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Good morning! Lots of great ring crew help here!
>Then to what you see here – he did pretty good in ignoring the RC so long as they sat still – motion is still real hard for him to ignore>
He ran the first course great, ignoring the “judge” and the ring crew. This scenario with the ring crew not moving seems ready for you to have empty hands (I think the lotus ball was in your hand) and maybe before he enters the building, you can hide treats around the ring so you can surprise him with rewards during the run. That can help with the transition to having no treats in the ring/
As you mentioned, he had a harder time with the moving ring crew. He has had a lot of experience with the judge (and your instructor) moving, so that seemed kind of easy for him. The moving ring crew was weirder for sure! So that scenario can still have the lotus ball visible. And you can also have the person keep moving if he goes to see them, rather than stopping. That way he learns to ignore movement, rather than learns that visiting them gets them to stop moving. So the ring crew person can just slowly keep moving around the perimeter of the ring 🙂
>Another round – had some struggles with the DW tunnel discrimination – something else to add to the list of things to work on.>
That is a hard discrimination! You can try using the outside arm (like an old-school threadle arm, pointing to his nose across your body). That can help pull him in while you stay in motion.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
This sounds like a good plan! Taking it easy to let his body bounce back is great. Ideally, he feels perfect 🙂 when he next does agility, so there is no pain association with doing agility. And a fitness program is good idea when he is feeling back to normal 🙂
Keep me posted!
TracyGood morning!
The class videos are looking strong!!
She found the backside really well at :45 but was not quite ready for the countermotion. Looking at the landing spot like you did on the reps after that as you push through can help support her. But also teach the desired coutnermotion/disconnect by tossing cheese behind you to the landing spot as you run through, without looking at her 🙂>I don’t think she even flicked her eyes at the leash on the ground when we ran by it at the end.>
She wa great! There were random toy throws which were great fun but she ignored the leash and the exit til it was time to leash up and exit 🙂
>Did some pattern games on my shoes while I waited for the pair of Malinois to leave (married couple and they were working on some plank stuff together). I think this may have been the first time that she barked while I was leading out. >
It was a nice distraction and she did really well!! And she was on fire in the run, really driving hard. Love it! The lines looked good including the backside. She is doing some grown up stuff!!
>In regards to the pre-run routine at Jacque’s seminar, we ended up going first so it was rushed. >
That is actually a good thing to do sometimes, because that is likely to happen at a trial. So it is definitely good to rehearse sometimes.
>Since the line up the first time into the ring has been more challenging, I am thinking that for her first run, I ask for tricks on leash as we are heading to the line, take the leash off, ask for another trick (bark or spin) and then run off the start. >
That is a good plan, especially if you think the environment is challenging. If she seems completely relaxed about it, you can switch to using for a sit.
>Then toss empty toy and cue happy hour for the food box. Run back out for a 2nd rep, ask for a sit & leadout, mini sequence, toss toy, leash and out.>
Perfect!
> If the first run goes well, I may ask for a lead out right away for the 2nd run. >
Also perfect!
> If sitting is just too hard, then I think I’ll ask for a spin, run off the start, toss toy and out.>
Give her a few seconds to process the sit cue… there might be a delay of several seconds in the harder environment 🙂 So you can cue it then wait and see if she gets into the sit several seconds later.
>Do you think she might be ready for an empty hands in and out run? >
Yes, I think that is entirely possible, maybe the 2nd or 3rd run. She will tell you how she is feeling about the environment.
This is all great! They are instructors with excellent reputations and good trial opportunities! With running speeds takes in the Classic as a goal, you will want to see if she can do more without toys in the ring at local trials before then.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
I am so glad she is doing well in the chaos of the class! Bummer about coming into season, but it sounds like she still has good things ahead.Looking at the videos: these are looking good – they are long sequences but she did super nicely!
The lead out on the first video looks great! She might have left the line early on the 2nd video? So definitely be sure to connect before you release and make sure she is still sitting 🙂
And she is definitely focused even though she has not been outside in a while. Your indoor work is transferring nicely!
