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We did another attempt at the stationary verbals game. I held her longer so she had to listen to the cue more times. I’m posting it here so I have all my videos in one place for the class; no feedback necessary since I already posted 5 minutes of this game. 🙂
<<She was so smooth about finding the tunnel on the first video that I was trying to remember if she used to have BIG FEELINGS about tunnels or not.>>
Yes, she sometimes has big feelings about tunnels.
On to this week’s first game! This was REALLY hard once we moved on to the second side. We clearly need to play the stationary game more to help build this skill.
https://youtu.be/Hz6nW9l76DcWe will continue working on that game with the adjustments of shortening the tunnel, moving the obstacles further apart, and getting rid of the Manners Minder. I suspect she will, in fact, have some opinions about having to hear the verbal multiple times before she’s allowed to go, lol! I will hold onto her a bit longer when we play it again, though.
I am posting both the Handling Challenges 1 and Combos games. 🙂
Handling Challenges 1: https://youtu.be/Nt7SkZ1s0yY
Handling 2: Combos!: https://youtu.be/xZGQMXVf-u0I had so much fun at the seminar on Friday!! I can’t wait to try out a Masters level session with you! I really appreciate that you commented that you saw so much improvement in her BIG FEELINGS. I know we’ve made a lot of progress, but it’s hard for me to see it sometimes since we have a long way to go still, and I probably don’t notice the change as much since it’s gradual to me. It’s nice to know that our hard work has paid off and that others can see it, too. 🙂
Hi!
This is my last post for this class sadly. I know it’s last minute, and the video is a bit long, but I am not necessarily looking for feedback on it. I just wanted to put it in the same location as my other assignments so I can look back at them later. 🙂
This is assignment #8, modulating emotions. Nox has a very good toy release and will immediately go to her mat. However, she struggles with understanding that she should just relax on the mat and not throw out behaviors. I think I did a bit too much shaping when she was a puppy, lol. She will shuffle her feet, slightly adjust her position, offer eye contact, and look from side to side (a trained behavior). Sitting still just doesn’t occur to her! I will keep working on just the relaxation behavior even without adding in the excitement in the hopes that she will understand the point. If I have food, though, she thinks she’s working. I actually think she would relax pretty quickly if I didn’t have any food at all, but that would not transfer to other settings very easily I don’t think.
Bobbie, thank you so much for a fun class! I have enjoyed all of the lessons you presented, and I especially enjoyed the live sessions. I am talking with my vet about doing a consult with your team to see if we can find some meds that will be more helpful that what we are currently using. I’m waiting for the go ahead from her, and then I will be in contact. 🙂
We tried the bowls in a few spots in the middle of a course so there were 3 or 4 obstacles between bowls. Even with several reps of the same few obstacles and bowl, she was just running right past the bowl. I think I need to do some more work to build value for the bowl. I think it is more rewarding to her to keep running than to stop and get a cookie right now. I also think I need to switch to flat targets that she can’t flip over since she thinks she needs to smack them and lay in them. That makes it hard to put a treat in them, lol. I am thinking about using licky mats or something similar. That would also fix the problem of her “taking them with her” since they are getting caught under her feet.
I have never picked a dog up and placed them on a contact during a trial. I will have to read up on the rules for the different venues to see which ones allow this. We have played mostly in UKI and NADAC, both of which allow and encourage training in the ring. We’ve only done one AKC trial so far, mostly because they are stricter about training.
Hi!
This is a video of adding Super Bowls to agility. I already had a line of jumps set up to work on jumping skills, and I didn’t have time to put them in a circle since this was before work, so I just went with what I had. This was the first time I’ve added them to agility, so I thought keeping it really short would be ok anyway. Any suggestions for how I’m implementing it?
Also, here’s a quick video of our contact training. We talked about it in the Zoom chat the other day, and you suggested putting her on the down ramp to make it really easy and to use a physical target. I wanted to show you what it looks like in our backyard without a target. She is doing really well with it overall, but it seems to be the arrousal piece that is getting us. I try to vary my speed and position (being behind, decelerating, running past her, etc.). In a course, she’s a little more likely to miss it, but not often. It seems to be when we go to our training facility and her brain falls out that we have more issues. It has occurred to me that it might not be the behavior so much as her not being able to focus. Should I try the method you suggested at our training facility or wait on asking for that skill in that environment until I can work on her feelings in general there?
Bobbie, I completely understand about not being able to answer the hormone question. I don’t think anyone has the answer to that question really unfortunately.
We will keep working on the Super Bowls game, and I’ll try to clean up my mechanics so I can add it into agility soon.
Joanne, I listened to a podcast today that actually addressed this topic a little bit. It’s called “The Bitey End of the Leash.” If you search for that on a podcast app, you should be able to find the episode called “Simon Gadbois, PhD” from Sept. 10, 2020 if you are interested in listening. That topic is at least halfway through the episode, though. Nox is not aggressive, but she is reactive on a leash. I think some of the same concepts can apply, though, which is why I have listened to some of the episodes on the topic of aggression. That, and I love learning about dog behavior of all kinds!
