[Kristin Omdahl]

It’s been a few days! Haven’t done really any agility this week since I’ve been busy with business-building stuff, but I’m really glad you mentioned what you did in regards to Reacher missing the weaves last week because it addressed my gut feeling that I felt was right but was doubting myself.

You said:
<<Yeah, it was odd for him! It could have been there was some visual clutter with the weaves near the wall? Have you done any skin rolling with him (gently lifting his skin and rolling down his back with your thumb and fingers)? That can tell you if he is tight anywhere. You have had weird weather lately and I have found that the sudden shifts from cold to warm to cold/ice/snow can make my dogs pretty tight.>>
It could have been some visual clutter but the first thing I thought about when I saw him move there (in the moment) was that he didn’t look right. So after the the second miss I didn’t do any more weaves afterwards. Then, after my post to you I felt like he had more heat in that area when he was stretching up on my like he usually does, but usually there is no heat flooding into his back area. The weather has indeed been up and down and I did do the skin rolling and some massage and while he was not crazy tight I do think that was it.

With all that we haven’t done much running this week I’d still like to capture him in real extension getting after it for comparison sometime soon!

On another topic, since you are teaching these topics in June and if I should be so fortunate to snag a working spot, which would you recommend for Reacher considering where we are and what we need to focus on?
-Turning Tails: Mastering the Handling of a Great Turn
-Discriminations
-Introduction to International Skills
-Beyond Novice
-ISC/UKI Coursework

I have some ideas on what I think would be best but curious what you think!

~Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Had an interesting thing happen in class on Monday, where Reacher missed the weaves twice. He hasn’t messed up any weaves in quite some time and I’m not sure why. Not fretting, but it’s interesting. The video was really far away so I zoomed in in editing so it’s pretty hard to see. I thought maybe it was the color of the poles blending in too much but I’m not sure. The entry was tucked pretty close to the wall back there but I’m not feeling that’s so much it either.

Anyway, kind of interesting.

The other part of the video is just some running to try to do our little test of speed. You’re welcome for the comedy relief of watching me run back and forth as well. 😂

It’s REALLY hard to get video of the running all out moments. He has tons of them but there are very hard to capture. I think one difference between agility and most other times he’s running is that of intensity. It’s not just about the speed, but it’s the desire to go fast that’s missing in agility I think. I just wish he was a little more intense about it. But I’m still hoping that will come. If it doesn’t that’s okay too.

Let me know what you think!
Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Dang, this is the second time I’m typing all this since putting it all in without realizing my session timed out (so sad!) so now I’m not sure what I wrote the first time. Probably won’t be as good. 😂

Thanks for all the great advice on the runs! I am noticing that he’s an energy-matcher and when it’s loud and kind of exciting at the trial he might be a bit harder to get engaged at the start line, but he seems to get amped up and excited by more chaos. I guess that’s better than getting worried as the energy goes up!

<<Was it a ‘real’ run – no toy, using the actual course from the judge? I think it went great.>>
YES! It was a real run using the actual course! And, since I hadn’t checked in for this one (oops!) and didn’t have a toy they counted it as official and he even got a Q. So baby dog is now on the board! Didn’t mean to but the course was nicely designed and I wanted to try without a toy and it worked out. 🙂

I’m going to try more empty hands, but don’t worry, I won’t be getting greedy. I want him to be super confident and that’s going to take more time. I’m not going to be a “fix-it” person. And we have no trials now until the first weekend in May, so might be a little quiet in the forum for a bit.

Oh, I am also noticing that he’s getting a bit more confident about running the portion of the course by the crowd, but still has some hesitation there so I’ll be extra sure my cues and connections are solid on those portions.

I do wish Reacher would find agility more intrinsically rewarding like he seemed to when he was a puppy, but hopefully some of that joy will come back the more confidence he gains. Or, he just won’t be that dog. We shall see. I’m still going to think of anything I can to bring that fun/joy back.

