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Super great to have people watching at home base!!! Plus your attention a little split with all the things (people, glasses, etc). Plus a dog barking in the background – plus the toy on the ground – plus the clapping 0 there was a LOT in the environment. A whole lot!
She was very aroused (faster, jumping on you more than usual).
>I think the people bothered her less but she was hard to handle because she was not driving to the obstacles.>
I don’t think the people were bothering her in any negative sense, or producing anxiety in any way… looks to me like we were seeing multi-sensory integration in action! On a normal day, her brain is bombarded with all sorts of sensory integration but she has had enough rehearsal in quiet environments and with one person, that her brain can prioritize certain things (the mechanics of finding the agility jump, for example) and doesn’t need to expend bandwidth to process the other stuff.
Add in all of the elements on those first two runs? Yes, a LOT more processing is happening and her brain was *almost* able to fully prioritize doing all the agility. Almost! Really darned good!!! And that is also why rehearsal is so key – because it is not an operant skill we teach them, it is happening in the neurons and neural pathways need to build through rehearsal. For all we know, it is possible that her brain told her that she took every.single.jump on the first two runs (which is one of the reasons why it is important to keep going like you did).
The more you can set up positive rehearsals like this, the less her brain will have to work hard to process and prioritize info – the agility will get MUCH easier. And when the brain is having to process *A LOT*, I find that we see tendencies pop out – some are breed tendencies (like my teenage whippet will run straight and fast but not always OVER the jump LOL!) and some are possibly inherited – like getting a little sticky in those heavy processing moments (rather than jumping up and biting, for example, which I have certainly seen run in certain lines).
So what to do about it? Keep setting up rehearsals with the people and ‘stuff’ in the environment. One thing I would change is for the really hard rehearsals, don’t start them as remote reinforcement. You will want a reward in the ring in your pocket, to be able to throw it and surprise her with a reward out on a big line, for example. That surprise element (hello, dopamine spike!) can build up a lot of motivation to find the jumps even when the brain is very busy processing. Then as she gets more experienced and her brain doesn’t have to work as hard with the multi-sensory integration, you can add in harder skills like remote reinforcement or things like weave poles.
None of this is actually operant, in that she is not actively making a ‘choice’ about taking the jump or not. But it is powerful learning, nonetheless.
It would be cool to be able to have an fMRI machine on them while running 🙂
And yes, it is different with one person watching versus a small group. Not much was different in your handling, but she was able to find the lines more easily. Her brain was being bombarded by less info, therefore less to process, so she had an easier time prioritizing the agility skills. Plus, if this was the 2nd session, she had already seen the agility setup so she didn’t have to work as hard to process the location of the jumps.
>I was wondering if maybe her dial would be better with a toy rather than treats?>
You can ask her and try it! It might be perfect, or it might be over-arousing if you are asking her brain to process the external environment as well as more arousal in the internal environment. The only way to know is to try it 🙂
I don’t think this was an arousal issue though – arousal optimization is great, but her brain still has to work through the MSI in these early stages. Then the 2 come together quite nicely and it will soon be like she doesn’t ‘notice’ any of the people at all.>You said see you on Thursday. Do we have another live?>
What I meant was see you today n the forum, after Christmas 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHappy holidays!!
The right turn wraps at the beginning looked really strong! You were very clear on the connection at the exit of the FCs and you were moving but not going toooooo fast so she was able to read the handling cues.
Left turns were harder – it might be a combination of her not being a lefty and you working on the side that is less comfy for you 🙂 or that she had just done a bunch of right turns and needed more of a break in between the turns. So rather than switch sides in the session, you can take a break, play with a toy, then come back a couple of minutes later and try the other side.
At :51, she cut in front to almost do a right turn – you were a little further from the barrel there so moving closer on the next reps really helped get her into the flow of the left turns. You can also use a reset cookie there – rather than line her up and move her by her collar, you can have her come back to a cookie lure to line her up then start the next rep. The line up cookie can keep frustration levels low – the dogs know that the rep was not quite right (based on your reaction) so the line up cookie rewards her effort and smoothly brings her to the next rep.
