the bars or need to disconnect for a moment. If I disconnect, he goes off. Would this have something to do with resilience? I would think that he would have like to go off prancing with his ball.
Some days his tennis ball is THE thing, but like today, it was an empty plastic plant pot. He did some hard stuff for that and ran around playing with it after each sequence at home, mask on. It just varies. . .
I’ve posted a video of one of our first matwork sessions. I have to be honest. When you posted the relaxation conditioning, I thought, I do a TON of mathwork with my crew, the relaxation protocol, I take it with us every where, and Skye is magnetized to it. He’ll lay down on it and focus on me and then eventually just put his head down.
So, I started doing it at the day training academy where I teach with a Cavalier who is vibrating all the time, and then will throw himself into a pancake on his mat because he’s gotten reinforced for that, but his tail is still going a mile a minute. When I started doing the treat scatter and then smearing the food pretty much continuously, his tail stopped. He was sniffing the mat, etc. it worked really well with him. I’m going to have his owners continue the work with him because after just one session of 10 minutes he was walking around almost like a “normal” dog afterwards. Imagine what it would do if they did that every day and followed the steps!
So, then back to Skye. The video is of our first session as an experiment, I didn’t do the treat scatter etc. because of a long history of laying calmly on his mat. He was a little perplexed and a little excited because of the food in my hand. I started rewarding for rolling on his hip, then putting his nose down on the mat and turning his head away, then, I noticed that he thought that was the behavior that was going to get a treat. So, I waited some more. He put his head down which I gave multiple treats for. Then, waited again, and he put his head down again. I’m guessing I should start from step one with him, or do you think I can just wait for relaxed behaviors like putting his head down because I know he’ll eventually do that? I can see if Skye gets reinforced a lot for settling and putting his head down, he probably won’t have that settling in time like I do now before he puts his head down, right? He’ll just lay down and rest?
Thanks,
Tricia
Hi,
Hit reply too soon. A couple of questions. The marker words like snacks, Get It, Shhh, Catch, will replace the marker like “yes” or the click?
Then for Catch. . . I’ve already taught them that Catch means something is getting tossed to your mouth either at my side or somewhere else. So, I think it means be prepared to catch it with your mouth. So, should I have a different word for things getting tossed to them away from me?
Is there a list possible words to use for things? My creativity level is a little low right now:-)
ALSO, I LOVE the word snacks!!!!!
Tricia
Hi,
I got a ball on a rope that I’m going to tie an even longer rope to see if I can use that in my agility practice. I hadn’t thought of that.
You’re right. I’m familiar with very similar protocols and use them regularly with my dogs. I do Karen Overall’s Protocol for Relaxation regularly with my dogs. Wondering if the one you’ve shown us, should also be incorporated?
I’ve also done a lot of CC&D to other dogs, movement, etc. and Leslie McDevitt’s Look At That as well.
I took Skye to an AKC agility competition on Sunday. It was his first time at this venue. It was in a barn with a dirt floor. There was a very exciting poodle just before him, but I did voluntary focus and attention exercises with him before we went in. He was perfect in his standard run! There were no bobbles, no wide turns, no sniffing, no visiting ring crew, no knocked bars. . . We then did the Jumpers run. I didn’t play it safe and led out past the second jump. He went around it, so I had to take him back around to get it. Everything from then on was really good until the ending where instead of going straight out like the previous run, there was a turn. He just went wide and ran right with me to get his leash at the end. It was a pretty successful day. This was his 6th day of ever competing with the last time being in August.
Then, we worked on some disc catching a few days later. I’m going to be taking a workshop for the first time in a few weeks and thought I’d see if he’d even want to catch a disc. The first few I threw he did great, but I had his net on and he couldn’t catch them well. So, I took his net off after inspecting for mushrooms. He caught the discs very well. So, got my phone to record some. The following video is of that session which all went very wrong. The video isn’t great since I hadn’t taken the time to get my stand. This video shows what happens when I even play fetch with him in my yard with his net off. He drops the ball, or in this case the disc, and immediately goes to start eating mulch or leaves.
