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He had a little trouble on the weaves here and then trouble on the line versus turning after it… a few too many errors. If that happens when working with empty hands/remote reinforcement, you can go back to the rewards and reset then make it easier. When working with remote reinforcement, try to minimize errors so that he doesn’t get frustrated and take off for the reward station.
It looks like you had a reward with you and rewarded the poles – yay! You can use the remote reinforcement in shorter blasts with no treat or toy on you, so he gets used to that too. I am sure he can smell the treats/toys hidden on you LOL! So the ’empty hands’ visual is definitely challenging, and the remote reinforcement with nothing in your pockets can be worked separately in smaller slices.
This is ’empty hands’ and a bit remote reinforcement with a treat station and a big sequence – nice! He is a few steps ahead of the class on this game 🙂 He was actually FASTER on the sequence than he has been in the past – FLYING! Maybe there is a bit of challenge in the remote reinforcement that he finds very stimulating? Be sure to add in decompression between runs like this, so the extra stimulation doesn’t become over-arousal (he is still a teenager LOL!)
Since he is a bit ahead of the class here, keep doing this sometimes (not all the time) and also take the easier remote reinforcement games on the road to different places.
This is the end of run game, adding his leash on at the end. This went well! He thought you wanted him to tug on it at first so you will probably need a cue that says tug on it (I say “bite”) versus a cue to put it on
He also did really well with going past it on course, then going to it when you said get it. Nice! He seems to think this is easy and fun, which is exactly what we want it to be 🙂
For your next FEO run, you can add this in to the end: reward with the tug like you did, then send him over the last jump and grab the leash, put it on, the more tugging 🙂
T
Hi!
This is find my face – he did really well on the flat and also when you added the jumps. No questions! Yay! You can definitely take this to new locations, even if it is just on the flat outside the ring.T
Hard to see the cones here but it looked like he was looking forward more when you were parallel to him until he missed ten he started looking up a bit more (especially on your left side). After a few successes, he started looking forward again (on your right) but is still looking at you on your left side.
So the next steps would be to put the MM out behind one of the cones. You will always start on the cone without the MM (you can change sides so he practices being on your right and on your left). And now we can shift the reinforcement out to the cone to continue emphasizing looking ahead at the ‘work’ and not at you. When he has gotten all 4 feet through the box, you can click the MM . Then he comes back to you (not through the box) and starts again on the cone without the MM.
And, during all of this – start to vary your position: from that start cone, sometimes you are moving with him and parallel (this is where he is at this best). Sometimes you send to the start cone from far away and get ahead (walking) – this is where he leaps over the box in this video. And sometimes you start right next to the start cone and send him ahead to the box – all of this simulates what will happen on the actual a-frame.
Good morning!
I gotta say, the future is very bright for you and Golly 🙂 This is a pretty picture perfect FEO run!!! Lower height, fast fun lines, great connection, tons of reinforcement IN the ring (not just at the beginning or end). You started as a team, he was successful on the start line, and you ended as a team. The video cut off before you got back to the leash – did he have any trouble getting leashed up? I am guessing he did not have trouble.His only question was the first weave entry – is he pretty solid with weaves in a sequence in training? If so, and he misses a weave entry in NFC, you can go back to the previous obstacle and try it again (with a little less motion from you). If the weaves are a work in progress in training, skip them in a sequence in the NFC run for now and just do them in isolation in the NFC run (and reward like you did).
Fantastic job, this could be a demo video for what the ‘Just Like Home’ NFC/FEO should look like!! I think he had a fantastic time in the ring!
Tracy
Good morning!
Sequences – I think the handling looked terrific! In general, you are super connected, moving fast, spitting out the verbals (this is the hardest part LOL!) and he is focusing on his line really well, showing distance skills when asked, running super fast, and turning when asked. Love it!!! The entire opening looked great (1-6) each time.
On the 2 RC reps – on the first one, more acceleration to the last jump (rather than on a parallel line to it) and looking at his butt more will help keep him out on the line to the last jump. Looking at his butt when he is driving ahead of you will be the same as connecting to his eyes when you are ahead of him: it turns your shoulders to the line, and he can read that because he has good peripheral vision.
On the last RC rep, it looked like you had a line more towards the last jump and you more connected, saying ‘jump’ directly to his butt LOL!! Looked great 🙂
The blinds are looking terrific too. The use of lateral distance and verbals and connection to send to the #6 tunnel so you could easily get the blind was fantastic! The section where you did that from 5:14 – 5:20 was particularly chef’s kiss top notch excellent. Lots of confidence and connection from you both!!!
I like how you are also using these sequences as a framework to work those in-between moments – yes, keep throwing the toys on the lines here and there and also using the treat station was great! You can have a 2nd leash at the treat station in case you forget the 1st leash at the start line 🙂
>.Yes, he has done this since he was a puppy. To be honest it has always bugged me but I have always hoped in the back of my mind that this will improve as he matures.>>
It is definitely an interesting behavior and somehow he decided that is how it is going to go. LOL! It is not a problem at all, as long as he can immediately come to you when called to line up, and more importantly – at the end of a run. At a trial, the line up part is easy because you will go to the line on leash. It is the end of the run which is harder, so be sure to keep working on what you did here, which was adding in the treat table after the reward. And we will add in getting the end of run behavior going too (more on that below).
>> I ran him over to the treat bench but he was being a fussy fellow. I was offering him a treat that he didn’t want, and after several attempts I gave him cheese, which he thought was just super. Of course yesterday meatball was absolutely delicious, but today he didn’t want it. Today he wanted boring old string cheese instead. Go figure.>>
When he ate the meatball yesterday – was it in a different context or similar scenario? Just curious. Arousal states can shift what the dog wants to eat. And since he can be picky in general, it is better to have a bit of a buffet of treats so if he says ‘no thanks’ to one treat, then you can immediately switch to a different one.
>>I usually would trim out the playing and petting at the end of our session but I wanted to ask you about this. Baxter is a VERY affectionate dog and is always by me or on my lap if I’m relaxing. He seems to really enjoy physical interaction and searches me out for it. At the end of this session I get down on the ground and play with him, rub his tummy, pat him and rough him up a little bit. I don’t think you can see because the jump is blocking but he is leaning into me against my leg when I’m patting him up. Would this be considered decompression? Just curious.>>
I think it is great that he likes that! Is it decompression? In the scientific sense of the word, probably not – it is stimulating so it probably stimulates his body chemistry (in a good way) rather than helps return it to baseline. Should you still totally do it? HECK YES! Use it as part of the engagement and reinforcement! Do it before a run if he likes it (some dogs do NOT like to be touched before a run and that is fine :)) and at the end of the run, maybe part of getting the leash back on.
Also, since he likes all of that physical interaction and getting in your lep, maybe teach him to jump in your arms at the end of a run! You can do it by having him jump into your lap with you sitting or kneeling, then we gradually get you more and more upright.
For decompression, you can take him for a sniffy walk between reps, or scatter some treats in the grass or on a snuffle mat. The free sniffing is definitely what will help return his physiology to baseline. This will be useful after each high energy run. You can see he was starting to get depleted (tired!) by the 3rd and 4th run, so a sniffy walk or a snuffle mat between runs will help him be able to reset and keep the energy high.
The find my face game is going well! The pattern is very strong – he is returning engagement before he even finishes chewing LOL! And when you added the pivot, he was very quick to re-engage as well. And it was indeed hilarious when he tried to get between your feet! SO CUTE! Good boy to try to keep offering LOL! You can take this onto a simple sequence and deliberately disconnect and reward when he re-engages.
Great job here!!!
Tracy
Hi! He has such great engagement and commitment outside and on the bigger distances! Super!!!! Nice job with your connection here too – the strong connection totally helps support the line you want.
Video 1 – I will keep bugging you about verbals 🙂 It was easy to get the tunnel
discrimination here because he is looking at you trying to watch the handling. You can get the same line and less looking at you with the verbals to turn him and the tunnel discrimination verbal (which should be different than his tunnel word or get in, because if the words are the same it could mean either end of the tunnel). I use “tunnel” to mean ‘take the tunnel entry on your line’ and “kiss kiss” to mean ‘come in towards me and take the tunnel entry that is not on your line’.Video 2 – this is where you can see he is asking more of a question – Note how he looks at you before the straight line to the tunnel, because it was the same cue as the previous video when you wanted the other end of the tunnel. We was coming towards you to check in even though the handling was strong. So we can smooth that out with the different verbals.