Getting her to come to your left side worked great when you moved a little more slowly and had ultra clear connection. On the successful reps, your movement and connection looked the same as it did on the other side and she read it great! Super!!!
You can keep adding more motion to this, building in more speed while maintaining the great connection. And you can also keep things super clear like this and try it with a toy on the ground. You can reward with a toy in your hand for coming around the barrel, to help teach her that the toy on the ground is not the cue to go to the toy on the ground 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
Hope you are enjoying the holidays!!>They don’t leave the NFC box up. I assembled it and tool it down again when we were done.>
Wow! Totally worth the extra work, it was a great rehearsal!
>She is cleared for official (aka longer) sprints on the 31rst and low jumps the 2nd weekend in January.>
Time will fly and she will be back at it soon!
>I think the shake off is her way of regulating arousal. She needs to do it and then she is good to go.>
Agree! And we can also “ask” her to shake it off if she has not done it on her own – I do that by stroking the dog’s coat the wrong direction, starting at the base of the tail and moving my hand forward to the base of their neck. By moving the coat the wrong way, the dogs are very likely to do that full by shake to reset the coat and reset their system. Let me know if it works with her!
Tracy
Hi!
That should not be a hard choice for people: 18 degree weather or free chocolate. I would choose the chocolate LOL!That is a fun pattern game but yes, it is hard to find room for two mats. What if you tweaked it and used 1 mat in front of you, and tossed a treat off to each side. Then he can get a the treat (just past your shoe) then hop back on his mat, then get the next treat (just past your other shoe)
Nice job with th leaping hand touches at the beginning!
He was definitely stimulated and had a lot of excitement in the stay and speed… then blew through the teeter contact. Was it the other ring, or being very stimulated, or that you started running a bit when he was getting on the first teeter (2:13) so the decel was late, but then were really decelerated on the 2nd teeter (2;34) – maybe he needs more handler decel on contacts especially when he is really excited?
He released when you moved at 2:37 then took off – but then ignored the there ring when he was able to run the jump/tunnel line even right next to the other ring, so maybe getting him moving was better to help with distractions than stopping on the teeter? Many inexperienced dogs do better when we keep them moving – so at a trial, try to avoid a stopped contact (or weaves) at the beginning of the course.
>Ring crew here was sitting right next to the tunnel entry and I think he did well! >
He did GREAT!!
2nd run – was there music playing too? Perfect! And he was definitely aware of the leash runner here but was able to regulate his arousal and ignore her. Note how he had to do a big shake off to ignore her.
He did take off to a moving ring crew at approximately :50. Rather than call him back, try this: keep handling the course with your invisible dog 🙂 Then when he rejoins you, do another obstacle or two, then reward. We don’t want everything to stop when he goes to investigate a ring crew person, or for you to yell his name – we want him to begin to understand that the gateway to reward is to continue with you. If you keep handling the course, you will find that he leaves you less and less 🙂
>Next step with the ring crew here, once he’s solid with them sitting, maybe have them randomly walking?< Yes - that will increase the challenge. And you can just continue handling your invisible dog if he leaves :) He will come back! >Might have been him trying to keep warm, but it felt like he was leaving me behind in the dust last night>
Cold weather can be very stimulating!!!! He was definitely feeling the arousal of it!
>Speaking about the weather, 18 degrees – how cold is too cold. I did keep him in a nice warm car when not working.>
How cold was it inside the barn? It didn’t look to be 18 degrees but maybe I am a wimpy southerner now (my New York roots have faded away haha) If he is able to keep warm in the car then get a full warm up and cool down before each run, then running in 30 degree barns should be ok (sporting dogs do fine in the cold, generally). You can warm him up in a coat to keep his muscles war, then cool him down in a coat too. If it was truly 18 degrees in the barn, then maybe that was too cold LOL!!!!
Great job here! Have a wonderful holiday!
Tracy
Hi!
This was a really fun training setup! It sounds like all the dogs did really well!!!Video 1:
She did really well entering the ring at the end of Mochi’s run! That is very realistic and likely to be a scenario she encounters at a trial. Having her come in and do cookie games was perfect – she seemed able to ignore the ring crew 🙂>We also tested being able to leave the NFC reward box to go out and do a thing (running by Kristin too) and then leashing up to leave.>
This seemed to go really well – it is really cool that they leave the food box up so you can train with it! She did some barking/hopping around during this session, but I think it was excitement, and not overarousal or frustration.
