Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Good morning!
You are correct, this was the easiest of the peasiest for Mr. Max! YAY!!! It is almost like he knew that the gateway back to the treats was to move away and do things with you. I love it!!! You can keep revisiting this here and there, as we add more skills and as he goes through adolescence. He is off to a fabulous start with this!
>My 3 year old terrier, was stumped by it.
That is really interesting! And do I remember correctly that your terrier struggles in the trial environment? It could be linked to not knowing how to earn the reinforcement that is outside the ring. Definitely play this game with the terrier too!
Great job 🙂
TracyHi!
The volume dial game went well here! Part of the volume dial game at this stage is information-gathering: What can she do? What does she look like when she is ready to work? Or overaroused? We got good info here 🙂
She did well with the visual of the bed! You added the hand touch and it was pretty perfect! She had trouble locking onto the hand to turn to the right – but could do it to the left. She couldn’t line up (because that involved looking away from the toy, perhaps?).
She could totally jump into your arms! Maybe that one was taught in higher arousal (or is naturally assosicated with arousal) so it was easy for her to do it when she was in higher arousal 🙂
So one thing you can do is mix in food: the food can help get her to do the spins (food is definitely a context cue for those, for now). And you can tuck the toy into your armpit and cue the line up with food (also potentially a context cue). It is good to sort that out so we can fade the food. And also, using food can be part of finding the ‘just right’ arousal balance as she grows up!
> The one thing I changed was while I was setting up for this one (camera, cookies, crating the other dogs, etc) I gave her the toy to run around with and the last one she was bouncing around like a lunatic with anticipation, she might have even been wrestling with her terrier brothers. So while not realistic (can’t let her run around with a toy for 5 minutes before every agility run) being completely unemployed while anticipating work puts her way over the top.>
Yes, she might have been overaroused and maybe a bit depleted the last time from the pre-game stuff 🙂 And running around with the toy was balancing for her, letting off some steam perhaps. But because there is an arousal regulation element of this (teaching her body to do it), you can play this game with a variety of things happening before it. She can run around with the toy, or she can bounce around while you set up, or she can be crated and chill… or crated while you work with her terrier brothers 🙂 Bringing her into the game in all different arousal states will go a long way to figuring out how to help her optimize the arousal state: toy? Food? Combo? Which tricks? This is all fun to sort out while she is still young, and build the toolbox.
I am really excited about how well she is doing with the threadle wrap game! She reminds me of Contraband a lot, in how she moves through turns. He grew up to be a fabulous turner, so I am guessing she will also be able to go full out then turn super tight. Exciting times ahead!!!!!
> Again, better turning left than right.>
Yes, but the right turns are not that far off the left turns. For the right turns, moving the cues more slowly will help her process those.
One cool thing I noticed was she was leading with her head through the turns, especially the left turns. That is what we are looking for! And perhaps it is latent learning from the session you did with the pole in town? It was great seeing her do it and then having her body really follow that through the turn.
Only one suggestion: if you use a “yes” marker (cookie in hand available now) then you will want to delay it until she is almost finished with the wrap. When you used it to mark the head turn while you were moving forward, she did not finish the wrap (:42) and I don’t think she was wrong to come into reinforcement. So you can also use the get it marker and toss the treat – you did that in this session too and it was very effective!
One other positive to note: She was very happy with the collar holding here! So you can add collar holding to the volume dial game to build up the love for it even when she is in higher arousal.
If you have a hallway to work in, you can try the advanced version of the threadle wrap game with 2 barrels or if it is narrow, 2 wingless uprights. Winter is annoying because it gets in the way of the fun!
Great job here 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
> started a new thread because the original is getting squirrely on my IPad. I’m a tech hodge podge, windows, safari and android are all in use.>
I am also a hodge podge and the squirrely stuff only happens on the ipad and Mac. I guess they don’t like talking to wordpress & google.
>It which translated into it’s your body language that’s going to tell the dow where to go. >
True, and also lots of loud verbals for me since I can’t outrun the dogs and my position on course/body language can be unreliable for them 🙂
>It was set up for teaching into two small 5 or 6 obstacle sequences rather that the big a– international style course that most presenters lean towards. Left with some homework I can set up and train at home.>
That is good!! Lots of opportunities to teach and work on skills rather than course work.
