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Ha! You are exactly right about me not quite trusting she was going to go all the way to the wing. I’ll be mindful in the future that once I see her committed I can begin my change of direction.
The leash game has worked remarkably well at the end of our run or practice but I worry at the start line because she consistently looks elsewhere before I release her and I’m righteously untrusting of her taking the line. She occasionally takes off in the opposite direction at a start line. She has improved some now that she trusts me with her remote reward. But the leash-off part still needs a bunch of work. If I ask her to do a trick to get her engaged before we get set again she’s just as liable to leave me there.
You couldn’t possibly be more excited than I am to be here learning more good stuff from you!
Here we are playing with the Reg Connection sequences. First you will notice Pizzazz and I always practice agility by starting with the leash on-leash off game. It’s paying off! More about that at another time.
Next you may notice I’m fighting valiantly with my arms, as it seems my arms and I are career connection blockers. P did well with sends from the right side of the wing but trying to send in position 1 from there left it took 3 times before she beloved me without my left arm just my chest and feet. I think I need more practice turning a bit more to help her. I tried to stay connected with my eyes here. I think I did fairly well. My big connection problem occurs during longer sequences and especially around
tunnels. I expect you’ll throw in some of those challenges as the class continues 😬.We will try Exit Connections tomorrow if the weather holds.
PKG 4 All Sequences.
Pizzazz and I never did put the 3D Seq together perfectly. The best I can say about this video is the leash on/off engagement has been quite good. We’ve been playing the game away from the agility field and she seems to get that the fun continues even with the leash. However she still leaves me occasionally but it’s not like it used to be. She comes back and waits for the leash to click on.
You’ll notice I keep making the same mistakes on #3. Sometimes I’m in her way. Sometimes I lose connection. Also #10. I was so clumsy. I’ll be setting up this sequence occasionally to brush up on the lines, the turns and crosses and the long sends. It’s got a lot of good skills here. I’ve been trying to follow your advice by struggling through my mistakes and keep going anyway. I’m seeing little stress sniffing even though there *was* some distraction when my field-sharing mates showed up. Still. When I called her she came running back to me. That was a certain amount of good news.
As for me setting lines for her 🤦🏼♀️, sorry to say I didn’t help her much at all. The wind knocking jumps and bar distracted ME and I just couldn’t seem to stay in my lane which interfered with Pizzazz’s lines.
My club has a trial at the end of this month. After our last trial fiasco, I thought it would be another year before we’d try another NFC class but I’m considering entering 2 NFC classes with a day between each class. If the first day doesn’t go well I’ll pull her from the second day. My plan was to use the tools you’ve given me to try a short sequence then a leash on, play tug, then leave engaged. Do you think this is something we should try?
This class has taught me so much. I know how to study my videos and will make sure to set up for every practice to see how I can get better. I’m sorry the class is over because I still have so much more to learn. This format works so well for me. Do you suggest another class like this for P & me to study and practice? Thank you for everything!
Btw, this is a fine time to ask this as the course is nearing the end 🤦🏼♀️ but am I supposed to be posting all my posts with packages and sequences in one thread? I’m sorry if I’ve been doing it wrong 🤪.
It’s so easy for me to fall into the same bad habits I’ve been doing for years like stopping when a mistake occurs 🤦🏼♀️. I will make a concerted effort to keep going right through the error. Thanks for the reminder.
On seq 1 one of my many bad habits is to lose connection coming out of tunnels. I knew what this was but I included it so you could see I figured it out 😬.
Seq 2. Yep. Spot on feedback. I’m amazed Pizzazz figures out stuff even though she’s getting less info than an experienced dog would need!
Haha yes we worked as a team in seq 3. Wish the camera didn’t get jostled so you could see the actual happy dance!
On seq 4 the reward was outside the tunnel but during the warm ups I put the manners minder on the other side of the field. My mishandling the wrap jump sent her to the jump out of the picture which she had done in seq 3. I need to be extra mindful of my cues when doing 2 sequences in one session.
Thanks for the feedback. I’ll get better. I just need to keep playing at it and am so grateful to have these sequences in my pocket to practice these skills. Even though I make an awful lot of mistakes I’m having such a good time with Pizzazz and she seems to be having a lot of fun too!
Oh wait. I reread your feedback about empty hands. She’s not ready quite yet for that. Got it. I’ll wait.
