Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi!
> Knight’s right illopsoas was very tight possible reason is his left hind leg muscle (don’t ask me the name!!!!) was also very tight. >
Poor little dude! I am glad Harmony found this. Were his back and shoulders feeling ok?
>Icing and putting heat on areas per Harmony. >
The iliopsoas is a pretty common ouchy spot for agility dogs, so there are some things that I’ve seen over the years that really help: laser, therapeutic ultrasound, Assisi loops, back on track coats, and light massage. Also, meds! The vet can prescribe an anti-inflammatory and muscle relaxer, to jump start recovery, along with rest.
>Next stop Vet Chiro for adjustment. >
Super! The vet can prescribe stuff, and also maybe check patellas with him lying on his side. A common source of iliopsoas ouch in smaller dogs? Patella! I know this firsthand with one of my dogs and also with a bunch of student dogs. It is good to rule it out and if he is standing, he might be strong enough to clench everything tight LOL!! So checking that when he is lying on his side will give a true picture 🙂
Keep me posted!
TracyHi!
Even though he is not running at NAC, it is great experience to be there and soak up the atmosphere!! Yay! And I am sure he will love FastCAT!! Have fun!
TracyHi!
>We had a really great Speedy Jumpers mini-seminar on Friday,>
So fun! I hear fantastic things about her Speedy Jumpers seminars and this looked both fun and useful for course work skills!
>I tried out that vibrating toy that I was mentioning in the live chat that my dogs go absolutely crazy for. I had my husband disable the sound to see how it would work in the ring and if it would be too loud for NFC. Well it had a kind of funny result at first because I didn’t realize it would go off while I was running with it (thought it would only do that when thrown!) and then just how distracting that would be to ME while I was running.>
OMG that is HILARIOUS!!!! And yes, I bet it was distracting. LOL!!!!! But it looks like he liked it a lot 🙂
Empty hands went great, and his weaves looked fabulous!!! Yes, a little distracted by Jacque having the toy 🙂 But he did beautifully including the weaves. And I think he was surprised when she tossed the toy! For the next empty hands practice, try not to even have kibble in your pocket – he nose knows LOL So you can have emergency treats up on the wall or something.
>The run where we missed a jump (at 1:27) and I just go on I’m not totally sure why the miss other than a) I didn’t say anything at that jump. I made sure to have better connection on the next try.>
It was connection! As you exited the cross, you were looking more to your side and your hand was at your side, which is not enough connection for a baby dog after the blind. BIG eye contact required 👀 But you carried on beautifully and he was not worried. On the next rep at 1:51, you looked back at him directly and pointed your hand to him – very clear and he took the jump!
And smart to switch to meatballs before the toy loses value and before he gets brain-tired. One thing with the big yardage courses is that the small dogs literally the twice as many strides as the big dogs (and as tall fast humans LOL!). That is exhausting! So sorting with the hard stuff (empty hands, Jacque holding the toy) then moving to easier stuff (meatballs!) is perfect.
>For the very last round we had a boo-boo when testing his commitment to the jump before turning back to the tunnel. >
This was connection too 🙂 as he was exiting the tunnel, you were looking ahead and doing the handling, but he was looking at you. Remember to make eye contact as he exits, then decel into the cue… and don’t do the FC until you see him definitely committing to the jump – for a young (tired) dog, you might hold the cue facing forward until he lifts his front feet 🙂
>All in all I was pretty happy with his overall motivation and improved speed – still not what I know he can do, but I think it was confidence-boosting and good for him to “feel” what it’s like to really GO on the agility field. It was pretty fun!>
Heck yeah!!! I thought you really powered up and down all the lines, and he responded by running hard. And he seemed to like the turf! He really didn’t look tired – I think your choices were all good and ended up being protective measures because he could have tired out in that last run, or of the toy was used too much. Keep working the connection – right now he needs it to be almost perfect, but that will get easier as he gets more experienced.
>If he’s at all sore I didn’t want him to have any bad feelings about agility ever.>
SMART! Better to leave him wanting more than to ask him to run if he hurts.
Great job here!!
TracyHi!
>Also got to practice layering jump to tunnel vs coming into the jump. (and gave her a better run into it by starting with the straight tunnel). >
She did great here, both with the layering skills (and the non-layering rep) and also with the empty hands approach to reinforcement. Were your pockets empty too? If so – yay!!! It not – that is next on the agenda 🙂
You did a great job setting up the layering, she really had no questions.