Hi Bobbie!
I have not had a chance to video us playing the Super Bowls game again, but I wanted to clarify one thing about your response. I may have misunderstood the book. Are you saying that I should not wait for Nox to approach the next bowl, and that I should lead her there myself instead as soon as she eats the cookie from the previous bowl?
Also, do you ever put this game on stimulus control with a cue, or is the cue simply the dog seeing the bowl? I haven’t added the game into agility yet, of course, but once we do, I’m not sure if she’ll notice the bowls on the ground when she’s running full speed, so I was wondering if there was a way to indicate that she should look for it.
>>>>>>>
Finally, I have a question that is not related to pattern games or really training at all. I understand if you don’t want to/can’t answer the question since it’s quite complex and there’s really not enough research yet to know the true answer. Nox is intact, but according to my breeder’s contract, I am supposed to spay her; I also have concerns about pyo. I have considered doing an OSS to retain her hormones for the possible health benefits such as body condition for sports and reducing cancer risks (again, I know there are a lot of unknowns here). I have also considered a lap spay or even a traditional spay; my breeder is ok with any of these options.
One of the things that keeps from choosing the two latter options is about behavior. I have read and heard from several experts that altering a dog can make them more reactive/aggressive. On the other hand, I think everyone has been told for years that altering will reduce a lot of behavior issues such as these. Nox has only had 2 heats (18 months and 26 months), so I don’t know how much her hormones might play a part in her behavior (if at all). I do not notice major changes, good or bad, when she has been in heat. Do you have any advice or anecdotal evidence that you could share on this topic, or do you recommend any resources I could look into? I have not been able to find very much on the topic.
Hi!
I want to start using Super Bowls in agility as well as in the presence of shadows on the fence. I have not done this game before, so I would like some feedback on my mechanics.
In the first part of the video, Nox wasn’t sure what to do with the bowls, so she was using them as paw targets. We have been retraining our contacts, and part of the training has her lay down while I keep moving, so I think she was also trying out that behavior.
After the first couple of reps down the line of bowls, I decided to read the section of Controlled Unleashed that explains it again, and I realized I was not doing it correctly. I was walking to the next bowl and putting a cookie in before she looked at me. I made a note in the video towards the end that pinpoints where I think I was doing better, so that’s where I’d like the feedback to focus please. I also decided that I didn’t have enough hands for a clicker, so I got rid of that.
Joanne,
Thank you so much for sharing your story! I have not found anybody I personally know who has any experience with OCD in dogs, and I haven’t found much of anything online. I think I need to explore other options for meds. It’s been so frustrating not having any idea how to help her! I am hopeful that we will work through our challenges and see significant improvement.
Hi! I have 2 videos today.
The first one is assignments 4 & 6 (Find My Face). We started the game inside and went through the different steps of using food, using 2 toys, switching between a toy and food, and adding a distraction. The distraction was a cube that goes in one of those cubby shelves. Apparently it looked too much like a regular box, which we’ve used in the past in training. I clearly need to find something different as you’ll see, lol.
Here is the 2nd video where we are working on shadow handling. At the end, we were practicing leashing up. I have thought about changing the cue (“leash”) in case it’s a poisoned cue since she will sometimes run off as soon as I say the word and reach for the leash on the ground. However, as you can see in the video, she will often stand there and stick her head in the leash when I give the cue, so I don’t know if it really makes a difference. [We are participating in the AKC League, and at our practice and runs tonight, she did a great job leashing up and didn’t run off once!]
Hi!
I think my last videos may have gotten lost in the shuffle. I posted 3 videos last week and I know you were sick, but I see you have given feedback on other videos since then. 🙂
I am working on editing my next couple of videos that I’ll post soon.
This was the video you requested of Nox avoiding leashing up at the end of our run. We were doing a NADAC video run, and they require that you show your dog on a leash at the beginning and end of the run, so it just happened to be captured on video last night! You can skip to the :50 mark if you just want to see the leashing part.
She has a “leash” cue, which she does well with if she’s not super aroused. I also used a “collar” cue once “leash” wasn’t working. “Collar” means to put her neck against my hand. This behavior has had a lot of reinforcement, and is pretty much 100% in the house. Again, when she’s excited, that is not necessarily the case.
(I hope posting these 3 things separately makes it easier to reply, but if that’s not the case, please let me know! I was planning to just post the relaxation video, but since you gave Nox and me extra homework of the snuffle before you posted it for everyone, I already had it ready to go. And then you requested the leash video just tonight of course. No rush in getting to them all! 😊)
Assignment #5- Snuffle
We did some practice with the snuffle mat last night before our discussion tonight on Zoom. She often eats her dinner out of a snuffle, but I have not given it a name yet. I will add that in. She was eating the treats faster than I could sprinkle them in the mat, though, so she was not really using her nose and was watching where I was placing the treats. She can eat her dinner in 2 minutes out of a snuffle, so I’m not sure how many times I’ll be able to use it in each training session without overfeeding her, but I will try! (Nox is not nearly as relaxed as the dog in the video you shared with me while snuffling!)