Whew! I’m so glad you think we’re on the right track with the remote reinforcement. I worried. You’re absolutely right about her running off in past vids. I’ll definitely shorten the distance and add the leash. I’ll show you the other games we play too but she never leaves me for squirrels when I have food on me. She loves all those games. I’ll keep on working remote reinforcement and show our progress.
Just so I’m clear, I’m right to continue keeping food on me for agility practice for now, right? I’d like to work in the empty hands concept, which works about 80% of the time.
Spot on feedback! I see how I can be better. Yeah the handler obstacle in the middle of the yard complicates my plan a bit but next week I’m not working as much so I can practice at a larger field with no stumps 😝.
I’ll add the leash to our practice runs too. *I* need that practice because I’m very clumsy with the leash. Also I am just beginning to expose Pizzazz to the empty hands concept but she won’t consistently play with me very long without food. So it’s hard to practice sequences without it. We’ll continue to play remote reinforcement and empty hands though but for now I’d like to keep food in my hands while learning our sequence skills. I’m pretty sure she’ll eventually get it that the cookies will come. Thanks again for all the good feedback!
This is what I meant by losing Pizzazz during the remote reinforcement exercise. When we play with food in my hands I don’t have this problem. She seems to like to be busy. At the instant she has a moment to look around there will always be a squirrel at the ready 😞.
Well it’s a lot more fun playing with my dog than correctly labeling my videos lol. I think I uploaded Seq 2 twice and forgot to upload Seq 1. I think this is it.
We play the pattern games as well as the remote reinforcement every day. I’ve upped the high value reward to cheese balls 🤷🏼♀️. I guess it’ll work for a while until I change it to something else. Another note, she loves Find My Face, Up Down & Side To Side games because she gets rewarded quick. But I sometimes lose her during remote reinforcement even though the reward is still very close. She likes to do things but running to the reward doesn’t seem to keep her attention after she gets it. I’ll take some videos next time so you can see it.
Thank you again for the feedback! I guess I didn’t understand that the remote reinforcement didn’t have to be incorporated into sequence practice just yet. I’ll begin remote reinforcement games and exercises today! And yes, of course you get a vote lol!!!
Pattern games. YESSSS! Very successful. At the trial on grass and dirt and concrete. She wasn’t entirely sniff-free while playing in different areas of the arena but I was able to keep her attention for short periods, then we walked the perimeter for sniff sessions.
We’re continuing pattern games but we haven’t done much remote reinforcement. I plan to add that soon. When we worked this week’s courses at Amy’s this evening she did so well with cookies on my person, not in my hands, I hated bring on the remote reinforcement yet.
Thank you so much for the feedback. I had hoped to have her ready to go to another trial at the end of December but I have no intention of entering her now. There is a lot of work/play we need to accomplish in and around our locale before I attempt to go to an AKC trial again. I’d have to travel to attend other venues so we don’t have that opportunity. But I’m lucky to have friends who are creating opportunities for Pizzazz and I to learn to play in public together 😬.
Oh my! I’m gobsmacked and exceedingly grateful you gave me so much feedback. I’m at my club’s 4 day agility trial and read through the feedback a couple of times but I must immerse myself in such good information when I’m not distracted. I’m sure I’ll have a question or two but for the purpose of getting through this trial I’m incorporating what I was able to do immediately. First and foremost, no competition runs yet. Although I entered novice JWW & STD all weekend I’ve come to understand Pizzazz is not ready. So I scratched her and I’m only doing NFC runs in T2B & FAST. Pizzazz was extraordinary today in T2B! She left me once driving a line of jumps I didn’t ask for but readily came back to play tug, then back to “work” which she seemed to relish. We left the ring before she wanted to! I’ll post a video when I get a chance to upload it for your feedback.
You gifted me so much great information. I’ll be using it and responding more when I get a chance. Thank you so much!!
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As for Pizzazz’s NFC runs, she is the same. After tonight’s class I understand the sniffing and wandering about is over arousal. She’ll do that for a bit then come back to me as if to rush me to the cookie gate. What do you think of my new plan: Carry her in. Set her down. Hold her collar. Point to the first jump. Use our Ready, Set routine, then leave the start line together for only the first couple of obstacles. Then celebrate on our way to the cookie gate! Just as long as we’re leaving TOGETHER it’s a win. I can’t wait to start the pattern games as well. I’m really pumped!