Super!!! On the last rep, the layering put you way ahead for the jump after the tunnel… which cause too much decel and pulled her off of it. So you can layer but strategically meet her closer to the tunnel exit so there is more motion on the line to the jump.> Thought this one was interesting to see how she started reacting more as I was coordinating with Khamsin on where to throw next,>
Loose translation:
“Hey. HEY! HEEYYYY! IT IS ABOUT MEEEEEEEEEEEE!” Hahaha!! She just seemed to be a little mad that she did not have your full attention. So you can hold her while you plan next time. But also, it was a good moment where she went high arousal… but then optimized herself to run beautifully on the next rep. Yay!Sounds like she has a lot of fun stuff coming up! You can mix in some empty hands/empty pockets to some of her runs, but bring rewards in for anything that is hard or might require reinforcement in the moment 🙂
>Happy to report that the next 3 evening chats are on free nights for me!>
Yay!!!! Looking forward to it!
Tracy
Good morning! Nice session here!!
The lines in general looked really strong! We can look at the two spots where she had questions:
Looking at the threadle:
>I think I was just overhandling it?? >
Over-helping a little maybe 🙂 You had a good start to the cue with your arm back and verbal, and the questions were when you closed your shoulder forward to point to the jump to help her take it. That turns your shoulders away from the bar which is why she offered a backside on the other side at :22 and a RC on the front side at :33. She was creative!
For the threadle slice, you can keep your arm back til she looks at the bar, and converge towards it a bit more. The open arm cues the come in and the go back out to the bar (points your shoulders to the bar). Moving towards it a bit will help support her line to it as she learns the skill.
At :57 you didn’t close your shoulder til she was taking off for the jump so he got it nicely!! Then after that she had learned the sequence on the last few reps so arm position didn’t matter as much 🙂 Smart dog LOL! To prevent that so you can work the cues, you can do balance reps by sending her to the backside, so she has to watch to see what you wanted.
>And I wasn’t connected on the tunnel when I tried layering. I threw that in by itself at the end of our session.>
Great job sorting out the tunnel layering and getting the jump after it! Yes, keeping connection helps a ton – looking forward to the next obstacle turns your shoulders away and presents the wrong line. When you were connected and moving on a line parallel to her line, she got it both the tunnel and the jump! Super!
For the jump after the tunnel, a jump cue is not necessarily incorrect but there are a lot of jumps around… she might need you to give a big GO cue before she enters the tunnel then again when she exits – the directional might be more useful to show the line.
The last rep had great connection and a parallel path to her path and she nailed it! Part of layering is the that she will learn the skill the more she sees it, so it will be easier to cue – the biggest trend in most course design lately is that the dogs need to stay on a the big parallel line until we change the line (which is why there is so much layering LOL!)
>What is the last day for posting for this class?
May 15th!
>And are there other Zoom meetings?>
Yes, I will be sending an email today – they are March 17, April 3, April 16 then more will be added.
Great job here!Tracy
Good morning!
>Did a seminar last weekend- she did some amazing stuff. Lovely sends and got some blinds in. >
Wonderful! Those sends will be so helpful!
>Instructor nearly stole her- I wasnt worried thought she would comeback fast. >
I believe it 🙂 She is a very cool dog!
> A few things to work on- leaving from the wraps, sending to a blind tunnel entrance-although she nailed this once worked it out and a backside wrap with me moving forward.plus waits.>
Those are easy details to train – you can use connection shift (looking at the landing spot as you rotate to move away) and reward placement (tossing the reward to the landing spot to be able to move away from wraps, for example.
> I was pleased with her work ethic in a class where the other dogs were more experienced she was a trouper. >
Excellent!
> Plus Fusion we focused on reverse spins- Fusions class was easier than In Synch and wonder whether should look at these for In Synch as well long term>
Do you mean look at reverse spins? Yes, sometimes, but you won’t need them much at all. With her speed, keep moving forward at all times and only use a spin if it moves you forward in the correct direction.
>Since then have been crook so have done very little. ysterday put her thru six pole weave almost closed and she nailed it. then asked her to backchain on dog walk and she did and then offered a full dog walk. Big party and stopped as I was ready to crash again.>
That is great! A bit of rest is good and it sounds like the DW and weaves are coming together nicely!
