Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
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 🙂
TracyGood morning! Lots of good work here and great info from him!
He is doing better at finding lines and you did a really great job of continuing and not trying to fix things if he went pat anything.
After watching the runs – he did best in the run when the toy was in your pocket (video 4 here). He was excited but also focusing better on the lines. When the toy was visible in your hand, he was not sure if he should look at the toy or look at you.
When the toy was not in the ring at all, he was less focused, and ran to see the other dog in the beginning and got sniffy at the end (video 2, tunnelers)
So for now – keep using the toy in your pocket, and then take it out to reward him at the end. And you can also take it out to reward at the end of contacts, to help him want to get on them (a-frame for now, and the DW when he is ready for that too). That will help transfer his skills to the trial environment.
He did best when you had a lot of connection and a lower arm (and ran past stuff when you were looking ahead) so definitely keep that strong connection. He thrives on it!
>The go around start was a good practice as I need to work on where I set that up at the startline.>
Yes – for the go around start , angle yourself a bit to the side of the first obstacle so you can send him around you then you are a step or two ahead to show the opening line. He seemed to really like those go around starts!!
>And for the record, there is nothing wrong with his foot. When he sits he naturally lifts his right foot (you will see that at the start line). >
Ha! Yes, he looked pumped up and not acting like it hurt 🙂 He was paying great attention!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
> I have ben carrying Frankie’s leash for so long, I forgot about the leash chair.>
And I forgot that you can carry the leash in AKC! You can work that in as well, and you might choose to do that with Bazinga too.
>From Frankie’s feedback – Yes! That noise you heard was Bazinga making monster noises waiting for her turn in the crate! Hahahah>
That was a pretty hilarious protest from her LOL!
> with human highs & lows on this transition. >
This is totally relatable!!
>I spun the 4 poles in a different direction in the yard and had the MM further away and she struggled finding the weaves. >
Yes, this is so normal but so hard for our human brains LOL!
>As I type that I am realizing maybe changing 2 variables is a problem, too, but I really didn’t have the MM that much further away.>
Young dogs struggle with generalizing and with variable changes for sure! One way to think about it is when one variable gets harder, we can make another one easier. So changing the location of the weaves was a variable change, so you can make something easier (like opening up the poles a bit). You won’t always have to do this because the behavior does generalize, but it is a good way to get success when starting.
Now the other thing is that we don’t always realize we are changing variable (oops! LOL!) but if the dog fails twice, we can re-assess and make something easier. That 2 failure rule saves my bacon a lot 🙂
>>And then you can put it behind a tunnel! >> Really!? I’m trying to picture that, like behind the tunnel & then do I send her to the tunnel?>
Yes – it would be weaves then tunnel then MM 🙂 It also adds in the challenge of staying in the weaves when there is a tunnel right there (and since that might be a big variable change, you can open the weaves a bit if you think it will be hard.
>So I can keep it as a visual, but not reward from it. >
Yes, like a target. And you can sometimes reward from it a a nice surprise (surprise rewards are very motivating).
>And I should move it around (further away, hidden behind a wing) so the picture is a little different very time? >
Yes, as long as there are not too many other big variables changing.
>And I can just keep going with the progressions up to 12 poles and keep progressing the fade as we go but gradually.>
Yes 🙂
>I want to work up to bringing them out to our slightly bigger field to make it feel like they are in a different location before I introduce them to her at another away from home location.>
Since they are 2x2s, you might be able to fit them in the car and bring them with you to class or different places, if they don’t have 2x2s there.
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi! Really great stuff here, things are coming together SO NICELY!!!
First some thoughts on the runs, then some overall thoughts:
Run 1 – WOW!! Look at her driving lines but also turning when asked. Also WOW!! Look at you running brilliantly AND with connection. So exciting!!!!!
Run 3 – 2nd video here – also super nice!! Her line driving gets better each time and also you are handling assertively which really helps.
Run 4 – also super nice! She is not yet driving 3 full obstacles away on those huge distances, but it is coming along nicely and I am sure that will lock in soon
Run 5:
>run 5 had too long a wait before hand and lost her at the start should have stopped her and restarted>Was the wait at the start line before the run began? Yes, you can re-start or re-start at jump 2. And if you feel the wait beforehand is getting too long, you can see if she will do a trick or something to keep connected to her when you are waiting.
You both recovered nicely and the run went well!
