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Yea, I totally messed up some verbals for remote reinforcement. đ I trying for “let’s go”, but “get it” slipped out. I caught myself once in the moment, but there were others. LOL
TĂșlka is the most polite, patient and appropriate/solid dog I’ve ever had. She is amazing that way and I love her for it!
I’m still searching for what really ramps her up like her trial state during practice. Other dogs don’t do it. The closest I’ve seen are multiple tunnel loops to get her running. It works best right of the top. She loves toys, but toys can get her stalky quickly instead of what I see at a trial. Her highest arousal at trials is when AKC has one of those “gates” (our local club likes it). Opening that barrier is a trigger for her. I still get nervous at trials no matter how long I’ve done them LOL, so I’m not sure how much my nerves feed her.
Thanks for the suggestion regarding the contact praise. I can add that in. I’ll work on pingponging in the RR marker procedure. I’ve been mixing up her rewards more lately and she really likes the jute stick as well. I also pulled out the rubber udders, leather braid ropes, rabbit skins….. She really likes this course!! đ
Thanks for the help!
So far she does well at start lines at trial. However, I try and keep working their value as I know how quickly they can go south. :). I really struggled with my first agility dog with start lines until I finally figured out the connection we needed to have together to start a run.
I have used catch before at trials as part of our NFC/FEO runs, but I haven’t used the turn back yet. That reward is a bit newer for her especially in the agility context.
She totally will tug with her leash as I will use it as a toy if I don’t have anything else with me. She would be very happy with that as a tug toy.
Thanks again for the feedback and ideas.
Thanks Tracy for the feedback. I like the idea of putting a destination in place. I was just wandering :). I’ll also play with ramping up her arousal more to try and get closer to a trial. Thanks!
Remote Reinforcement
So I’m not sure if I’m incorporating this correctly or not :). I wanted to try at practice what we’d been talking about regarding how to build up value for multiple contacts during a run. I just have one contact at home to practice with, so during this session at our group practice, I still incorporated just one contact. Except for the last run after everyone else had left. There I tried the dog walk back to back with a tunnel. The weather had kind of gotten in a way, but let me know if I’m correct that I would just continue to build this up to a full run with all of her contacts/tables etc. Thanks as always for your insights and thoughts!
Turn Back Command
Hi Tracy,
I wanted to work on the procedures so we could incorporate them into our training sessions away from home. Here’s were we are currently at during our last group training session. Just before the snow kicked in :).
Focus and Engagement
She’s done quite a bit of focus/engagement in obedience before, but I wanted to start to incorporate it into her agility picture as well. You’ll see her trying to offer her heeling position, I tried to just turn a different direction.
An “ah ha” moment for me. LOL đ That makes total sense! I totally use remote reinforcement for obedience. There is a step after we put the pieces together, then the exercises and finally working up to the duration for each trial level. I totally incorporate it into those training phases.
But duh…. with agility I haven’t thought about it the same way. (Probably because runs seems quick to my human perception) …. but duh…yes, it makes total sense from a training perspective for her!
Thanks for helping me make that association conceptually. Light bulb excited. LOL I’m think she’ll catch on pretty quickly – quicker than me LOL.
Thanks Tracy. That gives me things to try when I’m alone or have a helper which is greatl as well as switching things up.
The helper as a “target” is something she quickly cues off of. LOL. I really like the back chaining idea as our main issue is that traditional end line. Thanks for the suggestions!
A dead toy away from weaves isn’t a problem for her. I’ve used dead toys in other situations where it works which is interesting.
I think what you mentioned about the “pressure” of it being close is a really good thing to try. I’ll play with placement to see if there is a distance where it works. Thanks!
Yea, she thought that was great fun! She votes for a repeat on that one ;).
Thinking about this from the wider perspective…..
The consistent value issue I see is keeping the value high for controlled behaviors (stopped contacts, table). In obedience/nosework (recall drops, positions, focused hold) she’s great because arousal is just enough lower. đ I’ve used catch for most of these along with some value tugging and reward placements.
Thinking out-loud…. but it feels like there is kind of a “cap” on the value I’ve been able to instill so far. It works great when she predicts reward, but can wane quickly if she doesn’t. Looking at the example video, I’m wondering if there is a way to expand the reward procedure so it isn’t as isolated and I could somehow work in both her value for chase and tugging? I feel like she has outsmarted me on predicting reward here. đ Don’t know if that makes any sense or not????
The second place where I would like to install more value is for collection into weaves.
LOL – Thanks for confirming my suspicion. đ
A follow-up question for where I want to head when we’re back outside. I need to build her value for a line of jumps with me behind. She struggles in trials around jump 3, (sometimes 4) with looking back at me in the typical end line. Verbal is a repeated “go”.
She’ll drive a line of 7-8 jumps (with me running behind) if she knows a toy is at the end (placement or a person around the last jump who might throw it :). I was wondering if I could grow this somehow to help bridge the gap I’m seeing in trials?
Thanks for the heads up. I do have to look out for her as she gets super focused on getting whatever is moving. The treat wasn’t very exciting – just string cheese, so it’s probably more the motion. I could swap out to using “snack” and control her descent.
Thanks Tracy for the feedback.
Your comments brings up a question I have. I’ve tried before to use placement of reward for independent weaves. Placing the toy about 6 feet out from the end of the weave poles in line with where she will be coming out. It makes her sticky and slows her down in the weaves. So I usually throw it and try to time it so she doesn’t look at me. Any ideas on how to change up my use of placement so it doesn’t get her too sticky? So to date I haven’t used it but would love any thoughts you have to try so I could use it. I’ve tried a variety of toys. Food in a bowl will work, but she doesn’t have the same drive through the weaves for food. Thanks!
LOL – Thanks Tracy that makes sense. :). I know I’m stressed at the start line even as I try to relax :).
Wk2 Installation 3: Build Value for Food.
She is pretty good with working for either food or toys and swapping out values of either. We spent a lot of time on that when she was a pup as I knew I wanted to use multiple reward types/values.
I couldn’t think of a toy that needed any additional value for her LOL :). Out of the two, food doesn’t achieve that highest level for her. I’ve never seen her get “sticky” (i.e. over aroused) for any food :). So I figured we would focus on food for building value.
Thanks as always for your feedback and again I hope you had a relaxing and fun holiday weekend.
