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Hi!
She is looking good! You have good toy play going on here and I really like the “Gimme” to hand! Woot! The session might have been a little long and that is why she lost the gimme a bit towards the end of the first part? Brain fatigue is a real thing 🙂 The toys look to be of equal value – you might be a little more right-handed dominant in this video so just be sure to tug with your left a lot too (something I need to pay attention to as well!)The food session towards the end of the clip went well… not surprisingly for a BC, food is interesting and even with the hand touches and high rate of success she kinda loses a bit of excitement for it (note how she looked away there, when she didn’t look away at all in the toy sessions even with Hoot moving around). There wasn’t much else going on but the food can definitely be more exciting, here are some ideas:
Reward with the food with the same level of giddy-up as you do with the toy: verbal excitement and moving so she has to chase the food a bit. You were quiet and in precision mode with the treats here – I like that for a shaping session but to build excitement into food, you can use it just like a toy (party time!). You should be sweaty after using food in play 🙂>>if I ask for a sit at the door she will take one cookie then she will wait for a release. She will not take more food.
My dogs say to that you should not ask for a sit at the door, problem solved. HA!! Just kidding 🙂 I think what you are seeing is a great indicator of internal state and will help us train through a common issue before it becomes an issue! So the indicator of internal state is that the possibility of release to go through the door is so exciting/arousing that food is no longer a reinforcement, it isn’t interesting, maybe it is even a punisher at that point. So, we need to raise the value of food and also help her be able to eat the food when faced with a super stimulating distraction.
You can start at the door with incredibly high value food – steak! Cheese! Portion of a meal! Beer! (Oh wait, that is for you). Most of us use low value food treats for door behavior but a really high value food might be a good helper here.
To raise the food value – pair relatively medium or low value food with super great tug toys, in low to medium stimulation settings (such as shaping something really easy). 2 things will happen: The food will get paired with the toy in a situation (work) where she is likely to accept the food, therefore raising the value of the food. And we introduce the concept of “eat while you are excited by the possibilities ahead” – the excitement of offering behavior and the visible tuggie are a good start to this.
Then, add the concept of “eat in the presence of something really stimulating” to toy play: have low value food, high value food, and a couple of great tug toys. Can she eat treats while the tug toy is on the ground and she is about to be released to it? Can she eat while you are swinging or dangling the toy? Can she eat after you have thrown the toy? (You might need to have her on leash :))
Criteria: Swallow. Not just put it in mouth – swallow. Then you can reward with release to the toy or another toy on you or the super high value treat. And she is likely to be able to do one treat, so criteria might include 2 cookies 🙂And at the door, start her further away so she is less stimulated. You can also lower stimulation level by not having the other dogs around (she might be predicting that they will run or she will get to chase them). Start as far away as needed so she eat 2 treats 🙂 You can have her do a sit on a mat away from the door.
You can also desensitize the door sitting by ‘unpairing’ it from the release to go through it. She can still do a sit near the door 10 times a day, but 8 of those times do not involve the door opening or the release through it.
It is a great concept to work through now, so we can have strong control of food as a reinforcement when things get really exciting in agility!
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi Christine!
For daily life with restrained recalls, if you don’t have a helper, you can do cookie recalls 🙂 That is where you hold the pup and toss a cookie into the corner of a room or 10 feet away on the grass or rug. Be sure the pup sees the cookie – then let her go and tell her to get the cookie. As she is heading for the cookie, you can start creeping away the other direction and when she eats the cookie (let her swallow it LOL!) then you can call her and ruuuuun! Then reward the recall. Use cookies that are easy to swallow 🙂
If you have grippy surfaces like carpet, you can do this in and out of different rooms in the house.
I also highly recommend recall field trips, just to find random helpers for restrained recalls. You can go to the vet office or local pet supply store or dog-friendly café – ask a kind stranger to hold the pup for a moment and do a short recall. It is a great socialization tool also, because it teaches the pup that people are cool and that you can also ignore the people and run to Da Momma 🙂
Tracy
Hellooooo! I am just going to call her PTG (Pop Tart Gilley) LOL! Terriers are a little different than, say, BCs hahaha but you will love every moment of it! I am looking forward to more about PTG. And best of luck at EOTT, we are cheering for ya!
