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Hi! Whoa it was a crazy trip and we didn’t get to do a lot of sequence work but we had 3 days this past weekend with a lot of opportunities at the trial to do pattern games (up and down & find my face) and we also played at the practice jump and did the volume dial game there. We walked around the rings and played pattern games there as well.
Frankie thought this location (indoor on dirt with 2 rings) was very distracting, so I was pleased with Bazinga’s response to it.
We are home now and this weekend we have a 1 ring trial that is outdoors that I signed her up for FEO on Sunday (day 2) of the trial. The date arrived so fast! EEEEEKKKKKK!
Should I do it!?
She’ll have a chance to get comfy at the location on Saturday and I can do some practice jump games & pattern games to let her get acclimated. My plan is to (no startline) take off her leash, do a little volume dial and just run with her over a few jumps & play play play. Hopefully the course has the tunnel positioned where we can get to it too. I have new fur bungee toys that are scheduled to arrive tonight for her. Should I surprise her with it in the ring or let her see the toys ahead of time so I know she likes them?Here is Bazinga practicing Remote reinforcement. This is the first official session. If I’m doing it right, I’ll try and do more sessions before Sunday and move it outdoors and to the trial site on Saturday.
If it is ok, I have a question about using Reward Prection Errors to get a dopamine spike. I’m wondering if I am applying the theory correctly with Frankie. Can the surprise be the TYPE of treat?
Frankie is currently on a special diet so all her treats are her kibble (my poor dogs they are both on just kibble – boo) She is a good sport about it and I give her kibble as treats and do action tricks at the gate when it is our turn. I do a lot of “are you ready” & touching the gate & treating to amp her up. As soon as we walk through the gate is when I see her “mute” and start her shut down. (we are doing an FEO run a day to keep her motivated and she loves that). So, this weekend, I decided the surprise her with a different treat as the very last treat as I opened the gate to enter the ring (run 1 was sweet potato fry, run 2 was a ball of vanilla cake) I could see by her expression she was surprised. Do you think if I always give her a different, awesome treat before we go in the ring that it may help her want to go in the ring?Thanks for all the help!!!
We are going to set up some sequences later.Hi Tracy!
Thanks for the feedback and pics. It helped to see how “tiny” I felt the disconnect was but that it mattered. I’m starting to get the “feel” of the connection with her again and am loving the sequence work.We have been traveling so I missed the zoom call. I’m going to watch tonight.
We got a chance to do FEO at a new location and she had fun. I didn’t get video though.
We set up the first “middle of the course” sequence today at a friend’s house. I think she did well. I made a mistake & forgot the BC and i got on her line. She was ok though. I joked for drama.
We are at a trial this weekend so we can work the pattern games.
Thanks!!!
Thank you for the pictures!!! That really helped!!!
I did try again ☺We got 2 successes but several pull offs. I am a slow adapter it seems but I went through the video & marked what I messed up on our misses. Mostly pointyness & foot direction. I feel like my brain knows what to do, but I can’t get my body to cooperate. I really can’t take my eye off her for a second. I’m going to need to develop my peripheral vision & sonar!!
Here is our video:
Thank you!
Good morning!
Thank you for the videos! They did so good!!! You stayed so calm! It was cool to see other debut FEOs.
I’ll work on showing her the toy as I’m running so she can grab & tug and I don’t let go. I think we’ll get to go to a league practice next week.
I tried 2 more sessions on that first sequence and we are just not getting jump #3. Here is my last session from last night. I think I’m going to just move on to the other sequences & see how they go so I don’t keep drilling this one move. I’msure it is me, I’m just not sure what I am doing wrong. I’m not going fast and I feel like I am staying connected. I am guessing that my position is pushing her off the jump?
Thanks for the help!
PS: What are Ramen’s colors?Yay for FEO & Whippets!!! I’d love to see Larry’s new fave toy! I bet Bazinga would be loco for the fur! Did Ramen do FEO too!? I’d love to see videos!!!
Thanks for the ideas on how to “fade the trade” We did a little session in the house with just a blanket (she is a laundry stealer) and when I said out & moved to where we keep the treats, sh let go & followed me. As soon as I gave her the treat, I went back & played again. We repeated it a few times. I’ll keep it up & switch to a toy & then 2 toys. This will be a helpful tool to have, so I’m motivated to teach it!
>>You can try running slower 🙂 I know, that sounds nuts 🤣😂 but running fast can get very disconnected with arms pointing everywhere.
Ok, this gave me a huge lightbulb moment because I am trying to keep up with her. If I can stay connected, she can get the information & take the obstacles independently without me having to be right there.
I did another session and we had the same results but there were a lot of distractions nearby that day. I can post the video if you want to see how I was doing on connection or I can try again.
I took her to agility league last night. We did the up & down game on leash and then we did 3 small sequences with a bungee toy & the volume dial game!
I got video!!! It was so fun! I did use treats to get the toy back but she was really good about letting go.Seq 1
Seq 2
Seq 3
>>As you build up to that, you can refresh her toy play so she is ready to use a toy in the ring doing the FEO runs.
