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I’m not sure I understand your question. I feel like he is responding to the snuffle mat. He’s still pretty aroused when he’s working. But I do see him start to relax with the mat. Honestly I’m not sure what to expect with this exercise since I’ve not done it before so hoping for guidance. One improvement I have seen is he can watch me and Marky work while loose and in a down. Tonight he got up once but didn’t run after us and went right back to a down when I asked. I’m really pleased about that.
Here is the sequence with 3 jump heights starting at 16”. I’m really sore so had a hard time running but I set up so I could be out front. It’s long. I just took out me setting the jumps. I think he did great. Once he lies down on the mat I set up for the next set. He’s not totally relaxed but definitely down a few notches.
What did you think of his arousal and response to the snuffle mat? I know our timing will get better as his arousal improves and I relax more.
Yes, I do have a Cato board.
As far as his start line it tends to get a little worse after each time he’s asked to stay. It goes from a step to getting up, to leaving before released. It was good this session. His arousal was not as high as typical. What I’m trying yo get to is me not being so careful so I don’t cause him to get over aroused. I need to be able to run full out with him but I avoid that right now. But maybe we need to do more of that so he can work through it.
Here is video from tonight. I thought it went really well. He always steps out at the start line when I leave. I don’t want to continue to have that argument. Im hoping if I wait for him to step and settle before I leave maybe that will work. He’s jumping 20” because he normally jumps 24”.
Big set back today. No video. I missed the match today so practiced at home. I lost my patience a bit quickly and Marky was done and inside already so I went into “I insist you do it right” mode. I think my frustration is about spending almost 2 years training him and I feel like we’re nowhere. I’ve been in Nina Gregl’s Jumping class for 1 1/2 years and he throws himself over jumps like he’s never learned how to set up and turn. I’ve been in 4 of Silvia Turkmen’s classes. I’ve trained dogs to world team level and been on the EO team and my 2 year old BC can’t do more than a few obstacles at a time and even that not well. I haven’t seen progress since he was a puppy. I’m ready to stop agility with him at this point. It’s not fun.
Update. Went back out at 7:00. Much better. I’m not sure o changed anything. He was more intentional. I worked on fast downs as well with quick releases to tugging. He was hesitant at first but then relaxed with the tugging. When we were done we went to the snuffle mat.
Hi Bobbie. I’m picking Vinny up today and will now have him Home to work on these assignments. I’m not sure what to do with the first one. I can video him watching me do agility with Marky. He’ll get overly excited and bark. Then do I stop and see how long it takes him to relax? If I’m doing agility with him how do I determine when he’s relaxed? Is it when he’ll sit and not try to creep forward? TIA
Thanks. He’s not with me right now so I can’t do the exercises yet. He’ll be back in a week. But I can have Gwen to the down exercises. Thanks.
To go with the post above my breeder sent some video of her working Vinny. She’s trying to video and work him so it’s a bit rough. He’s different in arousal around the sheep but she has similar issues as I have when he’s overly aroused doing agility. We both find it very interesting. You can see his hesitancy to down with both of us. But when I’m just doing obedience I have no problems with his Down or anything else. He seems pretty stressed with her and me as well although he’ll do agility until the cows come home. He’s very hesitant with her when working sheep. So glad to be in this class. This pup is so talented. I really want to see him relax and enjoy himself.
Unfortunately no video of my agility lesson. He is with his breeder since last Sunday night for herding and she wants me to leave him and not visit this weekend. He is not nearly as confident and doesn’t get as nearly aroused herding as he does with agility. He will shut down on her with too much pressure. I never see him shut down in agility but I do see something similar. When she asks for a down on the sheep he is slow to respond. He will do the same to me when doing agility. Away from agility and herding he will do quick downs. He obviously thinks this is a negative. My fault for getting impatient when we’re practicing. Gwen is giving him a lot more freedom then she normally would to see if he will get over it. Since I’m not there do you have any suggestions? I can see if she can film some of it. He never shuts down doing agility but he is struggling with confidence herding. He has not had any bad experiences. It is his first time away from me and home so I’m sure that doesn’t help. I want to set him up for success so any advice would be very helpful. Thanks
Thanks for the feedback. I have been working with him on the perimeter of the building. He’s perfect on two sides. As we approach the front of the building from the third side he starts to get excited. Since at that point he can’t look at me and has a hard time heeling ivwitch to tugging so we can stay engaged and get back to the car.
I only have him on the weekends right now. He’s with his breeder getting a hood herding foundation. I will work on the relaxation exercise this weekend. We had a great agility lesson Saturday with Kama. I did more play with the tug and didn’t use food at all. That relaxed us both 😆. Yes, I’m tentative because I feel his arousal and I keep trying to rein it in. But Saturday I just went with it and I was able to do a 13 obstacle sequence with him and it was awesome. Less stressful for both of us.
Hi Bobbie. I was hoping to get some feedback from my previous post. I’m at a trial this weekend. Vinny comes with me and I work him outside the building on heeling and focus. But I can’t go in the building with him because it gets overly stimulated. Should I just not take him in at this point?
TIAHi Bobbie.
I’m a working participant 😊. I made this video to show a friend my issues with Vinny’s arousal. I did a little obedience prior to moving to the agility area. He’s great with obedience away from agility. Here I used food only first then switched to a toy. With every rep he will get increasingly aroused. Even with just food. The toy does increase it more. So does more space and me running. What I see is he will push me on his sit stays. He wants to sit slightly in front of me. Then when I step away he’ll take a step and go into BC vulture mode. He’ll not take the time to think and take off aimlessly. Collection around turns goes out the door. And when asked to down he’ll go into slow motion. You can see he is not distracted by my neighbors who are talking up by the road. And if the neighbors beagle is out running the fence and barking he’ll still work with me. It’s just a mild distraction. But if I’m at a trial I can barely get him to focus on me as I get closer to the building and he can hear what’s happening inside. For now I don’t go in. I work him around the perimeter on heeling, sitting, down and so forth. Thanks.
Hi Kim. Sorry I’ve been out of touch. I was hoping to send you video of Prue’s runs from the trial I entered but I left before running because people weren’t all wearing masks. I was pretty bummed and upset with myself for going. So last week I set up a Jumpers course for USDAA @Home and Prue just couldn’t get through it. She was a bit excited when we started and not really listening so I had to start over a few times which she didn’t seem happy about. Eventually she would stop a few jumps in and not go on. She was OK if I had her toy on me and tossed it but not if I didn’t. That was a new behavior. When I tried again that evening same thing happened. I decided not to the competition with her and didn’t actually do anything with her this weekend except a few weave passes in the backyard. But yesterday I saw her limping on her left front leg which is the one she previously had issues with and thought maybe that’s what the problem is and it hurts her just enough fee her to not want to run unless she has a very good incentive. So she’s getting a bit of a break and I’ll massage it and do some tricks with her to keep her engaged and have opportunities to work with me and get rewarded. I’ll start back with lots of incentive using toys and treats and running with her and slowly remove the toy from my hand and leave it at the end of Short sequences before I start leaving it at the finish. We had fun doing this class and it was a great way for Prue and I to bond and not have everything be about Marky 😁. Thanks for all your help.
Hi Kim.
I don’t have any video of Prue this week. It’s been hot but we had some good Practice this weekend. For her warmup I’m practitioners her verbal skills. They’re not as good as a Marky’s and since I can always run beside her and Gamblers is my favorite class I’d like them to be stronger. For her single jump warmup she does the following:
Up Left or Right
Back-turn away from me
Push-back side
In In- cross in front of me to the backside
I add a jump for SERP- Here HereShe also has a go and out. These two need refreshing all the time as she doesn’t really look that far ahead when working. I should add these to the warmup as well.
She’s eager to do them and starts out strong but as the reps increase she starts to second guess and then shut down. I don’t repeat anything she does correct the first time but once she starts making mistakes it can spiral fast. After this morning I realized I better jump in and make it easy and just move on. My goal is to just go through each single exercise quickly. That’s about 4 on each side if I exclude SERP, go, and out. Do you think that’s reasonable?
