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Hi,
Here are 2 and 3 of the hot topic sequences. 1 and 2 were done last week and 3 and 4 were done Tues (I’ll try to upload 4 tomorrow or Monday). Arram was having some focus issues Tuesday (the cats were extra this week). I also included video of working the backside wrap based on input from last night (we balanced with some straight line go work after). Feel free to skim and watch pieces. That video is a bit long but if you wait for me to edit :). Between work and a Rachel Sanders Seminar Sunday this is probably it for the week. Also you can blame Shelly for the landing side rear on Sequence 3. She suggested I do the landing side blind and well to say that ran into some issues is a bit of an understatement.
LisaHi,
That is an interesting point about the dogs barking louder when he tugs. In flyball they get softer after the recall so I didn’t really think about it. I did the next exercise (blind cross recalls) prior to the previous feedback. Interestingly after I turned off camera and gave him the toy he ran around for 1-2 min then stopped and had a full body shake. I will work on adding a “go for a run cue”.Lanna also worked hit the target in high arousal. This is part of her running contact issue and hopefully this will her to put the missing pieces together.
Lisa
Hi,
Thanks. The distraction was a barn cat that bolted as he went in the barn. He typically doesn’t lose focus so it took a little to sort the problem. He also probably doesn’t understand the tunnel send as well as I thought he did. It has gone on the homework list :). I will definitely do some variable height jumps on sequences while he continues to figure out how to jump 16. I will also work on trusting him more.
LisaHi,
So it has been a crazy 2 weeks. If my internet holds (I am currently in a cabin in NC with the dogs) I will post the video from 2 weeks ago. But first I have 2 questions I have been pondering – 1 from Arram’s seminar with Rachel Downs (which was great – she has a real touch with young dogs) and 1 with Lanna from the trial Sat and Sun. I would love any thoughts you would like to share.
Arram –
As you may remember Arram came to me at 4.5 mos as a foster from a family unprepared for the needs of a BC mix puppy. He came with what I like to call a collar dart behavior. You reach for his collar and he darts away. I have put a lot of effort into that behavior but if I hold his collar more than once or twice at the start of the run he starts standing a few feet away when it is time to start (not optimal). So I need a different version of start with me. Luring him next to me in “heel” position either gets stare at me or take off down the line – neither is what I want. I am thinking of training either a chest touch or chin rest start to use when I don’t want a start line (and until his start line is solid – any thoughts? I will continue to work with his collar behavior but I don’t know that I will ever completely remove the icky feelings I don’t want in agility. Obviously once his startline is solid this is less of an issue, but I don’t want to always have to put him in a stay for every single rep. I guess after writing about Lanna a trained wrap the body would be an option too.Lanna-
Overall Lanna is running much better, however as her focus and speed and commitment change at trials my handling doesn’t always keep up ;). She is starting to throw out an angry Smurf behavior where my timing sucks, she gets mad, and then stares and screams at me while screaming and not engaging obstacles. If it was one obstacle, who cares, but I am have trouble getting her back looking at any obstacles. If I sit her (in a polite can you sit, I take 1 step, and off we go) she will recollect and run again as previous. However, the second time I did this at the trial I felt some vibes coming from her that it felt like punishment. So, since punishment isn’t the aim and keeping in mind it must be trial legal for a “real” run while qualification would be considered not important I am trying to come up with a reset behavior pattern that would get her head in the game and both of us facing the same direction. I’ve seen people use a wrap the person but I have seen some weird behaviors crop in with that. Any thoughts?Next:
Our videos from 2 weeks ago. I have 2 Lanna and 2 Arram since that was all I had time for:
There is a jump intentionally taken as a front vs back side and I believe it is only to about 15 then the space got weird and there is a made up finish :).
I will try to get last weeks video up while I am on vacation. No video this week (unless you want to watch dogs play in a field or maybe some stay work if I find some motivation).
LisaHi,
So in the interest of not burning out Lanna physically or mentally she got a couple of days off last week after the live session (except for RDW work) so Haydn and Arram stepped in and volunteered a couple of videos. They both worked the live class stuff as that was more useful for them (and fit in the available space:)).Haydn – as you will notice he has ETS. 8 in is his best height and I am just glad he is now comfortable jumping – he spent a lot of time running past jumps.