Good thinking! Getting ready for toy play for FEO – what do you recommend/what should I be trying to incorporate?
AKC doesn’t let you throw the toy, so I usually do tug with Frankie but I only do it once on an FEO run – at the end. I’m thinking with a baby dog, I’ll want to do it more than once.
I have been throwing the lotus ball with food inside for sequence work. She likes to play tug and I have a bungee lotus ball that she loves. I can use it with no food for FEO.
I am thinking I should get a better tug & release with Bazinga. Currently we are still trading & she is pretty strict about the rules – hahaha. She gets the ball open & then I give her 1 kibble & say “out” and pick up the ball. I need to fade out that 1 kibble. But how? any good ideas? Trade for another toy to start?
Here are our games & sequences:
Openings sequence #2
I am not keeping good connection past the first few obstacles. I didn’t want to drill things so I kept it short. She did great on the startline & the leadout pivot & even the BC.
Should we be doing the volume dial game before each rep?Pattern Games:
We have been doing the up & down game & the bowls game at trials. Here is a session with her leash on in the house. I’ll do a few more of these and also do a few sessions in the yard. We are traveling next weekend to a trial and to stay at a friend’s house so I’ll be able to advance to doing the games in new locations then.Action Tricks!
We got a hi-10! The hi-5 is hit or miss, she’s giving me both paws for that. I must have lumped!
I think I’ll back up and try for a “give me your paw” trick instead of the hi-5 until she understands one paw at a time. The figure 8 through the legs is pretty new too. She’s getting it. The nose touch really seems to be the one that gets her amped up.Thanks for watching!!!
Hi Tracy! I set up the Openings course. My space is a little tight so I edited out jump #5 for sequence #1. I’ll try breaking it up so that the important parts are included as I move through the dfferent sequences.
I have not been setting up courses and it was so much fun! We both needed it. We’ve just been working on weaves and running contacts and a tiny bit of teeter work. Why did I save all the hard stuff for last!?!? I was feeling a bit burned out. The running contacts training stresses me out. I am second guessing her understanding and I am a little paralyzed on moving forward. Not sure why I stopped setting up sequences, I guess I just lost my routine. Happy to have it back!
I submitted the unedited video so you could see out start, finish & all the in betweens. I have a crate in the yard and the dogs take turns, so I let Bazinga out of the crate before we started & then I did a Volume Dial with her at the beginning. Then I waited too long to start after the Volume Dial – you’ll see! Hahaha
We need to get our connection mojo back but I was happy with the session.
I did an inventory of our action tricks:
spins
hand targets
leg weave (work in progress)New ones to add:
I’m going to train a hi-5 and a hi-10 too
I am considering the bark on command. I haven’t ever trained that as a cued behavior before but Frankie offers a cute one if I get her riled up when we are waiting to go in the ring.I have a question:
Bazinga loves to boing – but to be honest, I’m afraid she will hurt herself. Am I being over protective? (I may or may not be prone to that!) Is there a way to shape/train it so it is a safer trick? I don’t want to take it away from her since it is joyful (sometimes bossy) but I’m not sure I should encourage it. She is such a spazz! You’ll see it in the Openings video a few times.I have 2 opportunities coming up to enter her in FEO at a 1 ring, outdoor trial. Nov 10 and December 8. I can always pull her but I signed up in case it was good timing with this class.
Thank you for the feedback!!!
Im so relieved we had a good session. We did a few on the practice jump at the trisl today and she got ’em! 😊
🩷 thank you for the kind words back. They mean a lot to me!
See you in MP4!!!Hi Tracy!
Thank you for the feedback on the rear crosses!
>>Try the right turns on the other side of the sequence – it will just be the two jumps after the tunnel, with her on your right , so she will be turning back to the center of the sequence – and that might give us info if it helps her see it better : )I think I did this as you described above. I drew a diagram because instead of hitting record, I turned off my camera and did not get a video! I am sooooooo bummed because she did SO GOOD!!!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-0CUigIlHW7dRmThS5LgGjh4ScQJDNDu/view?usp=sharingShe had an almost a perfect success rate. A few times I turned too early and she pulled off the jump and came with me, but she really read the cross once I changed the setup so she was turning into more space.
I also put jumps in a straight line in the center of the yard and rear crossed jump 2 and she was great!I’ll try and get another video for you to see today but I know we are winding down & ending this class.
We are at a trial Sat & Sunday so I’ll try to get it Saturday if I get home before dark.Thanks for such amazing classes!!! You are such a great teacher for the dogs and the humans. You always inspire me! I have learned so much and you made it so much fun to train Bazinga from teeny puppy to now 🙂 She had a blast too because all the games were fun & set her up for success. I’m so looking forward to MaxPup 4!
Hi Tracy!
Since we are at the end of the class, I wanted to work on rear crosses since I feel like that is the skill that we are having the most trouble with. I went back to the Challenging Rear Crosses lesson.
