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Hi!
>As far as after training, he’s really the same with or without the arousal modulation practice at the end of the session, but he isn’t getting super aroused in these sessions at home. So, we’re mostly just building the muscle of that game for when we do need it out in the world.>
Perfect! It is basically building those neural pathways so they are actually available when he needs them. Science for the win!
> Have I mentioned that he is truly feral and may have much more dingo than most Koolies? 🤣>
So are you saying he is a new sport mix: Dingo x Koolie x cat? Count me in! 😜😂🤣
>Early this AM we did more startline stays in the context of serp countermotion. I was kind of thrilled with how he did on both parts. I am doing a LOT of reinforcing of the stay. I know I’m going to need it with him, so I really want him having good thoughts about it.>
YouTube is still showing this video as processing, so it is probably caught in some endless youtube loop or needs a privacy box checked or something. I will try it again a bit later!
Tracy
Hi!
>He has two friends in that class so it might be hard to do but I think we can try. I will ask them.>
You can do it with dog that is a really nice dog, but is on leash and not moving yet – maybe just sitting there eating boring treats LOL
He did great here with the countermotion! Excellent job to you for being connected to the landing spot and getting the toy dropped in behind you. He really liked that toy! You were also able to start moving forward before he got past you and he continued to commit brilliantly. The hardest parts for him were remembering to swallow the treat and not cough it up haha. You had a couple of toy throws that were too early so he just skipped directly to the toy – I don’t think you moved too much on those 2 reps, it was more that the throw was early so he went directly to the toy. Neither of those are a big issue because all of the other reps were lovely.
You can take this outside if it stops raining. If you want to do another indoor session, a way to add challenge is to start walking slowly forward, then release him and point back/look back to the landing spot. That will be harder because he will really have to go past the countermotion! But I think he is ready for it.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hello! Welcome back! Congrats on your success at Regionals! And hooray for Aelfraed’s first CAMP – he can certainly play with a lot of things here!
He did really well with the layering game – I love how easily he stays on his line especially considering he is a baby dog. The early throws helped a lot! He did have one question (at :21) where you might have turned your shoulders 3 cm too early hahaha! Or maybe it was because you didn’t throw early. But also I think you won’t have to be as perfect if the thrown reward is something that he can just shove his face in and grab a hunk of bread. Do you have a treat hugger that can carry a nicely buttered croissant or something? If he doesn’t need your help to get the reward at all, he will also need very little help to go blasting away to the bread line. Ideally, once you set the line, you can keep yelling verbals but you won’t need to worry at all about connection, arms, etc.
Since he is a carb-fan, I wonder if you’ve every tried pasta? I’ve used ravioli and tortellini with dogs that also like bread. And the stuffed pasta is easy throw and highly visible, so it is another thing to investigate 🙂
Great job here! Have fun!
Tracy
Hi!
> I knew I’d get a great history recap with that question!>
Ha! I think agility history is HILARIOUS with all of the things we were convinced were right but turned out to be wildly wrong LOL!
> I have an occasional “rent-a-Beardie” that goes surprisingly well considering his handler is into OMD….probably because I can set his line with motion and stay mostly with/ahead of him.>
That makes sense. OMD started coming in and got really popular when Voodoo was young (2015-ish?). He was sooooo fast and had little patience for bad handling. Their answer to me was a combination of “run faster” and “do more rear crosses” and “do more spins”. Yeah…….. nope. Just got him MORE angry. The smoother more streamlined and connected European-style of keep moving, use verbals, look at the dog made everything so much better!
>Startline mechanics with Lift are definitely still a WIP. She doesn’t always keep her orientation as the leash comes off (Depends on if she is in a spin or shake mood post-leash). Sometimes I’ve used the spin as a way to change her line up direction a bit and to let her blow off steam.>
The spin-and-bark are great ways for her to shift her arousal & focus, and blow off some steam. Remind me why we never ended up with a between-the-feet lineup? She might love that so much – wrapping around your legs while moving into position might be a great way to let her keep moving and blow off steam, while also allowing you to line her up really accurately. I *think* we chatted about it a while back but that is all I remember LOL!
T
I agree that things are different now, post-Covid! Never quite the same.
>I’m going to stand hard and say no to judging appointments in 2027. (She says with 2 appointments already bahahaha).>
Ha! I can relate. I took myself off the judging list because I wanted to spend more time with my dogs. And also because UKI wanted us to pay a couple hundred dollars to remain being a judge (and take MORE tests). Judges are already wildly underpaid, so it didn’t make any financial sense to me to have to pay MORE money to do it LOL
Hi –
>I know!!