Arram – unlike for Haydn (where saying jump on the go out helped), it was a verbal distraction. This was a very new skill for him so we started with a wing very close and worked from there.
Lanna returned to the program this week so I will try to get this week’s videos posted soon.
Btw this weeks seminar was a skills and courses with Stacie Cwik. It was really good and Lanna and I got to work some skills that are slipping in more exciting and bigger places (like collection).
Oh, and if you are still taking requests for course challenges – bypass tunnels at distance (run the line to the off side tunnel).
LisaHi,
Next round of Jumpers with Lanna rounds 1 and 2.
Lanna’s brain imploded doing running contact work so Haydn made a cameo for one and done rounds 1 and 2. When he is off screen he ran over to where Lanna was throwing a fit in her kennel. Round 3 was the next day so she is back for Round 3.
Lisa PolazziHi,
You tube hates me. Here is the other video.I have been working flying squirrel/soft frisbee. I’ll have to find the barn tennis balls :).
Also switching to a wingless on weave exercise made a huge difference for Haydn. Although we also did some strategic manner minder placement.
Lisa
Good morning,
I wish I had some sort of magic reward for the barn, but no such luck. The same cheese as always.
Lanna-
First she had a great weekend trialing. 3/4 in the not NFC classes and some good stuff in Masters Jumpers. Also day 2 was able to be near the ring and lay down without constant pattern games. She ran first all day on day 2 and was very focused. Time to double down on the running dogwalk, sigh.
Barn – not as good as last week but so much better than where we were. When she had to find the tunnel entry and was running toward the distractions she struggled a bit.
Layering – this is her worse side. I thought this would be easy, but clearly I was wrong.
Arram-
Here is a little tunnel and jump “pinwheel” work. Clearly come back with dead toy isn’t ready for the barn :). That is worked separately. So many foundation skills, so little time….
https://youtu.be/VKCs2fWUF9o
LisaHi,
As you can see I have done little to no sequencing with Arram so when I tried to put it together it all fell apart. I discovered a few things as I added a wing.
1. Although he no longer splats, submissively urinates, or bolts when I grab for his collar – it is still aversive to hold the collar as a release (we are working on that separately with a combo of cookie collar games and hold collar release to send to toy).
2. Wrap jump skill and tunnel send skill both deteriorate when added together so we need to make it easier.
Here is his version of the jump course from exercise set 1:
Miss Lanna:
First she had a great seminar with Mary Ellen Barry last Friday. I haven’t made it to one of her seminars in a while and I forgot how brilliant she is. We were next to a dog running in the other half of the building separated only by a lattice gate. Although the start was rocky, by the end she was doing short courses with another dog running on the other side (and had some brilliant runs when the other dog wasn’t running). Also tunnel bypass and threadles work is paying off. Much of her success Friday was due to the work we did in your to the start class. She never would have been able to come back together without that foundation.
First week jumpers at barn – this is short segments due to distraction issues but she worked brilliantly. Also I was focusing on 1. Her engagement and 2. Cueing tunnel exit and was having trouble remembering the course. Finally it turns out trying to run agility after creating courses for 4H for fair requires more brain power than I have 🙂And weave work:
Lanna- proof you should never go down the rabbit hole of one last rep. It fell apart around 2:24. It is a bit long so feel free to cut out some middle.
And finally Haydn weave work
With the wing he hits the entry but won’t collect to take 2-3. His weaves are under trained – just running is a huge accomplishment for him. He tends to pop whenever I get ahead of him in the weaves and I haven’t succeeded in patching that hole.
And Pip did get to play a little. At just a few days short of 14 Mr perfect doesn’t need any video review :).
LisaHi,
Just a quick update. Lanna went into heat the Tuesday after the trial. Although she works pretty normally in heat we have been sticking to the easier end of the training spectrum. The seminar with Kerry Smith was lots of fun. She went all day without running off to Teresa once. She also held her stays beautifully. We worked speed circle to figure eight. It was very interesting to work through the difference in that exercise at high speed vs as an exercise. We are continuing to work stash to start line with increasing distraction and startline stay in different environments with some pretty stuff.
