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Hi!
Hooray for people doing strange things LOL!!! She seemed pumped up but not concerned or distracted š
On the first video:
Thanks to regular exposure and reinforcement, she is so much better about ignoring the other person in the ring and so much more comfortable with running past them and staying on the line. YAY!! Her line finding and speed looked great here! Next step is to get some men involved because there are so many male judges in agility.
>I think she needed a shake/cued bark or a moment on my 3rd line-up.
Yes, possibly a slower transition into the sit, or asking for a trick or not trying a line up will all help. Leading out from the stand was not all that clear for her so she was engaged but moving with you.
It is not likely that you will get 3 runs in and out of the food box at a trial (NFC times are tight!) so getting that 3rd line up might be moot anyway š
She only had one question on the handling, where she took the front instead of the back at :38.
I thought you made good connection at :37 but possibly turned forward too much and she read it like a blind to the front of the jump. It was very subtle but she was convinced! Plus, the front of the jump has a lot more value right now so she is migrating to it a bit, which is a good thing for starting her trial career. On the 2nd video, it looked like you held the connection longer and better, but still got the front of the jump. I file that into the āseparate issueā category š and it is possible that her brain is processing the other 10,000 things happening in the environment and the backside cues did not really register (which is also fine and normal, because she was still choosing to do the agility and not worry about the environment).
2nd video: ah yes, that was a LOT at the start line. Poor Henry LOL!! But we do see and hear gate stewards like that. Since you had food with you, you can switch into a pattern game when you see her be like WTAF IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW when the gate steward is being crazy or anything weird is in the environment. If you are at the line and have no food, you can try asking for her to bark for you š
She was happy and fast here and the other distractions were no big deal at all.
Does she have anything this weekend, or is her Casey seminar and UKI trial in a couple of weeks?
Great job!
TracyHi!
It sounds like she did really well even with very hard challenges!
>the other part she couldnt get was a rear cross which was quite hard too. Most of less experienced dogs people got a blind in but with a hard send and then the turn I couldnt get there because she was smoking it.>
We should definitely emphasize rear crosses in her training – with her speed and low jump height, getting to blinds or fronts might be VERY challenging so rear crosses can be the winning choice!
>We got great drive between jumps and they were set like a competition, >
Super!
>shittery waits on a mat >
What is a āshitteryā wait? LOL!
>and amazing drive to her bag at the end.>
Also great!
She did really well on the video, finding the big lines with the big distance. It was hard to see everything but it looks like you were staying in motion and using your verbals. Your ending line was especially lovely! Things are coming together really nicely!
I will look on Facebook to find the tag.
For the trial, do the rules allow you to use her mat for a stay in the not for competition runs?
Great job :)āØ
TracyHi! This looked great! And it didn’t notice Snap sitting there watching til the 3rd time I watched it LOL! Since the reps all look this good, you can take this skill to the next step: adding the jump! This will allow you to add the serpentine and the threadle.
> Teeth must still be sore. Sheās just not tugging.>
She is definitely at the teething age! I noticed that she did tug well when you kept the toy low and moved it side to side (:13-:15 approx). When you lifted it up at the beginning of the tugging (or moved it up and down), or tried to smack her :), she didn’t grip as well. So definitely keep it low and moving ice to side so she can grip it and rock back.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
Fingers crossed for some snow melt in your early spring this week!!
>Yes, he has historically had a very difficult time lining up when there is a toy in the vicinity ā that was a know thing for me. At the end of the video, I decided to see if we had made any progress (this has been sitting for a while). And he did some terrific lineups with the throw toy out ahead of him. Now Iām having trouble with him going on his dead toy marker. Ha!
>Yes, arousal regulation is constantly shifting at this age in particular! That is part of why we jump right in and start teaching it so early š I think the cheese in your mouth might have been overriding his interest in the dead toy, plus he was watching for your movement (a bit of leaning). Could also be what happens after he gets the toy (the video cut all of this out). Ideally, after getting and bringing the toy, he gets a very fun tug session that is 2 or 3 times longer than the rep itself. If you were doing a short tug or not tug/trade for treat, the interest in getting the dead toy might be reduced in favor of sticking near the treats.
