[Kathleen Holland]

Merry Christmas!!! Thanks for all the help! Hope to see you at trials next year.

Kathleen and Vinny!!

[Kathleen Holland]

Thanks Tracy!!

I’m thinking a lot about the start line and what to try. Away from agility he’s great. Even around the sheep. Yesterday I was getting ready to herd and wanted to put some stuff in the shed first. He was out and wanting to run around the herding arena. I asked him for a down while I moved the stuff. 2 trips and I was out of sight briefly while I put the stuff in the shed. He didn’t move an inch the whole time. His down on sheep has improved dramatically. So his stand at agility should as well. When I enter the herding arena I stand him and move away from him before I send him on his outrun and he’s really good there as well. He pushes me some on sheep too put usually on the fetch and drive. His confidence on sheep has grown soo much since I got my own sheep. I’ll think about this more but maybe some short outings to the agility arena and do a lead out, release to an obstacle and done. Maybe the reward is back at the start line. 🤔

[Kathleen Holland]

Trial update. I asked someone to video our first run outside and inside the ring but that was a big fail. So here’s a synopsis.
First run Speedstakes. I brought him into the upper part of the arena and kept him out of direct site line to the course below by standing behind the bleachers. He was distracted but was able to engage with me and even responded when I said his name. He couldn’t tug though. On the arena floor he had a harder time. No real engagement until we went to the practice jump. At the jump he could do what I asked but kept an eye on the ring as well. He never ran off but I was a tiny bit concerned so kept him warming up until Ivwas ready to go to the start line. He was good on line. Able to sit and somewhat chill. No barking. I felt good going into the ring.
In the ring he was very antsy on the start line. He stayed but pushed it. I had to lead out a bit as it was a long fast line with 2 tunnels. The run itself was perfect. No errors. He leashed good at the end and outside the ring I sent him to his ball and he grab it and was ready to tug.
Second run Jumpers. This time I brought him in and let him sit on the bleachers and watch. He sat but then got pretty aroused and started barking. So back to the other side of the bleachers a little warm up, down to the practice jump, back in line and all was good. I decided to try a down at the start line and that didn’t work. He didn’t stay in a down and he moved closer to the jump as I lead out. He at least waited to be released 😊. The run started a little too frantic with him taking 2 turn cues too soon and missing the jumps. So we regrouped and started from obstacle 4 and it was near perfect. We had a bar due to my late turn cue, and he overshot his weave entrance which is ok for a novice dog but he got back in and finished it perfectly. Good releash at finish and out of the ring to his ball reward and some tugging. I was very pleased. I scratched the 3rd run since I knew I’d be fighting the start line with no real plan and he didn’t need to fight his arousal urge any more that evening. I thought he did great and I saw definite progress. I think I’ll take a start line class that will give me some ideas at some start line options and force me to work on it. The next trial is at the same place and ISC so more opportunities to improve. He’s still not going outside with Marky or Vinny and is on leash to go from place to place outside. We’re doing lots of stuff inside to work on focus that is really helping. I’m happy with the progress and I’m glad for him as well. He seemed to relax a bit at the trial, wag his tail, ears up, jump up on me and engage ❤️.

[Kathleen Holland]

Great! I’ll try and get some video. I’m looking forward to it. Should be a low key trial. More interested in what he does outside the ring than in. We still have a long way to go. I took a lesson with him last Thursday night (he was awesome). After the lesson I waited for the next person to start running to see what he would do. We were outside. I had to get pretty far away to get him to engage with me. It’s a process. And these short days really suck. Some things he’s gotten used to. Like going out by himself in the morning out the side door while everyone else goes out back and walking to and from the kennel building, herding, and agility area on leash. Even in the house he can have a hard time focusing on me when everyone is also inside so I will get that more solid as well. If I call his name to come to me he will look at everyone else to see what their going to do not me. He’s good when it’s only Gibbs and Prue so I’ll start reinforcing good behavior there and then maybe just add Tic before I add Marky into the mix. the 2 of them really have an interesting dynamic. Very competitive but they also love to run together. Which is also competitive I guess. More to come. Thanks

[Kathleen Holland]

Hi Tracy. I’m going to an UKI trial with Vinny Friday night. When is this class officially over for sending video?

[Kathleen Holland]

Thanks for the feedback. I need to go back and look at engaged chill so I can add that as well as decompression.
I’ll try letting him be when I remove the leash until I’m ready to line him up. I went to a stand at the start line because his sit is awful :-). Lots of movement. His butt rarely stays on the ground. He seems much more comfortable at the stand. I’m thinking that he is always going to want to reset his front legs but don’t know how to let him do that without it bleeding into constant movement. It’s not a black and white criteria if I let him adjust. I feel like we’ll forever be stuck on start line criteria:-). But it has improved. But not to the point where I feel I can led out without constantly looking at him. My other dogs have set the bar high for start lines. Poor Vinny.

[Kathleen Holland]

Hi Tracy.

I’m so not ready for this class to end :-). Since I was home this weekend I did work on a couple of things. One was I went out to the dog yard with Vinny on leash. It was like being at a trial. He could not tug or pull his attention off the other dogs at all. Forget about holding his toy. So I moved into the backyard which is right next to the dog yard. It has hedges separating the sightline between yards except for the gate. Still nothing. So I kept going further away to just outside the back yard. Now we’re next to the sheep pen which was distracting but he was able to tug here and do some food games. Lots of work ahead of us.
The next day I did some of the sequences so I could work on before and after running games. The more he runs the higher he usually gets so this helped me gage if he was able to recover between runs. I would say yes. Hoping this translates at some point to the trial site. One thing that I would like to figure out is what to do at the start line once the leash comes off. He wants to circle around me as soon as the leash is off and I don’t like that. I have to grab is collar which he won’t have on at trials to keep him beside me. So maybe I do something that allows him to move until I’m ready for him to line up? I don’t train my dogs to do figure 8s between my legs because I don’t want to fall if it happens unexpectedly. An honestly I’ve never trained that behavior even when I wasn’t afraid of breaking a hip :-). Do you have any suggestions?