Speaking of fun, last night in class I wasn’t really feeling like doing agility in the traditional sense (just in the mood I guess) and just wanted to see if we could have more fun out there, so mainly we just played around with the toys and did only a few small things.

Here’s a sample:

We mostly just played around in the ring with his toys (no food). Then a bit of chase. Then I tried a couple of distance challenges at the end. For that I wish I’d thrown the toy farther out on the line, but he didn’t seem to have any issue working away from me, so that’s good.

I was also thinking about just keeping him jumping 8″ even though I know he could do 12″. I’m not sure what the norm is these days for running Preferred/Select, but we’re not World Team material and not expecting to compete for super stardom so maybe he’d have more fun at a lower jump height. What do you think?

~Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

I think our last two replies showed up out of order in the thread for some reason, but anyway I’m just now getting around to posting video from the trials last weekend. I got sidetracked afterwards and then saw you were going to the UKI Invitational so assumed you were busy and I didn’t need to pile on. I hope you had a great time there!

Here was our first run of the weekend:

He was pretty distracted at first by another dog who had been barking quite a bit at him while we were getting ready to enter then threw one last ‘woof’ when we were in there. These two were puppies together so he was quite interested. But I got him back and off we went.

I was super pleased with his weaves and then the backside send! Then I disconnected and he’s like ‘C’mon Mom WHICH SIDE!!’ but we got back on track for the A-frame.

What do you think caused him to skip the jump after the A-frame? Going into the crowd? Did I not seem clear? But from there I thought we ended strong.

Here’s run #2 of the first day:

Thoughts about what caused the pause and sniff after the purple jump before the tunnel? Looking for a reward? Too much like the end? Turning into the crowd? Got too far ahead off his line?

Next day Run 1:

He was pretty distracted by the little white papillon that was running before us because it’s the same one that yelled at him a few times and also, the little white blur looks a lot like a bunny too! I think he’ll be more used to this sort of thing. I do wish I’d tried a bit more to connect with him then instead of just basically dragging him to the start line. I know what I’ll try differently next time, but not sure it would’ve worked anyway. He was pretty into watching that dog!

I was incredibly late on my cross at 0:59 which I knew was late as it was happening so I can see why he missed that jump but no worries, just kept going. I’m just thrilled he was fast enough that I was late!

Day 2, Run 2:

I have started a few runs like this and regret it every time. I wished I’d set him up with a start line stay on this one or if I was going to do a running start I should’ve started out farther back. But we got on track and I thought it was pretty strong. I had NO TOY on this one!!

Day 2, Run 3:

I think he was TIRED by this one. This is the first time I did 3 runs in 1 day in a 2-day trial and I think it was too much. As a result I cancelled my third run for the trials I entered in May and backed off to only do 1 day of each also.

Despite the fatigue, I was proud of the little dude for keeping enough focus to do another perfect set of weaves.

I think it was a pretty successful weekend. Of course I wish he was more excited about agility without the treats and toys, but not so much quite yet so we’ll keep working on that. The main thing is that it was a positive experience and he showed some nice skills. We’re getting there – let me know what you think and any improvements to try!

~Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Thanks for the great plans! I use the hoop and target ON the dogwalk so I’ll just plan to skip that. He has seen tunnels under A-frames in class before so I’m not too worried about that.

I’m just going to use the toy to keep it simple and probably switch between the toy I call “Big Fur”😂 (yes that one you remember) and the new toy. I’ve been keeping Big Fur pretty tucked away to keep it fresh and fun.

Thanks for the info on measuring. Of course you are right Ms. Julie will for sure know so I’ll bug her on that one.

Here’s a video from class last night. I tried the opening sequence two different ways; I think he liked the blind cross better. Also, I might have to stop rewarding so much after the weaves because I think on one of the rounds here he was fully expecting to get the toy and then was surprised when I just went on. My praise in that moment and a bit of disconnection there I’m sure contributed to it. We did reward at the end so he got stuff, but I do think I need to do the weaves more often without stopping. I think he’s ready for it.