I tried to dial it back but it’s so hard. And then when i finally pull it together, Jenny celebrates too hard hahaha. That was pretty funny though – everything went brilliantly on your end and a party erupts at that exact moment LOL
>I saw your FB post about people blaming their dogs, I see it a lot as a judge – It’s very disheartening sometimes – watching these dogs try their little hearts out and get blamed. One handler was blaming her dog in my ring, as she went out, I said “your dog tried very hard”. But she didn’t believe me – she made a point of coming over while I was still judging and talking to someone within my ear shot about how her dog was this and that. I was so close to turning around and telling her to look at the video, her dog went exactly where she pointed. (But i’m supposed to be professional and focus on my judging haha)>
For real!!!! Judges see and hear everything. But you are correct, you really cannot engage them when you are in an official capacity. I am in my “Too Old To Give A F*ck Anymore” Era so I *totally* engage them outside the ring, especially if they are being mean to the dog.
T
Hi!
>He is getting better with the dropped toy at home, but I keep forgetting i’m at club and everything is harder.>
Yes, his brain gets bombarded with a LOT more there, so dialing it back will help 🙂
T
Good morning!
>I think my bright yellow tunnel was attracting the wasps. I’ve never left it out before because I had a male dog.>
That is entirely possible! Ugh!! But it looks like the early morning is safer? And cooler 🙂
She was terrific here! She was focused on her obstacles even with the toy in your hand (only tried to grab it once LOL) AND she was adding in lots of speed. You can keep building up your speed and adding more challenge for her, to maintain this momentum. She’s looking lovely! She is at the age when things can lock in really quickly, so I bet she has big leaps forward now (pun intended LOL)
>Looking forward to seeing you again in Max Pup 2.>
Yay! When you register, use this coupon code:
ROUMP2
It will reduce the cost to $75.
And of course if she ends up finding MaxPup 2 too easy, then we can easily put her in MaxPup 3! Fun times ahead!!
Tracy
Hi!
He was doing a good job reading the distances here! The set point and the first & last distances were easy for him. The 2nd distance (and 2nd to last distance) – yes, he thought that was HARD! He didn’t have enough room to add a stride so he took off BIG. Good boy! But the middle distance went nicely.
The hardest part was holding the stay as the toy went to the ground. It looks like he thought the toy going to the ground was part of the release – you made it clearer by carefully placing it, standing up… then releasing. That totally helped!
So using that super clear release and the moving target reward – add more distance for that 3rd jump. Start it 2 meters away from jump 2, then move to 3 meters and 4 meters then back to 3 meters, etc. He is ready for more challenge with the distances.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
He did well turning on the wing towards the correct tunnel entry! That is really hard and he was almost perfect (only one blooper at 1:16 where he looked at you and saw you facing the straight line to the other tunnel entry, so that is where he went (good boy!)The only trouble here was that your praise was too exciting 🙂 so it did pull him out of the tunnel. You delayed the praise and helped him with some tunnel cues (like at 2:14) which worked great! You can also straighten the tunnel out a little bit – it is kind of a dark, curved tunnel so he might not have been sure about completing it while turning away from you. So straightening it then dropping the reward right at the exit will really help him drive through it.
He was on his way to and through the tunnel at 2:24 but then there was an big eruption of praise from someone nearby that distracted him. You probably didn’t hear it in the moment, but he totally did!
But overall, a strong session to polish up a skill he hasn’t seen in a while. Nice work!
Tracy
Hi!
Finding the jump was the easy part here, he did that really well.
The root of his question was how you stepped away from the stay – he turned his feet towards you or followed you, possibly because he didn’t realize he was officially in a stay 🙂 That might be because you lined him up but then walked away briskly and without connection.You can try a different approach to it: line him up at your side, getting his feet to face the jump as much as possible. Then take a step to the side… let him hold the position, to really make the stay ‘official’. Then move away with connection to your spot bythe wing. That will really clean up the line up and lead out – which will make the release to the jump really smooth.
Nice job!
Tracy
Hi!