Run 6 – this video link was the same as the run 4 video, can you repost run 6?
>got a wait but argued over it and a second ribbon had a tyre at start which she managed.>
She might have been a bit brain-tired by then, but I am glad she was able to do it. And yay for the tyre!!
Overall thoughts for you:
There are a bunch of things I see that I am really excited about:
– your running and staying connected/ getting verbals out
– She is finding lines super well
– when she is not sure, she is looking for info but NOT getting frustrated or barking or jumping up – she is waiting for info and then getting right back on the line. Super!!!A couple of ideas:
– to help her stay on the big lines after tunnels, you can give your tunnel exit verbals sooner (they are happening as she exits) and repeat them, such as saying GO GO GO GO if it is a straight line exit. No time for taking a breath or anything LOL!!– that also applies to the very end – start your GO cues sooner and repeat them more.
– Train the tyre 🙂 for her to find independently on lines. I also have to do that this week, with the smaller/weird looking tire the dogs see in UKI events here.
>next show back to nc as stand with weaves and still training those so will work on waits in ring and getting smoother.>
This sounds great!! She is doing REALLY WELL! If you listen closely on some of your videos, you can hear people in the background commenting on how cool the runs are! Yay!
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>We had our first class on Wednesday. I didn’t get any video but it was fun. >
Super! A class will be so valuable for her. And good job with reinforcing the stays, we definitely want those stays 🙂
>We have a trial next weekend! It is an outdoor on grass 2 ring trial. She’s been at the location often when she was little but it will be her first time in the ring there. She’s entered in 1 run (novice JWW) Saturday & 1 on Sunday.
Since it has been a while since we have been at a trial, I think I’ll hide a toy & do empty hands. I’ll keep Saturday easy to get a feel for how she is feeling and then if she is all good, I’ll do more obstacles on Sunday. If you have any suggestions, I’m open! ☺>I think this is a great plan – the goal is mainly to make it fun in a different environment. If she is relaxed and happy, you can do a bunch of short sequences (just shove the toy back in your pocket between reps so she doesn’t watch it too much :))
>We are progressing at fading the MM with weaves. She’s looking for the lotus ball and ignoring the MM. I have it moved pretty far away. Our last session, she was very happy abut the lotus ball. I’m excited.>
YAY!!! The weaves are the only thing needed before she can start doing more in JWW!
>We’ll keep going with the progression & move the MM behind a wing and then I think I can just not put it out at all. >
And then you can put it behind a tunnel!
>We are still on 4 weaves to keep it easy during the transition. Do you think I should get back to 6 poles while the MM is still out there in the distance?>
Yes, I would go all the way up to 12 poles with the MM being worked away into different spots and faded out entirely.
>I’ve been working on the TSA game with Bazinga too.>
Her tricks outside the ring look great too! And I love her middle position! I didn’t see a difference between being carried in and walking in except that when walking in, she could tug on her leash. And that might be a good outlet for her to direct her excitement (other than making you bleed oops LOL!). The bit of chill on the last video was good to add in but I am not sure if she was chill hahahaha. Leash tugging in that moment can be a coping skill, a way to balance arousal, so I would let her do it.
Stays looked good too!
Like with Frankie, add a chair for the leash so she is not focused on the exit gate and is instead focused on going with you to the leash before the cookie marker 🙂
> I asked her to go back & fix some stuff when she ran past some jumps. I think that was a mistake, but I wanted to check in & see what your thoughts are. I guess I wasn’t prepared for run-bys and I didn’t have a plan. If she runs to the gate what should I do? Bring her out to reward her & try again?>
>It was not necessarily a mistake, but it is a fine line to balance on – we don’t want to frustrate the dogs but it is ok for them to tolerate a fix sometimes (because we might sometimes fix). Mainly, the decision should be made based on why it might have happened. What was happening here was that they were flying (yay!) and the crosses turned them back towards the reward gate which they are focused on… and the execution of the crosses were a bit late and not connected enough. So it was a high arousal moment and not enough connection, so Bazinga was followed motion and didn’t really see the side change. When that happens take it as a cue to connect more with your arm back to her and BIG eye contact. That is a good one to work: a cross that asks for a side change away from the cookie gate!
One other thing I am thinking you can add to your TSA practice at home… longer courses. Built up to 15 or more obstacles at home to sometimes run as TSA (you can add a tunnel and make a course out of it :))
Great job here!!
Tracy
