[Sorelg]

Here are some of the sequences. I stood up on one of his stays, but I didn’t catch it in the moment. Bad on my part. I need to add in more catches and also not always start with a stay. I added that to my notes for our next session.

I did repeat the rear cross sequence working on trying to figure that out between us. We started to get it at least with your previous feedback :), but I know I need a lot of work to get those smoother with him.

Thanks in advance for your feedback! I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

[Sorelg]

To me, he seems like an all-business kind of guy. Sitting by the jumps waiting or lining himself up. Looking forward to your thoughts. Here are some line ups where I try to walk out relaxed. Much easier to do in practice then at shows LOL. 🙂

[Sorelg]

We’d worked on leash removal previoulsy and in general. He seems pretty good about it and I think he knows it means either the start of a game or a reward. I grabbed a few examples so you can see. He sometimes gets into the border collie stare (I included an example :).

[Sorelg]

Here’s where we are at with remote reinforcement. There are a few more examples also in the jump line. I wanted to get a straight line in a couple of sessions before we tried the sequences.

[Sorelg]

Hi,
We’ve been working but didn’t have a chance to video until our last few sessions.

Here’s where we are at on chill. I’ve been able to slow it down a bit without him wandering off as well as get a calmer overall feeling. A lot less anxious than before. 🙂 Should I slow it down more?

I was also wondering once I have him more relaxed and slow this down how you move into a chill position or behavior or ????? Thanks!

[Sorelg]

A question right off the top on engaged chill. This will be a big one for us as chilling is not his favorite activity and I haven’t found something he likes yet. I’ve already noticed he doesn’t really like being petted when work might be possible. He does relax on a mat, but as you stated that’s not really him doing the chilling.

I started at home, with the food up and down game, and tried slowing it down just a bit. He started whining quickly and then ran down the hall and back. I tried it again with similar results. I’m going to try the snuffle mats next. (Amazon’s delivering a 2nd one tomorrow :), but I wanted to ask you how I should handle the vocalization/running off. Do I try to time the cookies to prevent it or do I let him work through it? He’s responded well to the snuffle mat, so I think it may really help him.

[Sorelg]

Cool, I saw it on the latest package 🙂

Thanks for describing what is key for a RC. That was an “aha” moment for me. I realized I think of it as the dog in front of me, and I cross the line behind the dog. i.e. ” waiting for him to pass you and then show the RC”

I get a really different mental image when I think “The key is to be running forward to the center of the bar and he will pass you”. Gave me a totally different timing picture!!!! 🙂

[Sorelg]

Thanks Tracy,

I’ll start experimenting with the pattern game and the snuffle map depending on how is arousal seems. It’s pretty consistent when it’s just the two of us which makes total sense. 🙂

Your comments about handing all make sense to me. So I’ll keep working on those. I still really struggle with my rear cross handling. I know it’s me :). Are we going to have any rear cross work coming up?

Thanks as always. It’s really been helpful to get your feedback as we work to get some teamwork going.

[Sorelg]

Hi, Today we went back to week one’s opening sequences for another go. I tried each sequence once to try focussing on teamwork. I missed videoing the first sequence, but it went well. It was one of the best runs. LOL.

I tried to keep going even when I knew my rear cross was pretty nonexistent and late. I !really! wanted to go back and give that another try, but then we would have run out of time.

We did the pattern games and volume dial before each run. The one thing I noticed is the pattern game seems to get less interesting to him as practice progresses. So on the first run, he was really into the food. Before the last run, he said “no thanks, I want a toy or to run”. Should I try mixing things up more? Move from less interesting food to more interesting? Just trying to figure out what he’s really telling me here. 🙂 Thanks!

[Sorelg]

LOL – Guess talking to myself did give away the fact I felt like I was standing still. 😉 So in those cases, should I just run closer to the jumps with him? I’ve felt that way before in AKC trials where there is pinwheel after pinwheel.

Regarding the brake hand, I wondered about when the tunnel is an obvious off-course. It sounds like motion along the line may be enough…..

Thanks for describing the physical cues between the brake hand and the treadle cue. It makes sense and helps me visualize the difference for the dog.

[Sorelg]

Thanks for clarifying the right vs jump in the pinwheel. Yep, here’s where I need to keep reminding myself with the pinwheel. LOL. “try to send and leave so you are facing the next line, rather than round the line with him.” !!!!!

[Sorelg]

Thanks, I’ll give Find My Face a go with jumps and see what he thinks. Thinking about pinwheels as a send is a new way to think of them for me, and I noticed as well that I slip back into rounding them unless I keep reminding myself of them as a send and to get my shoulders turned. Thanks for the reminder as I fell back into it in the next training session as well.

[Sorelg]

We finished up with focusing a bit more on extending the tunnel sequence and trying the BC. My timing felt off as I didn’t reconnect with him in time and didn’t know where he was.

One thing I noticed was he was less interested in the let’s go than before. I thought it might be because it was the last runs after a break and he/I were tired or perhaps it was arousal from the longer runs? Curious about your thoughts there. On both, I got that BC moment of him focusing back on me versus going for the reward. LOL

A couple of handling questions. Do I need the brake hand on the directionals when the tunnel is in play? And….. how do I keep the brake hand distinct from the tunnel treadle hand? Thanks!

Looking forward to your comments and thoughts on these. Thanks!

[Sorelg]

Here I focused more on let’s go after the tunnel sequences. I was so happy when the left worked that I totally forgot what verbal I should be saying. You should have seen his face. He was like “really mom?????”

[Sorelg]

We’ve been playing with the leash. Incorporating tugging when putting it on or off. I haven’t really formalized an end-of-run behavior yet. More just playing with it to make putting it on/off fun so I incorporated that into our practice.

One question I thought about was do you later, gradually work through rewarding with the toy within a sequence versus remote reinforcement either with leash tugging or let’s go behavior? Obviously, right now, he’s getting all three. 🙂

A question on the tunnel sequence. How do you determine if you should use jump or a directional on the middle pinwheel jump? You’ll see I was inconsistent as I really wasn’t sure which verbal I should use.

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