Tracy
Good morning! These runs looked great 🙂
Wow, that JWW run is something to be proud of! Long lead out where he held his stay, tons of speed, nailed the weaves, he had no problem letting you fix a jump he missed (probably a combination of short distance between jumps and the bleachers being a weird visual). Great run!
Standard was also lovely – long lead out and a ton of speed on the release. He took all the contacts first thing. He was happy with fixing the jump he missed and getting back on the table – the third fix was harder so he sniffed the judge, so you might want to limit fixes in a run to 1 or 2 tops, because you don’t want to stress him with with too much stopping to fix.
>then also seeing when he would really like to run around things.>
He still looks around a bit which causes some of the missed jumps – but that is greatly reduced each time he is in the ring. The environments are hard – bleachers are weird, the 2nd ring right there, etc. But he is ignoring distractions 90% of the time for now, and is getting better and better with each new experience. Pretty soon he will ignore them completely 🙂
Overall though, he gets faster and more tuned in with each and every run. His skills and speed are looking more like what he does at home, which is AWESOME!!!!!!
Great job here! When is his next trial?
Tracy
Hi!
>Yes, I’m signed up for UKI this coming Saturday. The facility does use food box areas, there are actually two of them, one on either end of the front of the ring. >
Perfect!
>My experience in this facility has been that there is only the judge, leash runner and 1 ring crew in the ring. Ring crew is generally sitting at the back of the ring, 120′ away from the food box area so it’s going to be difficult to work passing the RC.>
That is ok! You can set up a really great experience for him – I am sure he will be aware of the judge and ring crew and leash runner, so no need to figure out how to get past them and then back to the food box.
>What I’ve done here in the past has been to work the front of the ring with short sequences and toss his lotus ball into the food box for reward>
Great! And you can extend the sequences if he does well.
>Tried to figure out how to attach a photo of the ring setup to this post, my tech skills failed me with that task – what did I miss?>
It was not you – the site likes videos but not photos if they are anything other than tiny. I think this will be a good food box setup because you can work it as entry and exit gates – that is something to practice in class this week, even if it is just a table on the other side of the ring gate!
Keep me posted!
TracyHi!
I am glad to hear he was feeling good on Wednesday! Keep me posted on how the appointments go!!Tracy
Good morning!
She did really well in the grown up dog class!!I like the arousal state she was in at the beginning – no need to toss a treat, you can ask for the line up and treat it like a trial environment. She was pumped up but then really got into her sit pretty quickly and had a strong stay!
She does remind you that she is young – when you lead out without connection, she comes with you. So remember to stay connected, that is where she was at her best wit the stays.
Her line finding in general is looking really strong! A couple of spots had questions:
>Decided not to try the first layer again since there was a lot of discussion at the start.
At :41, your voice said tunnel but all of the physical cues said ‘do not go to the tunnel’ by turning away, high arm, disconnection, etc. Even though there was a verbal tunnel cue, you can keep going to read the next jump rather than stopping because the physical cues implied that the tunnel was somewhere else up the line.
The cues were clearer at 1:04 and leading out even less can help get the momentum for the layering going there. It is hard to layer at the opening of a course! The layering at the end went great – the physical cues and verbal cues matched up to the line.
She has a little question on the send at 1:10 when she turned left on the flat – the send cues were a bit disconnected/turned forward so she might have read it as a tandem turn or something – keeping your arm back there to show her line & connection, and decelerating into it should smooth it out.
One other suggestion:
Give her tunnel exit cues before entering, such as a GO verbal or starting the backside cue so she exits straight and not curling towards you like at 2:38. Same for the layering at the end – a tunnel exit cue for extension will make it even easier. Her natural inclination is to curl towards you, so the cues for the exit can help her when the line is either a big extension or a tight turn.>Do we have more training night chats?
>Yes! It is on today’s to-do list to sort out which dates they will be 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>I mentioned in Frankie’s thread that she had some stitches from a biopsy & missed the last trial so she’s been on rest. Thankfully we got good news on the biopsy and it is just a crystalized spot. >
Nothing better than the call that says NO CANCER! YAY!!!!
>She was so motivated to do them when we were using the MM & so accurate and once I introduced the ball, she lost confidence & lost her rhythm. I was pretty deflated, but we slept on it. (thank you for teaching us that)>
When you switched to the ball, was the MM still out there, or did you remove it?