>In this session we did find your face. I did not think it would be too much of a problem for him given his personality ā heās too much sometimes with controlling his emotions (MOMMY!!!!). At the start, I felt like he was targeting my hands, so I put the cheese in my mouth. He really likes cheese.>
He did great here! And yes, cheese is delicious, I love it too š I am going to rename this to Find Any Part Of Me š¤£š. They donāt actually need to find our face for make eye contact, they can look at face/hands/feet/pockets, etcā¦ anything that is neither leaving us nor biting us š¤£š. Young male dogs start off with all the loving MOMMY MOMMY stuffā¦ but certain breeds can get bitey when frustrated (cough cough Mals and other hardy dogs) so this game heads that off by presenting an alternate behavior well before any frustration arises.
You can add praise to this before the search marker, and you can also do this with a toy (tugging before the cookie game to increase arousal, or tugging sometimes as the reward).
The spins went great! You will need more room to be able to stay in motion on these more, but the connection before and after looked really strong!
In the early part of the session look at him running right past the toy in your hand! That deteriorated a bit later (he had a grab moment or two) – I couldnāt hear a consistent reward marker for the toy in your hand, so use it as clearly as your wrap verbals were used. He seemed to be targeting off the toy when you stopped or when you turned it slightly sideways. For example, at 2:11 you said strike very quietly and after you stopped and turned the toy, so try to get the marker to be more prominent and happening before the physical cues.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>I guess the one thing that I can see about how Iāve seen it used is that for the visually stimulated herdy dogs, being asked to stay fully engaged with the handler and NOT watching would actually cause more frustration>
Outside the ring, I personally donāt ask for full engagement for extended periods – the full engagement gets turned on pretty much before the run. Outside the ring, the difference is that the engaged chill is looking around, soft eyes/expression, moving around, checking in with me, looking at the ring for a moment, maybe saying hi to people we know or dog friends, relaxed body language, relaxed breathing, no barking LOL For me, this is different from actively watching the ring. The full engagement (sustained attentional state) gets turned on as we are moving into the ring.
> the level of arousal the handler would have to provide in order to compete with the movement would wind up increasing the arousal too far and certainly be annoying for others ringside and fatiguing for all.>
I have not had an issue with that, because watching the ring is for any length of time is not something my dogs will do (thanks to training, not lack of interest LOL!). So they are excited and they will look at the ringā¦ but they donāt actively watch it or get over-aroused by it. The arousal level doesnāt not overshoot optimal (or get anywhere near optimal for the run, when we are waiting) so I donāt need to do a whole lot to then optimize the arousal.
> So itās used as sort of a replacement for engaged chill. If you can āchillā and be disengaged, but still engage when I need you, you can watch.>
I guess it is about how you define āwatchā. Look at, then look at me, or at other things? Ok then. Watch for prolonged periods (20 seconds can be prolonged in a high arousal dog sport!) without check in with me or looking at other things? That can tip things the wrong direction. A lot of folks use watching the ring as a way of babysitting the dogs outside the ring š and it very often tips arousal the wrong direction.
> The reason I called it a reinforcer is more when itās used as a premack- engage with me, take a cookie (which the dog would likely not find reinforcing around that kind of movement) and I will release you back to your agility tv. >
Premack and reinforcement in general do not operate in a vacuum though, so the agility tv is likely to be hacking the arousal systems (HPA axis) and potentially the dopamine systems – so then we get undesired behavior in the run and over the course of the day/weekend. I guess you can say that I am not a fan of agility tv (or flyball tv LOL)
>I HAVE used a similar version of this with my 3 year old while hiking. He had a tendency to be a screaming maniac (can we see a theme here?) at the slightest rustle of leaves that might signal a critter to be chased. Asking him to fully engage with me (heads up heeling, doing tricks, pattern game, etc) would be exhausting to do on an entire hike and āengaged chillā (in this instance, just walking with me on a loose leash when the critter is present, he does do a version of engaged chill for most of the walk when no critter is present which is mooch along sniffing the ground on his long line) is just not possible. >
The context is very different though, different bandwidth needed, different outcomes – you donāt need any high level engagement in terms of cue response or optimized arousal state for āworkā in that context. And then at the end of the hike, he is probably happily depleted š and that is often the goal, physiologically.