>Yeah, I struggle with raising my arm too high.>
Yes, that was when the arm came up it was pulling your connection forward, ahead of her, so she couldn’t see it. That was causing her to jump up and ‘tag’ your arm. You can see it at :08 and :12 on the first vide for example (and a couple of other places). Then compare it to :11 on the 2nd video where your arm was down and she did not jump up – so smooth! So as the weather improves, you can run with something in your hand to help remind your arm to stay down 🙂
For a better line from 3 to 4, slice her to her left instead of wrap to the right as it sets a better line to 4. The same goes for the turn at :28 – slicing to the right (instead of wrapping) set up a smoother line at ;31 in the 2nd video, so she could just accelerate down the line. NICE!!
She had a question about the first tunnel and I think it was because it was slightly offset, so the go tunnel cue was not as clear to her. She might have needed a ‘get out’ or opposite arm, plus some convergence towards her to set up the line to the tunnel.
>Maybe why she took the tunnel the first time instead of the 12 backside. >
That was so close to getting it on the first rep! You had a step or two of convergence into the backside at :34 and that is what pinged her off the line to the tunnel.
On the 2nd video, you turned and ran directly to the backside line and she had no questions – perfect!!Great job here! Fingers crossed for continued good weather so you can keep training outside!
Tracy
Hi!
He did well with the run here!!!
>Question – is he making a connection with ignoring the ring crew here or is it all about the obstacle performance in his head?>
Yes, I don’t think the presence of the ring crew person can be separated from the contact, in terms of what he was processing. Plus, watching his head on the start line – he appeared to notice her and was actively looking at her…. But ignored her. YAY!! That was a big success!!
And ignored her later on when you did a FC on that jump (and a blind on the next rep) and turned away from the frame – he ignored her again. All good!!!
One thing to add to your classes and training: See if you can move him around the ring without holding his collar or turning him by the collar. When you are going to the start line, or resetting for the next rep: do it hands-free 😁 Let him move with you without you holding him. And you can reward of course for him deciding to come with you. That will help teach him to stick with you in the ring and you won’t rely on holding his collar as much (or at all!)
>DW to weaves in this session -he had full view of the yappy PWD out of its crate straight ahead of him – no gate to stop him from visiting – he did great here – a proud dad moment!!>
Yay! And there was a big barking explosion at one point and he stuck with you. GOOD BOY!
>So do I do a few more sessions keeping it easy and successful like this or do I figure out how to make it more distracting?>
I think the key for Coal is not more distracting… it is about making it different. It is the weird/new/different things that cause him to investigate. So it doesn’t have to be more people, for example, it just has to be someone in an unexpected place. And you can also add some deliberate find my face moments: you stop and look lost, then reward him for sticking with you 🙂
>my best shot at recruiting some ring crew. Any value from my RC here?>
Yes! It was new and different and maybe a little weird LOL!!! You can have it off to the side to tempt him to leave you investigate it. Anything new and different will be useful in that respect. He did really well here so you can change things up after each rep or two (like put it in a different spot or put something new/different out there too).
>I’ll have a chance to work with some live people – my thought was set up RC sitting behind tunnel sent to tunnel – reward success>
Yes – the ring crew behind tunnels seem to be his hardest thing at the moment (other than kids as leash runners) so I think that is a great plan!
>1 jump send to tunnel reward success 2 jumps – send to tunnel reward success>
Yes – and keep handling and moving away til he catches up to you (especially if he wants to investigate the person) then reward.
Nice work here! Keep me posted!
TracyGood morning! Or is it afternoon now? LOL!
>also tyre was the last obstacle- although she knows it a little it is still a gap and she misses if any question. need to create a look alike tyre at home so becomes normal.>
You can buy pool noodles (not sure what they are called in NZ :)) and make a tyre. Or a small bicycle tyre? Just wrap it with tape so she doesn’t get a paw caught in it.
>She definitely relised this weekend that lead coming off means we are about to run and she got very skirmy when we were still waiting. >
Yes – context cues. Leash off…. GAME ON! So you can keep working on leash off, do more tricks, might be a delay. She will get more patient as she gets more experienced.