>I put some surpise treats in there to make it extra good to compete with the MM (lettuce & kibble. Yes, I’m serious). >
LETTUCE! Hahahahaha that’s hilarious
>That timing seemed to work better. We had a really good session and she was getting the 4 weaves. She was happy too. That makes all the difference for me!>
If the MM is not still out there, you can put it there as a target/visual aid but don’t reward from it…. Throw the lotus ball at it. Then the MM gets further and further away, and the lotus ball is thrown between it and the pole exit until she is no longer concerned about the MM.
>I’m going to try to not be sooooo cautious with the rest of track 1 so we can make some progress. She is really comfortable with everything we have done so far with the uphill & downhill.>
Perfect! Doing very few reps with mind-blowing rewards (a salad, perhaps? LOL) will be the fastest road to a great teeter 🙂
>She LOVES the DW. We are working on finding the sweet spot for her to wrap a wing & consistently hit her squeaky mat. She’s really good on straight exits. Still lots to work on but I’m glad she loves it.>
Yay! Getting straight exits can help get it into the trial ring as you keep working on the harder exits.
>Next steps: I need to sign her up for some classes for more ring experience & sequences. >
Yes – new locations and longer sequences are definitely on the agenda!
Perfect! I think she will be ready!!!
Keep me posted 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
>She had to sit this one out because she had a biopsy done & had stitches (biopsy came back with good news! She has a calcified spot on her leg, not a worry. I’m so relieved!).>
What a HUGE relief! I totally know how it feels 🙂 Yay!!!!!
>she did awesome & had the best time herself for runs 1 & 2 and then was less engaged for run 3 on both days.>
A bit of a pattern has emerged! More on that below:
FAST looked great, she seemed to like when you got behind and really had to run run run 🙂 She definitely likes urgency in handling!
Standard – lovely! Big yardage course though, that can be really tiring. I like the course and I like how the judge used the whole ring – but it requires a lot of physical and mental stamina.
JWW –
>We had a rough start but she picked up energy halfway. She was not engaged at the start, sniffed the ground and walked out of the weaves.>
The tunnel-jump-tunnel start did not have a lot of running energy because there was no place to go for either of you. I am sure that played a role. She does not seem to be a fan of tunnel starts.
> I feel bad that I let her know I was disappoined about the weaves. Should I have just kept going? She got into it after the weaves were done & she was awesome.>
If she is feeling disengaged for whatever reason and since you already had a fault… then yes, keep going 🙂
Sunday – must have been cold for T2B because you are all in winter coats LOL!
She ran well, the toy distraction in the weaves is no biggie 🙂 and she looked like she was having fun!
Standard looked great, you should always run it like you stole it 🙂 Yes, you had some good improv moves there but she seems to like it when there is a lot of urgency in the handling. That really pumps her up and gets her engaged
She did run the JWW run nicely, but I agree that it was different. She seemed to be carrying her head lower and was not extending as much.
Since both of the 3rd runs were not as great as the first 2 runs, we can look for reasons and figure it out:
What time of day were the 3rd runs? Was it hotter? Were you using her normal treats?
It might be that those 3rd runs consistently come at a time of day where her sleep-wake cycle is in a lull. For example, I am often pretty useless at about 2pm for a couple of hours LOL!! Dogs also have daily cycles like we do. So the real question is how to help her feel pumped up event the odd time of day.
It can be something simple like giving her a small late morning meal and then switching to insanely high value treats for the 3rd run. So if she gets normal good stuff for runs 1 and 2, you can break out the mind-blowing stuff for that 3rd run. I tend to use string cheese for pumped up times of day, then the rotisserie chicken or scrambled eggs come out for the harder times of day.
Also, is she drinking water during the day? It is possible she is not drinking enough (has to be more than what she drinks at home) and she gets stiff or dehydrated. I have used supplements to get the dogs to drink water and also to add more glucose back into their bloodstream – I can find the name of it.
Also to prevent stiffness, does she get a long cool down and light massage *after* each run? She might need that light massage in particular so she can stay feeling good.
>I’m still obessing on if it is phyical fatigue, mental fatigue, both>
I think that these courses were big yardage courses, so extra exhausting especially for small dogs who have to take sooooo many strides. That can be physically and mentally fatiguing for sure. You can also look at her fitness routine and pump up the cardio so she is not as tired out after 2 runs.