Let me know what you think!
Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Hello Tracy!

I’m happy to report that we got into the UKI trial at OTR this weekend off the waitlist, so I’m excited to try some contacts and weaves at a trial for the first time (probably not both in the same course though).

We are in:
March 22,2025 (Saturday) – Agility-1
March 22,2025 (Saturday) – Jumping-1
March 23,2025 (Sunday) – Speedstakes-1
March 23,2025 (Sunday) – Speedstakes-2
March 23,2025 (Sunday) – Jumping-1

So, I guess I need a plan! I will probably skip the dog walk because I don’t want to do it without a hoop or target without some more practice at home first, but I think he’ can do the A-frame and teeter in agility.

Then I thought I’d try some weaves in something too.

Plan is for all NFC and I’m not sure how big their food box is so will probably just go for the toy with lots of big rewards outside. Other ideas for a good plan for Reacher?

Oh, and I missed the live chat tonight since we had our Monday night class and I tried out a new toy that a friend gifted to me. Came in the mail right before I left for class so I brought it and he LOVED it! I think I’ll put it away until the trial this weekend and try it out there. Will get some video up from class tonight probably tomorrow or Wed.

And I guess I have a UKI question…this was in my trial letter and I guess I’m wondering how do I know if I have a “real” temporary measurement or not?
If a dog is under 3 and newly registered, a temporary measure or proof of the dog’s height must be done by the dog’s 3rd trial. A permanent measure must be obtained by a UKI official measurer between 12-18 months after the dog’s first/ temporary measure. Any registered dog that only has a temporary measure, must follow the above rule. If a newly registered dog is over 3, they must obtain a measure by an official UKI measurer by their 3rd trial and this measurement will be permanent.

He’s been measured twice already at both the trials we went to, but I don’t know if they recorded it beyond just for that day. How do I know if he needs to be measured at this trial? He’s not 3 yet.

~Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Hello! We had a really great Speedy Jumpers mini-seminar on Friday, so this video is from that. There was a lot of experimentation in a place (OTR) that is obviously not super new, but not where we go on the regular anymore.

I tried out that vibrating toy that I was mentioning in the live chat that my dogs go absolutely crazy for. I had my husband disable the sound to see how it would work in the ring and if it would be too loud for NFC. Well it had a kind of funny result at first because I didn’t realize it would go off while I was running with it (thought it would only do that when thrown!) and then just how distracting that would be to ME while I was running. Until I got used to it anyway.

We also tried some empty hands with a few things and then some really good meatball rewards thrown in also.

I thought he overall was pretty darn speedy! And WOW HIS WEAVES!!! He didn’t miss a pole the whole time. We did not do more weave sets than shown in these videos because I figured his brain had had enough and Jacque was amazing and didn’t include them in the last round anyway.

Looking forward to hearing what you think!

Run 1 – starting off I was for sure caught off guard when the toy started going off immediately. Hence was disconnected for jump 2 & 3 so just rewarded and gathered myself!
Run 2 – had my wits about me finally but still forgot my blind cross between 3 and 4 so I just rewarded.

The run where we missed a jump (at 1:27) and I just go on I’m not totally sure why the miss other than a) I didn’t say anything at that jump. I made sure to have better connection on the next try.

For the Empty Hands runs I didn’t have anything on me except a few super low value pieces of kibble in my pocket for an emergency if needed. On the first empty hands run he sure as heck knew Jacque had the toy and it was hard to get him lined up.

At 3:36 on the video I messed up the title slide and I had the toy so obviously NOT empty hands! Ha!