I will miss this class and got a lot of valuable stuff. I have recommended it to multiple others (when you offer it again). I also think you should do an alumni series of training night chats in a few mos :). Thanks again!!
LisaHi,
Interesting about start looking elsewhere with your dogs. Pip always looked around on the start line (when he had a start stay) the terrier however was locked forward always. I also found the off course interesting as she was so convinced she was right.
Teresa still had openings last I heard. I am headed to visit friends in Hendersonville NC in August. A friend runs rental cottages there and she was my first trainer with my first terrier. I used to go up for their big AKC trial in Jan every year but between Lanna not running AKC and Covid I haven’t been there in a while. I am going to show in Indy then spend a couple days in the mountains.
LisaHi,
So summary for Lucky Dog day 1. Subjectively feels better able to engage in pattern games without prompting near the ring. Looking around on way in. Much better 3&4 where she is first in height. Took all jumps (except maybe when we imploded in run 4 after I got lost).
Run 1 – middle of 16in class
Toy hidden. Tossed back to reward start line. Stayed in spot, didn’t run off with toy and played with toy. It is good this piece is coming together because until today I wouldn’t have let go of toy in ring and trusted her not to make a bad decision. Run went well. Fast and focused.
Run 2 – held stay at start but looking at previous dog as I led out. Knocked 2nd bar. I was out of position and late cuing weaves and then missed entry. Rest run fast and focused.
Run 3 – held lead out – looking at me. Got tangled in leash during set up (sigh). We were both a little discombobulated after that and I forgot cartoon lead out, but fast/focused run until she realized she had to poop (fortunately a quick recall got her back focused, over the remaining jumps, and outside prior to indoor poopage. Unfortunately picked a refusal.
Run 4 – ran with Lanna, more focused on way to line. Running start as I was out of energy. A little awkward but fast and focused once released. You can only see a small amount of the course on video.
Lisa PolazziHi,
Busy week at work the past week. I was working last week but have 2 days Lucky Dog UKI this coming weekend. Lanna has never competed there. It is one ring that has walls most of the way around. Here is stash work with Pip in a pen.
LisaHi,
Finally the runs from the weekend. This is a building she has run at 1 time before and run only 1 run (I don’t remember which) is she first dog in her height. First run level 1, runs 2 and 4 level 2 and 3 and 5 level 4. I didn’t ask for a start line runs 3 and 5 as I felt it was just practicing what I didn’t want. I will work a lot of reward start line with toy in pocket or station in lots of environments and do start line away from jump at the next trial. Run 4 is the one you saw before.
And this was today with Lynn walking her dog inside ring and Lanna choosing to engage. It taped in fast forward so you will probably have to take my word that it went well. On the flip side it is very short 🙂
I have 2 more videos I will try to get to later this week.
LisaHi,
I would definitely love to see the video from flyball if you are able to get it. We have worked a couple different versions of flyball don’t chase the thing exercises but I think a lot is it just isn’t enough reps yet.
On the pattern game I will try to do a little work near stinky spot with pattern game. We also do a little outside on walks. I have done some pattern game waiting our turn at seminars. It has met variable success previously – good when the dog isn’t running very spotty when dog is running but it has been a few weeks. Wag should be a nice setup to do where she can see the ring but far enough I shouldn’t get complaints. Taping on the other hand will be a massive challenge there.
I feel like next step difficulty is Pip tethered, behind a gait, or held by someone. I don’t have to worry about him practicing bad behaviors (he will but at 13.75 who cares) and he should be less distracting than a novel dog. I haven’t added difficulty this week with 2 more challenging days over the weekend it was a good week to make sure the foundation behaviors were solid with lots of successes.
Attached is cookie for engagement on leash treat in hand, on leash treat in pocket, drag leash treat in hand, drag leash treat in pocket, off leash treat in hand and 1 or 2 treat in pocket. Video isn’t great but I was really happy. I would vote next step is person jogging or person walking Pip (or him gaited in a small area).
I will have to bring a bribe for my students.
Good luck this weekend. Peach wine or chocolate mint wine on Monday – asking for a friend who has Monday night off :).
Lisa
