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Good morning!
Yes – a baby puppy at a busy time of year does lead to video hoarding but at least you are training and getting stuff on video!! YAY!!!! Click/treat to you. He is doing really well and right on track for his age.
Prop videos: – A hat is a great choice! And to get toy play, the bigger longer toy was definitely better and you can also get up and run around a bit. To get more hat hitting, a couple of shaping ideas for you:
– How to help more: Reward placement! Either toss the treat to reset his movement away from the hat so he then moves back to the hat, or put it right on the hat. Mixing in both is great! But the main thing is: no more feeding from hand or delivering to his mouth for this shaping because he then comes and stares at your hand. Even luring with your hand might not get the desired result because he is watching your hand more.
– How to help less (and get more success): be quiet when he is offering, verbally and physically. Talking or tapping or moving the hat draws his focus to your hands and face. So be super quiet and let the reward placement do the talking. Markers are good but everything else can be quiet til you break off to play tug.
– How to help more: jump start the session by bringing him into the environment and then put the hat down. That will get him to look at the hat immediately because it is novel in the environment. If the hat is already on the ground, he is more likely to look at you.
Toy races: Because he is so young, I think some of what you are seeing is puppy coordination struggles (moving all the legs and the mouth is HARD lol!) and also he is being polite (enjoy it while it lasts 🙂
Maybe there was a little too much throwing him back and running here LOL Try it with just walking for now – let him win more with you running less. I think when you are bending over, he is backing off the pressure and not grabbing the toy as much. He is definitely keen on the toy and the tugging, so a little less motion and quicker transitions to throwing it and letting him go, then letting him grab it before you reach in to take it will help too.
Blind crossy stuff:
>>FOOD IS LIFE FOOD IS LIFERetable! And blinds are not that hard for handler or pup, so getting him to go from food to toys is far more important! Don’t move the toy too fast when he gets to you, because he doesn’t know how to control his speed yet and goes flying ass-over-tea-kettle LOL! So you can treat the toy presentation as part of the decel game – slow it down really early so it is still moving a little but he has time to coordinate himself 🙂
>>Here he is with the cat donut, both on top and inside>>
That as SO CUTE!!! Love it!! He is brave and confident which is great – keep getting him on random moving objects regularly, continuing through adolescence, so he doesn’t lose this bravery 🙂
>And yeah, he was playing with a rock. No judgment.
Ha! It is an inexpensive, accessible, high value toy. I call it a win!
>>He has spooked and alarm barked at a person walking a dog across the street (after the dog made noise at us). This isn’t really a behavior I want to let him rehearse, so looking for some advice on that one?>>
Check out the resilience game in week 3 – the pattern game. Teach him that at home (it is food-based, so I think it will be EASY lol). When he can do it in the house, do it in the yard, then on walks when nothing weird is happening.
And bring treats on walks so if something weird does happen like random dogs barking at him – you can whip out the pattern game. It really helps reset the pups!
And since he is small, if he is surprised by something, you can totally pick him up, give him a hug to soothe him, then continue on your way.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I am glad she likes the ready dance – engagement and having fun together is the most important part of any of these games 🙂
For the RCs:
Her parallel path understanding is looking great! When you add the rear crosses, the goal is to be moving close to her then cross behind her before she reaches the prop, all in a smooth fluid motion. On the first couple, you were moving forward then suddenly went fast to cut behind her. Compare that to the rep that started at :23 and the next reps – you were moving quickly but it was also a steady quickness, no sudden bursts and she was able to get it! On the last rep, you were a little early cutting behind her so she almost turned too soon, but she was clever and went back out to the prop. Super!So keep going with steady and fast movement up the line pretty close to her, sliding to the next side behind her as she passes you.
To start each rep of the turn and burn game, she is now ready for you to cue it with an arm and leg step, like you did at :22 and after – that gave her to clear indication to start. Yay! She seems like a lefty here, with the left turns being smoother/easier than the right turns. This is good to know as the skills get harder.
