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H Tracy!
Thank you!!!!!
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Thank you so much for coming, I loved meeting you and Basing in person! You are a fabulous team and looked great on the sequences. Hopefully you could hear everyone cheering for you two
People were talking about Bazinga all weekend >>It was such a fun group! I loved watching the videos later <3
Thanks for the feedback on our last trial! I think she did really great & I’m glad the runaround-the-jumps were explainable.
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For the next trial, you can try the next step of doing a loop on course without the toy with you
I bet she does GREAT. She is pretty much ready for ‘real’ runs as soon as the weaves are ready (the weaves should be rewarded in NFC the first few times she sees them). If there are any USDAA or UKI trials within reach, she can run for real in USDAA jumpers or UKI speedstakes: no weaves! That can provide a great opportunity to run for real while the weaves are getting ready.>>Our next trial is next weekend. I just found out they moved the agility field to a possibly nicer spot (less bumpy) so we may be able to do longer runs than I planned. I was going to do In & Outs since the ground is yucky, but now maybe I can do a run with no toy & see how she does.
We took a break from weaves because l lumped a little with 6 + 4 and phasing out the Manners Minder, so we took a little break. We tried again this morning with 6 poles & the MM behind a wing. 6 poles was too hard, so I went to 4 and she was more successful. I feel like the MM being far away is making her rush and she was skipping the last set of poles. Here is what the set up looked like – the MM was beyond the wing.
Thanks for the help!!!!
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So looking ahead for Westminster – the hard part there will be not be the courses, you and Frankie clearly can run those courses >>
<3 Thank you for the encouragement!!!! I took that with us to Westminster <3We had so much fun!!!!! She was amazing! She was engaged and comfortable there. We did the up & down game and tricks on the sidelines and also our remote reinforcement game. She was barking on command. I let her walk into the ring and she didn’t hesitate or freeze and she was ready to go both runs! No FEO needed to pump her up.
We were clean in Standard which was our first run! We came SO CLOSE in JWW. Even though we didn’t Q – it was such a win for us! She ran faster than I expected & I wasn’t where I needed to be at jump 15 to get a FC. I panicked & did a sloppy BC to try & save it but my bad arms confused her and she came to the wrong side. It was so cool to see her run faster than I expected! She was so happy & I was so happy!
Here are our runs:
Side note: She has 2 barks now. A soft, almost a lip-synch bark but with full facial expression – is this her trial-polite bark? Haha. She is also giving me a louder more insistent bark, if the treats are slow in coming.
>>and other stuff like a Back On Track coat can be AMAZING for keeping her feeling good. I am not sure if you have tried those but they are great for maintaining blood flow and getting rid of inflammation. I ‘borrow’ from my dogs and use it when I am in pain LOL>>
Frankie is anti-clothing but I found a Back on Track blanket and got it for her crate at trials! She loves blankets! It’s pretty cool – like a comforter but small-dog crate sized. It was a pretty good price on Amazon. I can’t get the link to work but search for “Back on Track Therapeutic Mini Blanket”
>>We might never know the full reason, but we can help her out. You can do fewer runs per day – these courses are BIG yardage courses that covered the full ring. And that is exhausting especially for the small dogs who have to take a lot of strides. So maybe on day 1, you can do 2 classes and on day 2, only 2 classes as well. Or day 1 can be 3 classes and day 2 is one class >>
Do you think I should drop some of the FEO runs hat I have been doing and do 2 real runs so she has less runs per day? I’m conflicted because I want to keep it fun for her but maybe as the remote reinforcement games make it easier for her to leave her treats & have fun in the ring, I’ll need them less?
Our next trial is a local trial, outdoors on grass. I was not going to enter because I don’t like the surface, one of the rings has uneven areas. But I thought I could use it as an opportunity to do “In & Out” runs or ask for a start line stay and release them to a toy quickly. Do you think that is a good idea for both pups?
Can’t wait for your feedback, I am still floating!
I’m bummed that I had to miss the chat. Is there a link to watch the recording? I looked around but couldn’t find one.
Thank you!Hi Tracy!
I can’t believe Westminster is almost here!! I’m feeling pretty positive about Frankie’s state of mind at trials. We did Saturday & Sunday this weekend at a more distracting location, but one she has always done well at. I’m looking forward to your feedback. I included lots of video here but please, please fast forward to see what you want to look at.
She did still slow down as each day progressed. She sniffed the ground in one run. Even though she was bouncy & happy at the gate, as soon as I picked her up, I felt her shift and her excitement level went way down. I wish I had tried walking her in, instead of picking her up for one run, but I didn’t think of it at the time. Not sure what I should do for Westminster.
