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> I do admit to saying “whyyyyyyyy” when the other person brought the black & white dog pretty close you and PoweR while he was snuffling LOL WHY they gotta be right there.
It was her very first agility trial ever. Partly she was watching what I was doing because she trains by herself and knows that I teach. She and her dog were NOT ready to be at a show. I had a long talk with her and convinced her to run the dog FEO.>Does he need the snuffle mat *before* the run?
Well I’ve used it before every run for StrykR and it has really helped him (but he is more soft and worried about all the other dogs in close space and rather than resource guard it, it keeps him focused) so Since PoweR can get over aroused by the ring and all the commotion I thought I’d try it to keep him a little zen.>Moving to the entry gate – that is a tight little channel!
Hum which of the volume dial games do you think I should try in the chute area next time?
>Side note: He was a little distracted by loud deep bark.
I didn’t even catch that the bark was what he was noticing!>The one thing I would change is to work on the leash off, engagement on game more so you don’t feel like yu need to grab him when the leash comes off. And also so he automatically looks at you when the leash comes off.
Yes I NEED to put more work into that.I was so afraid the judge was going to yell at me for playing on the Start line. Also in the run when she whistled, I did look at her because I had no idea what I had done wrong. Turns out she was mad because the timer did not set the buzzer for 45 seconds so we were a little over and she wanted me to get out. I went to talk to her about it after the fact, and told her that when I heard the whistle I thought that we had done something wrong, and I disengage with my dog because of it. She said she was allowed to whistle at any time and it meant to get out of the ring, regardless of what it was for. I tried to have a decent conversation with her, but she was not having it. Very frustrating that when you do use FEO that the judges don’t appreciate how important what you’re doing is.
>Overall, lots of good stuff! When you look back at it, what things do you want to change?
I want to make sure that I don’t just throw the toy in his face when I’m trying to keep him entertained. He does like to mouth it and engage with it, but it isn’t his most favorite of rewards that would be the Manners Minder.
And I’m not used to using a toy because I haven’t had one that would really interact with one unless it had food in it until him.
I need to figure out just how early to get him out, or if I need to warm him up and put him away for a while and get him out just before his run instead of having him outside the ring for a period of time like I did. It was hard on that course to make a good plan for him because of the layout. The judge did tell us that she would not tolerate us running out into the middle of the ringer the other side of the ring if we were running FEO that we had to start at the start line.We went to and AKC trial this weekend and I entered PoweR in one std run to do FEO. Its kinda long but I’m including before and after the run. I def need to make some changes and look forward to your feedback. We struggled with to much time on start line because they realized they had not changed the aframe height. In hindsight I should have taken him back out of the ring and regrouped with some cookies.
If you want to use any part of video for class chat feel free.So you asked if we had gotten closer to other dog distractions in class. We did not. We were still working in the back ring. It had simpler handling setups. We will see what this week brings.
We did some work today on the drive ahead handling. He is much cleaner at jumping when he is sure of the path and does not have me in the picture.
We are entered in one run at AKC this weekend to work on some of the things from class.
We did the mm at class again for all rewards. He was engaged and happy. Stayed with me and did the short sequences we asked for. I’m still working on his jumping. Which has still been a challenge. So focusing on some Linda M jump work, also changed up his fitness program.
We worked on some tunnel discriminations. I quickly learned that his threadle tunnel left at some point with all the drive forward work, so we pivoted from the sequences and went back to some basics.
I also did some work Different day on the exit line connection. These he really enjoyed, at the end I added some 8 inch bars.
Hah fooled ya. This is whats in the MM and he loves it! I use an onion chopper to get tiny cubes and it works great. The only time he gets this is in the MM.
https://www.happyhowies.com/product-category/premium-meat-rolls/I used the toy with sueded leather because he finds putting things of that texture (also flannel pillowcase corners, ask me how I know) into his back molars and gnawing soothing. I’ve tried the bully stick didnt get the same result. And I can take that toy into the ring!
Your descriptions make sense, but I will mention that if the MM is out there he works much better, and actually goes to it first if given a chance before work starts.
In class we worked him in a fenced back ring this week and you are correct that the distractions were far away. He stayed with me during all working time. I will try to add in some work after putting leash on.
And when working will continue moving regardless of mistakes.