2nd video:
>Cameo from Dean as the pushy leash runner>Dean is a saint LOL!! Please pass along my thanks, this really helps!!
She seemed to have no questions about The Daddy in the ring, and also no questions about Jimmy. That is great! He also did well ignoring her. All good rehearsals!!!
3rd video – Dean got enlisted to call numbers and faults! I am glad he was rewarded with muffins! LOL!!
Lift did really well entering – note the big shake-off when you took the leash off, which might be an indication of the level of challenge. There was definitely more energy and distraction in the ring in this session but she still did really well! And using the food box several times seemed fine with her (then coming to it at the end outside the ring with Reacher right there – both pups were great!!!)
Last video – was Khamsin pretending to be me, adjusting the tunnel bags? HAHA! I do that all the time at trials LOL!
>got an extensive shake after the leash came off >
That might be one of the ways she regulates her arousal, because every time she does the shake-off, she has great responses to cues after that. And yes, she did great with people cheering and a bit of other dogs barking too 🙂 Super!
This is all really good rehearsal for things she will experience in the ring! I don’t suggest doing too much more running past jumps, even if you are handling past them because we do want her to be actively looking for jumps in the ring. When is she going to be cleared to jump?
And happy 18 month birthday, Lift!!! You are almost done with adolescence (hopefully 🙂 )
Great job! Have a wonderful holiday!
TracyHi! His turn and burn looks great!!! He was committing really well, even when you were rotated sideways and doing the FC nice and early. SUPER!!!
You can start a little further away now, which will give you time to start the FC right before he arrives at the barrel. On your last rep here, you were doing the FC right as he arrived at the barrel, so now try it one step sooner: right before he arrives at the barrel. And if he thinks that is easy? Cool! Add in starting the FC when he is two steps away from the barrel 🙂 You might need to put a line on the ground (like his leash) so you can give yourself a visual aid of exactly when to start the FCs.
One more thing to add: wrap verbals! These will help increase distance as well. Start saying the wrap verbal, then send him to the barrel, then do the FC. The wrap verbal will help support commitment so you can do the FC with earlier timing, and more and more distance.
Great job here! Have a wonderful holiday!!
Tracy
Hi!
I think Max believes this the best and easiest game ever invented LOL!! He was perfect and your timing was really good! You can add moving around while playing this game (you can walk back and forth) and you can also add in a distraction in the environment (from the “Taking It On The Road” game posted more recently). You can play this game in a variety of new places, it really helps bring the dogs into different environments like trials 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
Looking at strike a pose:
I agree that he did great with here! And he really is happy to play any crazy game – always bring a smile to my face, he is like a ray of sunshine!!!>I wasn’t totally sure how much I should be asking for him to go to the actual target, I understand he doesn’t need to hit it with his nose but does he need to go towards it or just do the motion?>
I see what you mean about the line! When he was going directly to the bowl on some of the reps here at the beginning, I think what was fine baed on where this is going – you will eventually be moving 🙂 so he won’t need to come in straight over the bar. As long as he knows to come over the bar and turn, we are all good! You can help him understand that by starting him from the cookie toss to position 3 – that will give him more options to either come towards you over the bar… or go directly to the cookie bowl 🙂
Looking at the rocking horses: wow, look at that connection as you finished the FCs!! So nice! So clear! That really helped him zip right around those barrels. Massive click treat for you!
Yes, he was kind of into the toy but then had a little trouble restarting at about 1:00 – it might be that he needs more connection on that initial send and big step but less arm movement The more you used the arm, the less he left to wrap. But when you used a lower, more subtle hand movement (especially after starting with your hand on his collar) he was great. So my guess is that he needs big connection on the starts too and if you point forward too much with your arm, it blocks connection so he looks up at you.