New things: We have barking on cute command “Who’s gonna play?”!!!! It is a cute bark too, but I may be biased 🙂 She was doing it at the gate & everything! YAY!
We did our bowls, up and down game, and practiced moving away from reinforcement, engaging & going back to the reinforcement ringside. We also barked for treats. She was very engaged and excited about it all. I threw her frisbee for her before and between runs as her jackpot. She even did some hand playing with the frisbee with me ringside. Sometimes toys are not her thing when we get ring side so I was happy to see that. She was really relaxed & happy ringside for every run.
She was super happy for the FEO runs for the first runs of each day. Saturday we ran Premier almost back to back with our FEO run and she was still pretty amped. She did well in all her runs, but I can see the difference in her speed and on Sunday her motivation in the later runs.
We had a checkup and her bloodwork looks good. We’re getting her b12 tested next Wednesday too just to see, it can’t hurt. She has an appointment to see the chiropractor tomorrow so she’ll be in alignment for Saturday!
Here is the avalanche of videos – thank you for watching & for all your help!
Saturday – FEO T2B
Saturday – Premier Syandard. Run 2 of 4.
Saturday – Standard run 3 of 4. With warmup. NQ – I broke connection & looked ahead. GAH!
Saturday JWW – run 4 of 4. She sniffs & starts slow
Sunday FEO T2B run 1 of 4
Sunday Premier STD Q run 2 of 4 – warmup
Sunday STD Q – with Barking! Run 3 of 4
Sunday JWW run 4 of 4. Slow start
I can’t thank you enough for the help. I feel like we are making progress!
Have a great day!
KathyBazinga
Hi Tracy!
The seminar was SO MUCH FUN! Bazinga had a blast. She slept the whole ride home!
It really upped my confidence about my connection with Bazinga in longer sequences. I was so happy that blind crosses and exit line connection happened! Thanks so much for a great experience!We trialed Saturday & Sunday and she did FEO in novice jumpers each day. We did a lot of games outside the ring and in our crating area. We took long walks around the grounds too. I tried a lead out on Saturday and a very short lead out on Sunday.
Warmup before FEO Novice JWW – Saturday
Here is a clip of some of our warmup ahead of the run. She seemed pretty comfortable before we went in the ring.
FEO Novice JWW – Saturday
I see her glance at the judge when the judge moved before we started, but I don’t think it concerned her. She ran around 2 jumps in this run and also I think 1 jump in the run on Sunday! She was going really fast. This is a first, if she runs past a jump, she usually does it on the side close to me. What do you think?
FEO Novice JWW – Sunday
I couldn’t get video of our outside the ring tricks for this one but we did them 🙂
I forgot her fuzzy leash too. In this run (day 2) she seemed interested in tugging on the leash in the ring like last trial. Next trial, I will remember her fun leash!
Thanks for watching!
Hi Tracy!
Frankie had such a great weekend! We had 3 runs today.
Jumpers was first & we ran it for real and she was clean!
Time to Beat was second and we ran it FEO. She was on fire!
Standard was last and we ran it for real and were clean!I warmed up with the bowls and up & down. We did tricks & ran to the remote reinforcement in a few spots in the building.
She BARKED! She did it and I marked it and gave her a treat and she had a light bulb moment!She was sleeping pretty deeply when I woke her up to run the third run of the day. So maybe there is some fatigue there.
She started a little slow and kicked in to gear.Our body warmup before a run is:
Down to stands, sit to stands, sit to stretch up on my legs, paw gives, side steps, backwards steps and the nose stretch yo hip, middle & shoulder and neck up & down. I do 4-5 reps of each.Here are our videos. I wish I got the barking on video. It was so cute.
Jumpers run 1 of 3 first run of the day
Time to Beat FEO 2 of 3
Standard 3 of 3
Thanks for watching and all the feedback!
We are driving home!Eeeeeeeeee! Look at Bazinga!
She tugged with enthusiasm & let go!
She did an easy start line stay & we ran lots of obstacles and I pulled the toy out at the end!Warm up tug fest!
FEO
So. Much. Fun.
Eeeeeee! Frankie had a blast today!
We ran FAST first as FEO. Then Standard for real and she was into it so I ran JWW for real too. I carried her in & we dropped & ran!
Here are clips with our warm-ups outside the ring.
We played a lot of the bowls game and remote reinforcement outside the room with the ring.Warmup before Fast
FEO Fast
JWW with warmup
Standard. We didn’t get video of the warmup.