> Turns on the floor were a bit long – 7 to 8 minute average.>
That can be a lot of human AND dog, but the smaller sequences might have made it feel like less of a long time out.
> tuck myself into a corner for some pattern games and chill work while the dog ahead of us was working that went well. >
Awesome!!! That is great!!
Thanks for the video the run! Coal is just like my Whippet, Ramen – when something is not comfortable, he will look at me then at the thing, then back at me. This is exactly what Coal did on the start line here:
The leash runner was a close talker, meaning she was very close to him! 5 feet away, maybe? Facing him, watching, arms folded. The gate steward was also pretty loud and seemed close by.Coal said “that was a LOT of pressure!” so he stood up and shook it off. When you asked him to sit again, he looked at the leash runner then at you then at the gate steward, then back and you and he sat. That is pretty clear communication of “DUDE THESE PEOPLE ARE A LITTLE TOO CLOSE!”
I mean, he is not wrong about that 🙂 but also that is pretty common. I have looked up from taking the leash off the dog to find the leash runner was so close I could hand her the leash without even extended my arm. So, to prepare him more, can you enlist classmates to come stand behind him like this leash runner, at the start? Or be gate stewards yelling things behind him? He ended up working through it really well, but you can show this to him more so he is more prepared.
He held his stay, released well, and the run was lovely! He was very responsive to the handling and as you mentioned, the contacts looked great. Yes, he had a weave bobble, and it might indeed have been because the judge was walking in towards him. You can ask your instructor to walk in when he is weaving in class! I am not sure I would have fixed it, because it popped the concentration bubble and he left to check out the leash runner. So you can keep going to maintain the flow there, and that will pay off big in future runs when he is able to nail the weaves because he is more relaxed.
Great job here!!! With the trial coming up next weekend, you can pick and choose which runs you want to do for real, and which you might want to use for training. 6 runs is plenty of ring time and we don’t want to tire out his brain 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
> Though that won’t happen soon, as we got about 4” of snow last night, with extra cold temps coming.>
Darn winter!! Can we hit the fast forward button to get some warm weather and greem grass?!?!
Thank you for posting the video, this is really helpful! In the first part of the video, I think she was really trying hard but with everything so close – neither of you could move a lot. There was a lot of stopping because you had no place to go on the line, and that caused her to be trotting/walking, which didn’t tap into her whippety joy at driving lines. So she was a little distracted, because the sequence was not stimulating or easy to read.
Compare to the line after 1:10 – that was a clear, fun line and she got to run! That was the best section, even with the turn on the tunnel exit and next jump are hard, she got it nicely and probably didn’t need as much help to get it (the extra help put you behind on the a-frame).The frame was good, but you can let her finish eating before continuing – I think she was still chewing LOL!
But mainly – can you set up smoother lines for her so she can move a bit more. That would be fewer turns and obstacles further apart. I think that will make a HUGE difference in her focus! She gets to run at home on sequences, and that is so much fun so distractions are less of a question. If she is not able to do that in class, then the arousal level is not as good and she might even be a little frustrated, so she shows interest in more distractions. It might take some creativity if obstacles are set up tight for all the classes, but maybe you and Paul can make up your own courses?
I make up my own courses all the time in training and at trials – and if anyone questions it, I just smile and say “Whippets!” LOL!! And since most people don’t know anything about Whippets, they don’t argue with me LOL!!!
Let me know what you think! She is doing really well and she is ready for more 🙂
Tracy
Hi! All of her sessions on the video went great!
All of the reinforcement stuff was really strong – she did great with the remote reinforcement at the beginning, and was also fine with her lotus fur tug on the wall too! Do you think the lotus fur tug is something that has enough value as a reinforcement that you can run with it in your hand at a trial (no treats in it), just as kind of a context cue that yes, there will be treats coming. And then she can run to the actual treats at the end.