For the very last round we had a boo-boo when testing his commitment to the jump before turning back to the tunnel. That’s not something we’ve worked much on for awhile and it showed. Also, by this time the boy is tired! So I had decided before-hand that I’d only do the run once. We did try to work through the mistake once by just doing the tunnel/jump but when he still didn’t get it (I probably STILL didn’t wait quite long enough) I just quit there with a note to work on commitment again soon.

All in all I was pretty happy with his overall motivation and improved speed – still not what I know he can do, but I think it was confidence-boosting and good for him to “feel” what it’s like to really GO on the agility field. It was pretty fun!

Really curious what you think and anything else handling-wise I could improve here.

Probably no more video for this week since it will be a busy week and this was long anyway. No class for me tonight since Reacher had a little wipe-out at home yesterday goofing around, and I thought maybe he was a little sore this morning so better safe than sorry and decided to give my class spot to Julie and Lift and let Reacher rest tonight. If he’s at all sore I didn’t want him to have any bad feelings about agility ever.

~Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Oh wow, I am making up for some lost time a little bit with all the following video. I’ll tone it down next week but really want feedback on these things.😀

First 2 videos are some open ring time at Fusion. As Julie mentioned on her thread, there was some interesting distraction with a guy fixing the lights in the facility and talking pretty loudly to another guy and it was kind of loud, echo-y and just sounded a little weird given their location up by the ceiling! Plus, we had the added distraction of some additional dogs barking (one was my other pup who was having major FOMO).

First round of this one I had this homemade toy. Tried to be interesting and surprising with it. He was into for 1 round. 😁

Trying to hit those jumps on the way back toward the camera was good except for the offset jump at the end I wasn’t sure how to cue and he didn’t naturally take it. As you’ll see in another try later, we didn’t get it a second time either, so am not quite sure how to cue that! Being behind on even a long line is not something I’m used to!! And I’m SO grateful for this problem in this session – he was speedy!!

Next sessions, I have the meatballs (cue the Arby’s commercial voice-over). 😀 They are on me and he of course knows it.

Heading into that tunnel going away from the camera he nearly misses it because whataya know I wasn’t connected and the video proves it! But meatballs were thrown, he was happy.

Next run I tried a rear cross at the end, but please critique it. Seems kind of late and cutting in too sharply but let me know what you think.

Final cut is clearly showing the distraction with the guys fixing the lights. Lots of barking from Reacher and wasn’t sure what to do but just let him feel it a bit and then go. And better ways to handle that you would recommend?

Very curious how you’d critique my interactions with Reacher during all this.

Here’s a short clip showing another attempt to be surprising with the meatballs kind of raining from the sky (thanks to Julie). They were surprisingly hard to see I guess and rolled quite a bit easier than expected! But of course he found them all eventually. 🙂 I’m not sure he was overly excited by this but hopefully mixing it up was good.

Okay, this is a lot of video but feel like I need feedback as I venture into this world of trying to get the rewards OFF ME. I did a lot of short courses with the meatballs on the table at the end of ring just off camera. I made it really obvious I was putting them there. I only had a few plain old Zuke’s treats in my pocket in case I had to reward something out at the far end, which I did need to but the Zukes were definitely not even close to as exciting as the meatballs!

There is a tunnel just off camera for obstacle #2 and it’s a little hard to see on the video but I sure did notice some divided attention passing that table after jump #1 about twice before the final time. Good practice!

He did pop out of the weaves because he was just going SO FAST (yay!) and we were practicing a turnaway from there to the tunnel, which he didn’t get, but he got a bunch of Zuke’s anyway. And I was so pleased he got the entry in the first place! Didn’t get the turn away after the weaves the second time either but he got more Zuke’s and we just went on. Will set that up at home to practice later.

The next round after that where we’re waiting for the dog walk hoop to be put in place (if I’m not planning on really working the touch board for the running contact I ALWAYS put up the hoop to avoid a mistake at this point still), I kept in because I hope this engaged chill is okay. I think it’s interesting because he was actually a bit nervous there as he got startled by someone ripping some paper off the pole right there by the table. He recovered but I realized after watching the video that that’s probably why he chose to then put his paws up on my for a bit. Needed comfort from the mama.