>lesson now need to keep her on lead until previous dog is almost finishing.>
Yes but that might strengthen the unintentional context cue. So make it more variable: sometimes yes, the leash comes off when the previous dog is almost done. But sometimes to comes off earlier and she does some tricks, or you pick her up. Start with short duration and then build it up – it can sometimes be 60 seconds of waiting on the line!
>Agility people funny. My rea friends were more excited about Fusions ribbon as they are hard to get. >
Ha! Yes, they know how hard you have worked with Fusion!
>Other people suddenly want to talk to me because we have an amazing dog- that suddenly means I am a good trainer as opposed to a shit trainer… I find this funny.>
It is funny! They will be very friendly at this stage, early in her career. Then when she starts winning a lot at the higher levels? They might be less friendly. People are odd like that!
> Others just commented how lucky I am to have such a biddable easy to train little dog – I just sniggered – biddable she is not …>
That almost made me choke on my coffee…. She is a lovely dog but I agree, I am not sure I would call her biddable. She has BIG opinions LOL! And also, because of her tiny size and immense speed, I wouldn’t say she is easy to train. Speed makes things hard, and small dogs are harder for us to see on course, plus she has to learn to drive big distance. Slow, medium sized dogs are much easier sometimes 🙂
>I find her harder to train than my other dogs- perhaps because she is small and feisty. But she is easier to run than Fusion. Although she has a similar commitment point to Fusion I can pull her off whereas Fusion once she is fixed she is hard to change.>
Possibly this is due to a difference in foundations. The training has evolved a lot even in the few years since Fusion was a wee puppy.
>see too many people here micromanaging the little dogs to get tight lines and this slows dogs down in that they dont drive their lines.>
I agree about this! And I don’t think she would slow down… I think she would get very frustrated. She seems to really enjoy driving the big lines and working independently.
>This weekend only two jumpers and rest have weaves so fewer runs and training runs only. hen several weeks to teach weaves, contacts tyres need to start on serps, threadles and backsdes >
Perfect! Make a priority list: weaves and tyre and contacts are at the top. Serps are next – then threadles/backside are just below them on the list.
>In case we win out by accident ( I like seconds…) but think sshe will be easy to teach the handling as already done alot of it.>
On the higher level courses, are there more turns? That might actually be easier to handle with her, in some ways.
>PS she is the size of a larger pap so runs in the lowest height class here.- always had dogs in the highest height class before with Fusion being my smallest dogprior>
Yes – I think she is the same height as my Pap, Nacho – but she is much much faster than he was in agility. My BorderPap (with a bit of Whippet in her) is about 375mm tall.
Keep me posted!
TracyGood morning!
>He did quite well this past weekend at the UKI trial. It was a very busy and crowded environment and it was pouring rain most of the time so it was difficult to walk a lot outside.>
I agree – he did great!! Yay! McCann’s is a nice place and the footing looked good too.
>In our first Standard run I layered a jump as he went from tunnel to tunnel and he came in and took the jump. I need to remember to support him more at trials than I do in training>
It is definitely a hard layer right at the beginning of the course – momentum helps layering so doing it at the start is hard especially when the tunnel was so offset under the DW. Plus, I think the second tunnel was a little offset too and not a straight line, so it was hard for him to see. What happened was that you ended up getting in a little too deep to the dog walk and had to decel and pull away laterally – he saw that as a turn cue to exit the tunnel towards you, to the jump.
You can set that layering by leading out less forward and more lateral – so he sees forward motion the whole time and no turn cues.
>I didn’t layer the next run and he easily went tunnel to tunnel.>
Yes – your motion cued extension on the exit of the first tunnel and then you converged a bit to the next tunnel, and it worked perfectly!
>He missed his contact and jumped off the a frame while he was looking at me. He also slipped on the teeter, very unusual for him. >
He might have needed to see more connection on the frame and teeter in those moments – also in UKI, you can put a target on the ground (as long as it is not touching the obstacle) to help transfer his forward focus on the contacts into the trial ring. His dog walk looked really good!