When you add the turn and burn on the last barrel of the 2 or 3 wraps in a row, you can add in having him chase you for the toy. I think he will really like that! And he seems ready for you to add that here 🙂
>And then the get out prop game with the different hand shape. he was awesome here!>
Amazing how differently he reads a relatively small change in how you are holding your hand! He did great! Latent learning might have also help (he got to sleep on it LOL!) but he did great and is ready for the next steps: you are moving. You might want to mark a straight line on the ground with a leash so you don’t move towards the prop at all – then you can end him away with a cookie toss so you can start moving slowly up the line. And on some reps, give him the get out cue (you can add the “out” verbal) and on other reps, call him to you for the straight line.
He was doing well getting into the contact box!
>I only grabbed one bowl so we tried to do only one direction and he wasn’t sure he should have to go around instead of through haha>
Only one direction worked well because it can help him not look at you because he has to move away from you. You can delay the ‘dish’ marker and cookie throw until after he moves through the box and is heading to the dish – right now, he looks at you when you say dish. The delay will help create the behavior chain that is so helpful with running contacts. And you can move the dish closer to get it started. He might look at you when he arrives at the dish which is totally fine 🙂 and we will then move the dish further and further away.
Great job here! Have a wonderful holiday!
Tracy
Hi!
Her rocking horses are going great!
I am glad you opened up the distance right away, the 5 foot distance is too small for her 🙂 She did well at the bigger distance!She was great about reminding you to connect 🙂 For example, as she exited the barrel at :24, you were not fully connected in that eye-to-eye Hallmark moment style. So she stops moving forward and looks up at you. Then at :25, you looked at her directly (Hallmark moment!) and that opened up your shoulder and your connection, so she immediately when to the barrel. Yay!
You moved the barrels in closer but it was really a connection question, not a distance question from her. On the next reps, you really emphasized the connections and she had no questions 🙂 Super!!! So now you can add more distance between the barrels but maintain that connection 🙂 And you can also use your hands a bit – pointing back to her as she exits the barrel and t establish connection, then swooshing forward nice and low as you send her to the next one.
>And the noise in the background is Sly fairly close to exploding cause he hasn’t gotten to play yet>
Poor Sly! ABOOOOOOSE! LOL! I am sure he had plenty of play time 🙂
Great job here and have a wonderful holiday!
Tracy
Hi!
Looking at the tunnel threadle sessions here: Both sessions looked really strong and he was able to turn away to find the tunnel entry from pretty far back along the tunnell. Super!!! You were better about giving the verbal cue a few times before letting him go when he was on your left. When he was on your right, you only said it once or twice but you can definitely say it many more times LOL!
He looks ready for you to add your tunnel threadle verbal. You can line him up close to the entry on the threadle side, like you did here, and hold him so that you can say the new verbal 3 or 4 times then let him go. Hopefully he will recognize the context and scoot right into the tunnel, like he did here. If he doesn’t understand what to do, you can start adding the new verbal by saying the new verbal 3 or 4 times then while letting him go, say tunnel once or twice. Then we can fade the tunnel verbal pretty quickly.On the parallel path video – he was great about finding the jump! You don’t need to say ‘break’ because he was not in a stay (which might be why your brain didn’t say break LOL!!) You had his line here a more of an arc to the jump, and he did well – you also got your toy throws in earlier and he did not seem to look at you at all. That is BIG!!! For the next session, to add more distance – use a cookie toss to send him away from you onto the line to the jump, while you stay pretty far away. Then after he gets the cookie, he will see you moving on a parallel line to the jump. That will cue him to stay on his line – which you can probably work up to 15 or 20 feet away! Then you can use your ‘get it’ and toy throw as the reward.
On the SSC video – his face is so dark that it is hard to see where he is looking! But his nose was pointing to the bowl so I think he was focusing on the line nicely 🙂 And you can see his head turn clearly as the bowl got further around. The last rep was HARD but he did it! Yay!
>I’m dragging him around to get him in position and he’s not having fun. >
Yes, he put up with it but was not thinking it wa great fun. So what you can do instead is line him up with a cookie lure, gently hold his collar after he gets into position, then feed him the cookie 🙂 I think he will like that and you won’y end up pulling him around. You can have 2 cookies in your hand for this – one to lure/feed him with, and the other to drop into the bowl. Or, you can replace the bowl with a toy now!
