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HI, Tracy,
Thanks for your clarifying questions – they certainly made me stop and clarify for myself, too! 😉 Leff and Rii are for turning left or right, not for doing a 180 turn and coming back to me. So using the MM and/or tossing the reward (ball) at 90 degrees from the tunnel exit will really help make it clearer for Keiko.Hello again,
We took a break, then gave verbal turns a go. I tried the cue from both ends of the tunnel. I also learned that I need to wait until she is actually running in the tunnel before giving the turn cue – she turned and popped right out when I gave it too soon. I also think my positioning (on the side I wanted her to turn to) was a big cue clue. I assume you’ll be asking us to do these verbals from contradictory sides or at least straight on…I do believe that will be trickier for us.
Hi, Tracy,
We’re so excited we had to go do some taping! 🙂 Just this week in class, Keiko had to go through a 20′ tunnel under a DW, then turn and travel 15′ to a 10′ tunnel that brought her back under the DW to my side. A tandem turn sent her another 25′ to a tunnel curving away. You’re so right that things have changed regarding tunnels!Here’s our first video showing distance and different positions for tunnel sends. I tried using different rewards – tennis ball, frisbee and squirrel. The tennis ball was the biggest hit – possibly because it’s fast, on the ground, and I can throw it more accurately than the other items. ;).
HI, Tracy,
Well, it appears that Ida is dumping about 3 inches of rain here over a couple of days, so we won’t be posting any more runs. :(. Keiko and I have really gotten a great deal out of this class, and we’re hoping you’ll be offering something else soon.
Thanks for all your suggestions about maintaining focus and enthusiasm in class. I took Keiko to Yuki’s class in the arena. Yuki has managed to pick up gastroenteritis somehow, so she’s laying low. So Keiko went in her place. Since it was her first time with other dogs there, the instructor had me leash walk/sniff around the perimeter (there is a VERY exciting corner with great smells just out of reach). Then I took her leash off, and we wandered about a bit, with me cuing a piece of equipment here, another other there, and she did great. The instructor also had us do a variation of a find it game (with mats, Keiko hates cheese with dirt on it). All in all, a successful session. Keiko got to watch other dogs run, and she really wanted to go back in the ring. We left with her wanting more. More agility or a chance to play with other dogs? Not sure, but either way, she was happy and comfortable. Hoping to find a time and day when she can start an intro-ish level class with a couple of other dogs and see how it goes. Get to use your wonderful focus T to T activities for real!Thanks again, Tracy, for your feedback, ideas, and great classes. What’s next???
~Kristie and Keiko – and Yuki, too!
Hello!
The time is running out for posting for this class, and I wanted to do the 3 sequences, so we gave #2 a try. I changed things a bit. I only walked the course 2 times: 1 to make sure I knew the order, and once more to practice the handling. I was remembering the AKC trials I used to do when there were 75 of us walking the course at one time and you were lucky if you actually got to do the whole course uninterrupted. 😉 So, limited walking, then run it! The first run had a bobble and I just went on with it. The second was better. I moved out sooner, and handled the back better. I also just realized that Keiko and I haven’t worked on the German turn. It would have been more efficient than the push behind and blind, since I did some baby-sitting to be sure she came over the jump before I moved forward. So, it’s a skill we need to develop. Otherwise, I thought we did okay – love her “far” for the opposite end of the tunnel. 🙂 So, what are your comments? Thanks, as always!
Hi, Tracy,
Thanks for your ideas and comments about focus, connection and distractions in class. I hope you don’t mind me sharing a bit more about the class situation. I think I’m starting to see more of the picture from Keiko’s perspective (or I’m seeing from mine and giving it to her…;)
Today, the instructor offered a 2.5 hour “workshop” – sort of an extension of class. There were only 3 of us, so we got in a lot of practice and the opportunity to work on some handling set-ups. I had a tug, a new toy (flat beaver with squeakers) and good treats for the lotus. Keiko was great on the sequences – 3 to 6 obstacles with a variety of handling (FC, backs, outs, far end of tunnel, false turns, rears on the poles – that sort of thing.) She had fun, was energized and connected with both treats and toys (though the beaver won the popularity contest.). The one time Keiko shut down was when the instructor wanted me to stand in a very specific position for the back send, and to place the reward for Keiko just going to the backside. The instructor wanted her to drive really enthusiastically to the reward. I really believe Keiko was bored, and confused as to why she should get excited about just a short trot to a reward. She’s so interesting. She will try something a couple of times. If she gets rewarded for what she’s doing, and the situation doesn’t change, she shuts down. It’s almost as if she feels she was rewarded for one behavior, now she’s being asked to repeat it. Why? Once, maybe twice is okay, but more must mean something’s wrong. And, since she can’t figure out what it is that needs to be changed, she just checks out. Does this make sense to you? When I try to ramp up the excitement or change the reward at this point, it doesn’t seem to help her get re-engaged. Should I just tell the instructor she needs a break when this starts happening? Have her do something else unrelated and easy, and leave? I don’t like seeing her withdraw her interest and enthusiasm. She loves best running and watching for cues regarding course changes. Or am I missing something? Thanks for your read and ideas. ~KristieHi, Tracy,
Last night I wrote you a long one – looks like today’s video is long. I taped the walk-thru as well as our first 2 runs. I found there were multiple ways I could handle the course, and I tried walking several to see which line would be best for Keiko – clearest about the next obstacle and how to get there, and what also worked for my knee and ankle. I did finally run one so we could do a comparison of imagined and real. ;). I had planned to make the second run tighter and, hopefully, faster than the first run. We did cut off 5 seconds. I made a change to a FC on jump 3 and meant to do something to tighten her turn on jump 6, but I really didn’t do anything differently there, and her turn looked the same. During the walk-thru I did try a blind and a FC for the landing at 7, don’t know why I didn’t give it a go here on the second run…What would you have done? The last clip is our second, faster run compared to my “run” on the walk-thru. I think if I’d done something to tighter up her turn from 6 to 7 that the 2 videos would have been very close.