Tonight we add some verbal cues and more games with the barrel 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
I am glad you have already started the pattern games. They are so useful! And adding the airport noises was really smart: distracting, yes, but not scary or overwhelming, and also probably not totally new. He was super!
>>I hope you’ve got a big cup of coffee to relax and enjoy the cronches of each half of a Fromm>>
Yes, giant coffee and happy cronch cronch noises LOL! Love it! He is a definite chewer and that might be part of his processing: extra long chewing as his brain assesses the environment. Very cool! The scientist folks tell us that there is a decompression element when we can get repeated mouth movement as well as olfaction – both of which are happening here. Plus, it is really cute 🙂
His tail is quite the barometer! When he is assessing the environment and chewing, check out how his tail is a bit bent. Then when things are all good and chewing over: high tail. Love it! We are always trying to figure out the body language of each individual pup, so it will will be really interesting to watch his tail position as he goes into different environments.
Great job here! See you in class tonight!
TracyGood morning!
OMG runaway barrel at the beginning! LOL!! I toss a lot of random stuff in the bottom of them to weigh them down.
She rocked this! YAY! And so did you – there are a LOT of handler mechanics and you were smooth as a fresh jar of Skippy.
>>She legit read my mind!!!>>
Well yes, she is brilliant and BorderWhippets are brilliant. But also you built up to this by training the layers of foundation before it, so she was well prepared for this level 🙂
>>And don’t mind me running the wrong way on the last set. And I didn’t change the angle even though I’m confident she would have been successful >>
No worries! The next step would be to start turning and moving the other way earlier and earlier. You can aim for the moment when she is just past halfway around, and see if she can continue to finish the turn. The goal is, over time, tobe able to do the front cross and run the other way before she even arrives to the barrel 🙂 but we have plenty of time to build to that.
>>I took my win and wrapped it up!>>
Heck yeah! Great job getting a few excellent reps then being done. That is the HARDEST part of puppy training, to end a session when things are going so well! Click/treat to you 🙂
I don’t really see a side preference, she seems pretty balanced in both directions. Maybe she is slightly more fluid to her left? Have you seen a side preference in your disc training?
I think I saw you mention on Facebook that she is not biting hard discs yet – since she likes this game and likes chasing the big toy, you can tie a soft disc to the end of the toy for her to grab. And if she likes that? Tie a harder disc to the end and see if she likes that! Just food for thought because I know she is going to be an amazeballs disc dog too 🙂
Awesome job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! I am so glad she did so well with the kids. She is just a lovely dog <3 Whippets rule!
>>the weather is terrible to try at the park>>
Winter has arrived way too early and I am not happy with it at all!! Brrrr!
The blind to decel game is looking good! Even in a smaller space, be sure to start the blind as soon as she begins moving towards you. When you did that, the side changes were very smooth 🙂 If you waited longer like until she was halfway to you, she had a more zigzag line. She read the decels really well and had lovely turns. You can move to the advanced level by adding in the toy throw and go go go at the end, she will really like that!
Countermotion: The food reps looked really good! She was going just about to the edge of the prop and that is all she needs to do in the first session. My guess is in the next session, she will be perfect with the food rewards
The toy was SO MUCH HARDER LOL! And that is why we use it – because it allows us to work through any questions about where to look or what to do when the toy is present. She definitely had to take a moment to figure out that yes, she CAN move to the prop when the toy was present (freezing and staring at the toy does not get the toy to move LOL!)
She had a LOT of good reps with the toy, and she was quite fast too! So 2 ideas for you with the toy:
– using pre-game 2 (the hand target game) you can work the concept of doing a ‘thing’ in the presence of a toy. The hand target should be really simple but it does require her to take her eyes off the toy to do it.
– let what she learned in this session percolate a bit so latent learning can kick in. Then do the exact same session (food first, then toy) and see what her brain remembers. It will be interesting to see if she has a much easier time next time!
Wow, she is a superstar rear crosser! The strong side was still strong and the harder side looked strong too! YAY! I agree, she is a rear crossing genius puppy. SUPER!! We add more rear crossy stuff tonight and that will help even more.