You can also mix in the remote reinforcement marker at the other end of the ring, not where you entered, to make it more realistic (simulating entry and exit gates at a trial). You can let her see you set up the reward station near the exit gate. And when you have people helping, they can make a big show of grabbing her leash while you are setting her up at the start line, then carrying it to the exit 🙂
The leashing up went great, she was really shoving her head into it LOL!
>She was a bit sassy on the line-ups .
Yes! But it looks like you were like “I don’t care *where* you line up, but please do line up k thanks” LOL! It was a quick negotiation and a good compromise 🙂 The line up moment can be an indication of her arousal state: fast snappy line up? Probably in a good state for the run. Having a harder time lining up? Might be her way of saying she needs a moment (trick or pattern game can help) before lining up.
The sequencing is looking really really strong! Yay! You can start raising bars in practice (easy lines first, then adding harder turns and lines – you can take as long as needed, no rush). Higher bars in easy environments will make the lower bar (for now) seem even easier in a trial environment!
>she was speedy and focused with no leaping lizard moments.>
Yes, the more I see her, the more I am convinced that the LL moments were mainly linked to frustration when trying to process things. So we can take that feedback if we see any LL moments and help her out. The main triggers for it lately had been any softening of connection on a tunnel send or jumping away from the course, or when she had to do something going past a random human right there.
You are also doing a great job of continuing no matter what happens, so she is getting a lot of support from you!
She had 2 questions about the handling:
At :31 – after the BC, you were a little far from the jump and a bit soft on the connection so she stayed on her line (took her past the jump). She would need to shift to her left there, so a more direct intense connection (like a mini ‘get out’ cue) will help with that. Those slicing lead changes are hard for young dogs so they need really emphatic cues.
At 3:37, BC was late (you started as she was jumping the BC jump) so she picked up the off course line. You can still get it with clearer exit line connection (that was not as visible as it was on other crosses that you did here). The FC worked there at 4:27 – the timing was a stride earlier but mainly the connection was better on the exit of it so she knew where to be.
The FC might be the better option there anyway, because the BC might turn your feet to the off course line before the correct line. And the FC will turn your feet to the correct line right away.
> I’ve got her entered in SS & Jpg (4s) on Sunday for the mid Feb Fusion UKI with Casey Keller. It’s small to tall that day so she’ll be first. (I could also switch her to 1 class/day and do SS at the end of the day on Sat and the beginning of the day on Sun.>
I would personally be tempted to enter all 3 runs BUT remind myself to do small bursts and potentially NOT run all 3. That way you have more time available in the ring to pick and choose what you want to do. Short fun blasts are very valuable.
> After the seminar on Friday, I’d leave her at home to rest for most of the day on Saturday and have Dean drop her off mid-afternoon)>
She is also pretty familiar with hanging out there, so maybe Dean can bring her late morning so she can be there a bit longer, more like what her current normal is when you bring her to hang out for the day? Of course you can change it based on how the Friday seminar goes.
>> Going to pick a day at the Mar 21-22 OTR UKI (Harry Pawter trial). I can do Jpg & SS at the end of the day on Saturday (small to tall so she would likely be first) or there is double SS first thing in the morning on Sunday (tall to small so she’d be last. I could also pick the 2nd SS & then Jpg so that there are 3 classes in the morning for her to settle in during).>
When do you need to decide? In the “It’s Only Money” department LOL I would probably enter a couple of extra classes and either do very short bursts or not run her if it was too much. You can decide it after the Feb trials.
Also, you might not need a food reward box, she might think it is stupid, but that is something she will tell you at her first trials.
> May 3-4 at Fusion (Stefanie Theis judging & I am secretary. Stefanie is also doing half-day seminars on May 2). Other options that have NFC/FEO but no reward box so not sure about these: OTR USDAA Mar 1-2, ASCA at Fusion Mar 8-9.>
USDAA and ASCA will probably have slightly shorter distances and easier lines that UKI for her, so it is something to consider even though the NFC options are more limited. No need to decide now, I am pretty sure both organizations will let you enter pretty last minute 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi!
It is great that there will be a fun run before the Cup!! That makes is easier for young dogs for sure!