Tracy
Hello and welcome! What is the pup’s name? Bonnie did MaxPup work with Edward when he was a pupster too 🙂 Keep us posted if you have any questions about how to work through this online class stuff 🙂 And have fun!
TracyHello and welcome to you and Demi! It will be super fun to see her, she is a perfect age to get started with *all the things* 🙂 Yay!!!!
Tracy
Hello Amy and Clover! This will be great fun to see her blossom 🙂 I do think there are some differences between girl puppies and boy puppies, and definitely differences between breeds!! I am looking forward to your videos!
Tracy
Good morning!
These are good – they are more in the category of reminders for your routines and run reminders, so we can tweak them a bit to make them into more forceful affirmations.>>I will continue to find and visualize the good from a run – there is always something good to remember – it’s what keeps me coming back for more.
can be something like:
Today I am brilliant at finding the positive in each run>>I will wait until Monday to analyse what went wrong, only positive thoughts on trial days
can be something like:
I am a positive partner to my dog and fellow competitors on trial days>>I will do my best to avoid letting him know about mistakes, I accept that I probably own 100% of the mistakes and the no’s, damns sighs and other expletive’s coming out of my mouth are probably doing nothing to help him with his confidence – they are hard to control though.
into
I always look forward in each run and let go of any bobble immediately>>I will avoid celebrating until we are done done with a run. I continue to visualize me shouting you did it while he was on his way to the finish jump, seeing him look look back at me and then taking down the finish bar.
ha! Don’t visualize the error 🙂 Visualize you running hard all the way to the leash then celebrating. The affirmation can be something like
I will add the leash as the last obstacle and drive all the way to it.T
Good morning!
>>EX: jump hard turn to weaves but a Tunnel is facing the jump before the weaves.
scene: Tanner takes jump turns to weaves enters correctly but pops out of weave 4.
run reminders: ( hard turn, pause )or Tanner LUVS tunnels I need to Turn hard pause for a couple sec as I go forward to the weaves.
Performance Goal :Tanner not taking tunnel and just entering weaves ( turn, entering and completing weaves)>>Bearing in mind that performance goals are *your* performance (and not his), I would tweak this to be a performance goal if timely cuing of the turn to get the weaves in view and take out the tunnel possibility. That is a performance goal specific to that course.
A general performance goal (run reminder) can be staying patient while enters the weaves, don’t rush, be stationary until he is entered and has made the bend back to the next pole, then moving forward.
>>Outcome Goal: Tanner turns
paused long enough for Tanner to realize we are turning and enters weaves correctly Both outcome goals were achieved !! while at the same time other areas were not and that is what we need to continue to work on in Training : instead of handler racing him to weaves ( to make sure he see’s the entrance) Handler needs to trust dog & training Then should have slowed down my momentum and steps. So Tanner will slow down enough to get his backend positioned better to be able to stay in the weaves to complete them.Yes – keep working in training so you don’t have to slow down to help him get in. But the run reminder of “be patient an let him enter the poles before moving forward” can stay on the list as you train him to fluency.
>>Periodization: I never knew there was a word to what I did before we left for natls but this is very close to what I would do. Especially the week of natls ( packing car, traveling ect) Toby would not do any agility 7 days before natls. I always thought this was the time for him to just be a dog has much as he could especially with us traveling on a few of those day. Appreciate you adding this in definitely can do further research on it.
Yes! And periodization should allow for rest. No last minute cramming needed 🙂 But rest is important!
Keep up the good work!!!
Tracy
Hi! This is a great update! I think the number 1 tool right now if going to be planning at the speed of Tessa 🙂 Your FAST run experience really brought it home – your plans are good but then we need to add in her speed (especially how quickly she will get out of tunnels).