The backing up looks great. One thing I admire about all of your sessions here is how you set the tone and energy of each session to match what is needed for the behavior you are working on. The more action-packed/less precise games were more energetic and cuckoo 🙂 and this backing up session was more precise and calm, which totally helped her work the skill and process her mechanics. Love it! You can keep gradually adding distance between you and her mat. And you can also take a look at the next set of backing up games from last week where we adding backing up to something that moves a little.
>>She still hardly pulls back at all on the tug toys – is this something I should try to work on?>>
Yes, just as silly play though. She still has her puppy play style of wanting to be dragged around like a swiffer LOL!! It is adorable and she is attached to the toy when she does it! You can get more pulling back with something that she wants to run around with, like a cow milker maybe? Just play a little and when she gives a little pull, you can let her win it and run around 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Rear crosses are hard indeed and we do often see a side preference (takes longer to process info and coordinate mechanics on the non-preferred side, for humans and dogs :))
2 ideas for you:
– from the handling perspective to make sure she gets the info in time, give yourself more distance by starting further from the prop. That way she can drive ahead sooner and you can cut behind her to the new side sooner, so you are fully on the new side before she arrives at the prop. And if she turns correctly but does not hit the prop? Perfectly fine, big rewards! And have a video running – freeze the video the moment she is at the prop (or very close to it) and look at your line: where you already on the other side, or were you just starting the cues? If you were just starting the cues, try to be a lot sooner by getting to the other side of her earlier.
Be sure to warm her up with the bigger distance by doing some of the parallel path game so she leaves you in the dust moving to the prop.
– you can also give her a bigger visual reward to turn towards by putting an empty food bowl out on on the left turn side. That way when you cut behind her to cue the left turn, you can then put the reward in the food bowl. That makes the placement more obvious in advance of each rep, which can help her have a big ‘aha!’ moment and start coordinating the left turns.
Let me know what you think and how she does!
Tracy
Hi!
I was totally laughing too when he pushed himself between the barrel and you to get to the other cookie bowl, as well as some of his other freestyle moves to speed up the game. He gets a gold star for trying to be the MOST efficient in getting the treats LOL!!! And he was just trying to be helpful by shoving his nose in your pocket LOL!!! He is so funny and smart.You were very clever to put the barrel (is it a soft crate?) in your lap and get him going from there. Perfect! That is a good starting point. And since he is SO HUNGRY ALL THE TIME (I can relate LOL!) you might want to try this with you in a chair or even standing (or sitting on a couch) – that will move the cookies a little further away which might actually make it easier for him to think about the barrel and empty bowls. Let me know what he thinks about that!
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
The backing up session looked great! YAY!! You can start to delay the timing of your clicks a little now, so you are marking more steps backwards and not clicking as immediately.
I think the hardest part of each rep was having the next cookies ready because he starting going really fast! Since you start each rep by placing the cookie between your feet, you can give yourself an extra moment to get the next couple of cookies ready. That should help you feel less rushed now that he is getting the idea so nicely!
The hand target game is looking good – totally ready for the new game tonight! Your mouth click is pretty impressive, I would have thought it was a real clicker if I hadn’t read your comments first LOL!! My only suggestion for the hand target is to fully extend your target hand away, locking your elbow, and looking at the hand target and not at his cute face. Stay tuned for the game that uses this tonight!
Nice work 🙂
TracyGood morning!
>>When I was out in the field after Robie’s runs tossing the frizz, I was able to get some decent tugging with him and then I did a big treat scatter in the grass. The 10 second thing is eye opening!>>
Yay! It sounds like he had a great time!!
>>I thought I needed to wait until he really grabbed on and tugged, but I see now that the arousal management is far more important. >>
Getting the grabbing and tugging is mainly about figuring out mechanics and play style, but there doesn’t need to be duration on it. Each pup tell us what they need, and he very clearly asked for arousal management help 🙂 I appreciate his clarity of communication!