The last 2 videos have longer sequences, so they are good ones to walk with the different verbals in place before you run it! As the courses get juicier, you can walk it a few times without him and even video tape the walk through to check if the verbals and lines are correct. That way you are ready for his speed and have all the verbals prepared. He was watching you and adding some strides here and on the last video, because the verbals were mainly “go”. That might make it hard to get him to drive straight lines, so be sure to replace most of the Go cues with a turn cues (like left/right or the wrap cues) or if it is not a straight line but also not a big turn, you can use a ‘jump’ verbal to go along with the physical cues.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Nice work on all of these!
Seq 1 video – (this one was posted twice)- very nice connection here! One thing I notice here and on the other videos – remember to add in your turn cues (like left when you want the jump and not the tunnel) rather than using Go for all the obstacles. The different verbals will help him be able to look ahead and find the line, and that way you can save “go” to mean those big fast straight lines 🙂
Seq 2 video: he is reading the physical cues well here too and finding the line nicely! A theme is emerging: don’t use the ‘go’ verbal for everything 🙂 The #4 jump in the pinwheel is a pretty significant collection so use a jump cue or a left verbal, to help him differentiate the lines.
Same thoughts with the #7 jump – The go verbal is what kept him going straight on the first rep. Good boy! The handling helped him turn to his right on the 2nd rep but he was looking at you a lot as if asking ”is it straight or a turn?”. You did use a right on the last rep, yay! Yo can use it even sooner so he is hearing it before he takes off for 7 as you set up the rear cross.
Tunnel discriminations are going well, he reads the physical cues really well!!
He is looking at you a bit more than needed, because the verbals and physical cues don’t match up – remember to use a turn verbal on 4 (like “jump” or “left”) and then your tunnel discrimination verbal so he can go directly to the correct end of the tunnel without checking in.You can see him checking in on the full sequence with the tunne discrimination – the physical cues were really strong, but the verbal cues all told him to go go go (which means go straight). And since we don’t want him to learn to ignore cues to go straight because they might also mean turn, try to walk the sequence once or twice without him and practice which verbals, so you can use the different cues in the sequence.
In the longer video, adding the tunnel discrimination – you were using some wrap verbals here and that really helped! Keep adding those for the turns 🙂 He is following the physical cues perfectly, so now match up the verbals. That will become super important when he gets onto the bigger courses and you won’t be as close to him.
Last video – he was reading the physical cues really well here too, but waiting to see them because the verbals were all go go go 🙂
Last rep – you can see how fast he is and how he looks forward when you are matching the GO and tunnel verbal to the line then he slows down a bit to wait when there is too much go and the physical cues don’t match.
This is great information! I think the main things here are that he totally reads the physical cues well – and now we can emphasize matching the verbals to the physical cues so that he doesn’t have to look at you to double check what you mean.
Nice work here!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>not so sure you can see any change!
I totally see a difference! That location is actually really hard – very tightly crammed in with barking dogs and dogs moving really close by. At trial sites, try to find more of a quiet space to start this so that she can ease into the harder spaces rather than go right into them.
When using these games, watch her responses so you can decide if you need to go back to the patterns, or stick to the pattern games. Plus, be careful about backing up as you play these games, as that was getting her closer into the distractions and that made it harder.
On the first section, she was definitely processing the difficulty of the environment. On the up and down, she was not quite looking up at you as you backed up closer to the other crates, so make sure you see her eyes before putting down the next treats. The dogs barking in their crates made it really hard for her to do hand touches – when you see that she cannot quickly respond to a cue (like a touch cue), go back to the pattern games.
Where she is looking will tell you what to do: looking at you quickly after eating a treat, in under 2 seconds or even faster? Then you can ask for tricks (hand touch, spin, etc). If she is looking around before looking at you, or not able to look at you, or something startling happens in the environment? Either keep going with the pattern games (moving her further from the distractions) or go back to the pattern games if you had been trying for tricks. What she is looking at will help you decide what to do next.

