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Hi!
>> 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 🙂
TracyGood morning! It looks like the UKI day went really well!
When you do NFC, does he play in the ring if you bring a toy in? I think it will help him if you hide a toy in your pocket or something, or a ball, and play in the ring during NFC runs. Since he is sometimes slower off the start line, you can start as if it is a real run then reward early in the run – to build value for the beginning.
The speedstakes looked GREAT! Actually, they all looked great. And he did smoke you during the standard run LOL! Yay! You seemed to be first dog in the ring after the height change: one thing to play with is NOT going to the start line as early, so you are not waiting there as long. You had some long waits at the start line before they were ready, so you can go in after the heights are all changed and when they are closer to being ready for you. That might make for a quicker transition to the run. I was super happy to see that he was able to do tricks on the start line, like jumping up in the air, and it looks like he also did some nice engaged chill with you!T
Hi!
I think it is great that you can get to a practice show day! It is a great opportunity. I am sad to hear that someone kicked her in that situation, especially when the judge asked people to NOT have their dogs out. That is really upsetting!!It was good to try different things in that situation and she gave you good answers. The #1 answer seems to be that she is not ready to be off leash in that environment yet. She is really young (17 months old?) so that is not that surprising, especially considering that she probably did not get the same amount of exposure as normal due to covid. A couple of ideas for you:
– is she in any group training classes? Doesn’t have to be agility, can be anything – but she needs to work in group situations doing things with other people and dogs around.
– in your next opportunities to train her in a trial setting, don’t take off the leash until you are 10000% sure she will NOT leave you. Your next training opportunities should be on leash just doing behaviors/tricks/obedience in the ring, for the toy.One of the games posted this morning is about how to take the training runs and build up to real runs – the first step is getting the dog comfortable in the environment. Since she is leaving, she is not comfortable and doesn’t know what to do. So, the first step is to get her comfortable in the trial environment. When she is comfortable? Then you can add in some jumps and tunnels. But getting comfortable involves several highly successful experiences with playing in the ring on leash, then doing some recalls dragging a leash or off leash – but no agility.
The agility is the easy part… the focus is the hard part.
She will let you know when she is ready for more challenge (such as adding agility obstacles) because she will be completely engaged and not want to leave or investigate people or dogs. But until she understands how to ignore them, I would keep her on leash and not try to ask for any agility otherwise she’ll be getting the wrong response to the trial environment. You can see more of those ideas in the Transitions To Trials part 2 this week.
Let me know what you think!
TracyI
Hi!
Yuki is totally fun, and totally honest 🙂>>. Could be because she saw where I was and figured (correctly) the jump would be the next obstacle.
Yes, I think that was it, as she was taking 2, you were moving away really laterally to the landing of 4 – if I didn’t know the sequence, I would think the handling was telling her 1-2-4 and she should not go into the tunnel. So be sure to stay connected and take the extra step or two to confirm the tunnel for her, then head to 4. That might mean a rear cross 4-5-6 but that is fine!
>>She also didn’t like my location and cue before the second tunnel – and I agree with her. 😉 She is fun to run, just wish she didn’t yell before tunnels….
I think it was because you stopped moving. That’s good info! Definitely move extra to tunnels, so she totally knows you want it. It might mean you plan rear crosses because you can’t peel away for fronts or blinds, but that is fine – I’d rather do a rear cross than get a refusal on a tunnel 🙂
Nice work 🙂
TracyHi there!
Wowza, this went really well! I am liking the connection on this walk through!! Your plans look good, your lines looked good, you were actively connected all the way through, yelling the verbals. The only thoughts I had were to maybe get closer to 14 after the blind on the ending line? Maybe run faster in the final rehearsal so you feel like you have plenty of time during the actual runs? Maybe on the 7-8-9, go to the other side of the 8 backside rather than do a cross – the other side might be faster because it is more of a racetrack and actually has fewer turns (you would have to walk the yardage to see what the distance would be).