I think the sessions on the video looked really good! Excellent choice of toy, solid mechanics – and super playful and fun looking 🙂
>>I definitely went too long on the first try. Should have done the scatter BEFORE he jumped in the air for the tug.>>
I didn’t think you went on too long but you can count to 10 more (see below). About the jumping up – Do you mean at approx :18 when he was chasing the toy? The toy came up a little high, so he came up to it. I didn’t see that as overarousal, jut good boy following the toy and not grabbing at you 🙂 He didn’t lose his toy engagement and he didn’t switch to biting/grabbing/humping. It was really good!
>>I am not sure how to gauge 10 seconds without a helper to time me, lol! >>
Feel free to count to 10 in your head. Or say it out loud as part of your playful chatter to him as you play for extra goofy factor. Or sing!
>>On the first try I included the whole time when he was snuffling because I wanted to ask if it was correct to wait until he was done and re-engaged with me.>>
You can wait til he is done, so he isn’t still looking for treats 🙂
>>I know you’ve told me to let the other stuff go for now, but that completely stresses me out, lol! >>
If you are feeling stressed about not doing much skill training, do this:
– go read the posts from this past weekend where Facebook was all on fire about dog behavior and arousal in/near the rings. Don’t get emotionally invested in any of it, just read through a bit. Most of those issues are because people didn’t take a little extra time to sort out arousal self-regulation and how to play at this baby dog stage.
– then get off of Facebook LOL! That is where we see 6 month old puppies running sequences which is UTTER INSANITY because of what we know about their brains and bodies. And even though we intellectually know that we don’t need to be doing that, those posts still mess with our heads. So… hide those folks or don’t scroll Facebook.
The truth is you are training the most important skill you will need for success in agility: arousal self-regulation. It is a part of every single foundation game and every single run Yuzu will have in any sport, for his whole career. So you are training the sexiest skill which will put you way ahead of everyone else 🙂
That is why I emphasize it more than any of the games. If he can do another session like you did in the video here, what I suggest is adding in one of the skills you want to play with: Choose food rewards for the skill then after 3 or 4 food rewards, break off for 10 seconds or less of toy play…. Then treat scatter or snuffle mat…. Then back to the shaping.
It is far sexier than it sounds 🙂 Let me know how it goes!
Tracy
Good morning!
I am totally here for the pajamas! They are an important part of success in puppy training 🙂
Turn and Burn is looking good! There was some noise distraction in the background and she worked through it so well!!!
She looked really strong in both directions here – it is hard to even know if one was stronger than the other. Yay! So now keep revisiting this game so you can slide through the front cross earlier and earlier… eventually you will be able to send to the cone and start the FC before she even gets to it!
One of the goals of this week is to start adding wrap verbals, so start planning which one(s) you want to use. More on that coming tonight 🙂
>>Then you can see smoke coming out of my ears as I try to remember what hand should be holding and doing what as we worked on blinds/collection and then sends in the last couple reps.>>
Totally relatable!!! Doing this games will make actually handling a course seem easier because you will have so much more time 🙂
I am sure the older dogs had fun playing this as you worked it out – all the dogs are happy to do this as long as the cookies and toys are flowing, even if we are doing crazy thing 🙂
She is SO quick to change sides with the blind! Fast feets!Because of her quickness, you can start the blind even sooner, so it is finished before she is even halfway to you. That will make the side change seamless. And that will make it easier to get the decel in a little earlier. One thing I notice about her is that she does not need a lot of decel in order to make a tight turn. This is great – we really don’t want to have tooooo much turn with small dogs. We want them to power through the turns and that is what she is doing here.
So you can add in even more running which will get her reading the side changes with more excitement from motion (and makes it harder for you too LOL!)
Stay tuned for a new game based on this and turn and burn being added tonight.
Great job here!!
TracyGood morning!
First video was sending to the prop:
Great job with the ready dance! That really gets her pumped up and ready for the send. Then when you send, remember to exaggerate the sending with a big step and arm sending – that was when she was most responsive and did a great job. If you were less clear or more subtle, she was less sure of what to do.
Make sure you use your leg along with your arm. When you did the arm and NOT the leg (like at 1:22) she didn’t go to her prop. When you did the arm and leg, she was perfect!