>Would it make sense to do it standing? If so, should I use a taller cone?>
Yes, you can do it standing but I would still ask him to line up (or lure him with a treat) then put your hand on his collar after he is lined up. And yes, I think a taller cone (or a barrel) would be good if you are standing.
Great job here! Have a wonderful holiday!
Tracy
Hi!
>He injured his right rear leg – likely from trauma (not sure what) – where he had a laterally luxating patella. So he was initially hop-skipping to avoid using that leg. I’m’ still seeing an occasional hop-skip – mostly when moving faster than a trot (though I’ve mostly been trying to restrict to trotting or slower).>
Poor guy! I am glad he is feeling better. I have some luxating patella experience if you need any info.
The stool here is the perfect height! The pattern game went really well. Super nice timing with your get it marker: You were letting him engagefully before marking then throwing the next treat. You’ll find that this game can have a calming effect too, so you can use it any time you think he is getting a little too excited for the current state of his leg bubble wrap! You can add in the next step, which involves adding a little distraction (you will see it here:
https://agility-u.com/lesson/resilience-game-on-the-road-4/ )He also did really well with the prop game! At the beginning you were pretty close to it so when you got significantly further at :20, he needed a moment to find it again. And he did! Super!!
For now, we don’t want to add speed to this until he is fully cleared to run. But what you can do is add getting him to drive ahead to the prop by moving to the cookie toss reward with him – then wait there til he eats it and then tart moving up the line past he prop again. Then you can mark and toss the next treat. This will build in nicely to getting the rear crosses going.
>that it’ll take more video review and diligence to move to verbal reward markers…>
You had the get it marker happening here which is super! And you were also concentrating on getting the treat nice and low to help moderate his speed. He was not looking up at you, and that is our goal: to keep him looking ahead.
Great job!
TracyHi!
>But also about jump heights, what is your latest thinking on progression up to regular height for the young dogs starting NFC and trialing? I haven’t starting jumping him at 12″ in class at all yet and obviously need to start there, but not sure how to do it to ensure he still keeps confidence in his jumping ability and some speed. Considering right now speed is one of my bigger concerns, I’ve been scared to start jumping higher even in class.>
It is great that you are already doing it in grids at home – part of it is the conditioning work to make jumping full height easy 🙂
At home and in class, you can raise the height bit by bit (doesn’t have to be all bars all at once). On a really easy line that he can jump in big extension, put the bar on a jump at 10” and see how he does. Based on his response, you can start to make more and more bars 10”, starting with the super easy lines then gradually adding the hard lines like wraps and backside or threadles.
When he is fast & happy at 10, you repeat the process to very gradually raise the bars to 12, starting with the easy bars.
You can do one jump exercises at home at 10 then 12”.
For competition, I like to debut my dogs in the ‘for real’ runs at the lower height – it keeps me in check so I don’t have intrusive thoughts like “I CAN Q! I CAN WIN!” Hahaha! I mean, you can Q and win but I care less at that height 🙂
Then when he is happily jumping full height in class, you can do a little bit of FEO/NFC at full height at a trial. Then it all comes together, combining his experience running trial courses at a lower height with the class experience of running at the higher height.
>Well, I do happen to have a local really good friend and whippet breeder and serious racer – and her whippets even do barn hunt too – who I can definitely ask about this! I didn’t know they were often experts at this! I guess it never came up in our conversations! Maybe not a magic trick typically well-advertised. LOL! I’ll ask her about it. Probably more human bribery will be in order. >
This will either be the weirdest question ever for her… or she will totally know what you mean and have ideas LOL I actually have a video of it somewhere.
Tracy
Hi! It sounds like you have had a crazy end to 2024!!! Onwards to 2025 with only good things ahead!
>Although I made a lot of videos, I didn’t get any submitted. We had too many hearings with planning and zoning, as well as with City Council trying to defend and maintain the single family residence zoning of my historic neighborhood with 100 year old deed restrictions.>
I hope you won!! It sounds like a worthwhile cause!
>I injured my knee when doing a push wrap with a pivot in my rear foot to send to a tunnel. My upper leg pivoted, but my foot did not pivot. This resulted in a medial collateral ligament strain…I borrowed the laser unit from school. It is finally almost 100%… I can go up/down stairs normally again. >
Oh NO! Ouch!!! I am a weenie too, I feel your pain. I am glad you are getting back to normal!!!!