I’m looking forward to your feedback. Take care, ~Kriste
Hi, Tracy,
Thanks for the info on the threadle slice. I am having difficulty picturing when I’d use a one-jump-backside slice like this. The 2 jumps is “normal”. I don’t want to make a lot of extra work for you, but if you have a drawing of a set up that would use this, I would find that helpful.
I also wanted to talk to you about the transition to trials activities. Keiko and I are not looking at trials yet – I’m in the process of trying to get her confident and focused and connected in class. Her current class is in a typical metal building about 60 by 80 which is used for a variety of different classes, and was also one of the “play areas” for Keiko’s litter. One of her litter mates is in class, and they have met on and off over the winter to play using this space.
Keiko usually works well for me, yet sometimes she goes off and sniffs. I’m working on using different tug toys (especially those with squeakers) as well as special treats that only come out for class. I have used the tossed treat activity for connection and focus, as well as a small platform for “hanging out” when the instructor is talking. She has now had a couple of months of class, and is getting better at staying connected, but she still sometimes just disconnects. The last time this happened, I went back to my seat. She realized I was no longer on the floor, and came back and got in her crate. The next time we had a turn, she worked quite well and stayed connected. hmmm…One of the issues with this room is that it is so crowded with crates, equipment, etc along the walls that there is no fencing or barrier to separate the people, crates, other equipment and other dogs from the agility sequence. It’s a challenge I’m working on. 😉
I am also looking for agility classes in different locations. One of the locations is a large horse arena with a chip and dirt floor. I took her over today for the first time when no one was in the building. She did some sniffing, but I was able to get her to do some small sequences – jumps, tunnels, and the aframe that happened to be set up. Tossing treats isn’t really an option here, but I can always wash the lotus and toys.
So, I’m wondering if you have any specific ideas, besides the excellent Transition exercises you’ve given us, about other things I can do in these 2 very different settings that would help her maintain focus and connection. I feel I should be looking for a class that is a bit below her ability level so we can have shorter sequences and activities that she’ll find fun and successful.
Your thoughts? I’ve never had this type of issue before, thank you pandemic….Hi, Tracy,
Ah, hurricanes and rain followed by horrid heat and humidity have kept us off the agility field for a few days. Got up extra early this morning so we could work on the week 5 skill sets. It was interesting to see how we are doing on the different commands.
Keiko on left: She has no problem running over a jump on our path, even when I need to send her out 20 feet and we can only run parallel at distance. Backs are okay, but I do still feel like I need to do a some cuing visually as well as verbally. Same thing with the flick. If I only give the verbal, she hesitates and sometimes takes the jump as we go by.
Keiko on right: This is a slightly different story. Go/Over is fine, and her back was also good, though I did use visuals and verbals. On the flick, though she did it, she was much more tentative and careful. It was also the end of our time working, and I think she was getting tired. Perhaps I should have stopped sooner, but I was doing what we tend to do … I knew that we wouldn’t be able to come back today and possibly not until the weekend, and I wanted to keep these 3 skills together. Keiko forgave me for working that extra bit when I threw her squirrel and disc around the yard. She left the field a happy camper.
I can hear you ask, “What about the threadle slice?”
The answer is, it looked totally foreign to me. I looked back through the camp exercises and couldn’t find an instructional sequence for that slice anywhere. I may be there, but I don’t remember it. I’ve never used a verbal for this technique – and, in fact, I can’t recall ever using this at all with any of my girls. I have done whiskeys, of course, coming from behind with the dog on my outside arm. So, I’m stuck on this one. Not sure how I would approach it. If you did cover it somewhere and I missed it please let me know.