Can’t wait to hear what you think!
Hi Tracy!
Bazinga had fun! We tried a start line stay and did a rear cross!!
She had zero interest in the leash today. It was a different leash than we’ve been using lately, but she’s been tugging on different leashes.
Thanks!!!HI! Thank you for the great feedback!
In & Out
>>Yes, and also yes
The in and out will be best in places where you can run over, get the reward, then go back in (UKI and USDAA). And after you get the reward, come back in with it. In UKI, have someone stand just inside the ring with the toy to give to you so you are not leaving the ring to get it (it is against the rules to leave the ring, but totally within the rules to have a helper give it to you in the ring :))>WHOA! I didn’t understand that was what was possible in UKI!
So we step inside the ring with a helper and do our volume dial tricks & take the first jump and then run back to the helper (“let’s go!”) and get the toy and then take more jumps?The leash tugging & out
>>Well, it might take her a few seconds – 5 seconds might feel like 3 hours to you, but it won’t be long at all. Plus it is great arousal regulation to have her let go of it. That will tell you how ready she is for her run.>We tried again today and she was really good about dropping the leash when it was unclipped.
Here is our video:Weaves & fading the MM
>>Have you tried tucking the MM in behind a wing so she can kinda see it? Then we keep fading it by moving the wing further away, and then make it a jump with the MM behind a wing, then you mix in throwing a reward rather than using the MM.>BRILLIANT progression!!! THANK YOU!!! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I’ll keep you posted on this weekend! I’m excited to get to play with her again after this break.
Have a great weekend!!!>>The first step is to get her to bark elsewhere in life, then give her what she is barking for. It can be getting her to bark for her treats or meals, or to go out the door, or if your doorbell rings. You can use ‘trigger’ phrases – examples would be something like “READY READY READY” or “are you hungry?” or “who’s there?” and then those become cues. At first, she can totally have treats for it 🙂 but then it is really easy to fade because barking can be somewhat self-reinforcing 🙂 Apologies in advance for any extra barking in regular life LOL!>
“Whos’ there?” will totally work! But that is a crazy-bark-at-the door-bark is that ok?
Maybe I can transition it to Who’s ready? Once we get going!>>I think the slowers runs might be happening for several reasons:
The first FEO run is super fun and the bubbles over into the next run. And those runs are both likely at a higher energy time of day for her (I can TOTALLY relate to this!).
Then later runs: she probably predicts there is no reinforcement in the ring, plus they might come at a more settled or even tired time of day.>>Interesting! She does rest pretty well between runs but maybe she needs some pick-me-up snacks & hydration! I’m going to think about what I can do since she’s on a prescription diet.
About transitioning treats from being the cue to do tricks, bark & agility…
>>That is exactly right – with the remote reinforcement games. You can do this in different rooms in your house, not just in the agility context. My guess is that treats are part of the cue to do agility, which is part of why it is so hard to do it without food present in the ring.This made me think about what our routines are in the house. I have treats on the counter and the dogs report there for “treat-duty” whenever they come in from going potty and Frankie really goes there whenever she feels like she has performed something “treat-worthy” during the day. Maybe this is reinforcing that need to be right near the treats?!
I’m going to shake that up a bit. My first thought is to make them move away from the treats and do a trick & then go back to give them their treat. Also maybe I need multiple places with treats in the house, so there is not 1 major location?>>And of course she can opt-out at any time by leaving when the leash comes off.>>
Thank you for this. She totally can. That takes some of the pressure I put on myself that I’m asking her to do something she doesn’t want to do. Frankie most certainly will only do what she wants to do. Heh.
>>You can try carrying her in and then seeing what she does when you put her down – does she automatically turn to you? Then you can see if she likes it when you say something like “ready ready” or ask for her favorite trick. It might take some experimenting because it really is a conversation. And if she turns to face you, she might NOT want to do any tricks (all business) and just want to line up and go.>
I tried this today to see what she did. I probably should unclip the leash before I put her down though. I think she gave me pretty good attention. What do you think?
I’ll keep you posted on how this weekend goes & get video of our outside the ring & runs.
Thank you so much!!!>>Adding the serp-to-blind to the 5 jump: you can send to 4 from further away so it is easier to get across the 5 jump while also showing connection to the landing side. She got the jump at 1:00 because you were not as far ahead. I thought your position at 1:14 was better (in terms of being ahead) but you were looking ahead so she took that as a cue for layering. You can get her to do the serp while you move to the blind by looking at the landing spot as you fly through (your serp arm can also point back to it).
I’ll try this sequence again. I was really impressed that she turned from 4 to take 5! Wahoo! I see what you mean about me looking ahead at 1:14. Thank you. So I should be showing Exit Line Connection at that position/time as soon as she is showing commitment to taking jump 5?
Tug
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I will help support you! Here is the easiest, laziest way to do it (and this is how I have taught all of my recent dogs): get the tugging. Then after a short while. relax your tug arms, say out, and literally put a treat on her nose, then when she lets go of the leash she can eat the treat
I think she will trade the leash for a treat! And you don’t need to set up specific traning sessions – you can just do it when you train other things. And then at the start line, you can take the leash off and see if that becomes a context cue to let go of it and line up. This is all stuff we can play with in your yard and figure out.Thank you! I’ll try this! And start randomly doing this and work on it. I’m working on taking off the leash being a cue to stop tugging. I am terrified that we are going to be at the line & she won’t let go of the leash! LOL
I currently carry Frankie’s leash (pocket) so we don’t have to worry about a leash runner distracting her. I have also been carrying it with Bazinga so I can be sure to catch her at the end! I can keep carrying it, if it is a motivator & getting to have a “toy” in the ring. I do think she’ll be fine with me throwing the leash too but I guess I can play around it with & go with what works best as we get going.We have a 2 day trial this weekend! Then our next event is your seminar!!!! I am so excited to meet you & for you to meet Bazinga!!!
This weekend is indoors, turf, 1 ring in a “private agility room”. We have 1 run each day.
Our last 3 trials we did FEO with toy in the pocket. We were working up to doing more obstacles before pulling out the toy. We haven’t done a start line stay yet.
Do we keep working on more consecutive obstacles if there is a good line?
When we start doing In & Out will we want to do more than 1 run in a day? I feel like she may be disappointed if we leave after 1 jump.We are not ready to add weaves at a trial. We are on 6 + 4 for weaves, but I am also working on fading out the MM with the weaves and that is making things harder. I may go back to just 4 poles and work on fading the MM and then work up to 6 poles again.
Thanks for all your help!!!!!
I am BEYOND excited to hear your feedback & ideas & get started working on this with her!!!!!!!
There is so much, I basically copy & pasted your reply & added answers & questions. Sorry this is looooong!>>She gave you a little bark… does she bark on cue? Can you get more of that going? It is the best volume dial game ever!!!! Sorry/not sorry about all the noise LOL!
She will bark at the gate when she is really excited. How do I put it on cue and get her to do it without treats?
>>You can mix in marking that moment where she comes through the gate by running back to rewards! Make it variable and random mixed in with marking various spots on course. She totally knows where the treats are! Her brain is probably split: thinking about the treats and thinking about the agility. You can do this variable schedule of running out for rewards at trials too: run out just for entering the ring! I recommend UKI or USDAA for that, much less expensive LOL!>
When we do this at a trial, would I do that for 1 class & then stop? Or would I do this randomly for 1 class and then do FEO and even run for real in other classes of the day? Are the dogs disappointed that they don’t get to run?
For the last 8 months or so, I have been doing 1 FEO run as the first class of the day (Time to Beat or FAST) and then run Jumpers & Standard & sometimes Premier for real. Sometimes if there is a games or premier class in the middle of the day, I’ll do FEO there too to keep her guessing. I find that the first “real” run after FEO is her best and she slows each consecutive run after. But it has really helped her engagement in the ring. Maybe this alone is not enough or the right way to help change her feelings.
>>Getting her to bark and spin and do that stuff as she moves into the ring without needing to see treats in your hands will also be very valuable. Treats can be the cues for those behaviors, so we want to be able to get the behaviors without treats in your hands or pockets.>
Obvious question, how do I transition this? Go to no treats on me, but have them nearby & transition to further & further away from the treat location? We are kind of doing this with the remote reinforcement games where we put the treats down at a station & move away & get engagement/ask for a trick & say “let’s go!” and return for a treat. Just keep transitioning this & ask for the bark?
>>Question:
Does she like being carried? Have you played with mixing in carrying her into the ring?>I used to always carry her in & she is ok with that, but then I felt like I needed to let her opt-in before we got into the ring. Especially when I thought it was shut-down based on fear. Carrying her was better for positionng her where I wanted her on the line – hahah. With letting her walk in, I kind of know what to expect from her based on how readily she come with me into the ring. I’m not opposed to carrying her in again. would I put her down & ask for some volume dial inside the ring? Interested in your thoughts!