> When engaged chill isnāt going to happen and full engagement isnāt totally appropriate either? >
That is the thing we need to teach for dog sports so the dog is prepared: when to be relatively chill outside the ring (engaged chill and ācalmā are not the same LOL) and when to move into full engagement. This is a combination of shifting attentional states and shifting arousal states (linked but not the same – one is processing, one is physiological). Many folks bring dogs into the trial environment without teaching the dogs how to handle themselves outside the ring. That is actually the first thing I teach the dogs š and it makes transitioning them into the competition ring sooooo much easier.
Tracy
Hi!
Yes, the snow is ANNOYING it can go away now LOL!!!
I think the JWW run went really well!
>I was hoping youād be able to see us playing the pattern games and volume dial game before the run, but most of itās off camera. You can see the very end of the up-down game before we go in. >
Yes, that looked good!!
> I stood in the ring way too long and made her wait. >
I donāt think it was a problem for Katniss, but yes, it probably felt like ages LOL! When you have a height change, you donāt need to go in until they are at least halfway done (especially at the end of the day when everyone is tired and moving slowly :))
>Otherwise, I would have at least asked for some easy behaviors or played with her toy with her while we waited. >
You can make it a habit to always go in interacting with her – toy for NFC, or leash tugging, or even just talking to her.
>I was super happy with her forward focus to the tunnel; she was looking at it before I ever turned around to see her on the start line. She did turn her head to face me before I released her, but she had already told me she knew what the first obstacle was.>
She did great with that, and also great holding the super long lead out!
> I turned a little too early on the tunnel entry, but I was able to turn her and get her back in there pretty easily. >
That was such a weird opening for novice dogs (ok for all dogs LOL). I mean, that 2nd tunnel was really offset from the line The other option would be to get her on your left for 2-3 then rear cross that tunnel. But that is icky too. Bleh.
>However, that put me behind where I thought Iād be for the line after the weaves since I was skipping those and trying to get to the next jump. I was also completely shocked that she hit her weave entry, haha! >
Ha! She says she is ready for weaves to be in the run LOL!!!!
>This made her miss one of the jumps in the pinwheel because I didnāt show her the correct line, but I kept going (improvement on my part, lol!). We only had one other bobble where I didnāt tell her about the rear cross side change early enough. I think the last rear cross was a bit late as well, but she read it better.>
You did super nicely! Stayed connected, kept moving. Yay! Yes, there was one RC that was more of a RC on the flat so she turned the wrong way, but you were hustling and connected so she kept going. I think on the last rear cross you were maybe a little late but also decelerating (reaching for the toy?) so she was looking at you? Hard to tell from the camera distance, but it was really minor.
Overall, a great run! What is coming up next on her calendar?
T
Hi!
>Challenge of the day was that we were consistently the 1st dog of our class ā walk the course, go get Coal and go run the course.>
Yes, that is a big challenge! Most of the warm up needs to be done before the walk through, and then the walk through is short so you can get the dog. Not easy! I am often the first dog on the line at small trials, so my walk throughs are 3 minutes so I can do finish the warm up with the dog.
Video 1 – definite difference at the start!! When you are up early in the class and feel you donāt have his full attention (looking around here and at the start of the next run too) – you donāt need to do a lead out. Those are disconnecting for him. You can stay with him and do a ready-set-go start with your hand on his collar. Then take off running š That might be very effective especially in harder environments!