>. It’s hard, the picture in my head doesn’t translate to my body haha.>
This is totally relatable! We humans need the practice as much as the dogs 🙂
T
Hi! This was a fun session – the hose breaks really helped him stay cool AND have fun 🙂
To answer the question in the video: BIRD! Looks like bird tail feathers to me 🙂
Looking at the training:
You had lots of good go straight reps! He was really good about finding the jump and accelerating. I was going to
suggesting adding in a placed the toy so he can accelerate to it and not look at you – and that is what you did towards the end. Super! That was also a good stay challenge which produced a stay break, so you can have a 2nd reward to throw back. For the 2nd reward, it should be equal or higher value to whatever is out on the line so it is not a bummer to not be released forward. If it is a fun toy out on the line and a mediocre toy or treat that you throw to him, then the “reward” might actually not be a reward in that moment.The only other suggestion for the toy placed on the ground is to use a bigger/higher profile toy that is easy to scoop up on the run so he doesn’t splat himself trying to grab it when he is runnng.
He did well on that very first rep of decel! That is usually where we see the dogs kind of fling themselves over the bar then realize we hadn’t moved LOL! I love it when the first rep goes beautifully! All of the right turn reps went really well – he did hit a wing on one of them but that was a product of the exaggerated decel which kept you close to the wing as he exited it to get the toy. That will not be an issue when you are running away sooner.
The left turns seemed harder on the decel game – he turned well but his feet did not seem as organized. There was only one or two left turn reps, so be sure to start dog-on-right when you revisit this to see what he sorts out about those left turns.
Winding down the arousal at the end was lovely to see! It helps his nervous system get into the habit of resetting itself. How is he when you go back to normal life in the house after you do the post-training routine?
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>Looking at him worked like a charm. Why do so many people tell you to look at the dog’s line though?>
Oh, this question has a zillion answers LOL!! Part of it is the very very prehistoric version of agility where we were NOT supposed to look at the dog, we were supposed to look at where we wanted the dog to go (yeah, didn’t work).
Then along comes Greg Derrett who told us to “keep your eye on the dog” which is great! But he really never explained it fully so we didn’t quite get it right either. I mean, he was 100% correct but he didn’t tell us that it was very literally looking directly at the dog. So it didn’t quite work either.
Then along comes OneMindDog that talks about connection (yay!) but also talks about looking at the line in front of the dog the whole time, drawing the line, etc etc… So basically we were attempting to run dogs and looking at a spot on the ground 3 feet in front of the dog’s nose (or 7 feet depending on who you talk to) the whole time. Yeah… no. That didn’t work too well unless you could run faster than the dog and be in the perfect position all the time. Nope!
The rest of the Europeans were like, “just look at the dog’s eyes directly like there is a string from your eyes to the dog’s eyes”. Works like a charm! But most folks are still stuck in the prehistoric times of the 2010s hahaha
>Tried the “choose your own stay position” thing with him and he did pick a stand for a rep.>
Interesting! He is really good at arousal regulation on the start line so it will be interesting to see what he does when you give him the choice.
>I’m not sure if I like how he plays with the Wild Ring when I throw it. He likes it, but I feel like the unexpected bounces when I roll it sometimes cause him to overrun it and I don’t like the impact on his front end as he’s trying to chase it down. Same thing happens if I toss it like a frisbie because it drops to the ground faster as opposed to floating along for him to catch. He hasn’t done it yet, but I’m also wondering if he could get his foot through it by accident as he is grabbing for it.>
Good point! We don’t want him to splat himself. That is why I don’t bring discs into agility training – my dogs LOVE them but my throws are awful.
Looking at the videos:
Kaladin:
He did really well here!The first sequence went really well! Only one small suggestion: Don’t block the backside wing after the blind – choose a line that you can see when looking back at the jump before the blind, so the wing is clearly visible to him when you do the blind. Blocking the wing adds strides which adds a couple of 10ths of a second.
You were more connected here on the way to the layer but at 1:02, 1:42, 2:17 (did not take 3) and 2:40 you were still looking ahead. Your parallel line of motion supported the layer along with verbals, but just adding a bit of connection to him will really seal the deal and get even more speed.
>And not staying connected and doing a late blind gets you an extra oak tree layer. LOL!>
Ha! Actually… that was a parallel path that set the tree layer! The timing was good, it was the line motion. You can see at 1:04-1:06 you are moving parallel to the bar of 5 so motion supports the tree line. By the time he saw the new connection, he was already tree-committed 🙂
You got your head turned sooner for the new connection at 1:45 and did a FC at 2:22) so he did not go to the tree but the key will really be peeling away towards 6 when he is on the way to 4. That way there is not parallel path motion into potential/accidental layers 🙂
The serp worked well – you had your right verbal and decel and arm happenng, so he was very clear on where to go.
Lift:
> I was thinking 2x/week, maybe 3 super short sessions was probably going to be plenty for the under pressure games with Ms Lifty.>
That should work nicely! And she will let us know if we should do it more frequently or not.