But otherwise, it was really strong. And definitely good trial prep!!How did the runs feel? I thought they were pretty darned awesome. Hero was almost foot perfect! Ruse had a little question about the send to 14 but you were connected, saw the question, and helped her. Hero has more independence at 14 than Ruse so that is something to remember: get closer to the lines. I think you can do that for both, because Hero will be fine and you had plenty of time getting to the backside on the 2nd to last jump. I really liked that tight blind 12-13 with BOTh dogs – fast and tight!!!!! Well done on all of it and extra click/treat for that section 🙂
Yes, the walkthrough and the runs almost matched. The pace matched Hero really well and was a little ahead of Ruse’s speed, which is fine 🙂 You have it locking into place, so now I will move to bugging you to always work your courses like this. It will get easier and easier – you nailed this one and your total walk through was 3 and a half minutes! So the more you rehearse this process, the easier it gets. And I am excited that you were able to lock into it this quickly!!!!!!!!! When is your next trial? Let’s video your trial walk throughs!
Great job 🙂
TracyHi!
For youngsters, 7 minutes over 90 minutes can be a LOT – factoring in heat, especially. I think 7 minutes over 90 minutes in 65 degree weather with low humidity is doable. 7 minutes in 80 degree with humidity? Very hard. You can take the 7 minutes and do it 60 seconds at a time: 60 seconds or less, big reward, into the pool… then rotate through the other dogs. Then, 60 seconds or less, big reward, into the pool… then a break. So he might get 3 maybe 4 turns spread out over an hour or 90 minutes, but he will not be out there long enough to say “oh wow, it is HOT and this is not as fun.” That is how I work Elektra now, she is very sensitive to the heat. I used to work CB that way too but he has developed a better tolerance so his sessions are longer now.
T
Good morning!
Hooray for the new job! But BOO on the intense heat – what a crazy weather summer it has been so far!
The sequencing looked great. The main thing is a contrast is what works for connection for her on the side changes… and what doesn’t work 🙂 And, assume all errors in the handling are yours and reward all the things 🙂 So I will try to really isolate those moments so you can see the difference – you were making really good adjustments!
First video:
Seq 1 super nice! Both reps! great connection, nice loud GO before the tunnel and she did a great jobSeq 2:
I think you can be 2 or 3 steps further ahead before you release to get the blind earlier – she saw your motion & position and the beginning of the blind so she turned, but you didn’t really get connected to her on your new side so she went ot the tunnel when you said tunnel (good girl!) I would TOTALLY reward that because she was correct. When something goes wrong, always reward as if it was right – because she was probably correct 🙂Rep 2: you got your eyes back to her more but your arm was pointing forward so she wasn’t exactly sure. To really guarantee it, get your eyes to her like you did here at :45 but point your dog side arm back to her nose. Pointing to the jump ahead blocks the connection and young dogs really need to see the full connection.
She is starting to collect on the last go line, so have the reward ready and throw it nice and early.Rep 3 & 4- this pointing ahead to 3 blocked the connection here at 1:00 and so she couldn’t find the correct side. You had a lower arm and a tiny bit further back at 1:11 so she found 3 but was not sure and hit the wing
Again, don’t mark it as incorrect: reward her, then connect more and better on the next rep. Handler errors are human errors, so Indy should get rewarded for doing her best to find the lines. If she gets marked and reward withheld on something that was your error, she is going to slow down and we don’t want that. So just assume it was you, reward like it was perfect, then connect more. And if you don’t know what happened in the moment, watch the video and then it will be more clear what to adjust.
The last rep was the best! Note the lower arm and it was further back so she read the line better (1:18). But to get it consistently great, bring your dog-side arm back and point it to her nose (not down at your side and not forward to the obstacle). it is a big of an exaggeration of connection, but that is what the youngsters need as they are learning sequencing. Then as they mature and get experienced, it won’t be as important 🙂
Video 2:
1st rep – you don’t need quite as much arm motion to 2, a little more stationary position will help her know to collect more.
Then… connect! Keep your right arm back to her nose and gaze deeply into her eyes. If you move away without connection, she will read the line like she did at :10 but won’t know which side to be on. And… reward, she was correct.Look at the difference in your connection at :25: GORGEOUS! She know where to go. YAY!! ! I think you were surprised and didn’t quite set the rear cross at the end of that rep.
2nd sequence: nice wrap to the left! Nice wrap to the right! We have a great camera angle on your connection to her at :56 as she is coming around the wing: Your eyes on very clearly looking for her eyes, your dog-side arm is back, the whole moment is awesome 🙂
I think she stood up on her stay at 1:09? Something got wonky: she stood then you released or something, so be careful to maintain the stays very cleanly.