> thanks for the reminder to practice leaving the toy with my leash in class this week and next. I have done it but not for a while, always stick it behind my treat pouch.>
Perfect! You can show him the whole routine of taking the treat pouch off, leaving the toy with the leash, etc – I am confident that he will do well with it, but I don’t want him to be surprised by it at a trial 🙂
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Happy birthday Fen!!!! I hope he got good gifts and snacks 🙂
The video might be edited in reverse order – the first steps were towards the end and they went well!
He also did well when you added the 2 in a row! You were using a wrap verbal, which is great! One thing to consider is two different wrap verbals, so he knows if you want him to wrap to his left or to his right. He looks like he is going to be fast and powerful – add all of the distance that we see on courses nowadays, and I think you will be happy to have the verbals that differentiate right from left so you don’t have to be physically in the picture for him.>I think the hardest one for me to fix will be too much movement.>
Do you mean too much of your movement? I think you did well! No worries about too much movement, you will get to move a lot more very soon 🙂 The main thing will be connection so as long as you are really connected, you can move as much as you like and I think he will do great!
>I noticed he is hitting the barrels so will look at your prior advice in Turn and Burn on that. >
Yes, he was hitting the barrels a little bit – it was hard to tell if it was because they were too close together so he didn’t quite have a chance to organize for the turn? Or if he was slipping a bit on the mats (they are hard for him to grip for tight turns). You can experiment with it and see if moving the barrels further apart are easier for him to organize for the turn because he has more room to do so. And you can add in the earlier rotations of the advanced level.
The added distance might not work, because he also will have more speed! But it is worth a try. We are going to move this off barrels soon because sometimes the dogs just move the barrels because they are so easy to move 🙂The other reason he might have been hitting the barrels was the toy – when you had the toy scrunched up in your hand and didn’t move it (like at the beginning of the video), he was great! The opposite was when you were switching hands at :34, he thought maybe you were delivering the toy so he really smooshed the barrel LOL!
So keep the toy in one hand o he doesn’t watch it as much, and I definitely recommend a toy-in-hand marker for when you are rewarding him (I use ‘bite’ for that). By making it clearer when the toy is available, I bet he will look at the barrels more and at the toy less, touching the barrels less as a result.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGreat question! He might be generalizing the movement (which concerns him a bit) to all long narrow boards, so he investigates each one to be sure it doesn’t move before interacting with it confidently. So you can work the plank skills separately from each other:
– the long narrow planks, for now, can be stable so he can confidently leap all over them and turn around, etc.
– the wobble board can be the thing that moves (it is probably round or square?) but you can dial back the movement by sticking a ton of towels or other stuff under it so it moves only a little tiny bit. Then you can do very short/high value sessions: touching it once and getting a fistful of chicken, for example, or releasing him to chase his absolute favorite toy. Then session over. Releasing the pups off the wobble board as part of the reward totally helps too and allows them to interact at their own pace.
Less is more is the way to go – I call it human self-control LOL!!! You can come back to it later, but the single event jackpot can really be motivating to get onto it. As you shape the behavior, you can get more reps and then fade out the stuff that supports the wobble board to add more movement.
The plank training and the wobble board training then converge into teeter games!
Let me know if that makes sense!
Tracy
Hi! This went really well!!
>She needs my arm still. She was guessing on verbal only.>
Do you mean the ‘swoosh’ movement to cue her to turn away? I think she didn’t need it all that much – only when there was a bit of extra motion or when you switch to the harder side of entry.
But yes, ideally you keep the outside arm cue as you say your threadle wrap cue (in in) and move up the line – and you don’t use the arm to turn her away.
To get to the level, start by moving slowly and decelerating a bit by the threadle wrap barrel. Keep your hand visible and you can even ‘pulse’ it up and down, but don’t swoosh it to turn her away 🙂 Keep that position/slow motion/arm cue until she turns her head away and takes that first step to the barrel – then move forward again but reward like you were doing here 🙂
I think she will figure it out really fast!!!!
The other thing to keep in mind is that the threadle wrap cue does have an element of decel built into it, even when you are running on a big course. So you can dd it here: move fast between the barrels until it is time for the threadle wrap, then decel near theTW barrel until she turns her head away (then move forward fast again as she turns her head away and takes the first step to the wrap).