We did really good in 1 direction and really did not get any good reps when we changed direction.
It must be me. I must be doing something different when we change directions?
I did a session in the morning and when she was on my left, we were successful. When I switched to her on my right, we only had 1 successful rep.
I did another short session in the evening with her on my right side and it was the same. I tried to pay attention to pushing the line & running to the center of the bar and keeping my feet straight. I played with the timing a bit but I just haven’t found the flow yet.
I did do one rep that was more like the rear crosses I do with Frankie in the second video and she turned with me behind her. I’m hoping maybe it will give more information about why I can’t do it the other way.Morning session:
Evening session:
Thanks for the help!
Hi!
We tried the Plankrobatics! I lowered the teeter so shorty could jump up on her own. She thought that was cool!
We did another session of the Decel game. She was a little wild and got tired in the humidity so we didn’t get as far into it as I planned. We did add some front crosses after the sends and got a little more speed starting jump to tunnel.
Thanks for watching!!!
Hi Tracy!
I don’t have any new videos yet but !!!OMG!!! you are a goddess of attention to detail!!!!
THE COOKIE HAND!!!!!!!! Bwahaha!!! She is so stinkin’ smart!!! She was (correctly) convinced she was supposed to hold at the target!!! Ummm – thank you for letting me see it! ☺>>When she froze in position, she was probably waiting for another reward in position. On the successful reps with the release, it was very clear that there would be no more rewards in position (you were upright and facing forward more. And on the frozen rep, you were reaching to the cookie pocket on the first one, then had another cookie in your hand on the 2nd one. I think that there were cookies in your hands on the others, but something about the body language when she didn’t release was saying “more cookies coming” so she kept offering the position 🙂
I swear (I hope I’m not lying) last question on the weaves class. When do we do the “Find ’em” tracks? After the regular 2×2 & Channels tracks are complete? thank you! sorry! sorry!
-Kathy
Frankie is feeling better, but she had a tough week. Poor girlie! She is currently mad because she can’t play until she gets her stitches out in 2 days. But that is a good sign 🙂
I borrowed a set of channel weaves!!! I love agility peeps – they are the best!
Do I do the 2×2 track lesson 1 one day (like Saturday) and then on Tuesday do the Channels track lesson 1? And switch back and forth between the tracks as they progress? So, do different tracks on different days but work through both at the same time?Thank you for the great feedback on the connection on our last session. I feel like a chump for not rewarding her. We’ll circle back to that one and give it another try.
We worked on the teeter and added the release word. She got that right away for the first few reps and then got confused & froze in the down position when I gave the release. I gave her a chance to break out of it & then I threw the treat to the bowl, so that I didn’t move. Not sure if it was the right thing to do. On one rep she didn’t let me hold her & jumped up on the teeter and I froze and didn’t treat her and I can see that it messed with her confidence. She hit the target perfectly. I wish I had rewarded her.
We did the first session of the Concept Transfer Decel game. She had fun! She liked the return of the turn & burn!!
Thanks for watching & for always having such great feedback & ideas!!!
Hi Tracy!
Trying to get it together after a crazy week. Frankie had a dental and a bump removed Wednesday and got sick with HGE Friday night. Fingers crossed she’s feeling better. She had to spend an overnight for IV fluids. She’s home now <3
Bazinga helped keep me busy today and we played a bit.
We did another session of the bang game and moved the bowl further away.
We did the very beginning of Lead outs 3. I was terrible at keeping connection. I can see it when I watch the video but couldn’t see it when it was happening.
I feel like my yard is a teeny bit small for the setup and I’m squishing it and making it awkward. Or maybe I just need to work on my connection! 😉😆
Thanks for watching!!
Hi Tracy!
Thanks so much for the advice about starting FEO. I’m going to hold off on FEO and just let her do the tunnels fun run.>>I am not a believer in a crate-to-ring routine because the environment is way to fluid to have a routine. And if the environment changes and you can’t do the routine? We don’t want the dog to stress. I am a big fan of having a toolbox of things to use to support the dogs, because we know the environment is always different and always changing. It is much easier to be able to help the dogs that way
THIS ^^ This right here is why I need to cool my jets and take MaxPup4!!
Also what you said about Seminars and classes allowing me to use food made so much sense! A much easier transition for her!We took a few days off & went to trial with Frankie.
We started back today and did our first session of the Forced Front Cross and Forced Threadles.
I have some questions about the Weaves course. I hope it is ok to ask here. Can I do the 2×2 track with 3 sets of 2x2s and a set of 6 weave poles? I have 3 sets of 2x2s )making 6 weaves) and then a full set of weaves (2 sets of 6 poles). Do I need a full set of 2x2s (making 12 weaves)?
Is it best to do both tracks? Maybe I can see if I can borrow a set of channels for a few months?
One last thing I just wanted to let you know that the image examples that show the filled-out field guides are not loading on the intro pages.Thanks for everything!!!