> I avoided front crosses, distance handling with Grady improved! >
Well there is a positive for sure! Distance is so helpful!
>Suddenly in the past two weeks found myself just automatically throwing in FCs when needed!>
Yay! And blinds are easy on the knees, just sayin’ 🙂
>I spent a lot of time playing with Ginger…she is back to retrieving and tugging. We did a seminar with Ami Sheffield and Ginger was fast and happy! The following weekend we had a young dog seminar with Cassie Schmidt…same thing fast and happy😁>
This is great news! She is feeling better too 🙂
>In the summer we did several NFC/FEO runs at UKI and NADAC trials. I will do the same at a UKI trial in mid January and with an AKC trial in February.>
How did the runs go?
>What would be a good course to sign up for next?
Stay tuned for a young dog transition to trials group of some sort… I haven’t quite figured it out yet but it will be an ongoing group for support and ideas and feedback for these youngsters!
Have a great Christmas!
Tracy
Hi!
>what if they don’t go around the cone and go straight to the toy after a look to the cone.>
You have a chuckle and take the toy back without much drama (have it on a long line or hold the other end of it so she doesn’t take it on a tour of the ring :)) Remember that when the toy is in a position where it is easy to cut across to it, or she has to pass it to go to the cone, you are not using your ‘get the toy’ marker til she is definitely at the cone and not grabbing for the toy. If you are early with the toy marker, then it is fine for her to go directly to it.
So when the toy is visible in a spot where it is a real challenge, you will be holding her with one hand and using the other hand to indicate forward focus to the cone. When she looks at the cone, you will let her go to begin moving and you can use your wrap cue. When she is definitely at the cone and not going to the toy, you can mark that decision with your toy marker.
And since this is concept work, you can teach the concept first with an empty food bowl so it is easier to learn (less frustrating/arousing). And when she can do it with the food bowl, then you can start again with the toy as the reward. Start from the beginning rather than just putting it where the bowl was, to avoid errors as you transfer the concept.
> Also how close should they be?>
2 feet from the cone, approximately – close enough that it is easy to get forward focus and to place the reward, but far enough that there is some level of challenge in terms of the bowl/toy being visible as it moves around the cone.
And definitely video it!! Have fun!
Tracy
Hi!
It is definitely the time of year for small space stuff!!
Your follow the magic cookie hand foundation really paid off here!
The lap turns without the prop went pretty perfectly! She knows how to turn herself thanks to the work you’ve already done (yay!) and your cues were spot on. Super!! She looked strong in both directions.
Adding the prop definitely challenged the processing of the cookie hand! The prop has a ton of value, so she will head for it first unless specifically cued otherwise 🙂
So with the added processing challenge of the prop, the more visible your hand was, the better she was able to come to it. If your cookie hand was too subtle, it was getting ‘lost’ against the visual of the prop.
A couple of ideas to help her out:– You can extend your hand further from your body to help make it more obvious and salient: lock your elbow so your arm is straight and reach your hand towards her while you bend over. Feel free to shake it a bit too 🙂
– You can shift your connection from her eyes down to your hand (let her see you do that). It can really draw her to the hand!
– And if she still needs things to be more obvious, you can call her name 🙂For the tandems- she had similar questions when the prop came out, in terms of the hand cues getting hidden a bit in favor of the visual of the prop. You can make the hands more obvious here too – try not to hide your hands in front of you – make sure she sees your hands. You can have your dog-side arm further back and rotate a little more at the waist, so she might end up seeing both hand involved in the cue. That will help attract her in to the hands, which will make the turn away even easier.
>And I think with slightly more space to toss a reset cookie she wouldn’t have gone to the prop so often, I think sometimes she turned around and the prop was just RIGHT THERE. >
Totally yes! The smaller space made it more challenging! But she still did a great job 🙂 and I think making your hands more obvious will make it all even easier.
Tomorrow you will see the next level of this posted – threadle wrap foundations (no prop 🙂 ) She is totally ready for that and I am betting you will end up using threadle wraps more than lap turns at this point.
Great job!
Tracy