Her only questions here in the videos were when there was no decel and you were trying to move forward the whole time – she looked at you to see if she needed to follow the motion or take the barrel. So the element of decel supports the verbal and arm cues, making it much easier to get commitment without arm swoosh 🙂 And the decel remains as part of the cue, to varying degrees depending on the context.
Great job here!Tracy
Hi!
I saw your temps and got cold just reading them! Yikes!!!!
The threadle wraps versus regular wraps looked great! You can add more movement on the threadle wrap and you can also look at the advanced levels which add a 2nd barrel.
One thing to consider:
Can you make the dig dig, check check, and look look sound more different? The rhythm and pitches are nearly identical, which might negate the sounds of the verbals when more is added (like motion for you both!). Right now they all have basically the same rhythm (doot-doot) and same pitch changes (low-high). So to really make them more effective, you can leave “look look” in that pitch/rhythm framework, but change the others. Dig can be digdigdigdigdig (rapid repeating and low pitch) and check can be something like che-che-che – done as 3 sounds, emphasis on the ch, similar pitch. Let me know if that makes sense!Threadle slice looks great! Next step before we add motion:
Delay the click ever so slightly until he looks at the bar, especially on the first side (the second side is always better and it was pretty perfect on this video) . And if he goes around the jump, don’t click, just reset and try again. If it all goes sideways (which I doubt will happen!) just stop the session and post the video 🙂Stay warm! Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
>With the volume dial game, her best one was cuing her to the nearby dog bed so you’re totally right about having a big visual target.>.
Dogs in general do like visual targets! Sighthounds in particular like them too 🙂
> Hand target was one of the first I tried but I got VERY half hearted attempts, like a step towards the hand before stopping to stare at the toy while still 2’ away from the hand>
In the volume dial game, you can reward the attempts that are not great – that can help shape your way through the arousal by rewarding bits of the behavior (because that might be the best she can do in a higher arousal state at th moment).
>(maybe from some of the strike a pose work where she’s been cued to the reward for not quite touching the target in the hand?) >
Probably not related, probably more about the arousal 🙂 But that is fine!
>She could do “sit” because I think it resembled the start line stay exercise,>
Yay! You can do fast sits with quick releases!
>I could try her jumping up behavior, but did not that day. It’s a little hard to do with a toy in my hand, but I’d want her to learn to do so at some point>
That one is a good one but does require a lot of mechanics or maybe 3 hands LOL!! And you will want to make sure she can process arousal pretty well before you add it so she doesn’t fling herself at you (can be ouchie for you both!)
>(as it’s a good disc dog behavior and I’d love to get into disc dog with her, the Rat boys think disc dogging is dumb). >
Disc dog stuff is SO FUN. Highly recommend!!
>>I have a cued “feet” behavior for putting her front feet on my leg, also one I’d love for her to be able to do as part of a ringside routine, but pretty sure right now she will think I’m nuts to ask her to do that with a toy in my hand.>>
That is possible! And also, it is possible that she is reading context cues – so eventually you can come back to the toy for this so she is not thinking of certain behaviors as cookie-only behaviors.
> Should I try a few reps of all of those with food to prime the pathway a bit, then switch to a toy for 1-2 reps, then back to food before she goes “lights on no one home”?>
You can certainly use really high value food to bridge to higher arousal – mind-blowing stuff can make simple behaviors hard too! And you can also move the food like a toy – have her chase your cookie hand, or toss the cookies back and forth… the cue the trick 🙂 That can land in a nice place between regular cookie state and high arousal toy state!!
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! This is looking good! He seemed happy to turn away in both directions, with you stationary or moving.
For your threadle wraps, have you decided if you want to use one hand or both hands? You can add that at this level to start showing him the cue. If it is one hand (dog-side hand), you can make it more obvious by raising it then lowering it a bit. Or you can use 2 hands, or the opposite arm across your body. So many options LOL!
Since he had no trouble here, you can move to the next step: adding a barrel (posted last Tuesday).
Great job here!!
TracyHi!