We are still dealing with bar dropping issues and I have changed up his fitness routine and am trying hard not to have him come to me for any rewards to continue to get his focus off my hands.We played with two different decompression techniques at the end of our turns in agility class last week. First round I did a snuffle in a box after his last rep. And second turn I used a toy with sueded leather strips, he likes to chew them methodically (they get pretty gross and wet from saliva). I feel like both of these went well. Not sure if how I approached this was good but it did really seem to help him allow me to get the leash back on.
You mentioned seeing if he is a sight tracker rather than goal? What should I try?It was hot and muggy but we managed a short handling session. He is still yelling a lot while working and I didn’t support some of the lines like he needed but when he missed a jump I kept going.
Somehow I have lost his line up at my side which used to be amazing. So going to have to figure that out. I got him to sit for most starts, did one without a stay.I took StrykR to PoweRs agility class last Friday. My instructor held StrykR on leash, while I tried to work PoweR. He left 2 times but did not go far. As soon as I started interacting with StrykR he was back. And on our second turn he never left me. He did get pretty worked up by StrykR barking on leash so it was hard for him to think. But he stayed with me and tried.
We worked on Got Face tonight. My shelties have actually naturally done this game.
Here is todays session. The only thing I edited out was when I was resetting bars and I did treat scatters with him to keep him from getting frustrated.
And I want you to know he never leaves me at home training, not even when his buddies behind him are barking and trying to get him to fence chase. Also even when Glenn has StrykR on leash waiting. Its only at class that he goes to visit.Tried a session at home of the lead out lines. After the first handling, I broke the second down to shorter piece. Because I have been using so much food to keep him with me he has gotten supper hand focused and can’t drive forward or keep even 8 inch bars up. I’m trying to continue to move forward to get him back on the line.
I unfortunately can’t run fast because I have a mild Hamstring tear. Sigh.We will be trying the social learning at class on Friday. Thats where he always leaves to go visit.
I did not bring StrykR to Powers class. And no one was willing to allow me to work their dog. So we modified slightly for tonight. Question. If when I’m working the other dog PoweR chooses to come back on his own what do I do. If he plays keep away from the person who is designated to go get him, what do I do?
In the mean time we worked at home on Slow Feed and Moving Tricks. These are the entire sessions with a flirt pole break in between. And he won’t interact with the flirt pole at class. Sigh.
So we have already been doing the easiest setups in class. Mostly 2-3 obstacles. And sometimes even going in the back ring so there is less chance of him going to visit. I will go back to taking him to the back ring ( not much gets setup so really simple stuff) and take a station with me. And see what he dictates. Heavy sigh. I’m tempted to make him my husband’s buddy and not work him. As I have struggled to mitigate my frustration with him. I just don’t have the resilience I used to.
Unfortunately there are no classes in my area that focus on proper foundations. Hence why I do your stuff. And to be fair I even had this issue when I went to Star Puppy and we were doing very basic, mostly lured behaviors. He still wanted to go visit. I think it is just more reinforcing for him to play ( what he thinks is happening) vs do the tricks, skills momma is working on. I do keep his sessions short because of all this. In that class we were only doing the Dogwalk 2 times (he has lots of history on dogwalk at this point. So I don’t think that was too hard for him. He did do a trial FEO and since it was AKC and he couldn’t leave to go visit he was amazing. Well surpassing all my expectations for his first try.
So I will try to capture some more for you to see when I can.
I have not found his I really want to work with momma switch yet.No he is not avoiding he is leaving me to go try to visit a dog in a crate (whose owner was ready, because her dog is already crate reactive.) He literally goes right up to crates and pushes his face into them. When that owner intercepted him he went to visit the women in the corner. Oh and he goes to try to visit my instructor. I had a very high value treat called Saint rockos, which had worked well the previous week), I usually use real beef, lamp and pork that I grill for training treats.
Him leaving me to go visit is more valuable than anything else we have tried.
I have tried transitions with treat toss, slow feed pattern, cookie to the nose. He just finds the other humans and dogs way more interesting than working. I’m so used to my sheltie boys being biddable. He is so not. Training with him in general is quite frustrating. I do ‘t know if neutering will help.Actually I had happy howies cut up meat roll in the Manners Minder, its really good stuff. And he was great on the Dogwalk. He got jack-potted for his performance. Even simple drills he will leave me. I spend most of my time in class trying to get him back.
I’m at a loss and ready to just quit training him.