Any feedback on the rewarding or handling or other interactions is appreciated!

The very last rep was short and quick just to do a surprise reward after the tunnel which we’d not done before that day.

Let me know what you think! Looking forward to the live call Tues!
Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Two words: Meat. Balls.
😂
So I took your advice from the live chat and mixed up the rewards a bit for class this week and it was DA BOMB! Yes, he knew I had the food on me for most of the class but wow did that motivation come back with turkey meatballs in play.

I had two cameras set up for this and neither ended up being great but that’s why on the video you’ll see the angle suddenly flip to the weaves. It’s actually still in flow of what we were doing.

For the first section, he was so excited I did have a break in stay but he’s been doing great on the stays so I’m not worrying about it. The opening 1-3 was supposed to be a serpentine to threadle. He missed the serp but I just kept going because as I suspected (and I was right after watching the video) that I was possible not really cuing the serp and actually looked a lot more like my threadle cue. Yep, watched video and for sure that looked like my threadle. Made for poor entry to the dogwalk but he ran a really nice running dog walk. I had the hoop up to prevent a failure there so certainly was helping, but he hit my touchpad perfectly so it was worth it!

Then on to the weaves where we missed the entry at first but he was SO FAST! He still got a reward for sure. Tried the weaves again and this time he got that hard entry so close to the wall but was again SO FAST that I think he just couldn’t hold it and skipped a pole or two in there. Again. he still got meatballs for that effort. It was 2-failures so we just went on.

The camera was far enough away and the angles not so awesome in a few spots to see just how much faster he was but I was pretty happy with his excitement! Did some hard skills, and a beautiful a-frame, then got the weaves successfully later in class (only tried 1 more time and ended with that success).

Then at the end I wanted to work on having no snacks on me and practice his GO GO GO so I gave the bag to the instructor. I was not very sneaky and he knew she had them for sure. Was quite distracted at first. I think it was still good practice to have him work on that focus forward and that it’s rewarding to leave me behind. 😀

That trial I was going to enter in March turned out to be full, but I’m on the wait list. If I don’t get in then it’s probably not until May (after class is done, bummer) I can get into a trial unless I get AKC registered and figure out FEO there, etc. I might do that but also have so many other things to work on so we’ll see!

I’ll keep thinking on how to be more surprising with my rewards and keep mixing things up to keep it interesting for Reacher and hopefully will get that crazy spark back!

Let me know what you think.
~Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Thanks for this great feedback and in the live class this week. I really appreciate the honest insights!

As far as what’s coming up for us, training is basically once a week now in class at Fusion and then whatever we do in the basement at home. He should be back to his normal height and full load after his surgery by end of next two weeks.

For trials I was going to enter one in March 22-23 at OTR. Do you think two classes over 2 days would be okay? Or..I could just do Sunday only and do Speedstakes 1-2 & Jumping for 3 things total. I don’t plan to throw in any contacts just yet unless it was a teeter or A-frame.

This is the schedule:
SATURDAY (Small – Tall)
Gamblers – Champ & Senior, Beginners & Novice
*Agility – Champ, Senior, Beginners & Novice
Jumping – Champ & Senior, Beginners & Novice
Speedstakes – Champ & Senior, Beginners & Novice
SUNDAY (Tall – Small)
Speedstakes Rd1 – Champ & Senior, Beginners & Novice
Speedstakes Rd2 – Champ & Senior, Beginners & Novice
Jumping – Champ & Senior, Beginners & Novice
Snooker – Champ & Senior, Beginners & Novice
Agility – Champ & Senior, Beginners & Novice

What do you think?

Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Hey Tracy – did you post a link to tonight’s live or send an email that I missed? I’m not finding the link anywhere.