Smart choice to with to the toy – this starts to get exciting so the toy is a better place for her teeth 🙂 Delivering treats from your hand when she is moving fast can get ouchy for your fingers, which I think is what happened right before you switched to the toy.
Second video was changing your position:
The backwards sending looked fantastic!!! You can put a piece of yoga mat under the book so it slides less (she was hitting it pretty hard 🙂 )
Since she did brilliantly with this, you can start moving the opposite direction even earlier now, so she sees more counter motion. As she is passing you, keep pointing to the prop and looking behind you at it, but slowly walk forward so you are moving the opposite direction before she even arrives at the book 🙂
Great job here! Let me know how she does as you add more countermotion. It is easier to post it here as a reply, so we can keep everything together and so I se it sooner.
Thanks!
TracyGood morning!
>>Since it’s Brain Camp week, I figured I’d send you a brain issue! >>
Yay! I love brain stuff!! Bring it on!
>> he is having an issue with getting over-excited. Each week gets worse. >>
Based on what you described, I think he is communicating that the agenda for the class is too hard for him at only 7 months old. Jumps/tunnels with you moving AND other dogs/people present and also moving? Toooooo hard.
As a frame of reference, my baby dogs do not start jump/tunnel stuff in ‘public’ settings til closer to a year old, after they are happy to be in that environment and do normal puppy stuff. Jumps/tunnels are NOT normal puppy stuff, despite what you may see on Facebook. I know people post videos of their 6 month old dogs doing sequences on Facebook but to be honest: Knowing what we know about how puppy brains and bodies develop, that is insanity. The behavior professionals and the sports vets cringe when they see baby dogs doing jumps/tunnels.
The reason that it is too hard is baby dog processing:
His brain is still developing and learning how to process the environment. He does not yet have the brain development or neural pathways to know that he is supposed to prioritize doing jumps/tunnels and proper mechanics over trying to process other people/dogs/new environment/movement/ etc. The part of the brain that manages that is the front of the brain, which is really underdeveloped in puppies/young adolescents. The back of the brain, which handles BIG EMOTIONS is better developed which is why you see him having BIG EMOTIONS 🙂 Some dogs appear to be ‘fine’ with it but there is fallout in other ways that we can’t see as easily. I appreciate that Mason is a very clear communicator.
This is all 100% normal, especially for a lovely drivey BC.
>>Mason will usually do the exercises, especially if they are stationary type games like the Vito game, but his head pops off anytime motion is added. >>
Good boy! Do you mean your motion being added is too much? You can add less motion for some of the games that require a LOT of processing (like wing wrapping) and just walk for now (I mean, he is only 7 months old, so this is entirely normal).
>>After each rep, he zooms around or jumps on the trainer. Lately he has been running to the fence (4.5 ft tall) to try to jump on the other students standing behind it. Once he almost made it over the fence, but he hit the top of it in the gut like a failed Lambeau Leap. During the whole hour his eyes are as big as saucers with his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth, even if I put him in the car between turns.>>
Poor buddy! He is saying “OMG THIS IS TOOOOO HARD IMMA BABY DOG”. This is all stress response so we will want to help him out. He’s a good boy and is going to turn out to be amazing 🙂
>>(1) How to survive the next 2 weeks of this class. My previous dogs were sniffers, not zoomers.
Bear in mind that you don’t need to survive the next 2 weeks. You can tell the instructor that it is too much for Mason and see if she will switch you to a smaller group that is not nearly as hard for him. Or, if there are no other options… skip the classes and maybe train one on one with a friend 🙂 No need to put him into an environment that is too much at the moment.
>>– Should we skip the sequences and just do the foundation games? Or just do the games and single obstacles?>>
DEFINITELY skip the sequences and skip the single obstacles. I suggest not getting obstacles involved yet. If he can be happy and engaged in the environment, so yes to some foundation games and yes to play, but on leash so he can stick with you and not take off. And super short sessions! And also as far from the people or dogs as needed so he doesn’t have to try to process ALL the things.
