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Hi Diane, thanks for the update! Yay for Friday!!!! Happy dance! And Sunday was a good day too, because you were able to add in some good tools. When flustered, meditating is good, some music, and also centered breathing!
I also have a relaxing visualization technique to bring my heart rate down learned from Greg Louganis: close your eyes and picture yourself in the calmest, most soothing thing in your world. So I picture myself curled up in bed with one of my dog, having a nap. That always brings my heart rate right down and my blood pressure down too – I know this because i have done it wearing a heart rate monitor and a blood pressure cuff on different occasions 🙂 So that might be something to add to your toolbox!Tracy
Hi!
>>– Out of curiosity, at big events where do you park your dog so that he/she remains calm and stress free? How do you juggle noise, space and personal time? Not that we are trialing at huge concourse spaces at the moment. But curious none the less. I take it this is part of periodization that may take months?
This is something I start early on in training – getting the dog used to crating anywhere. Ideally, I crate in my car but that is not always possible – so I crate in a lot of places and give the dogs chew bones or bully sticks to help them relax. And sometimes I crate them in near the action for a short time before taking them out to the car to relax.
>>– Fore example an area like concourse and arena area at Chicago convention center, Some areas are really quite large and echo. How do/did you prep for that/these/those outside of looking up video of what it would look like for visulaziation?
Yes, that is exactly what I do – google search for video or photos. And I can’t find them, I will use my imagination and try to get there early so I can check it all out.
>> Also, some venues have microphones or boom cameras. How does everyone acclimate their dogs to something unexpected as that?
If needed, you can ask friends or classmates to use a broomstick or something to simulate a camera or boom mic. Or you can attach fake mics to places (using little boxes or something) so the dog gets used to running the obstacles with little weird things attached.
>>and also the hubbub of curious people asking questions before you run, stopping you heading to the ring?
Smile, answer the question if you have a moment, then execute yourself to head to the ring. It is an honor to be able to run in front of a crowd, so a gracious smile then just let them know you are expected in the ring.
>>I would think some dogs not experienced or even those experienced to the commotion may come off equipment or chase some of these hover craft things waving and flying around as they run . Yes have seen hover crafts at some locations in adjoining arena.
Truth! All of the dogs need to be exposed to weird things and different environments before going to one of these big events.
>>Right now, basic two ring trials. Those are a bit much for us to juggle for sure. Knowing where to be, where to crate, and where to move among the for sale items, other vendors etc. It’s hard to know it will be like the with additional objects to navigate just to get to the course!
Truth! those trials can be really big and busy! And noisy. The more you can expose the dogs to this in a positive way, the easier it would be – tricks and games and treats and toys in a variety of new places will really help this.
>>Navigating some other nutty stuff…. people yelling over aisles in attempt to quiet their dogs (rather than removing dog), people sissoring or giving hair cuts to their dogs..yeah……Self soothing for handler, complicated and cumbersome for others….
Eek! That sounds crazy.
>>all fun and games until someone loses an eye (lol).
Ha! That would be a great release valve!
>>However, there has to be an element of layering to successfully acclimate dogs from low to higher level stimulus over time (long term periodization perhaps?).
Yes, pretty much from day 1 – acclimating to as many new environments as possible. I don’t use periodization for that, necessarily, it is more about acclimation and desentization.
>>Finding the happy balance before dog is overwhelmed or mentally spent is tough.
If the dog is overwhelmed, move the dog out of the environment. It is too hard and it is possible the dog was put into it too quickly. It is a really gradual process indeed.
>>Performance 1st, possibly venue changes later once other bits and pieces are better in place.
Yes and no, it doesn’t have to be one thing then the other. New behaviors can be taught in one place then when they are solid, taken to another place. But, concurrently, the dog should be brought into different environments just to learn to hang out or do really simple things like tricks, to get comfy before you ask for more difficult behaviors in the new environments.
Let me know what you think!
TracyYes, I consider 2 minutes to be the ultimate! If we can prepare in 2 minutes, then 7 minutes will feel like an eternity LOL!!!
And yes, have to prepare for multiple dogs really makes things harder, so we need to plan for that.
T
Hi there!
Yes, it is difficult for sure, I think of mental prep for sports to be very much like therapist with a psychologist!>> I think there’s a lot of pressure placed on working the trial for beginners. What I’ve started doing is attending multiple days (if trial is close enough) and on the day we don’t trial I’ll work a bit and leave …I take trial day for myself to focus on competition.
That is a brilliant idea!!!! I love it!
Tracy
Hello and welcome! She sounds like a ton of FUN!!!! Yay! Keep us posted on how everything is going! As an auditor, you can post here, chat, ask questions, etc – basically everything except post videos.
Have fun!
TracyAha! Backing up onto something! The 2o2o makes the backing up clear because of the destination. You can start him further and further away to get more backing up. And, when you reward, just reward with his head lower. You did reward him with a low head on a couple of most were up high. A low head will help him shift his weight to get really good backing up.