I think you will find a BC easier/faster than a FC on the landing side of 3.
The FC between the tunnel and #3 looked great! Then there was a little too much GO on 4, so call her a bit sooner. Reward that, she didn’t have time to process the ‘here’. It was soooo much sooner on the last rep and she was lovely!Great job here! Let me know what you think, and stay cool 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
Yes, I agree, there is SO MUCH in agility. I have written check lists and I pull from them to plan a short session. So for the wraps, as you work through them, change only one variable at a time. If you start with both bars low, only change height on one bar if you want to change that variable. If that goes well, change height on the other bar. And you can work them up in small increments, rather than both going up high together. For the handling, you can mark the spots on the ground where you need to do the transitions, so he can see the cues earlier and earlier. I think he did well here! And I also think you can be sooner, by decelerating sooner and rotating sooner. If that is hard with the bar, do it with a wing to make sure you have commitment, then add the bar back in.
On the forced front crosses, one of the hardest parts for him was that he was only looking at the toy, so even when you stepped back, he didn’t know where to go. One way to help that is to have the toy already placed on the ground where you want him to land, and nothing in your hands. Even throwing the toy was hard for him because he was just looking at the toy lol! Yes, toy on the ground presents the challenge of ignoring the toy but that is a great challenge.
To get the forced fronts stronger, start with a full front cross where you fully rotate. When he understands that , you can work up to the throwbacks you were doing here: be sure to step back and look at the landing spot. Then the bar can go up 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Overall, these are looking really good, especially the connection!!! And since connection is such an important cue, he did re ly well!
On the rear crosses at the beginning – you are handling them like rear crosses on the flat by pulling and crossing on the landing side of 3 – that’s why he is looking to his left over 3 instead of to his right. Ideally, you’d decel between 1 and 2, then turn him over 2, then drive the RC diagonal so you do the cross on the takeoff side of 3. That’ll put you in better position for the rest too.
The blind opening looked good, and so does the wrap! On the wrap, start the spin part of it sooner so you are done and reconnected when he lands – he had to wait for a moment to see the connection before knowing where to go.
About the bar when you did the landing side blind d at 3:
He dropped it because you were still in the way when he landed from 3 and he didn’t have time to sort out the jumping, so do the blind sooner and get outta there before he takes off.
If you are going to fix it, fix it in the context of the handling (because that is likely what contributed to it) – so put him on the takeoff side of 3, do the blind then release him and hold the reward til you are sure the bars stay up 🙂 if he drops it again, dial back your motion and be even sooner with the cue. If he drops it again, lower the height. Still drops it? End the session 🙂 because something is up that can be fixed by looking at the video.
Doing it from up close, it doesn’t help teach him how to jump within the context of the handling. So, if you fix, fix from within the handling and not just isolating the jump.
Nice work here!
TracyHi! Looking at the video, there are 2 separate things going on:
First is the skills work (contacts/weaves/etc). For those, she is getting a bit of a mixed message about the contacts – she is running them but I think they are trained as stops? And also trial environments produce higher arousal, so the behavior is harder to get. Rather than running standard courses for real, I highly recommend running as much NFC or FEO as possible on the contacts in particular (and weaves too) – you can do a bit of this in AKC but a LOT of it in USDAA and UKI. Bring a toy in the ring and train as if at home, in that environment. It will really help her execute and have clear understanding.Second, the handling:
The most important thing will be to video your walk through, like you did here on these sequences. We can find the errors on the walk throughs and then stomp them out 🙂 And you can have a friend watch your walk through to see if you are staying in motion and making the big connection (I don’t care as much about verbals right now – motion and connection were the 2 biggest trouble spots, you were stopping a lot and looking forward). I suggest only trialing for real on jumping runs for now, so you can practice the handling without worrying about contacts or weaves or the table while yo are training those. Work each line with connection and fast running in the walk through so you can execute it in the run. I think you are over-managing the lines, as you mentioned, and she is really fast so that is where things blow up. Attack the trial courses like you did here, especially when you did Sequence 2!!! You don’t need to manage the lines, you just need to connect more so she knows where the lines are.Let me know if that makes sense!
Tracy