>>– Should we work as far from the fence as possible? Or should we acknowledge the fence and play Look At That with it?>>
Both 🙂 Start far away, on leash, and do the back and forth pattern game. He doesn’t need to acknowledge the fence or look at it, so you might not want to start with LAT.
>>– What about the toy? He’ll run to a toy in my hand and tug, but he releases it after a second and takes off. He often runs past a toy on the ground and zooms instead.>>He is a little young to work off leash in that environment, so do short fun games to the toy (like the focus forward game) on a 6 foot leash.
>>– Should we use treats only for a while in class?Since he will play with a toy, use the toy for some games. And treats for other, and for trading for the toy. But since he takes off, keep him close to you and on leash for now, to develop a reinforcement history of play and not taking off.
My guess about the taking off is that the environment is just to hard for a baby dog just entering adolescence, so we cn help him by giving him less access to be on his own in the environment, far from you or off leash.
>>Should I try the Treat and Train for Get-Its instead of a toy on the ground?>>
Skip this game for now 🙂 I don’t think he knows how to handle the environment so he doesn’t need to be off leash (he is only 7 months old, maybe almost 8 months old… baby dog!)
>>– Should I put his leash on him in between reps?>>For now, tweak all games so that he is on leash for all reps.
>>– Should I reward him for coming back to me after jumping at the fence?>Yes – leaping at the fence is a sign of struggle so yes, he gets cookies or toys for coming back. Good boy! But also…. Neither of you are having fun when he is leaping at the fence, so keep him on leash and as far as possible from the massive challenge of the fence area, to help him be able to process the environment.
>>(2) What to do for the next session of classes which start in January. – Should we skip the January session and just train at home and during private arena rentals?>>
Yes – skip the session. Do home stuff, out-and-about stuff with the resilience games/pattern games, some arena rentals, and maybe hang out with some friends to train. I have 2 baby dogs so I would love to do some baby dog training in January.
>>– If it’s important to be an in-person class, would it be better to take a low-key class that is in a classroom, e.g., rally or tricks?>>It is important to set him up for success, so if that means NOT doing in-person? Cool! Or, if there is a class environment which is easier, that is a far better choices. I vote for tricks!! And with an instructor who can recognize when it is tooooo hard and help him out.
>>Thanks for your help!! I’m still putting the Week 2-3 videos together. Next week I’m going to set a 2-minute timer so I don’t have to edit so much.>>
Yes – 2 minute timer is easy because then you don’t have to edit 🙂 Editing is the hardest part!
Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>For a couple days I’m going to first concentrate on getting a stronger drive to her prop. In the morning, after our breakfast, but before hers, she is pretty sharp and willing. She was getting real nice sends without me moving, then tossing the treat. We will do this for a day or two, then start off the other pieces with your suggestions. >>
Perfect plan – building value will make the games even easier and also help develop the concept of commitment for when we transfer to wings and eventually to jumps.
>>Yes, I treat from the table, something most people frown upon. Otoh, my dogs don’t steal from the table. >>
I treat from the table too – good dogs can have good snacks 🙂 I agree that it is a great opportunity to teach manners.
>>Anyway, she does the “two bowl” thing when I give her a bit. One side, sit, look at me, wait. I treat. Under the table to the other side, same. If I don’t have anything she goes back to the previous side. No treat? She looks for a toy in the basket ☺️ She is a very trainable pup, for sure. I just find it interesting she has channeled this game to a different one.>>
That is hilarious and brilliant. She cracks me up!!! So clever 🙂
Have fun!
TracyGood morning!
She did really well here! LOVE your energy when rewarding!!!Yes, having a videographer makes things harder but that is good – no worries that she ran to him twice because it is the challenge she needs to see in her world. I don’t mind that you sounded extra urgent because I am guessing that is what you will sound like in class or at a trial, so it is fine to show that to her now 🙂
With the videographer: She clearly was able to work through the distraction!
1st rep was perfect!