Speaking of connection – in these early stages, you can add a little more direct connection to him as you run (less looking forward at the next line) – he was head checking a bit, looking for info. And when you were very connected? You had perfection!
>He left his start line to go behind him to see a female dog that had come up behind us too closely.I had to drag him back to the ring as he wouldn’t come. He did hold his start the second time but he was over aroused and so was I, lol, so our connection wasn’t great. Some parts were okay but on the whole not great.>
One thing you can do if you lose him temporarily to a distraction before entering the ring is to do some tricks and volume dial game, or even just tugging on the leash. (Plus, UKI allows a toy in the ring even on real runs :)) That will get his engagement back to you and off whatever cute girl dogs he is thinking about 🙂
And if a run goes sideways – I take it as a cue to give the dog bigger connection and keep going. That way I settle down 🙂 and also the dog doesn’t get frustrated. He was jumping up a bit when you were fixing things, so try to keep moving and pick up the line with more connection.
>Our third Speedstakes run was much better. I asked the gate steward to keep the dog behind us back until we got started. This helped me to know that he wasn’t going to go visit. Although the leash runner picked up the leash as I was lining him up and he went to visit her but came back when I asked.>
These are fun things to add to class! You can enlist classmates to be up close as leash runners and have other dogs out behind him. It is a pretty normal part of the learning curve when young dogs learn to ignore the trial distractions.
>He entered and did most of the poles before missing one so I just continued on. We will continue to train these.>
Yes, the weaves were hard for him here – the weaves were moving away from the next line so maybe it was a weird visual for him. That is a pretty normal young dog question so you can set some of that up and throw rewards at the end (and can do this in NFC in UKI too!)
The Speedstakes run was a great example of driving the lines and maintaining connection – gorgeous! Really super run. The tunnel sends were great and that skill really helped set up all of the jumping lines!
>I managed him from his crate in the other building into the agility building and ring carefully with lots of pattern games and simple tricks to keep him focused on me as you taught us in the course. >
Awesome! As he gets more experienced, you can dial up or dial down different levels of intensity, to see what helps him most in the ring.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I use the hoop and target ON the dogwalk so I’ll just plan to skip that. >
One thing that I did with my RDW training was as I wa fading the targets that were on the DW, I didn’t remove them – instead, I faded them into smaller things and moved them further and further from the dog walk. So the mat they used became a 2 in wide/10 inch long white plastic thing that was on the ground 10 feet from the bottom of the dog walk. That was a target I could bring into the UKI ring to transition the DW into competition – and also super easy to fade as I added more obstacles. I think that would be pretty easy to show Reacher too! (Believe me when I say I didn’t put a lot of effort into it hahaha)
>Here’s a video from class last night. I tried the opening sequence two different ways; I think he liked the blind cross better. >
Both reps looked fabulous! He really exploded off the line and ran hard! Love it! The only way to know which one he liked better is to time the sequences. So I did! I timed from the feet landing at the first jump to the feet landing at the jump after the tunnel in the back of the ring (before the weaves). The 2nd run (blind cross) was faster by about half a second! So yes, the blind cross was the winner here. We can keep track of that stuff to see if it is a consistent trend – I bet it will be.
He was GREAT with the weave entries, WOWZA! Because on this particular course there was no place to go after the weaves in terms of driving ahead of him – the best option was to stick with him. But that doesn’t draw as much speed from the weaves as if you were running hard, so one thing you can play with in class is either rear crossing the entry or keeping him on your right and blind crossing the exit. Both of those options will cause you to have to hustle to get ahead of him. And that handler hustle gets more speed in the weaves.
Sticking with him in the early stages of bringing the weaves into the trial ring is definitely the right thing, no need to get fancy with the weaves yet 🙂
>Also, I might have to stop rewarding so much after the weaves because I think on one of the rounds here he was fully expecting to get the toy and then was surprised when I just went on.>
Ha! Yes, the party after the weaves was really big but to prevent him from wondering where the reward is, you can be variable: sometimes the party is for the weaves, sometimes it comes after the next jump, sometimes it is a few obstacles later, etc. The cue to continue becomes part of the reinforcement as they get more experience weaving in sequences.