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
The backing up is going well! Nice job incorporating the toy play, he did well getting back on the toy 🙂
On the backing up, he was really good about offering 2 steps back but then that was when the reward would come consistently… so he then would offer 2 steps back and then bow or lie down. So, now you can try to get more steps back. Ping-pong the number of steps before you reward, and throw the rewards further back (not right to him) – sometimes toss the reward after just one step, sometimes wait for 3, then back to 1 step, then 2 steps, then 4 steps… and so on. You might need to wait him out for the extra steps but ping ponging will help.
Another option to get more steps backwards is to have him back up to something, such as back up to get on a dog bed. Start it by having him back up one step to the bed, then 2 steps to get to it, to 3 steps and so on.
Nice start here, let me know how it goes!Tracy
Hi there!
He is adorable, trying to offer his paw during the collar grabs. He did well here! And great job adding some toy play, that went well too! Keep adding random collar grabs throughout the day, so having you reach towards him becomes a super rewarding thing and he will begin to move towards you hand when you reach for the collar.
TracyGood morning!
Nice job on both of these clips! You are doing a great job incorporating toy play into all of this – click/treat for YOU! It is not easy to go back and forth from shaping to tugging, and you are in a really nice flow with it 🙂On the collar grab video – Yes, she looked comfy with the collar grabs, great job already incorporating them! You can also do collar grabbing during the tugging game – it just adds more pairing of good stuff with collar grabs.
When you were adding moving her, I think part of her question was when you had your hand on the collar on the back of her neck – it added a bit of opposition reflex, and it might have seemed like you were wanting her to pull against it (we do use the opposition reflex in the get it games, toy races, etc.) So to differentiate it with just moving with the momma, try having your hand on the side of her collar or on the underside of her neck. She did really well with it for a first attempt and you did a great job of encouraging her to move rather than dragging her around 🙂
Keep reminding yourself to leave your hand on her collar as you feed to maximize the pairing – you sometimes would take the hand off then put it back on lol!The backing up is going well too! Because she likes to smack you with the paw 🙂 and also because she loves treats and moving away from them is hard – you can jump start this even more with a session or two or having her back up after you drop a cookie between your feet (while standing) – that is the 2nd demo on the write up for the game. That can get more reinforcement history into backing up while taking out the offering of the paw. Then go back to the seated position you were in here (or transition to it by kneeling and dropping the cookie under you, so she backs out from that).
Great job here! Safe travels to family!!
TracyGood morning!
I am glad to hear he really likes food and chewing! These are great relaxation and coping tools for new environments. If you are in any new places like a trial or class, add in a bit of sniffing/snuffling as well as chewing in the higher activity areas (if he can). If he can’t, then in the crate is fine to start with, or as far away as needed to help him be able to relax. As for the higher energy physical contact during play – this is also good and I consider it him seeking out physical contact 🙂 You will also be able to incorporate this into your routine – he seems to enjoy it so you can also add this in to the ‘hanging out’ element of your time in higher activity environments.Tracy
Hmmm, that one is not loading for me! I will have to try it again when I get back to the computer. Sorry!!!! Thanks for letting me know – it isn’t your computer 🙂
TracyHi Nelci!
Thank you for letting me know! They are YouTube links of Spock saying “illogical!” And “Logical!” 🙂 I have updated them.Have fun!
TracyHi!
He is doing a really nice job with his stays here – total focus and also NOT moving. Yay! Try to turn sideways more and face him less at this point – on many of the reps you were sideways, but on a couple you were facing him on the release. I suggest being sideways more so you can release and run, and also because facing him will cause him to slow a bit and jump up for the toy. When you released and ran, he was driving more and staying lower for the toy.
Speaking of staying lower… yes your hands were a bit up and down LOL!! Try to have the tug hand relatively stationary, maybe just a bit side-to-side, and the other hand can play the smack-da-baby which he seems to like – that can get him to really lean back into it. I like to let the pups do all the work with the tugging 🙂
And I think that a longer toy will help this too, so he can drive into it lower and stay lower/more weight shifted back during the play. The toy is long in agility terms… but think of doubling the length (I call it “flyball style” LOL!) because that gets great drive and keeps his head lower. Now, I do realize that he might try to grab up by your hand anyway 🙂 but a longer toy can be dragged a bit more which can get the excitement up… which will help when you add more food into the equation 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Thanks, new puppy, exciting AND terrifying haha I know you can relate 🙂Spy was SO FUNNY here! Loved it! “Got it mom, I can tug AND get on my sit spot at the same time.” Brilliant! And the prop helped him figure out that he can offer when a toy is present – didn’t take him long at all! So now what other things can you shape with a toy present? You did the bucket already, so what can we do that involves NOT looking at the toy? Hand touches are one, and even something like going to a bed – you sit in a chair, he has to turn away to get into a dog bed – and you toss the toy as a reward. No big deal that he wants to watch you & the toy, that is easy to change depending on the behavior. It will not be an issue in agility because we will use specific placement of reward to train the various behaviors.
And do keep using toy plus treats, because we don’t want to over-balance the value of the toy and lose treat value (because, BCs do like to spit out treats when working :))The wubba was indeed super exciting, so reserve that for simpler tasks and also for tasks with a longer reinforcement history with a toy present. I have no doubt that he will be able to offer when the wubba is out too, he picked all of this up REALLY quickly!!!
Nice work!
Tracy