Thanks!
Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Well, THAT was an unexpected 1.5 weeks. Got sidelined with being sick starting Feb. 6th and then catching up on all the things that didn’t get done during the few days I was out of commission has me behind on this too. But, am back!!

So, in the meantime, we past the sprints-are-allowed phase of Reacher’s rehab and are back to class as of yesterday, with lowered jumps and I skipped the A-frame and didn’t run many bigger lines.

I still think having more spicy games at the beginning would be helpful, but I just am not creative enough with the those ideas. I tried to teach him to bark, but it I couldn’t get him to do it! So weird that I have a schnauzer that is hard to get to bark, I mean, c’mon!!😂 I think he thinks spins right and left are stupid and never liked nose touches even when he was a puppy. <sigh> He’s very “handsy” so we do “Gimme 5” on both paws and I move a bit back and forth and he likes that, but wish I had more in my toolbox for volume dial games.

Yesterday we practiced entering the ring and starting to get to the line-up spot while the dog before was leaving. I asked the handler before to take her sweet time leaving the ring while the jumps were reset and we went in. Just wanted to see how he’d handle it. We had extra time to wait than I thought on the first round while the bars were having some difficulty gettin set off camera so we just had some chill. Maybe I should have been doing more there to pump him up??

I also think I led out too far on that first one but am please he stayed.

Did a little exit practice with my “Let’s Go” which means we’re gonna leave and get a jackpot, which he got right outside the ring.

In Round 2 I decided to leave the leash closer to the end. Should I have been more fun and engaging getting back to jump #1?

I think the next NFC option I’d consider is March 22 timeframe – UKI at OTR. I suppose I better get entered! Not sure if I should do 1 day or 2 though. Either way, I’m still not going to do any contacts or weaves yet I think. I want him to be super confident just being “out there” even though he’s really got the skills at home now.

He’s still only running about half as fast as I know he can do. I wish he was a lot more motivated like he used to be when he was a puppy. I don’t know what happened, but it’s just not coming back after adolescence. I mean, he’s doing “fine” but I miss the spark he used to have when he was a baby!

~Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Hello! It’s been radio silence around here since Reacher got his spay done almost 2 weeks ago now. And of course he thinks he’s totally back to normal by now, so the next several weeks are going to be brutal in terms of keeping him quiet! LOL! But the surgery went fine and they were able to find that testicle that was a bit up in there but not too bad. It was normal sized though so that’s good and he kept the one that was undescended even though I have no intention of breeding. There just isn’t enough research IMO on what value those hormones might bring so far now he gets to keep the one untroublesome nut. 😂

I’m definitely experiencing the FOMO but trying to learn what I can from the other students’ threads while we wait.

Before the surgery, we did do a little video from class and am interested in your feedback. Sorry for the weird hard cut to the end of a run. I should’ve added a fade; we didn’t run the course off camera THAT fast! Ha!

Is there anything mechanically you think I could do differently? And like I wasn’t sure exactly what I should have him do when I found myself in the situation where I forgot to tie my hair back and had to pause our pattern games to get that done. The obvious answer is for the handler to plan better but did I handle it okay? I know stepping on the leash is risky but wasn’t sure what my best other options were for ensuring he didn’t take off (the chase instinct is pretty darned strong).

I thought he handled the distractions well for the most part, except on the one rep where I unleashed him and he disengaged to take a look at what interesting dog was coming. So, leash off, engagement on games back on the agenda!

I’m interested to hear what activities from class (or other) you might recommend once he’s cleared for a bit more action. Like, no jumps but cleared for doing sprints on the flat level of activity. I’m thinking I can bring power bowls to class, leash off/on things, etc.

Let me know what you think.

[Kristin Omdahl]

Oh my gosh I have thought SO much about this topic in the last week! I tried to write back so many times but I just couldn’t organize my thoughts very well – it’s such a complex topic and worth a lot of thinking and more study. I look forward to seeing what BCF will offer in pursuit of more understanding on things like this!