Your connection looked really good here and the lines you ran were also super clear. Only one handling suggestion is on the threadle: you can open up your arm more back towards him (instead of closing your shoulder forward). That will get your shoulders rotating back towards him, which is a more visible cue as you run.
Great job here! I am guessing today and tomorrow are relatively quiet ‘normal life’ days for him, to be ready for the trial. I am looking forward to hearing about it!
Tracy
Hi!
>Update Dr McCall saw Knight this morning. His right side/hip area quite tight. Since this was an intense adjustment, she does not want him to do any agility for the next 2 to 3 days so the adjustment can integrate. Minor adjustment in the back area. When he gaited after the adjustment for Dr. McCall, I could just tell he was moving more freely.>
I am glad Dr. McCall found this! And it is normal that the chiro vets want the dog to have a few days off so the adjustment holds.
>I will make a decision if I want to do CPE speedway run through on Saturday or just wait until class on Sunday with Joel.>
Since he had some big stuff going on, I would wait as long as possible and when he does go back into the ring, have a ton of treats and do jumps without bars. No tunnels (he could slip!), no contacts (hard on the body, especially the a-frame and teeter) and no weaves (too much bending). That way he can move safely while his body recovers a bit more. Then see if you can have him seen again before doing ‘real’ agility – we don’t want him to feel any pain and have that associated with agility.
Keep me posted!
TracyHi!
>I’m happy to report that we got into the UKI trial at OTR this weekend off the waitlist, so I’m excited to try some contacts and weaves at a trial for the first time (probably not both in the same course though).>
Super!!!!
>So, I guess I need a plan! I will probably skip the dog walk because I don’t want to do it without a hoop or target without some more practice at home first,>
You can use targets and hoops in UKI NFC as long as they are not on/over/touching the obstacle. Where is the hoop placed for Reacher – on the ground past the dog walk? If so, you can totally use it. Same with the target – if it is on the ground past the dog walk, it can be used. You cna have someone run in and set them up as you enter the ring.
If not, and the hoop & target are on or over the dog walk, they can’t be used, so stick with the plan to skip the dog walk.
> but I think he’ can do the A-frame and teeter in agility.>
Yes! Has he seen an a-frame with a tunnel under it?
>Then I thought I’d try some weaves in something too.>
Yes!
And with both of these… if he surprises you and says he *can’t* do the contacts or weaves for whatever reason and you have asked once or twice… you can move along and do other stuff 🙂
>Plan is for all NFC and I’m not sure how big their food box is so will probably just go for the toy with lots of big rewards outside. Other ideas for a good plan for Reacher?>
The fod box is probably about 5′ x 5′ approximately. But if he likes the toy, that is probably much easier and faster (has he seen the fur-on-a-rope lately LOL)
>. Came in the mail right before I left for class so I brought it and he LOVED it! I think I’ll put it away until the trial this weekend and try it out there. Will get some video up from class tonight probably tomorrow or Wed.>
Yes! Keep that toy hidden til the trial – FUN!!!!!
>And I guess I have a UKI question…this was in my trial letter and I guess I’m wondering how do I know if I have a “real” temporary measurement or not?
If a dog is under 3 and newly registered, a temporary measure or proof of the dog’s height must be done by the dog’s 3rd trial. A permanent measure must be obtained by a UKI official measurer between 12-18 months after the dog’s first/ temporary measure. Any registered dog that only has a temporary measure, must follow the above rule. If a newly registered dog is over 3, they must obtain a measure by an official UKI measurer by their 3rd trial and this measurement will be permanent.>I believe he does *not* need to be measured because he has a temp measurement. When he is 3, you will need to get one more measurement. Julie Heller will give you the exact answer but I think you don’t need it at this trial.
Keep me posted on how he does!
TracyHi!