> so she was pretty amped going into it and a bit high coming back into the house which rolled right into being excited about dinner. I think more of the arousal was at the anticipation of dinner though>
This is entirely relatable. I, too, get really excited about dinner LOL
This was a lovely stay tour in the backyard! Super! She did great! Letting her choose her position can take some of the pressure off the start line which already has a lot of pressure built in. When you take the leash off, if she is facing the wrong way, you have to turn her around LOL So before the leash comes off, you can use your movement to get her facing the right way, then take the leash off, then cue the stay so she chooses her position and is already lined up facing the jump.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
>That turn off the running DW was aided by the walls of the building and the absence of other reasonable choices>
It was the a-frame turn that caught my eye! It would have been easy for him to really go forward after it but he turned really well!
Looking at the video:
I think this setup showed him a lot of things that he needs to learn about!> Casper is running a giant oval shape instead of lines>
Yes, I see what you mean. It looks like there were 2 things happening:
– the 1-2-3 line was hard for him to make those soft turns especially at the beginning where the distances were bigger. He was jumping relatively straight over 2 – was there something visually exciting past jump 2?The line was tighter when the jumps were pulled in closer later in the video, but he was still not bending well over 2. In a perfect world, he would add a stride. Since he is not going to add that stride on a shoulder turn, you can work the 1-2 line with both hands on the wheel 😜 and cue 2 with 2 hands (beginning at liftoff to 1). He might not always need it when he discovers how nice it feels to add that stride!
>I did not include the reps where he dropped jump #1 or #2.>
You can include those so we can see what is happening. My guess is that he was going straight then trying to adjust over the bar (and it did not work out for him). The 2-hand approach can really help show the striding, as in “Please add more strides on these soft arcs, Casper”.
– on the 4-5 line, it looks like he was deliberately widening the line in order to see you better. The layering concept was probably a bit of a mind-blow for him, because he couldn’t see you all that well. And Border Collies will often widen the line to expand their field of vision. Later in the session, that improved dramatically so it is possible that he was figuring out that layering does indeed make sense. The jumps were slightly shifted but that would not be enough to tighten it up. So for this – staying in motion more and just using m ore verbals will help. Being too quiet will cause him to need to see more motion, which can cause him to widen the line.
>The #4 jump in your demo looks like a “gimme” but for Casper it is a send and he dropped it a lot.>
It is a send on mine too – looked easier possibly because the dog is more experienced in going past the tunnel so he had fewer questions. For dogs that are still learning to find a jump on the other side of the tunnel, we see commitment questions and bar questions.
And that was the jump where the bar came down on the video – part of it was him not being super organized in his jumping. I am sure his thought bubble was totally “This is legal? Really? Wait, what?!?!” haha! And part of it was that you were not showing a lot of motion or using verbals a lot there, so he was not entirely sure of how to jump it. You either were stationary then did a sudden acceleration (like at :27) or were very decelerated (:41, :53) both of which contributed to the bar down (or so much decel at 1:17 that he didn’t take 4 at all).
>Maybe my path isn’t good – I think I’m standing around too much. I tend to minimize going north if I’m just about to turn around and go south.>
That is part of it – the actual line of travel was good but the standing still too much made it harder. You don’t have to go all the way to the South Pole if you have to get back to the North Pole, but go as far as needed and then keep moving (no standing around). That will help enormously! And some verbals too will help, even if it is just a GO or jump verbal to support the line when he can’t really see the motion as well.
>On your setup, the backside of 6 is the continuation of the 4,5 line – mine wasn’t until I adjusted it.>
The blind you did the backside was really nice! Just be sure not to block the wing of the backside.
When going to the backside on the other side of 6 – yes, it was a tiny bit of a push on this setup which turned into a BIG push because when he was wider at 4-5, that set a different line 5-6. On the first rep of it at 1:42, you turned your connection forward a bit which turned your shoulders to the front side of the jump. And Casper is more likely to hone in on the front of a jump based on his experience.
You were better at 2:06 in terms of being more connection but it didn’t register as a backside to him (based on his learning history and his line expectations on course, he doesn’t really consider backsides). You can get super forceful with a bigger connection directly to his eyes and even throw out your opposite arm to point to the backside wing – this should really emphasize it! You had some of that happening (BIG connection) on the last rep and definitely more convergence. I thought your line of motion was good on the backside at 2:06 so the bigger connection will really help and that way you won’t have to converge as much.
Nice work here! I am curious to see how the next sequence goes – these were all left turns, so it will be interesting to see if side preference is playing a role (and if the right turns will be easier).
Tracy