Try to overestimate her speed for now – practice things where she is going faster than a living creature can actually go 🙂 I think this might actually help you feel like you have time to get things done on course, because decisions will be based on her immense speed (and yes, rear crossing is a very good thing to work on with her!)>> During my last JWW run, a lovely, flowing, Sunday “everybody goes home with a green ribbon” course,
I have found that when you run a powerhouse like Tessa or my Voodoo, there is no such thing as an “everybody goes home with a green ribbon” course 🙂 Every course is a game of inches at a zillion miles per hour, win it all or blow up trying 🙂 So fun!
T
Good morning!
Really good stuff and lots of detail in your routines here!
Some thoughts & ideas for you:>>I try to feed the dogs but on trial morning my dogs are to excited to eat so they don’t. Even special delicious breakfast will not be eaten. I do try to get them to eat some extra cheese or other treats frequently during the day.
hmmmm, this is interesting! I definitely want my dogs to eat something to help power their brains and bodies – it is easy to get terriers and papillons to eat (piggies!) but much harder with BCs. Can you try getting them to eat first thing before they figure out it is a trial (if you are at home?) . Or maybe do a shaping session with a bit of breakfast as reward? I would think that eating a good breakfast is as important for the dogs’ physical and mental endurance as it is for our physical and mental endurance 🙂
And I agree with the concept of a good warm up being 10 to 15 minutes long – I have gotten the same advice from the professionals. It starts with walking, then trotting, then active stretching, then builds to explosive behaviors right at the end before the run.
>>Working on the dog’s mental warm up is something I really need. Normally I ask for a right/left, sits and downs. But I don’t think this is enough.
Yes, you might need to expand the toolbox to whip other things out. You can add tricks like paw lifts, barking in cue, backing up, chin holds, etc – this tricks offer a variety of ways to help focus the dogs.
>>Depending on who is ringside with me, I am usually trying to calm down Rolex.
You can do precision tricks for him (paw lifts or chin holds) as he will have to center himself to be correct. Or you can experiment with letting him alternate between precision tricks and wild releases to see if you can find the balance. My highest dogs needed this balance of a bit of precision and a bit of go-wild to get the right focus in the ring.
>>Psychic I need to keep his nose off of the ground. So their mental warm up is different.
Sniffing might be his way of coping with the excitement/pressure of the environment, so you can build in tricks alternating with permission to sniff and see how he does. My oldest dog, Export, would almost always sniff at the start line for a moment as we were moving in. I allowed it, and mixed in some tricks so I could help him be ready. He was great about being focused on course!
>>Prior to entering the ring I connect strongly with my dog. One relaxing technique that a vet told me about is stroking the dog from the top of their head to their tail set as this has a calming effect.
The dog will tell you if it indeed has a calming effect LOL!!! There is no real science on that, so it is purely based on the likes/dislikes of each individual. I have seen MANY dogs (especially BCs) really hate this LOL! They are fully focused on the work ahead and are kind of like, “dude, why are you touching me?!?!?!” I am like a BC in that way – if I am about to go into the ring and someone comes up and starts stroking my back, I would shy away from it too haha! So when you do it, watch the dog’s reaction – does he lean into it? Or does he crouch away?
>>When entering the ring, I ask the dog to sit and wait as I enter the ring first. I head directly to our set up mark, ask for a sit while I remove his collar, if we have a tunnel first I mark the tunnel and tell the dog to stay as I move to where I want to be to start our run. While leaving my dog I always talk with the dog as I feel this keeps our communication going.
>>After our run we celebrate and take a walk while I mentally review our run. After the dog has been rewarded and cooled down I put them back in the crate. As soon as I can I like to review our video looking for things we did well and things that I need to set up and work next week.These are both really good!!
TracyHi Nelci!
These are very good agility-specific affirmations! I suggest you also have general affirmations, not related to agility handling 🙂 Base these off of things that might make you nervous or things you are not confident of. The handling affirmations are good, but try to balance with affirmations that can pump you up and have nothing to do with handling.
Looking forward to your thoughts from the UKI trial!T
Hello and welcome to the Aussie-fest LOL! Looking forward to meeting Spot!!!!
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https://en.gravatar.com/support/activating-your-account/Has it really been 6 YEARS??? Wow! Welcome back! I am looking forward to seeing sweet baby Voltie in action!!!
T