On the 2nd session, she was a quicker with re-engagement on the pattern games, and she was able to do her hand touches. Yay! Remember to start her further from distractions (rather than right in the thick of things), and when doing the tricks – move a bit before handing her the treat. That will help her arousal get centered into the optimal state, helping her engage even more and relax in a stressful environment.Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
>>Yes, I knew I was late, late, late with the blind cross. So, if I start when she’s over jump 3 what shows the line to 4? I just assume she will take it? I’m usually taking 1-2 more steps than I need which makes me late.>>
In the case of big extension lines like this one, your line of motion will support 4 (you are running top speed and right past it :)) You can also use a ‘jump’ verbal. Decel or pulling away too soon or being too early (such as starting the blind before she takes off for 3) an pull her off the jump.
>>So, my first Aussie loved the havkberries as well. I took her in Dec for hip X-rays. Got a call from the vet asking if she ate a pearl necklace or a beaded garland off my Christmas tree. I laughed and said it’s hackberries. Apparently they saw tons of small rounded objects in her colon. I’m not sure they believed me as they wanted to keep her until she pooped. I assured them that I saw berries daily!>>>
OMG!!! That is hilarious!! They probably were freaking out though LOL!!!
T
Good morning! I am glad you enjoyed the teeter class 🙂 Sounds like both boys are doing well!
The Starfish is going really well, this is the hardest handling game and you had a TON of success!! Where was he heading on the first reps? Clearly something caught his attention LOL!
You had a lot of great connection here and you were definitely supporting lines with great motion! Loved it!!!! He was fast and also turned really tight. He had very few questions.
Some small details:
For the turn aways, call him before he enters the tunnel and then again after it, so he expects something coming and exits the tunnel in handler focus. Eventually there will be a treadle-wrap cue or a related verbal on it, but for now using his name will work really well.At :59, you might find a spin instead of a post turn gets you up the line faster
That way you can give the ‘right’ verbal and show the physical cue before he enters the tunnel to get a tighter turn on the exit.And on the big straightaways, you can use your go go go cue so you don’t have to rely on foot speed 🙂 You did a great job getting ahead of him there so adding the verbals will make it even easier. Yes, still run like crazy (he liked it a lot and the lines looked great) but the verbals will add even more clarity for when you can’t get ahead of him.
I think his only question was at 1:20 where he stopped short in front of a wing. He didn’t commit to the wing there because there was no transition into it – you ran fast then slammed on the brakes and rotated. That is where we often see refusals especially fro inexperienced dogs.
To get better commitment, add in a decel before the rotation, and shifting your connection to look at the ‘landing’ spot will help support commitment as you start to rotate and move away.
Compare to 1:37 where you had 2 or 3 steps of deceleration (your big strides go to short strides) before the rotation and he committed brilliantly 🙂
You were also really strong about staying in motion when there was a human error (sometimes we human forget where we are going LOL!) and rewarding. It looks like he found the session to be really fun!
You might find the tandem turn even easier than the lap turn on these, because you don’t have to rotate to face him on the tandems – yo can be calling him and using your upper body to get the attention and turn away, rather than having to rotate to face him.
Backside proofing –
>>The first session was tough and despite making it easier by moving the wing out we struggled on this one at first.>>
Easy fix!! We switch how you are connected to him – on the backside pushes, look at him a lot more and use a really intense connection. On the countermotion exits, shift your connection from his eyes to the landing spot. Here are details:
On the first reps of the backside pushes, you can see that you are looking forward (at the jump) so if you are close to the wing, he gets it. But even a few inches further away and he comes to the front because that is where your shoulders line up. To get him to the backside, add in looking very directly at him, lots of BIG eyeball connection, will line your shoulders up to get your shoulders pointing to the line to the backside. Think of it as saying the backside verbal directly to his cute little face and keep saying it until you see him heading to the backside.
Your line of motion was really good, so don’t change a thing on that!
On the 2nd session, he was clearly recognizing the context and was figuring it out. Good boy!!! Definitely add the big connection so he can get it right in different contexts too.