If he leaves the door of my house, he runs off and immediately goes to start eating things. In contrast, I can take him for a walk on a leash, and he doesn’t eat anything about 80% of the time. It didn’t use to be that way though. He used to go for walks scanning the road for things to pick up. I did focus and attention exercises, 1,2,3 walking, clicking for keeping his head up, etc. That all really helped. Then, when I noticed that he was sniffing and not eating, I would just let him sniff for as long as he wanted. I figured he was rehearsing being on a leash and not eating stuff. So, now I have a problem getting him to not sniff, like in the grass at agility class.
If I take him to a friend’s yard that just has grass, he’ll play with her dog (with no net on) for a little while and go sniff etc., but when things calm down, he’ll start to eat things. Since, he’s been on meds, things have gotten better, but I can’t be sure if some of it isn’t an operant behavior that got mixed in with his compulsion to eat things.
He definitely has issues with getting stressed and then just finding something to grab, but like the disc or ball throwing . . . I wonder?
Hi,
Skye is currently on 600 mg. of Gabapentin twice a day and 40 mg of Clomicalm twice a day. I used Sileo to work through his fear and panic of getting into my car. I also use Sileo for Thunderstorms, but since he started the higher dose of Gabapentin and Clomicalm he doesn’t need the Sileo. The other medications we tried to see if we could get him a good nights sleep caused him to be too drowsy, so we are currently not specifically working on getting his nightmares under control.
The issues I saw her about were: indiscriminate eating, inability to relax, noise reactivity, violent dreams, aversion to cars, fear of vet visits and restraint. The current diagnosis is General Anxiety Disorder, OCD, Noise Reactivity, and profound fear of veterinary visits and restraint with a panic event.
He does really like games of chase. I haven’t used chase or toy throwing much with him for agility for several reasons. One is that when I through the ball he is wild when he tries to catch it, and I’m afraid that he will get injured. I need to work on how to throw it for him. Secondly, if I throw the ball for him in my agility yard, sometimes if I go towards him to he will drop the ball and start grabbing things in his mouth or his will just drop the ball and grab things. The automatic grabbing of stuff has subsided considerably with medication. The second problem is that. He wears an Outfox Field Guard when he is outside 100% of the time. He has been to the emergency vet several times for ingestion with twice being deadly mushrooms. (I go mushroom hunting every day) There has not been an emergency vet visit since he started wearing the headnet. He can play ball in it, and he can do agility in it as well. I do practice agility without it if I’ve cleared the area and only for a short bit. I can’t risk him running off and grabbing something. Once when he got off the dock at a competition, he was so amped up, he just grabbed a mouthful of gravel from the ground. Typically since the Clomicalm has taken effect, I can walk him on leash without him grabbing things. Because of his grabbing things, I haven’t worked on him sniffing. I figured that if he was rehearsing not grabbing things in his mouth while on a walk, I’d let him sniff as long as he wants, but I think I need to work on that. He only grabs leaves or other things that have fallen on the floor in the house about 5% of the time now.
Here are links to an ASCA competition this past August. He had been on meds for 3 months. First one is Jumpers.
This one is of Standard. He was worried about the judge.
Here is a link to our agility class this morning. The first one is with a tug toy. The second one is the same course with a tennis ball. He got a little high for the ball. I’ve been trying to work him up to jumping 20″. He should be jumping higher, but that’s as high as he’ll have to jump if I don’t do the competition classes. I’ve been going to Susan Salo clinics and doing jump grids, etc. If he has some straight line momentum where I can really run, he keeps the bars up.He basically goes as fast as I do.
Tricia
Hi,
Here is a video with him running FastCat and one of Dock Diving. In FastCAT from his first run he is consistently with 2 10ths of a second on every run with an average of 26 mph. He really enjoys it. It’s hard to hold him back at the start line.
In Dock Diving, he gets VERY excited. The video clip includes a lesson where he landed a little too vertical and on the next jump he halted before he jumped in. That was it for the day. He competed the next week and did great. This is usual for him. If something goes a little amiss, he says “no go”.
It used to be if he knocked a bar in agility, he wouldn’t want to go over it again.
It took me 4 months of CC&D to get him back in my car after a blood draw at the vet clinic. We now have a mobile vet.
He has a reaction to loud percussive sudden noises. My husband can’t play pool on our pool table when Skye is home because Skye goes into a panic. We’ve taken the “Sound Advice” Fenzi class. It’s helping a lot, but we’re not quite there yet.