>Also made me think about “target” and “hit it” – those both sound close to “park it,” so I might need some different words (maybe “touch” or “tag”).
I think target and hit it are pretty different in terms of how they sound (the ‘ahr’ of target versus the “iiih” of hit it) so those are fine to keep. Park it and target might be too similar, but also probably used in very different contexts. You can totally change target to touch or tag, though!
>Speaking of – I was going to ask you if agility folks are going to look at me sideways for using “flick” for threadle slice.>
Ha! Agility folks will find a way to look at any of us sideways LOL!!! Flick is commonly used for the threadle wrap but you can totally use if for a threadle slice! I also like the word flick – very different sounding and easy to say while running. A common threadle slice word in agility is ‘in in’, if you want another option.
>I quite like variable rewards (higher value for what I’m looking for; lower for effort), so should integrate those into our training. I should also reward effort and assume that I’m not giving clear information (as is so very often the case).>
Yes to rewarding effort! Reset treats are great for that. Variable rewards are good too but I would save that for a little later down the road – right now everything is still so new, that he might not be able to sort out why there is a difference.
>I’m not very good at repeating cues – in obedience (which I enjoy competing in), I take pride in giving a single cue (esp. since you’re punished in the scoring for additional ones). It’s also a pet peeve for a dog’s cue to be “sit sit sit”. But I can appreciate that there’s little downside to repeating cues in agility.>
Agility’s complexity lends itself to repeating cues so the dog can process them (especially young dogs) – they are processing big motion cues, small motion cues like hand cues, verbals, shoulders, etc – all with the visual clutter of all sorts of obstacles everywhere, a variety of different surfaces… and they are running and jumping and weaving etc. So, we repeat the cues and I think part of what helps the dog is *how* we repeat the cues: loud, soft, extended, urgent, etc. So many little details!
On the video –
Starting with the cookie toss is great and it worked better than when you were starting with him next to you. You can position yourself on the line you want to move along before the cookie toss (so he doesn’t see you moving laterally) and you can start to move up the line sooner – so when he looks up, he sees you moving up the line (and saying the backside verbal) and not standing still. Standing still cues him to come towards you, which makes the backside harder. The sooner you started moving, the better his line was to the backside. That makes sense because it is a motion-based cue. And on the cookie tosses, you were not saying ‘ready’ which is good, I don’t think you need the ready word before the backside word.
>I need to be more consistent – not sure why I’m saying “yes” here – when I should say “grab” for the toy or “Get it” for thrown treat. >
Yes, this is something we all do LOL!!! Too much ‘yes’ or ‘yay’! And the markers get lost. No worries, the dogs sort us out, but yes, try for the markers instead of saying yes 🙂
>Trying to inch my way laterally into the middle and opposite side of jump – but I lose him if I get to far
Also – I need to stop throwing my arm towards the barrel.>These are probably related! If you point ahead to the barrel, that will turn your shoulders to the jump bar and he is likely to not go to the backside. I think moving up the line with the connection you did really well in the 2nd half of the session (when you changed sides) will make it easier to get further and further away.
He was SO CUTE dancing around with his toy in the middle!!!!!!!
Turn and burn is going really well too! He is committed really well. It was hard to hear if you were using your wrap verbals – you can totally add them to this game 🙂 Also, you can add more countermotion to this game by creating more of an L shape to the line you run. So using this setup – you can send him to the barrel on your left side, then do a front cross and run towards the fence (opposite the camera). Or, send to the barrel from your right hand, and do a FC and run to the camera 🙂
>still working on our “out” mechanics for tugging>
He has great tug drive here! And since it looks like he can go from a treat back to the toy: trading will be your friend to get the toy back! So you can do a fun tug session then trade for a treat. It quickly becomes the out cue if you tug, then relax, then whip out a treat. The relaxing becomes the cue to out. The treat is a lure at first, then we quickly can move it to be a reward (or give him the toy back as a reward).
Turn and burn is going well!