>I see the potential. I made up the course we ran here on the fly, but he didnāt need to know that.>
Yes! On the 2nd video, he had a good opening line – not enough turn cues got you an off course but then you stopped at :33ā¦ so he disconnected. Stopping is something that tends to stress him, so try to keep going and donāt fix anything (like you did at the end of the run).
The ring crew behind the tunnel was hard – at :38 you started going the other way, by :40 he was coming back to you. Then later on – ring crew behind the tunnel was still hard and you kept going so he really didnāt visit! Yay!!!
>So Iām thinking that our path to success is not teaching him how to ignore the ring crew but rather figuring out the path to not need him have to go visit ā one missing piece of the puzzle that needs to be found.>
Not needing to visit and ignoring the ring crew is the same general concept, both of which involve ring crew in random places during his runs (and reward in the ring when he has gone past them, either hidden on you, or the instructor has it to throw.
>More pattern games outside the ring to help him with the trial environment>
Yes š
>Keep building his volume dial skills -Iām now using a variable reinforcement schedule when playing with him between 1 to 6 reps before reward. >
You can see if you can get one behavior (like a high five or something) that he can do on the start line, like a check in before you lead out.
You can also use a variable schedule for remote reinforcement, but volume dial doesnāt need it (it works on a different physiological system). Volume dial is more about how excited and engaged you can get him, so a 1:1 schedule might be more effective depending on environment.>Rewarding too much is not going to help the skill carry over into the ring>
No such thing as rewarding too much LOL!! It is more about what is rewarding (like keep going in the ring no matter what) rather than stopping.
>Your thoughts on letting him be a bit more social at class and trials. I generally want him minding his own business but he does have a āgo say hiā and then come back to me for reward cue.>
I think it is fine to do that outside the ring. Inside the ring might cause a bit of conflict if he is looking at ring crew as potential sources of reinforcement (they never will be inside the ring – outside the ring is a different context so I think it is fine, as long as it doesnāt cause any confusion and he can snap back into work focus very quickly.)
>Plan for tonightās class working on his enter the ring, leash off, 2 obstacles and then back to leash leave the ring to remote reward ā all with a cooperative leash runner in place>
I think the remote reinforcement is going well, so rather than do that – what if you got people in as leash runners, sitting behind tunnels (he thought that was weird), etc – and someone else has the reward for inside the ring when he passes by them (even if he doesnāt take an obstacle, the criteria is to not go to them). You will keep going no matter what.
The other thing worth revisiting is the find my face game on course, in the class/trial environment. If you stop moving or make a mistake, he almost certainly disconnects. The find my face game is all about teaching the dogs to not get stressed by bloopers or disconnect, so that might be a great one to bring into class! You will have reward on you for now (or the instructor has it) and eventually it becomes part of remote reinforcement.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Frankie did great too!!!!>She BARKED! She did it and I marked it and gave her a treat and she had a light bulb moment!>
Yay! I think this might be something to move closer to the entry gate? If you can get her barking right before you go in (or doing wild tricks to get her pumped up even more), she can have even more blast off the start line. Having the a-frame and DW as the 2nd obstacle in the T2B and standard runs really helped her kick into high gear sooner.
The standard run was hard, taking the dogs right past the exit gate then back into the course – she did great and kept her speed up really well without thinking about the cookies just on the other side of the gate š
One thing for the starts to try: you can angle the drop and run a bit more sideways so you are a little ahead rather than parallel to her. That way she is chasing you sooner off the start, which she likes š
>Our body warmup before a run is:āØDown to stands, sit to stands, sit to stretch up on my legs, paw gives, side steps, backwards steps and the nose stretch yo hip, middle & shoulder and neck up & down. I do 4-5 reps of each.>
This is a really good active warmup! My PT vet people also recommend trotting in big circles for a few minutes before starting the active warm up, so make sure everything is loose before the powerful moves begin. Then a longer slower cooldown after so the dogs donāt get tight in the crate.
Great job here!!