He did great here! Tons of focus and speed, what a good boy!!!!!! Very nice!!! And his line understanding and commitment is looking really good: that allowed you to try a variety of handling options. That included a ton of blinds with great connection on the exit, so he had really good lines and a lot of speed. SUPER!!! Your connection was also really strong for most of it, and that helped a ton too.A couple of things to remember as you are working him in a seminar or class:
Assume all errors are handler errors 🙂 and reward him! There were moments in each turn when there was a handler blooper and you turned your back on him to talk to the instructor and didn’t reward him. When there is a stop in the action, reward heartily then figure out what went wrong.
One of the things I do to test if it was a handling error is if I make a handling adjustment and the dog gets it right? Then yes, it was a handling error LOL!! So resist the temptation to mark anything with an oops or withhold reward, and get the cookies to him as if he was correct (because he was :)) You might not realize what happened in the moment but the video is good about telling us what went wrong 🙂
At the start line, you play a bit of ‘leash off, engagement on’ and don’t hold him when the leash comes off. If he stays engaged: big party!
And since he was excited to play (yay!), be sure to reward and maintain the stays, he was leaving the start a bit early on the first video 🙂
Since we were talking about context cues last night – be careful that the belly band doesn’t become a context cue for training (reward in the ring) versus trialing (no reward in the ring). Since he was being so great here, you can try runs without the belly band so it doesn’t become a context cue at all.
Great job here! I am really excited to see how brilliant he was!!!!
Tracy
Thank you for the update! A break is good, especially since you still had crappy weather. She had a busy few weeks so a break was well-earned 🙂
> She got her first chiro adjustment this past Friday and then had her first massage on Saturday. I didn’t realize it but I asked my massage person if she did trigger point and she said that’s part of the massage. So I didn’t realize they were basically the same thing lol. >
I am glad she is all tuned up! Did they find any tight spots or spots that were out? Not every massage person does trigger point, so I am glad your massage person does it!
Keep me posted on how she does at CSZ – that is a great facility with nice people and lovely footing too!
Tracy
Hi!
>On a positive note, I was real happy with his general demeanor all day – calm, ignored the other dogs, good volume dial games outside the ring >
Yay! That is super! I see good things happening in the ring here too and he is improving thanks to what you are working on!
>which unfortunately disappear when we go thru the gate.>
That is pretty normal, a lot of dogs go into ‘all business’ mode. So the trick is to get to the line then get him off the line as fast as possible, staying connected and talking to him (don’t disconnect as you walk away or take too long to release him).
> under 30 dogs – and only 115 miles away LOL!>
Ha! 115 miles away, the crazy things we do for our dogs 🙂
>Run #1 – the scorer caught his attention while he was on the DW – he did recover and did pass the corner ring crew – a rewardable event but we were 120′ away from the food box – should I have thrown his ball in the direction of the box and just kept running to it?>
The scorer caught my eye too – I was like “wait, what is that over by the dog walk??” Honestly, it is a weird place to put people when inexperienced dogs are running. He definitely noticed (I can relate, Coal!!) but good for him for recovering and carrying on. I think throwing the ball when he passed the ring crew in the back corner might have been too far from the food box, so carrying on with a fast & fun run was the best option.
> hindsight when he headed to the off course teeter, I should have gone with it, calling him off it led to “you don’t know what the heel you’re doing and I’m checking out. Did finish nicely here.>
Yes, he had trouble when you stopped and then I think there was some avoidance of the collar grab as you were moving towards him. So rather than stop – yes, you can try to go with it (he was on fire and the cue did look/sound like the cue to go to the teeter) or keep handling your invisible dog in the direction you want to go and he will catch up to you 🙂
He also gave us good info about the ending line of courses – he is anticipating that running towards the front of the ring means it might be time to go to the reward, so randomize it more in training: sometimes yes, finish at the front of the ring and go to the reward. And sometimes head down a line to the front of hte ring but then keep going and turn back towards the course. That way heading to the front of the ring does not become a context cue for being finished and going to the reward.