2nd rep had an added turn at :40 which was late so the bar dropped but she was working hard to respond – that was a handler oopsie moment and not a doggie distraction moment. Yay!The runs without the videographer were easier for you both and looked great. If I understand correctly, you did these first – it was smart to show her the sequence without the distraction, then add the distraction. It is hard to train *both* the tunnel threadle and the distraction, so choosing to do this first was great!
Go on video:
To GO line looks great! Yay! Lovely connection from you to how her the lines on the first run, and great job with your verbals.On. The 2nd run, the verbals were good but you will want to get right on her tail for the RC. What happened was that you facd forward down the line to show her the jump after the tunnel and then the RC jump… but that showed her the full go line. So with her speed, no need to face forward – you can angle yourself to the center of the bar of the RC jump and run to it. That will show her the info sooner, even if you are pretty far behind.
Great job with the wrap! Nice decel and verbals! She will get even tighter with that turn as you show her these skills.
>>we seem to be stuck in on/off leash purgatory, and lack of engagement/focus hell. I assume it is going to take us a very long time to get out of this “limbo”. So, I need to practice leash on/off anywhere and everywhere away from agility.>>
Yes – practice it all away from the pressure of the people and other dogs, with TONS of reinforcement. Doing leash off/on at home for cookies a few times a day will help a lot!
>> And I need to do the same with more engagement/focus games.>
Yes – lots of play and reinforcement away from agility will help create the behavior and neural pathways we want in agility!
>>She is getting a little better with the leash since we do it in everyday life and have started making a game of it. >>Perfect!
>>However, she’s obviously not ready for it around equipment without getting a treat for it. >>
She can have a treat, then! We don’t need to fade out the cookies any time soon because it is a really hard behavior.
>>And even with that, she’s not comfortable enough to have a start line.>>
That is exactly what it is – she is not comfortable. There is so much pressure with the dogs/people in the start line area, plus the stay behavior is hard. So for now, either do the start line as far from distractions as needed so she can be successful, or don’t use a start line stay – just go go go 🙂
>>I just don’t feel the love with engagement and focus at the start most of the time or if there are people within 100’ feet or so. >>That is your starting point – because she is not comfortable yet ignoring those distractions, you start as far as needed. If she needs 100 feet to do a stay? Cool! If she can start without a stay at 30 feet? Also very cool! You don’t need a stay to get her very happy in the agility ring (and stays make most dogs kinda unhappy anyway). We will add the start line back in when she is comfortable.
>>And yet, at class, she’s better than if a family member is videoing us.>>
Family members are harder than classmates. She is used to the class environment. But having family come watch or help? Head exploder! So keep asking for family help 🙂 and so simple fun stuff with the high energy rewards you had here – she really loved that and so did I!
Great job!
TracyHi!
Driving ahead is looking great 🙂 Driving ahead and also driving ahead while the handler is pretty far away laterally are BIG trends right now, so you can use this driving ahead setup to add more lateral distance, and also you can go all the way down to the tunnel entry, touch it, then drive forward so she ends up being REALLY far ahead.On small detail on the FC after the Backside at :21 – try to get right on her line there, right where you ideally want her to land, then get outta the way to set a tighter line. You ended up stepping across the bar, which widened her line there.
Great job getting that wicked RC too! Try to stick closer to the tunnel exit to tighten the exit line of the tunnel, then run directly onto the RC line (center of the bar of the RC jump) – yes it puts you further behind for the RC but that was the evil plan there LOL!
Gettin the wrap from behind her was harder – remember to use your Mission Transition game where you emphasize the deceleration while you move forward, and rotate later. At :52 and 1:02, you skipped the decel and went directly to the rotation, so she came off the jump. The next rep was better and had definite decel! That turn will tighten up more when she has more experience with it. And great job driving back down the line to the tunnel 🙂
For the RC at 1:30 – you don’t have time with the speedster here to be facing forward on the line to cue the jump after the tunnel pr cue the RC jump. She correctly reads that as a straight line extension cue. You will need to be passing the jump after the tunnel while already running to the center of the bar on the RC jump, so basically as soon as she is committing to the tunnel, you are heading for the RC line.
Great job staying in motion and finishing strong there though! Yay!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