>>For the next 2 trials, you can experiment with different things outside the ring: patterns, tricks, etc and see how the run goes! And do short easy fun runs, so she gets her groove back >>
Should I keep everything FEO? Or switch it up & do some real runs? We have 4 trial days before Westminster, so I am thinking I want to do enough FEO to pump her up but maybe a little bit of real runs so I know where we are for when we get to NY. Is that greedy-human thinking?
After Westminster, should I do all FEO and In & Out runs with her for a while?Also, since she was very shut down in the last 2 trials, you can consider getting her looked at by a soft tissue vet or chiro – maybe something hurts? And you can look at maybe putting in a probiotic, to help her system handle the stressors of trials. For example, one of my young dogs is on Purina Calming Care probiotic and he is very confident!!!!! And we added folic acid to my girl Hot Sauce’s diet and she is also a healthier happier dog now (there is actually a test for B12 and folate levels in dogs!)>
Thank you for all these suggestions & insite! I have had her checked out. She does get things out of alignment and there is a spot on her back that knots up if it is out. When she is feeling ouchy, she will walk out of the weaves in the middle. So, for the last 5 months we have been getting a monthly chiro adjustment and we’ve been building up her butt & rear leg muscles a bit too. It has been keeping her feeling good. Much better than only getting her adjusted when she is showing signs of being out of alignment.
I will ask about the B12 & folate level test! How did you figure that out for Hotsauce?
I do give her a probiotic from Vetriscience that has the “bifidobacterium longus” that is in Calming Care. If DEFINATELY helped her! I started it when we got teeny Bazinga as a pupper! Ha!
Congrats on Westminster! My dogs are not AKC agility eligible but we did try to get into the flyball event – they only took 15 teams and about a gazillion applied… and we didn’t get in
But you can expect Westminster to be crowded and busy. Are you flying or driving? You will want to leave a buffer for her to get some decompression. Does she like a snuffle mat or a chew bone? Those can help, even right inside the event area! And we can make a plan for Westminster based on what she tells us at the next 2 trials.Dang AKC & their dumb rules! That would have been so cool if you guys were there for Flyball!!! Dang!
We are flying in. We actually got to go to Westminster before (when it was at the mansion and the tennis center – that sounds braggy – lol – we got so lucky & got in) and she was pretty comfy there. Fingers crossed!!!
I just ordered her a proper fancy snuffle mat to bring with us! Thanks for the suggestion.THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Tracy!
I hope you had a happy holiday & are still holiday-ing!!!The MYOB webinar was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We did our first session of the TSA game and man, I was blown away by the reaction I got from both dogs!
I don’t know if just going outside our gate was such a big deal that it amped them up but they were both AMPED after this short session. Like for over an hour afterwards they were just crazy-loco & chasing each other and just wild.This is off subject because it is about Frankie. Can I sign her up (in addition to Bazinga of course) for the “FEO support group” class that is next even though she is not a baby dog? I could use guidance on navigating helping her with remote reinforcement. I have been working on the remote reinforcement with both dogs just in the yard and working up to adding more obstacles and then the last 2 times, at step 5, Frankie just couldn’t leave the treat station to go to the jump. She just couldn’t leave the treats. That was big information for me. In our own yard. Couldn’t leave the treats. I didn’t do a lot of pattern games before I asked her to move away and maybe that was too much to ask of her. But I was still surprised. I’ve been focusing on her fears & getting her confident going in to the ring, but after hearing that dogs that shut down from the gate to the first jump are usually worried about reinforcement in the Mind Your Own Business webinar the other day and seeing her unable to leave her remote reinforcement at home, I think this is playing a big part in her engagement!
Here is Bazinga in the TSA game. She seemed fine that the last treat was gone & we were “going in the ring” to play. I kept it short & used our “let’s go!” I think she was like “hey lady, but we’re running!” She is really getting into tugging at the leash. She didn’t want to drop it in the second rep. That is what took so long for us to line up. I’m curious to see what you think about it in this video. Am I creating a tiny monster?
For our next FEO steps, I’ll follow what you listed out in one of your replies above:
Try a longer lead out & do more obstacles before rewarding.
Later on:
Try some quick In & Outs with no reinforcement on me
Try the weaves & reinforce after them – what do I do if she doesn’t get them? Keep going & then reward after the next obstacle?I’m going to rent the field where we do agility league and let her use the weaves there and practice some in & outs before I bring them to a real FEO trial.
Thanks for all the help!!!