>That said, I really do feel like the Remote Reinforcement plays a big part and by the end of the day it is just really hard to leave the rewards to go in the ring.>
Absolutely! She is doing GREAT with the remote reinforcement but it does draw a lot from her mental bank account. There are a lot of factors at play for sure and probably not one individual factor. I think that the super high value food coming out for that last run can make a difference too.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
>So, the 1st video is a CPE run from Sunday and the 2nd is from class last night – night and day.>
Actually, they are getting progressively closer and closer! He is pretty flawless in class at this point (he used to struggle with distractions more) and the trial behavior is getting closer to being in class (he is struggling with distractions less and less).
The class setting is easier of course because of the long history of reinforcement in the ring, and he has been there many, many times. The trial setting is harder because it is often someplace new, or someplace he has not been to regularly – and there is no going to be the same history of rewards in the ring. That is the main difference we are seeing! For the first run here, were you completely free of food, nothing hidden in your pocket? He did really well!
In the trial run, his big challenges are primarily the people sitting on the other side of the tunnel (he ignores them nicely now if they are near a jump or moving) and some distraction moving towards the front of the ring later in the run (could be related to the struggle with the ring crew, or he could think the run is finishing and anticipating the reward, or both).
>Keep repeating and building the remote reward work?
>Yes, and tackling the specifics of what he has questions about: people sitting behind tunnels and the front of the ring.
Two ideas for you:
– in class, you can still reward in the ring but at this stage, the lotus ball can be in your pocket or someone else can throw it. Your hands will be empty so he gets used to you running with empty hands 🙂
– in class, have people sit behind tunnels and surprise him with a reward when he passes them and ignores them (lotus ball from your pocket or the instructor throws it)
– also in class, when he runs past the front of the ring in the middle of the course, surprise him with a reward – either you pull it out of the pocket or someone else throws it.For the remote reinforcement outside the ring, mix up when you mark and run to the exit. Try to make it less predictable in terms of always happening when you are heading to the front of the ring – he might get confused at trials when you head towards the front but the run is not over. So you can add in running towards the front of the course then back into the middle of the ring… then mark and run out to reward.
Having someone else throw the reward can provide a nice middle ground for all the rewards being outside of the ring and not in your hand or pocket, plus he will get rewarded specifically for ignoring the 2 remaining hard distractions.
Any UKI coming up, with a food box? It would be really great to be able to have him go past a person behind a tunnel, get a reward in the food box, run back in and do a bit more, then more reward in the food box, etc. It is easy to add a food box if the local UKI folks are interested.
Let me know what you think! He is getting better and better!!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
> He does spins and nose touches. I am working on leg weaves which he loves. And truly never thought about them in the run throughs.>
Great! Adding that cn help bring him communicate if he is feeling nervous, and also it can help bring him into a higher arousal state to help him ignore distractions (internal and external).
>When this issue began is when he went into a tunnel at a trial in Cato and he just stopped when he came out. Something happen inside the tunnel. >
Aha! This might be an indicator of an injury or underlying illness or something. Many dogs are pretty stoic about that and you won’t see lameness… but you will see things like freezing up or stress behavior when there is added pressure in the competition environment.
>During this time I thought it was just getting his self-confidence back, but guess it is more. >
It could be something that hurts but when he is physically warmed up or more aroused (like after running across the dog walk), he doesn’t ‘feel’ it. I am not a vet but my understanding is that endorphins can be analgesics, effectively acting like a natural pain killer. So if something hurts even a little, getting endorphins going will cover that (but we still want to figure out if something hurts).
>Since Spring has kind of arrived in the Rochester area, I am scheduling a massage for him and my other 2 dogs. Once I get the massage appt. nailed, I am going to get to the vet that does Chiro. Last time he saw both of them was in late October. >
Great! A canine physio person can find any ouchy spots (so can a canine chiro :))
>I can also have my vet do blood work on him also.>
The things we ask vets to do are things like tick panels, blood chemistry (there are inflammation markers that can indicate an injury), thyroid panel, maybe orthopedic radiographs, etc. One of my dogs was having a big struggle last June and it turns out her B12 was low. Fixed that and she is back to normal! So it is worth looking at all the different possibilities, plus it is a good baseline for when he is older to monitor general health.
>I took Knight for a walk around the neighborhood and once he got out of the house and walking he was jumping and barking like a little puppy and through the walk which was about 15 minutes. Never saw that much happiness and joy in a long while. >
Yay! The good weather has an uplifting effect for all of us!
Let me know what you think and keep me posted!
Tracy