TracyGood morning! This is exciting!!!!
She was definitely more comfy on the 2nd day! So the leash tugging returned. I wonder if she was simply doing mental calculus on day 1? I see that in my dogs too. For example, when Ramen is working hard mentally, he does not tug on the leash. When he is relaxed and ready to go fast (not doing calculus :)) he grabs to leash to tug. It is good to know!
She was her normal tugging kill-the-leash self at the beginning of the run. And the run was GREAT – she actually saved the line in 2 spots, where there was a slight lead change away. You can step in closer to those spots to help support her – walk the courses looking for them because they are a really popular AKC trend (subtle but definitely there!)
This was basically a real run, the toy was on your person but basically uninvolved.
So the next step would be to leave the toy outside the ring so she can experience that delay.
Also, what other obstacles are ready to go into the ring – any contacts? You can add them in if she is running them in sequence in practice.
Great job here!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Had a training party with some friends today and Beat got to hang out while other dogs ran.>
So awesome! And what a lovely facility!!!!
>Sheās definitely turned on by watching dogs running these days, but she was still able to do her pattern game, some hand touches, and sending to a Klimb all on leash. >
Super good girlie!!! Both of her breeds are wired to respond to visual stimuli, so if she was NOT interested in watching other dogs than I would be worried LOL!!! And your choices of the pattern game, touches, send to Klimb are excellent for learning how to be around āactionā without getting involved in that action š
>Towards the end I even did some sit stays and releases to a thrown cookie with the leash dropped and she was great. So YAY!>
What a good girl. This is so wonderful to have her get such a great exposure to other dogs working.
āØ>I wanted to get your take on allowing dogs who get very visually stimulated to watch the action. >That is a very good question LOL!! I am NOT a fan of having a dog, especially a young dog, on a station with a toy in its mouth watching other dogs run dog sports (or at the end of a leash, or behind a tunnel or under the a-frame, or running laps around the field, etc etc). Iāve got about a zillion reasons why I donāt like it, but mainly it is a waste of the dogās bandwidth, jacks their neurotransmitters unnecessarily, and can lead to depletion without any gains in impulse control. I also think it leads to a whole lot of frustration which leads to a cascade of other things we donāt want.
Plus, adolescent dogs simply donāt have the brain development for simply watching. The part of the brain that is responsible for driving good decisions is not nearly as formed as the part of the brain that drives the impulsive decisions š
But we do have to expose them to being in that environment and teach them how to function – so I teach a lot of the different pattern games (back and forth, up and down, and super bowls are my 3 favorites). And when those games are fluent at home, they can go on the road to add the arousal regulation elements in – eventually being ringside while other dogs are running. This includes ringside at flyball, which is probably the most stimulating sport to be ringside (visual, auditory, etc).
I build it up to a game called āengaged chillā where they can be ringside, āwatchingā, but by then they have so many tools for arousal regulation that they donāt lose themselves to arousal, donāt get punished, etc.
And all in short bursts with young dogs, because this is very mentally expensive and we donāt want to deplete them.
>So far with Beat I can see that she does find it highly arousing and she could end up over threshold if I allowed it for too long a duration, but so far she can watch quietly and is still responsive to cues and will happily leave watching to work with me when asked>
Part of that is early adolescence/late puppyhood (it is a lovely stage :)) and part of that is the associations of watching the other dogs and the excitement are not fully formed in terms of behavioral expression. Soā¦ help her out with the tools like pattern games, rewarding when she automatically checks in with you, etc, to keep this nice behavior š Eventually you will be able to drop the leash or take it off with no problems or concerns.
>I know people who have actually put watching on cue and will use it as a reinforcer. Opinions on this? >
Meh. LOL!!! This is all good stuff to think about, though. If I needed watching other dogs as a reinforcer (or stimulator, which is actually what many people are using it for), then I would probably want to figure out *why* I needed it as a reinforcer in terms of why the other things were not valuable in the same way. A true reinforcer involves a dopamine spike (not everything is a true reinforcer) and I am not sure I want the dopamine spike for looking at other dogs moving – dopamine spikes are following by the reuptake/degradation which is some ways creates āpainā which is where the motivation to move more to get the dopamine spike again comes from – so using watching as a reinforcer can very very easily lead to moving towards the thing they are watching which could way too easily become chasing (reward systems in the brain and motivation involve movement).