>Run #3 – lost him to the leash runner here – a very cute little 9 year old >
Ah yes, that is a hard distraction! He probably doesn’t get to see kids a lot and different things are things he needs to investigate (so in training, keep putting out those random different things).
>– hindsight I should have asked here to move down a bit so she wouldn’t be right in front of him. >
Next time that would probably be helpful. It is great to see kids in agility and they are great about not getting too close when asked.
>Did set him up for a nice ending – 3 jumps to reward – should have done that every run. My focus has to be building his confidence / impulse control or whatever his issue is. I know he’s got the skills and drive to do this- just need to figure out how to make it appear.>
Yes! He had a really strong ending here! And sometimes working in heading past the entry gate to keep going will help a lot – he said that was hard when he had to do it in the earlier runs.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
Great info from Lift on this first run!>Had some issues with focus on the startline at first
It was definitely hard for her to go right in without the reinforcement right there. This is where you can ask for barking on cue to direct her focus to you or keep asking for tricks before the leash off/line up moment, if you feel she is not fully engaged yet. Or if you take the leash off, and she is not fully engaged, more tricks before the line up.
Also, if you remember, what did you do outside the ring before she came in? We can look at that as a pre-run ritual moment and see if there are things we can tweak to help her – it seemed pretty trial-like!
>and this was exacerbated by the fact that OTR doesn’t allow you to throw food on their new turf (it has to be in a dish or a lotus ball)>
>At Fusion I would have started tossing treats for pattern games but my brain didn’t have a good plan on how to do that without throwing food. >Aha! This is also good info. When at Fusion, you can fade out the tossing treats in that moment as a regular occurrence – partially because we don’t want her to rely on it as a context cue, and partially because it is a tool you can’t use in other places (like OTR) or in a trial – definitely not inside the ring, and not in the tight quarters outside the ring.
But what you can do instead is the up and down game, placing the treat on your shoes 🙂 You can easily do that in tight quarters outside the ring and also you can do it on the turf at OTR. It has basically the same effect as the tossed treats 🙂
The sequence work ended up really nice and she was flying! Yes there was a late cue or two but you fixed that and she was happy to stay engaged and run hard.
2nd run – a little sniffy after the shake off at the start, so you can do a little more before asking for the sit in terms of volume dial stuff: maybe another spin when the leash comes off? Or barking or anything fast & fun 🙂
She did well with the big long lines here too – taking an extra step to 2 made you a little late after the tunnel but she was happy to keep working and didn’t give you any feedback LOL!! And yes, she was great about ignoring Jacque moving around – super!!!!
On the 3rd run – she got boingy and excited going all the way to the back but did well with the run! Yes, she was a little spicy on the lead out but as you mentioned – probably a little too long of a delay before the release.
I am definitely impressed with her wrap on the jump after the straight tunnel – especially after having gotten rewarded for going straight over that jump several times already! NICE!!!
>I might be able to bring her along to Kaladin’s Tuesday night class this week if there is space, but I am thinking about just giving her the week off from class and doing one 2×2 weave session instead. >
You can see how she feels about things on Tuesday. She seemed to have a grand time so might be recovered by Tuesday night, maybe to do one run? Or not, you can decide in the moment.
>She also got to go to a different class (run by Christina W!) last Thursday night.>
FUN!!!
> Had some really nice stuff there (including some great lateral leadouts) but we also had the opportunity to work through the “pushy leash runner” when it was a bit too much the first time and she turned to follow her instead of lining up. >
That is another spot you can ask for more before the line up (barks, more spins, etc). If the leash runner is too close (as they will be at a trial LOL) you can wait til they move away before asking for the line up.
>So I’m feeling like that was also a brain drain.>
Possibly! So if you do take her to class, make it easy and fun and no high level challenges with ring crew, remote reinforcement etc. Just make it a party 🙂
>She’s entered in 2 classes each day for the OTR UKI Trial next weekend (Meagan J is the judge.)>
That sounds great!!! I am looking forward to hearing how she does!!
Great job here 🙂
Tracy