<<And pressure is not necessarily a bad thing 🙂 but we need to be careful to not let it tip over into overarousal/negative stress feelings.>>
I am getting the sense that you feel this tipped a bit into the negative feelings category. I admit to being worried about that too. I am seeing how it that possibly happened due to the failures. In this case, where do you think the threshold of too many variables to be keep him mentally “safe” was breeched?

<<One of the main things to think about here are variables:
– familiar location (blue mats) versus unfamiliar location (black mats – TCOTC?)
– proximity of the crowd
– proximity of the instructor
– how to change variables
– fatigue 🙂>>

Yes, it was at TCOTC for a short seminar just a few hours long.

<<First up, fatigue – the thing with weaves are that they are the most physically and mentally “expensive” obstacle, so you will get fatigue. And that means the later reps won’t be as good, even if the challenges are theoretically easier (they are not easier at that point because of fatigue).>>
Totally agree about how expensive weaves are. I thought limiting to 6 max would help but maybe still too many – I am sure fatigue was a big variable here.

<<So what to do differently?>>
I love how you find the nicest ways to say “that was a really bad choice, I feel bad for your dog now”. 😂 I struggle in seminars where I’m not used to a more pushy instructor. I am not sure why I can’t take my day job attitude and apply it here! LOL! I was certainly surprised when she took the MM away. Now I have big regrets on how I handled this. I will do better next time. Plus, 99.99% of the time if he misses the weaves he still gets cookies and we do reset tricks and cookies all the time, so he probably wondered what was happening here. Now I feel terrible that I couldn’t step back enough to see this more clearly in the moment. I guess I can only hope that the hundreds of previous experiences of always having positive association even through failures will be enough to overcome this experience.

<<I think resilience and effort/motivation to keep trying get used interchangeably and they are not the same…>>
I thought about this part a lot!! I totally agree that they are not the same and yet certainly there must be a a relationship there. For example, I can see how you might have ample resilience and yet not really be motivated or passionate about anything. And yet, when something bad happens you can get back to baseline quickly and frequently. Similarly, I think you can be highly motivated to do something and then if you do it and you hit a traumatic bump you may suddenly lose the motivation to continue because you haven’t built up the ability to overcome adversity in that area. But do you think that increasing motivation via a reward (or expectation of a reward) can have an effect on the ability to recover from a stressor?

Maybe it’s more technically correct (??) to say what I was attempting to do was actually to desensitize to the environmental situation. As in, trying to get the amygdala less likely to hijack the system based on practice/exposure to a situation that might be hard but can still have victory. Thus, next time there is this type of pressure present, the subject is not as likely to be stressed. What do you think of this a it relates to this example? I’m truly curious – this is such a fascinating topic!

Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Hello again!

Here is an interesting video…it looks a bit cringe-worthy partly because I’ve cut together lots of failures and not as many of the successes, but I think it’s an interesting study in what can happen when you try doing weaves under pressure, and then NOT pressure. 🙂

In the first video (which we had worked up to – doing it much farther away in the first round) you can see that he will weave, albeit slowly, that close into the crowd with the Manners Minder, which I intentionally used vs. a thrown reward for the first tries. And then what happens without the MM present as a focal point or positive distraction. And THEN what happens when not weaving into the crowd but still having to turn around a wing facing the crowd then weave. And finally, the very next day, the stark difference when weaving a full set of weaves with no pressure.

I found this fascinating. Again, this probably looks like a LOT of pressure because of how it’s cut but I was intentionally trying to build a little resilience while monitoring his attitude. And it was not all in 1 round of course! I think after all that pressure the day before he thought weaving 12 weaves without a bunch of people staring was super easy! 😂

We’ll probably not be too active for 1/3 of this class extension since the neuter (just taking the one testicle up in there) is next Wednesday, but I hope there’s a lot of action from the others that I can learn from in the meantime!

~Kristin

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