So it doesnāt make sense to me, in terms of how reward systems work in the brain. I will keep thinking about it and see if I can think of any reason why it would be useful outside of not having any other valuable reinforcement.
>With my terriers I have always felt that it just wasnāt a healthy place for their brains, but maybe different for herdy types?>
Agree! I think it is an unhealthy place for herding brains as well. Or any type of brains š And as far as I know, there is no decompression/reset that is associated with watching exciting things move, so there is not a lot of value there. There is a definite ramp up in arousal associated with it though, but not in a direction that I think is useful or healthy, as you mentioned.
I just think we see different expression of behavior in different breeds – and for a breed like a BC, people find the expression of behavior that comes from this to be āacceptableā – staring, lunging, toy shaking, overarousal, etc. A JRT or Malinois or Rottie doing that behavior would be looked at very differently, right? So many reasons NOT to do it – the HPA axis/arousal systems, resilience/recovery, decompression, depletion, etc.
You ask great questions – keep āem coming!
Onwards to the threadle slices –
This was a good session! I think she was just doing mental calculus: hard skill (driving in close to the handler to then do a lead change away is HARD) plus new environment (HARD!)
So for the left turns, she might have needed more room to get in between you and the jump, maybe a treat for coming all the way in before the toy marker. You were pretty close – she did have room to fit, but in the early stages she couldnāt quite get herself into the pressure of the gap. On the other side, you had moved over a bit from the wing so there was more room, which worked better, plus the toy was in your hand on the first rep so it was a shade easier. She still told you it was hard by jumping up on you at 1:37 (I get clacked at when it is hard, so the pups all have their own āthis is hard!ā behavior )
But she worked GREAT in the new environment and she had many many options for other behaviors – and she chose to do threadle slice calculus š Yay! Let her sleep on it and in the next session, adjust your position to give her a tiny bit more room on the left (and start with a cookie or two for coming all the way into the threadle side) and I bet she nails it š
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
A whole week! I am glad you are feeling better!!!>My biggest challenge with left and right is calling the right word. Iām often calling a left when sending her to the right. Dang Dyslexia! Just short of drawing a line in chalk with the word, Iām not sure what more I can do about that.>
What I did to get the left & right solidified was to take about 10 seconds before each rep to first point out the direction I wanted the dog to go, then look at her shoulders – is that her right shoulder or her left shoulder? Then I said it a few times out loud LOL! That really helped me – trying to remember it just from my own brain was very hard š but lokoing at the pupās shoulders was much easier.
The tunnel recalls are fun! For now, if you are adding stuff at the exit of the tunnel, I recommend a verbal before she goes into the tunnel – a turn cue or go cue or obstacle cue. If you are quiet, she will look at you which can make it harder to keep her out on the big huge lines she will eventually be running on. For the recalls, you can call her and donāt have a jump in place – you can add handling on the flat like blinds and decels, etc. And if there are people or other dogs around? The tunnels as recalls are a great way to being teaching her to ignore all of the other stuff around š
She did well with the Minny Pinny! Very nice reward placement! At this stage, this game is not a turn away game (everyone has turn-away on their mind from the threadle wrap work LOL!) so start each rep with her at your side and facing the setup. The mechanics of turning away into the Minny Pinny are really hard for the dogs at the age (they do all sorts of funky lead changes like she was here) so you will want to wait til the going forward through it is more solidified. She is happy to do it faster, but she was slipping a lot here with added speed (the mats make it hard for her to go fast and not slip). So to protect her shoulders, and rather than let her rehearse slipping/ticking the bumps or have her learn to compensate with different mechanics, keep her nice and close for now. It will be very very easy to add speed when she is not on mats.