What I think is unusual is that he never had a problem going over any of the agility equipment. He learned the teeter in 4 sessions. He will run quickly propel forward in agility if i carry a tennis ball in my hand;-) Otherwise, he runs agility like in the videos I linked previously. The previous agility videos were before he was on medication.
If you’re at all interested, here is the link to some of the behavioral video I sent Dr. Overall. https://youtu.be/GmaJKUMsO2Y
My other Aussie is reactive and barks and lunges at other dogs. She is also hyper-vigilant when she can smell or see people or other dogs. I’m hoping what I learn here will also help her in addition to what I’m already doing.
It’s nice to have another set of eyes.
Tricia
Is this what you mean? I drew a line in the mulch.:-)
Sorry, I realize I didn’t trim the middle between the two jumps. It was getting dark, and I just ran outside to try this and stuck my phone on the table. I think I’m still doing too much of my foot toward the wing. Also, shouldn’t I be able to get this without me being almost on top of the jump. That’s probably what I’m working towards, right.
Tricia
Soooooo. . . I don’t think we’re doing this correctly yet for the backsides, but it’s better than it was last time:-)
Tricia
Hi,
Okay. . . This was a total mess! I’ve never done this before this way, and I’m sure I was completely messing Skye up. Help!!!!!
I sent you a PM on FB Messenger.
Been thinking of you and HS. Wishing the best.
Tricia
Hi,
Apparently, we don’t know how to do lap turns.:-)
Here is a video of how I worked through it. I have one try at the first sequence at 12″ and at the end, I wanted to show you a straight line of 20″ jumps 🙂 I think he did well. Maybe he needs higher jumps to put more effort into things now.
So, for the lap turn, I worked through it by doing them on the flat with a cookie, then added a toy thrown to landing side, I finally took away the bar. Then, I lured him with a toy at speed, and finally, we did one in sequence. These need more work. How should I proceed?
Tricia
Hi,
This has been a rough week. I’m taking care of a friend’s BC puppy who neglected to tell me that the 7 month old puppy has serious Separation Anxiety or distress and also chases reflections and shadows with barking etc. She also is very mean to Skye. Flurry is in rehab and locked up, and Slider doesn’t want to have anything to do with her. So, my guys are all locked up and she gets the run of the house or else she destroys my doors and crates.
So, I’ve been working the sequences a little at a time, but didn’t get any on video. So this afternoon, Cal came home early, and I was walking Skye. I had a toy with me that he hasn’t see for months. He was really gung ho to work, so I propped up my phone on my Dogwalk and got two videos of some sequences, but not the ones you posted. They are probably close. He has been very slow on the sequences we worked little by little almost walking and knocking down every bar. So, when I saw this attitude change, I just went for it. My timing was bad, but my exit line reward on the end of the first sequence was good:-)
Tricia
Hi,
I think I understand the serps now. The video shows an attempt at 16” after successfully doing 12 this morning. He knocked the 16” on the spin, so I set it at an angle from 16” to 12”. I think one of 5he first ones I actually was going to
He opposite direction as he was going over the jump.I haven’t worked at 20” ever. Should I start doing that on straight lines?
Tricia
Hi,
Here’s the timing part I forgot on the last one. I’m guessing I should raise the bars since the timing may be different?
I’ve also included an exit line video. As I was walking up to the yard, I spotted some nasty mushrooms so, I left his Outfox on just for my piece of mind. I’m also guessing I should try these with higher bars so he learns to wrap with the height involved. In his in person class, I have him jumping 16”. He appears to be loping around😊 at that height, but there are also multiple distractions for him there.
Before I do the serpentines exit line connection, I had a question. In Max Pup, I was pointing my feet where I wanted him to go and faced my shoulders toward the bar, and looked at his landing spot. As you know I used to use an off side arm to indicate serps. So, on exit line connection, I should bring my off side arm up as he is passing the wing? I think 🤔 I had changed my serps to dropping my shoulder back and my threadles to off side arm. I’m a little confused.
These exit lines, spins, and wraps feel so natural with him compared to Flurry. I don’t have any stress that he’s going to refuse the jump.
Tricia