[Kathleen Holland]

Thanks.

I am walking on leash when we go from the house to the kennels. He doesn’t like it and lays his ears back when I ask him to “walk” (not pull). I want that to be more positive. Typically it means we’re heading to the herding or agility field which is a reward. But now I think I’ll add some tugging snd treats when we get to the building or we’re working in the dog yard.

I’ll also practice all the outside the ring behaviors more regularly at home. Once Liz is back from EOTT I’ll see if we can get some people together that he can watch doing agility so we can practice. He’s been to a couple of seminars where he’s better but far from where I hope to be so maybe I can conquer these smaller scenarios first.

Thanks. 😊

[Kathleen Holland]

Hi Tracy. So we didn’t make it to try outs. I’m bummed but also know it was the right decision. That means Marky gets a well deserved break and I concentrate on Vinny. That being said I really want to make sure I’m concentrating on what he needs for outside the ring and also with his interactions with my dogs at home.
1. He is not going outside with anyone but Gibbs and Prue at the moment. He doesn’t display the same stalking chasing behavior with them that he does with Marky and Tic. This weekend I can go outside with him and Marky and start doing some retraining (if that’s the right word) of how he acts when they’re loose together. I’m going to do the toy in mouth game but one thing he needs to do is stop turning around in front of Marky or Tic and staring them down, then waiting for them to move so he can chase. I don’t mind them running together but it’s the hard stare then chase and grab at the scruff that needs to stop.
2. Keep working on my outside the ring behavior. What I need is something(s) concrete that I can do with him that helps refocus him. Even though he does the hand touch like a total dork it seems to be something he can do when aroused. I also want to keep the tugging as a thing since I think that will be good for both of us. I bought a new tug at the Open and he loves it. What other suggestions do you have. Food is not great at the moment. I still do some of the exercises but he’s normally not that into food. There is an UKI trial at The Hunt arena in Raleigh December 14th I think (Friday night) that is offering Speedstakes. I can do that trial and get some good outside the ring practice in. Any suggestions are sooo appreciated, as usual ❤️.

[Kathleen Holland]

Thanks. He used to be able to watch Marky work calmly and quietly believe it or not. Not for a while. I don’t always bring them out together anymore. Only when I’m in a hurry. I get what you’re saying and should have thought of that. I can practice this separately for sure. I wish I put 2 and 2 together earlier. Poor boy. I’m always so pressed for time all I think about is getting them worked and what to work on that day. Add this to the list :-). After all that stimulation he did work very well so I’ll take that as a plus.

I have been separating him from going out with Marky and Tic and that is going well. He is walking on leash from the house to the kennels and back which is a challenge for him since everyone else is loose. I’ll need to figure out a nice reward for him when we get to the kennel or back to the house.

As always thanks for the great input. I’m my worst enemy when it comes to enabling this behavior 🙁

[Kathleen Holland]

I think I posted the same video twice. Here’s the first one.

[Kathleen Holland]

Hi Tracy

I made it home early enough to get Vinny out to practice. Here are a couple of videos of Vinny watching Marky do a sequence then of Vinny doing it. I wanted to see if he’d watch from the table because he creeps toward me and Marky when we run. In the 2nd video I finally clip him up the tie down. I just don’t want him to bark which he sometimes does when tied. My other dogs were in their runs close by barking so he had a lot of stimulation. I thought he did great. I did use a leash to take him to the first sequence but realized the video wasn’t on so repeated. When we were all done I walked him back to the house on leash. 😊

[Kathleen Holland]

❤️

[Kathleen Holland]

Hi Tracy. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It was so great to see you at the Open.
I’ve fallen very behind and have not been able to work Vinny consistently over the last month and it shows in his behavior. With friends visiting then the Open, now I’m away for the holiday weekend, and tryouts are next weekend I barely have had a chance to sit down never mind train. Vinny went after Tic while I was at the Open but the pet sitters stopped it right away and stopped putting them out together. Yesterday, while I was showering he must have fought with him again and put a puncture wound in his scruff. Tic’s ok but I feel awful for both. Vinny has all this pent up energy and he doesn’t know how to process it. He’s not an aggressive dog by any means but when he’s in that high arousal state he needs a release. I was leaving for SC and feel really bad 😢. With the shorter days it’s hard to get any agility or herding in when I am home. I’m not sure how to work on his play behavior with the other dogs. When I’m home the back door is open and they can go in and out. So I don’t monitor them outside. Vinny does the herding stare and chase. When I let them out the door he goes out last to mitigate that but once they’re in the yard it’s a free for all. I have always known this was not the behavior I wanted and it’s biting me in the ass. I can separate them but I hate that. Maybe I can spend some time outside with them and try the toy in mouth game and when I go inside separate Vinny out so he doesn’t stalk and chase? My time home with them during the week seems so short. Between chores, dinner, dogs and downtime the evenings fly by. After tryouts Marky gets a big break and Vinny gets the majority of my training attention so I’m holding onto that as a positive.
Thanks for letting me get this off my chest. It’s been a rough few weeks away from my schedule, home, and dogs. (I’ll bring Vinny to tryouts so he gets to spend some time with me).
Kathleen

[Kathleen Holland]

Thank you for this great info. I will teach the toy in mouth during play. On a positive note he puts himself in his crate regularly to take breaks. I only have to ask him to kennel himself sometimes. I love that about him.

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