You can take a moment between the lineup and the send to let him be ready and so you can send with arm and leg. That was really the only spot where he was not as sure. When you were in the flow, he found the barrels really well! Nice connection!!! You can add more distance between the barrels now and try the advanced level.Backing up looked great!! There is an arousal regulation element, and that is what I think we are seeing when he did the one hoppy rep: he got excited, hopped, caught himself, and backed up properly for the rest of the session. YAY!!! We really want to see the pups be able to self-regulate and use proper mechanics, so that was a great moment!!! Yes, you can change your position (sitting on something) or work on more steps, or both!
Great job here 🙂
Tracy
Hi Debbie! I am so glad you are here!!
Thanks for the runs! The barrels game was super and actually really challenging! I loved the cheering from the people watching!
Callan looks great – he has great commitment skills and understanding for a youngster! Wow!!!! And your handling on the barrels had such gorgeous connection that he knew where to be the whole time… even when you were presenting a countermotion challenge or the threadles. So nice!!!The second run was also really strong!! Loved the song in the background 🙂 One thing you are doing really well is staying aggressively in motion (not being tentative) but also being super connected so you can see where he might need help or support. Looks great!!!
The beginning was hard – jumping right towards the person! Your RC could maybe be one step sooner at :02 but I bet the visual of jumping directly at the person delayed his processing of the RC info. That was hard!
Sine he has such good commitment, you can decelerate into the wrap even sooner (:17) so you can turn more easily and run the other way. Your momentum carried you a bit wider, so he matched the motion – if you are already running the other way when he is jumping the wrap jump, he will be even tighter on the line there.
He seems to have a strong understanding of the threadle wrap too – so I bet you can go right into the in in cue at :28 to get the sweetest line there too.
You did a loevly job of continuing even if there was a question – to goes a long way to building his confidence on the bigger courses!!!
>We are entered in another BYC and a UKI Cup (Speedstakes only) in February for more ring experience and environmental practice. >
Awesome! Those will be fun! I think NFC is not allowed at UKI Cups so the Speedstakes will probably be a real run. Has he seen you leave a toy at the start line with his leash? That is a fun way to play in UKI! And that is something you can play with at the BYC events too. He is definitely looking ready to launch his trial career!!
Great job! Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi! Welcome!!!! Hope you are having a great weekend!
I feel the pain of the winter weather – very few agility training opportunities here for agility on footing that is whippet-safe. And I personally hate the cold (the dogs are fine LOL!) But winter will be gone soon enough (I hope) 🙂
Her weaves look AWESOME!!!!!!! So fun!!!! She might be ready to see 6 weaves then 8 feet away, another 6 weaves, building up to 12 weaves!
> She also loves Chinese, boneless BBQ pork 😁 >
OMG so do I, that stuff is YUMMY!!!!! Is that what she was working for here? Yum!
>You may note, on the first vid, I said, “weave”, which caused her to look and say, “huh?”. But she took the tunnel anyway. Why Paul mentions I need to watch my cues.>
Yes, that was funny and that is why I reward the dogs so much – I mess up a lot more than they do! LOL!!! I try to plan my verbals before I run the dog… but sometimes random words slip out. Oops! The dogs figure us out and thanks to the power of Chinese boneless BBQ pork, the forgive us very easily 🙂
>, but totally lacks focus when in other locations.
That will come with the work we are doing here. What opportunities are coming up? She probably needs less focus on sequencing in those other places and more focus on recalls through the ring to you, ignoring people, etc. pattern games in the environment, stuff like that. We can make a plan – let me know what training opportunities are ahead.
> She remains happy, and keen on treats, but no tugging until she’s totally lost interest in external activities.>
No worries at all about tugging yet – use the high value food motivators (an excellent excuse to get more Chinese food, or some rotisserie chicken :))
> I have her entered in a trial in March. Colors, a simple CPE tunnel, jump class. I will attempt some toy engagement. >
Do you have a long crazy furry toy that you can tie to another long crazy toy, so you can swing it around flirt-pole style? And maybe it has some milkers attached to it – if I remember correctly, she loves those. Maybe we can tap into her whippeting by getting some chase on a crazy long toy in different environments.
>Her little weekly class starts in Feb..>
Perfect! That is pretty soon. I am sure that wil be really helpful!!!
Keep me posted!
Tracy