So, here’s the video covering the 3 cues Keiko and I have worked on. I think we need more practice, and Keiko on my right is less confident than on my left. Anything else? Thanks!! ~KristieHi, Tracy,
Sorry the video didn’t open. I re-saved and hopefully this time you’ll be able to see it. As I mentioned above, I really like this exercise – it really helps the handler focus on so many important things, and does make the run smoother (when we do the walking correctly……;). One of the things you can’t see when Keiko goes wide at 7 and 9 is she is looking at other equipment that is within “doing” distance. I figured it’s good to have that type of distraction, so want to be able to work through it and get her turns tighter.
Here’s the video:
Looking forward to your response. :). ~Kristie
Hi, Tracy,
It appears that my postings aren’t going in order – 16th is before the 15th…. So I hope this one shows up in a place you can find it. 🙂
Here is our take on the third sequence for week 4. I have really enjoyed this particular exercise – the walk, talk, try, and re-do to clean up. ;).
On the walk through, I didn’t do the visualization until after I stopped the tape. Oops – I was still within the 5 minute time-limit. 😉 Overall, I thought our first run went okay, but I felt the back at 7 and at 9 were iffy. Keiko hasn’t been seeing a lot of those, so I wanted to see if I could be cleaner in my cuing and if she’d respond more quickly. She did turn more tightly than the first time (I know you can’t see the first loops at all), but I think we could get those turns tighter still. Something to work on. What else do you see? Thanks! ~Kristie
https://youtu.be/F2o1VcDslocHI, Tracy,
Thanks for the re-loading of Yuki’s video, and your comments. I’m wondering if both my girls would appreciate more rewards during our runs – sometimes for an especially tough turn, or a tunnel, or just because they’re cute. ;). From what I see in classes, I don’t think we reward our pups enough. Some dogs will work forever fro a smile, but most of us (human and dog) would like to be paid once in a while. 😉
Yuki and Keiko have classes today, and I’m going to try doing a bit of the running (gentle agility…) 😉
Later!Good morning, Tracy!
You’ll see some blank entries above. I don’t know what happened, but my video and comments on Yuki were missing, even though your comments about her run were here. And, when I tried to post a reply to your comments, they kept going back up above instead of below your comments – and they repeated! So, I’ve tried to delete (edit) them out, and I’m trying again here.
I appreciate your feedback for both girls. Your read on the tunnels with Yuki is helpful. It’s odd, but sometimes I can go right up to the tunnel and she still refuses and barks – but again, that means I’m standing still because we’ve reached a “dead end” so-to-speak. Sometimes, I’ll try to indicate the tunnel and them move away while watching her, and she still barks. If I get something like that on video, I’ll post it. In yesterday’s run, I relly did pull off to soon at #3 and then stopped moving for the second tunnel send. Could be she’s hollering, not only about wanting to know where to go and what’s next, but perhaps consistency on my part is an issue? I haven’t thought about that aspect before…hmm. Something to consider.
Keiko was a happy camper running. I did give her a cookie as we went back to the start line after I stopped that first run. I knew what I’d done, and wanted to try to correct my handling without doing more running on the first go round. I think my girls are trying to improve my handling. ;). See you on sequence #3.Hello, Tracy,
So, then I walked the next sequence, #2, and ran Keiko. Yuki kept me company during my walk through. She’s used to my strange pacings around a course, but I could tell she thought I should line her up and run her again. ;).
During the walk through, you’ll see me keep messing up the last 2 jumps, instead I try to head across to the other jumps. I did manage to talk louder, and some of it comes through. I also had to remind myself to do a blind after the first tunnel, not a FC. That comes back to bite me in Keiko’s first run. The part with me standing still is a course “mind-recall”. Even with my eyes shut, I was bending toward the obstacles. 😉
Okay, now the runs. I did what I didn’t want to do, and did a FC rather than a BC after the first tunnel. Although I called her and moved laterally, I was facing the jump straight ahead. Also, Keiko could see me doing the FC from inside the tunnel and I’m sure she read it as a directional cue and charged ahead. She did look at me, but not until she was headed to the jump. I didn’t get the connection I needed out of the tunnel and over that first jump. So, we gave it a re-run, I used a BC and was very strong with verbal, connection, and visual cues, and she did beautifully. Oh, my, but this girl keeps me honest. I’ve had a couple of dogs who have saved my tail here and there. I’m not sure if Keiko will do that, especially if my handling is wrong or contradictory. I’ve got to be connected and correct in my handling with this chick.
Here’s the video:
