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I think the key is going to be continuing to expose her to the distractions in a controlled way where you can really reinforce her – first on leash, then building to off leash, then building to agility. Access to those environments is definitely critical, and if we don’t have regular access, it will take longer. I have not been to an agility trial since March 2020 (covid…) and I am supposed to go to one in September. 2 of the young dogs are entered but my plan is on-leash engagement games until I believe they will not leave me. I am pretty sure one will be fine (she just ran in a flyball tournament) but I am not so sure about the other. He is 22 months old – but I had very limited access to distracting training environments, so I can’t move things along faster until I can train him in those environments. I have done road trips for training and also other sports and that helps!
T
Hi!
>>Please do because I think connection is definitely a struggle point for me. When I lose them on course I know it’s the connection.
That is pretty universal – the top reason things go wrong? Connection.
>>And if I haven’t obsessed enough on a course I turn to look quickly where I’m going as well.
That is why I obsess on rehearsing it in the walk through 🙂
>> I’ll practice this at the seminar. And I plan on finishing up this lesson too and really focusing on the walk pieces. I need to practice the obsessing, verbals, and only walking the decision points/hard parts.>>
Perfect! Part of it is finding the walk through rhythm that works for you. I try to get it all down to 5 minutes or less on the big courses, in case I am first dog on the line and need to leave the walk through early.
>>If the Open doesn’t get cancelled, we are planning on being there!
Fingers and toes are all crossed!
>>On a separate note, Emmie and I practiced our transition to trial games this past weekend at a trial. She seemed so much more relaxed (probably because she has trained at this facility). We played the pattern game and I got her out early before all the runs to acclimate. Much more focused on the startline (there were walls but still). Even outside the ring she was more comfortable even though this place is very cramped for walking around.
This is all great! It was probably a combination of the location and the pattern game. The pattern game is a better starting point than the instant focus game is – because it is about relaxation and acclimation. The ability to work comes when the dog is relaxed and acclimated 🙂
T
Hi there!
It has been an insane time for you! And of course, the computer croaks to top it all off. I feel that pain!!!!!But I am glad you jumped in for your favorite part of CAMP, the walk throughs! HA! And it is great because I am going to nitpick the tiny details because I think you and Enzo are ready for some seriously high level stuff (plus I read your facebook page so I know that when you are more aggressive in your handling, things go better :))
>>So it’s not exactly right.
No worries, every has a different strategy to the walk throughs – as long as it works and the runs are great, any strategy is worth using!
Totally fun to do this with other people, that opens up the whole can of worms of people being in the way, other people having different ideas, and so on.
I think you can be more aggressive in your handling choices. Seems to me that when you do so, your results are really great at home but more importantly… in trials. By more aggressive, I mean send, leave, run, push him and get in for the blinds 🙂 You are at the level now where it is not about running clean, it is about pushing hard 🙂 So while a FC 4-5 and a RC on the 9 tunnel are a fine plan, they are going to be a little slower than blinds there (both will produce more strides).
The 11 jump is a definite decision making moment (and the inside wrap should be faster, because it is a 2:1 decision: faster line to the last jump and less yardage compared to the better landing spot on the slice line) so it would be fun to try it both ways and compare!
On the last walk through, you are doing well with his pace here, I think you can ‘out pace’ it meaning try to go faster than you would need to. That will give you a good idea of where you will be, relative to him, in the heat of the moment. It will also challenge maintaining your connection, which is important to rehearse: you can add connection more on the exit of the FC at 4-5, serp to 9 and FC at 11-12. You were connecting for a heartbeat but then looking ahead (while the invisible dog would still be behind you) so that rehearses connection breaking and could mess up spatial awareness on your run, or create timing issues or he could miss finding the side change if the connection moves forward too quickly.
On the run – The FC worked but he did add a stride between 4-5, I think a blind cross would take it out for a faster line there.
On the 7-8-9 line, you realized you were way ahead so a serp to blind was a great option on 8. It hadn’t been rehearsed, so he was wide over 7 and stumbled a bit on landing of 8, and you were in a different position for 10 – that caused a chain reaction which resulted in a bit of a zigzag line: you looked forward to find your line for 10, so he jumped long over 10 (didn’t see the serp cue in time to turn), then the transition for the wrap to the outside was late so he was a little wide and fell on his head a little. So that is why I suggest trying for the blinds in the walk through so that you have the timing in place and can keep the lines fast & tight. When you do the full speed walk through, if you are convinced you can’t get the blind then you can always switch to the rear (but you will almost always be able to get the blind :))The side-by-side is already pretty comparable, which is great! The main difference was the urgency when the real dog was running – which is why you do the BC on 8 🙂 So we can take things up a notch 🙂 with a more urgent walk through, and more aggressive handling for sure, while maintaining your good sense of his pace.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyThis is so cool! Both dogs looked awesome, it looks like you had a great time! They looked like they were doing a great job and you looked super connected 🙂 YAY!!!! I am doing a little happy dance for you! I am glad the games here helped! We aren’t supposed to be perfect at seminars, but it looks like you got to play with all sorts of hard stuff!!!
And *excellent* choice of songs!!! It was really fun to watch 🙂Tracy
Hi there!
>>, how can I wait 6 – 9 more months to trial with her. She is so far ahead of where any of my other dogs have been. Then, sometimes I think, thank goodness I have 6 – 9 more months of training!
Ha! Yes, I totally understand! We *have* to wait til the dogs are at least 18 months because they are simply not physically or mentally mature enough to go into the ring successfully. Maybe a little bit of NFC play in the environment earlier? But really, nothing good comes of getting the dogs into the ring too early – it *always* ends up in frustration and/or needing to retrain things, or worst case scenario: injury because they are simply underdeveloped. A lot of people just look at growth plates being closed and that really has nothing to do with being physically or mentally ready. 18 months, 2 years, 2.5 years… it depends on the individual dog.
>>On a big picture, we are totally at the arguing at the start line place. Self starting, sometimes when I walk away and sometimes after I get to my position but have not verbally released yet. She loves playing fetch with her Xtra large holee roller. We have starting doing a stay when I toss it (ever so lightly) and not releasing until she hears her verbal. That happens almost every evening when it cools down. It is improving. I expect that should help.>>
yes, that game sounds fun and should help. Be SUPER consistent with your releases and also be aware of the rhythm of your releases. For example, a lot of people disconnect when they lead out then say the release when they stop moving, or when they look back at the dog. So is the verbal cue the actual release? Nope, not according to the dog – the re-connection is the release, or the stop in motion. And the dog is the reflection of what you have taught, they are not ever wrong about that. So be careful of how you release, and also be sure you don’t release after she has started moving 🙂 More below.
>>Video 1 is the longer lead out and lines exercise.
Looking at the lead outs on this video – the release was unclear on the first run – either she started moving when you turned your head/moved your arm and before the verbal, or simultaneously with it. On the 2nd run, you wee connected as you walked away but released and moved simultaneously. On the 3rd release – motion and release were simultaneous. So you need to be able to get to position, move your arm, make connection, take a breath and then say your release. You will want to do short lead outs for now and reward a lot, because I think she believes the release has to do with motion and not the verbal.
First run went really well – good BC 3-4! The wrap to her right at 4 looked nice and tight – stay connected as you exit it. You looked forward so she slowed down to wait for more info. You can BC gain 8-9 but also keep turning, calling and connecting on the last 2 jumps – she was wide then looked at you, dropping the bar at the end. On the 2nd run – another nice BC 3-4 and you were more connected after the wrap on 5, very nice!!! Keep moving after the FC – when you stand still an then power forward out of it, she gets too much of an acceleration cue so jumps long over 9.
On the 3rd run, you did the FC between 2 and 3 – it went well too! I think the BC 3-4 works a little better for her because it tightens the line and she has a tighter line over 4 on those.>> However, I did not try to tighten her line around 4, which would give us an opportunity to try the left at #5. She was flying around 4 to 5 on the incorrect lead to try that.
Yes, you would have to change her lead to get the left turn on 5, but that could be very worthwhile to do because it might end up on the faster line (and plus it is good rear cross practice :))
Forced fronts:
>>The forced front was problematic. First I felt she was coming in with too much speed and not recognizing that she needed to collect. I do think she started to understand that and will as we continue to work on itI agree – she needs more understanding of what to do on those. She seemed to know to come to the backside (good girl!) but not what to do when she got there. It is a placement of reinforcement issue – al the reward as coming from your hands, so she was focused on your hand. To train this, have the reward pre-placed on the landing spot (yes, she will have to run past it in order to get to the backside!). When she arrives on the backside, do the FC and cue her to get the toy. This will give her an understanding of where to look (at the bar and not at your hands) and what to do when she arrives at the backside. You were trying to make it happen with handling, but it is a trained skill. I recommend a placed toy and not a thrown toy because if you throw it, she will be watching your hands no matter how perfect your timing is 🙂
>> I realize that the handler had NO consistency on positioning to help Indy out. I need to determine what works best for her.
For now, position yourself in the classic forced front position: at the entry wing, close enough to touch it, with the dog-side arm and leg visible to her (this is the arm and leg next to the wing).
>> I also think I was very late in rotating.
You can rotate sooner, but I think the more important thing will be getting her to look for the bar as she arrives at the backside and not at you, using the reward on the landing side.
>>Then I thought I would show her the contrast of the flow for 1 – 4, but I could not get jump 3 if I started on the landing side of 2. Perhaps that arm pointing to the jump again?
Yes – you were totally pointing and you should leave the arm bak and be connected at :16, :30
Doing it from behind at :43 on verbals works, but ti doesn’t teach the lead out skils
You were more connected on the last rep and got 3, but then pointed forward and said yes and almost didn’t get 4. So run those types of lines with your arm back if she is behind you (which she was here) and looking at her eyes the whole time.>>Poor Indy. She needs her handler to improve!!
She will only be sad about it if she didn’t get rewarded… so hopefully you rewarded her on those!
Back to the stays:
She stood up early on the last stay, and you asked her to sit again and she did – good! But then at 1:12 you moved your arm, she moved out of the stay… then you said the release. So she is really unclear about what the release is (I would bet she thinks it is motion) and sometimes that gets affirmed when she releases before the verbal and runs the sequence. So go back to be super consistent with your releases and I think the stay will improve a lot!Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi there!
I think you will see a theme here in the suggestions for Lily in particular – she is really fast so your connections need to be quicker and clearer because she makes her decisions earlier than Rosie does. That is a good thing, though, and as soon as we figure out exactly what she needs then you will have an easy time 🙂
Working through the videos:
She does better with her commitments when your arms are low and back enough that she can see your face. She has trouble knowing where to be when your arms are low but at your side, or high (especially high and pointing forward). When you arms are low and at your side, she struggled to read the blinds because she couldn’t see which side of you to be on (your eye contact is what delivers the info for that). When your arms got high or pointed forward, the line of your shoulders and line of motion changed, which would cue her to turn… and it did, which is why she would come off lines sometimes.
Here are some specifics:
On the Skills Set, she didn’t have a lot of questions because in general, your hands were low and she could see your eyes 🙂
Her only little questions were because sometimes you would block the cone so she thought you wanted the tunnel (like at :53), and when you were standing near the yellow tunnel entry and trying to send her without motion to the cone (like at 2:20) so she was not sure – it was perfect when you stepped to the cone, very clear for her. And when you want to layer the yellow tunnel, start with more momoentum so she can drive out more – like sending her into the blue tunnel then running forward into it. Layering in this configuration is difficult!>>I had a lot of trouble keeping her on my left. This comes up a times. She will cut behind me to get to my right side.>>
She definitely has some preferene for being on your right side, and this particular setup really challenged the connection to keep her on your left. When you were really connected, looking down at her with your left side arm dipped down and back a little: she was fine. When the connection was not in place, she was migrating to your right a bit – partially because of thta preference, but also partially because as your shouldes moved, it looked like a blind was starting and also the obstacles were on that side of you. You can see that in spots like 2:31, 4:07, 4:30, 5:00, 5:30. But then compare it to 4:37, 5:50, 6:05 and 6:25 when you were connected and she knew where to be really well! You might have to exaggerate a little to convince her to stay on your left, but she did well when you were connected here.
Overall, she was a little sticky running the bigger sequences at first having to go past all those obstacles – that is understandable because it is a little odd 🙂 But then she did a great job!!
Rosie’s skills sets:
So far with all the folks who have worked their older dog and their younger dog, it has been really common that the older dogs find this really hard (Rosie) and the younger dogs find it a little weird at first but relatively easy as long as we stay connected (Lily).
Rosie did well with all the things that were normal-looking lines in the beginning but then had a little trouble ignoring the nearby obstacles as things got more difficult – I think it is because Rosie did not have the same foundation of working the proofing games and stuff that Lily did, which is why it was not too hard for Lily. So you can break it down more for Rosie into smaller pieces while continuing to make it harder for Lily 🙂>> I had to put a front cross to keep her out of the tunnel.
Yes – on some of them, like on the smaller cone in the middle and you were doing a post turn – I think she was correct to take the tunnel (like at 1:17) but then aso yes – on the cone on the other side of the yellow tunnel (outside of the setup) – that tunnel was very tempting! So moving the cone further away totally helps. Lily has seen this concept before but I am not suere if Rosie has 🙂
Also, it was hard to tell from this angle, but it is possible that you were blocking the line to the cone closer to the yellow tunnel which is why she was trying to flip away to the cone nearer the blue tunnel – both Rosie and Lily were having trouble seeing the really small cones if you were even one step too far over, so be sure they can see the full cone.
On the other hand, her experience pays off when you were able to run the outside line with her on your left and she never considered the yellow tunnel behind you. More experienced dogs will read connection more easily, so you don’t need to exaggerate it as much like you need to do with Lily.
Two other little details – for the layering you tried at 5:36, more momentum will help her too, like starting further back or starting from the other tunnel. Also, step forward through the wraps, when you peeled away by stepping backwards, she would get a refusal. She watches your footwork as an important part of the cue, so be sure you are moving forward til she commits. And then she had a couple of tunnel-grab errors at the end, probably just a little tired 🙂
Sequence 1: this was a good one to challenge the connections and tell us what she reads! And also it was interesting to see because she could have easily chosen to come to your right (her preferred side) but stayed on your left if she didn’t see the cue to change sides. Good girl!
Looking at the sequence in sections:For the blind 4-5, being a bit earlier (so she sees the blind befoe she takes off for 4) will help but mainly it is about connection – when you finish the blind, keep your right arm back further and make eye contact. Two ideas to make that happen: you can either dip your right shoulder down as the arm goes back, or your can extend your arm (locking the elbow) all the way back and down to her nose. Experiment to see which is clearest/easiest. I personally extend my arm back to the dog and they see the connection well, but I am pretty short and my dogs are taller than Lily. I have some students who are tall with very small Papillons, and they find the shoulder dipping to be more effective.
You got the timing and connection nicely for 4-5 on the first rep! On the 2nd run at :56, you were late starting it and didn’t get the connection, so she didn’t change sides.
You were PERFECT at 2:09!!! Timing and connection both looked good, and she got it really well.
>>I probably should have used rear crosses, but she is not going our ahead of me yet enough to get a good rear in.
I liked your plan! Nothing wrong with the plan for the blinds at all! Yes, RCs can work but to drive her ahead, you will need to run closer to the #3 tunnel so you don’t end up running out of room and stopping at 5. You keep moving better with Rosie so she read them really well.
On the middle section (6-7-8-9) – the connection was the hard part.
On the first rep, you were late turning over 6 so the bar came down at :18 and then your arm came up and forward while she was behind you at :19 – that caused the line of your shoulders to turn, which changed her line and she didn’t take 7. The same thing happened at 2:12.
Another option in there which might make it easier it to do the blind between 7 and 8, rather than on landing side of 8 – that can support 7 and get the line 8-9 without needing to set up a rear cross for 9. To get her to rear cross into the tunnel, you had to keep moving to the tunnel which put you pretty far away from 10 for the last wrap at 11.
You had a great blind on the landing side of 8 at 1:33, look at how clear the connection was!When you were doing the blind on the landing side of 10 – it was another good example of how important conenction it to her in terms of being able to see side changes: you were late on the landing side blind at :33, so she never saw the connection to get the side change. Much better timing to be able to show her the connection on the 2nd run there so she got it nicely.
To get a really good camera angle on the connection and why she might not see the side changes – freeze the video at :38 as she was exiting 11: your arm was down at your side, and we can’t see your eyes – so she didn’t know which side to be on. Ideally in that moment we would be able to see your arm back and down so your eyes would be clearly visible to her.Similar things were happening on Sequence 2: on this video an also the previous one, your running lines are generally good so the oopsies are arm and connection issues. arm &
On the blind at 4-5 you were didn’t get the connection back to her at :10 and :28 so she didn’t find your right side. You had a good running line at :28 so she found 5 but from the wrong side of you. You had good ocmmitment and connection at 6, but then your arm got high at :31 and it changed the line of your shoulders, so she didn’t take 7.
And there is a really good camera angle on the blind on the landing side of 8 at :38 – she has landed and we only see your back and not your eyes so she didn’t make the side change there.2nd run – good timing at :50 of starting it but she had the bar down because there was not enough connection so she was not sure where to be. On this run, she had no problem finding 7 at :55 because your arm down and you had really good connection!
more conenction on landing of 10You were a little late late on the blinds at 1:18 and 2:26, but check out the goond connection at 1:29!!! And you nailed it at 1:51 (even earlier, too!) and also at 2:10 -those were great and you had low hands and good eye contact.
She did have trouble doing 11 as a turn away on the flat, I think you were stopped too soon so keep moving to 11 to help support commitment to it.
Rosie’s turn:
She said you were too early on the BC 4-5 on the first run. I thought it was fine but she disagreed LOL so she came off the #4 jump. You were really strong with that blind on the 2nd rep! And, good motion on the turn away on the flat to the 9 tunnel and the 11 jump at the end, she reads those really well. Because she is not as fast as Lily, she makes her decisions a bit later so you have more time to show the connection. Also, because she is an experienced dog, she can process the crosses faster even if you are late and not as connected. So with Lily, try to really exaggerate the connections for now as you do the blinds, to help her read them at high speed – it will get easier as she gets more experienced.Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>I have one question concerning the blind cross 4-5 when I’m too far across the line. I think I’m compensating for another handling issue. I’m far across the line and hanging back to connect with her as she comes out of the tunnel across the jump 5 bar. Otherwise she tends to miss jump 5 and comes right to my BC side. What do I need to do to change my handling so she won’t run past the jump and come directly to me?>>
For the handling of that blind, it is possible that you are either too early on the BC so when she exits, you are already on the new arm, or not connected enough so she comes off the line to you.
For the timing, keep her on your left til she exits the tunnel, tell her to jump – then do the BC to your right side. For the connection, keep your arm back and down, so she can see your connection.
You can also work the commitment to be sure she takes the jump if you say jump, even if you are a little early or disconnected. If you are way early, as in finished before she exits the tunnel, then she is correct to skip the jump.T
Hi!
>>I think sometimes I get a glimpse of her and “think” I have her, but then get caught up in where I’m trying to get to next. >>
Yes – if we think we have the dog then look forward, either we lose the dog or they read it as a blind cross because we have disconnected and turned our heads. Connection is probably tied as the most important handling cue on course (tied with motion :))
T
Hi!
>> I’m wondering if both my girls would appreciate more rewards during our runs – sometimes for an especially tough turn, or a tunnel, or just because they’re cute. ;). From what I see in classes, I don’t think we reward our pups enough. Some dogs will work forever fro a smile, but most of us (human and dog) would like to be paid once in a while.>>
I totally agree. As the dogs start running courses, we make the mistake of rewarding less frequently overall and also rewarding in only certain spots: at the line up for the stay, at the end of the run, and on contacts/weaves. I think we all need to reward more during the run, for a great turn, for tunnels, and so on. This is especially true when there is a handling error – so I am a big fan of either rewarding instantly as if it was meant to happen, or just continuing on the course and rewarding the next spot 🙂
Have fun in class!
TracyHi!
>> I wanted to try to get some “ring time” in for Sly and he’s been doing REALLY well in Lo’s classes there so gave it a go.Awesome! At some point, we have to jump into the pool and see how it goes 🙂
>> so I entered him in Novice JWW with the idea that we’d play it by ear depending on how focused he could be in the environment. He was great upstairs in the crating area and outside the ring, standing in line..could do all his tricks, wasn’t concerned about the other dogs nearby (that is HUGE!), had a little trouble focusing when we were on deck as the dog right before us was VERY exciting but he was able to do hand touches and setup between my legs before we went in so we kept going. Really hard for him setting up at the start line but once we started he was “all business”.
Yes! He did well. He had a little trouble at the start line, looking around, not sure. He offered a sit at :14 – you can totally take that offer, rathr than ask for something else. And you can play with running in to the line and immediately going to the setup. Also, working more of the engagement tricks such as high fives or spins or barking on cue will help!
During the run – run with connection and call him lots… but don’t overhelp LOL! You overhelped by pushing in at :41 so he correctly read the pressure as a rear cross, then you helped too much at :46 so he (correctly) took the backside. I don’t think you need to fix that, just keep going – he was correct so he didn’t need to know that it wasn’t how the judge numbered it LOL! After that, when you just ran with speed and connection and yelled stuff… he nailed it 🙂 YAY! So I think you were a little too careful and helpful in the first part, then after the weaves you ran like you do in class and it was GREAT!
And great update about the FEO classes – those will totally help get him comfortable in the ring!!!
When is your next trial opportunity?Tracy
Hi there!
>> I tried to make sure I got some verbals in in the walk through and I didn’t have as good of sense/plan for the connections and the course flow and it’s kind of a mess.
You can prioritize the verbals – choose the really important ones and emphasize them, rather than ALL the verbals 🙂 And I have foudn that for myself, going down my mental list systematically makes sure I cover all the things: plan then handling then connection then verbals and so on – each pass through the course, one more thing gets added in.
>>This time I decided to just focus on getting one verbal done well……. and this seemed to be an improvement over trying to do “all possible verbals”. Anyway…..I’ll try and get those videos edited and posted tomorrow as well.>>
Perfect!!!!!
>>Changing subjects sort of…I’ve signed Sly and I up for a working spot in the one day Engagement seminar. Looking forward to it…besides when I got the email from CleanRun announcing it and the picture in the email is one of Snoop and I from many years ago how could I not sign up?
Too funny, I didn’t know it was Snoop!! Very fun! I am glad you and Sly will be there 🙂
T
Hi!
That is odd! I found the original Yuki post and restored it. It has been a crazy international day here too LOL!>> It’s odd, but sometimes I can go right up to the tunnel and she still refuses and barks – but again, that means I’m standing still because we’ve reached a “dead end” so-to-speak.
This is not that unusual with herding breeds. The two things that help are to be really connection/staying in motion, and TONS of reinforcement for the tunnels in training. Most of us don’t really reward tunnels that much 🙂 but for the dogs that don’t love tunnels, we need to reward them as much as weaves or contacts.
>>Keiko was a happy camper running. I did give her a cookie as we went back to the start line after I stopped that first run.>>
Giving her to cookie immediately in the moment as if she was correct will help keep her from thinking the error was hers 🙂 I think it is better for the dogs when we act as if the off course was exactly what we wanted LOL!!
T
Hi!
>>> I took a video tour because I can’t even think of how to handle the opening and included just a little training we did instead.
The dog walk in the middle takes up a lot of space, so you can isolate the challenges: to work on getting him to work on the other side of the dog walk (tunnel-tunnel for example), you can move jump 2 over into a nice line and make it a front side, so you can handle a simple line into the much harder challenge of the working on the other side of the dog walk. Rear crossing the tunnel and getting the turn the wrong way on the exit probably means your rear cross i for was late, he needs to see it starting when he lands from the previous jump (the pressure on the RC diagonal).
And you can work the opening by moving 2 over a bit so he can slice the backside towards the fence rather than wrap to the inside.
he did well on the training! Set him up for a lot more success on the first rep to the tunnel – if you look at your position, you were standing on the line he would have needed to be on, pretty stationary, and your feet/shoulders were pointing to the tunnel entry he took… then he was told he was wrong. Hmmm……He isn’t going to run through you LOL! So that tunnel discrimination is a motion-based cue, so keep moving sooner and clear his line. It worked soooo much better when you did that coming in from the double tunnels! Yay! And I think his dog walk hits looked pretty darned strong there!!! Good boy! And he loves that really exciting reinforcement 🙂
Let me know if the ideas for the opening make sense. Have fun!
TracyHi! The pattern game is looking good, he is doing really well! He was happy with the food AND toys!
2 ideas for you:
Have the treats ready, 4 or 5 treats in your hand and the rest within easy reach – that way you can immediately toss that first treat and instantly reward the first engagement. That will get things rolling really quickly and he will not watch the cookie pocket as much 🙂
Also, when setting up the big distractions like people or dogs appearing: keep holding the leash so he doesn’t go blasting away then come back. To help really build the engagement, we can manage the investigating of the distraction by keeping him close by on leash. He might look at the distraction, but he won’t run to it (because, leash LOL!) so it will be easier to build the desired engagement behavior.
This is a good game outside the ring (I just added more ideas on how to do it in smaller spaces, like outside the ring) – you don’t have to wait til yo are getting ready to run to do it, it is something you can do first thing in the morning before you need to get ready to run.Great job here!
Tracyhi! These also look good. You made a good decision early in steeplechase to keep going when he popped the weaves – the rest of the run was great and the 2nd set of poles was EXTRA great. Weaves early in the run are hard for him, same as in other runs – that is a good NFC opportunity for a toy: get to the weaves as the 2nd or 3rd obstacle then reward in the ring. This 1st set of weaves was a hard angle of entry and he was not pumped up yet. The rest looked great!
You mentioned he is not always fast early in the course – the snooker course was really twisty in the beginning, so every time he started to speed up, he had to slow down and turn tight. Try to set up openings that are blazing fast and simple lines, then go to the twisty stuff later in the run.
The other thing I see is that he seems to come off the line faster when you get him to leap up into the air before the run. Definitely try that on the way into the ring for each run and see how it correlates to speed in the opening!
Looks like a successful weekend in the ring – he had a lot of good work and we are tweaking small details 🙂
Tracy