And great job adding your left/right verbals!! It gets easier as you practice it more and more, and it is totally worth it to have them š
She is really doing well with her line up get! She is offering a down a lot, but we can help get the sit more consistent by now going to the next level: You can move her to the mat like it is a start line, cue the sit, then lead out (like a start line). And you can place the mat in front of a jump or tunnel or anything tempting and exciting.
Since she is pretty solid with stay behavior already, our goal would be to have you be able to start moving away faster and faster, building up to a running lead out. Visualize when she is grown up and running one of those huge ISC or UKI courses: she is in a stay and you start to run, so you are releasing on the run š Start with a fast walk and then build to jogging then running – it might take multiple sessions because you want to set her up to be very successful with very few failures.
>Rocking Horse is absolutely her favorite game>
Yes, she is great at this game – such a lovely balance of going fast but also paying attention to cues! Yay! Next steps here: add your verbals š You might need to do a quick walk through to make sure you have them ready, because trying to get them out while she is running is hard at that speed š And you can add in the reverse spin, to make sure she understands the mechanics of it.
Great job on these!!
TracyHi! I am glad you are enjoying it!
MaxPup 2 will start in March, dates TBD – I am waiting for other dates to get posted and for the weather to improve a bit so folks can work outside more š
Stay tuned!
Tracy
Hi!
He was fabulous here! Sounds like there was more activity (noise) in the environment than usualā¦ but he was perfect in his attention and engagement with you.
He seemed to have no trouble finding the āin inā tunnel entry, even with the wrong entry right next to him and the toy behind him. SUPER!! That lat rep was hard, but he was lovely!
Since this went so well, you can move to the next step, the double whammy – I think he will enjoy getting to do the tunnel twice in a row and it will be a good challenge with even more motion and speed.
Great job here!
TracyFAST before the run:
I love that he was barking at you!! She was ready to roll!!
And HOLY SH*T she was ON FIRE in the run! I donāt think Iāve ever seen you run that fast! WOW!!!! And she was tugging?!?! Super!!!! Love it!!!JWW – great job with the warm up. It looked pretty much like what you do at home and she looked relaxed!
HOLY COW she was amazing here too! You had to HUSTLE LOL!!!! Great job – beautiful connection from you and didnāt over-help or over-manage thingsā¦ she was flying! Love it!!!! The drop and go might take some pressure off at the start line. What a nice run!!!
Standard was also super nice!! You were super connected and supporting the lines perfectly, she knew exactly what to do and did it confidently. The only thing I see on this run was possibly. Bit of physical fatigue. She was really extending in the 2 earlier runs, so her striding ws not s powerful on this run. Her head seemed 1000% in the game, but she was more tired perhaps? So we can look at more warm up and cool down stuff for her body – what stuff do you already do? And does she have a back on track coat?
Great job here! I loved the energy on the runs from both of you!
TracyHi!
She looked amazing!!! It was pretty much a real run til you brought the toy out – nice!!! A bit more push out needed from you to cue the jumps that she missed, but otherwise I think she did really well and you were super connected!!! The start line looked super solid and the rear cross went well too! Yay!
And your pants were perfect!
>She had zero interest in the leash today. It was a different leash than weāve been using lately, but sheās been tugging on different leashes.>
Dogs are interesting! It might have been that the leash you had was not enticing for whatever reason or she didnāt need to tug? She had a lot of cookies right before the run so maybe she was in cookie mode? Hard to tell, but you can ask her if she wants to tug on the leash and it is fine if she says āno thanksā.
It would be fun to get her into some UKI Speedstakes or USDAA jumpers where she can run full courses with jumps and tunnels and no weaves! I think she is ready for that.
What that her only run? Does she have more tomorrow? You can wait longer to bring the toy out and see how she does! Or if you have more than 1 run, you can try a short blast with no toy and see how she does š
Great job!
Tracy