As you add more distance away from the backside wing, you can also angle the jump a bit so it is easier for him to stay on the line to the backside because he won’t see the front side bar as much (and he will see the backside wing more clearly).
On the countermotion exit – great job with the reward placement here!! This is where you can shift your connection to look at the landing spot behind you and point to it too, because that turns your shoulders to the line and supports him taking the jump as you move forward. On the video, you were looking at him, so he was coming to you.
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
>> I almost want to just let him be because it’s hard for me to watch him struggle.
That’s why I asked what he did when the dogs started running. If he was excited and interested but not at the end of the leash going barking/staring/etc in overarousal, then I lean towards a less-is-more approach. Maybe a little tugging, a little hand tap… but not much more needed and no prolonged moments right near the ring 🙂
>> But I’ll keep moving forward with what we’re doing and your suggestions. I do see improvement.
Building up the toolbox at home and teaching it all in high arousal definitely teaches arousal regulation and builds the neural pathways. And that can help with the self-regulation at trials, even if he is unable to produce operant behaviors in the moments before the ring. So he might be able to self-regulate just fine without our help outside the ring, or only a little bit of help. Maybe he needs his physical and mental warm ups outside, then just comes in closer to his run and sits on a cato plank or something. We will be able to tell by experimenting and observing what happens in the ring. And add in the remote reinforcement games too, so we don’t see any arousal shift when the toy is no longer in your hand or pocket.
And keep me posted!
TracyHi!
This is a really useful sequence of videos!
>> I’m exhausted mentally and physically. Trials are not fun with him for me. He did great though. >>
Maybe not fun… yet. But based on how well he did in his T2B run? Things are gong to start getting really a lot more fun! And yes, I agree that sorting out young dogs is exhausting mentally and physically for us humans (it is SOOOO much easier running the adults!) but it is totally worth it to do so, and I think his work in the T2B run was a look into the future 🙂
Looking at the T2B run: his jumping and drive on the line looked great! He needed earlier turn info on the tunnel exits and one more step to get commitment to the jump after the a-frame, after the 2nd aframe. But he didn’t get frustrated when you called him and re-sent him to it, he was great about coming back and trying again. He didn’t get the weaves at the end, but I think the buzzer and judge returning to the course distracted you and you were more on your way to the exit, and less really asking for the weaves. No worries.
Looking at the 2 outside the ring videos:
– this facility is very tight in the entry, even when there are no dogs running. With that in mind, he gave fantastic info (through body language and engagement) about what helps and what he likes, versus what helps and what he does not like.What helps and what he likes?
He seemed to like it any time the cookie or toy moved up or away from him, he engaged! Yes! He was eating cookies and playing with the toy in a pressure cooker of a situation. I was proud of him. The cookie/toy moving up or away allows him to move, and I think he needs to move more when waiting outside the ring (more on that below):A few things to try, with this in mind:
– when using food, you can feed him up high like you did or try a short toss to the side or have him chase your hand for the treat (curious to see if the hand chasing will engaging to him, because it incorporates movement)– because the environment is soooo much harder, his tap behavior is likely to be a little weaker. No worries – reward it anyway. At the beginning of the first video, he was able to immediately engage and do a nose turn towards your hand – close enough, reward it. Tap’ish’ is fine for now 🙂 A head turn towards the hand? Totally rewardable in such a hard environment. When he engages, responded, but didn’t get rewarded, I think he got confused and he was trying to leave.
– with the toy, tugging up high was totally something that got him engaged! You can also try a MUCH longer toy and swing it around on the ground – so he can jump up for it then you start swinging it on the ground. That alleviates the pressure of you bending over and using a tiny toy. And it gets him moving! I know there is not a lot of room, but there is room for a 4 foot long toy for now especially when no other dogs were around.
What didn’t seem to help, and he didn’t seem to like?
– he never really responded to his name other than the first moment of the first video. He was generally looking away in response to his name.
– he definitely did not like being pulled by the leash on his neck – lots of ears back and tight mouth and looking away and trying to go to the dog
– we also saw the ears back/tight mouth/lowered posture when you were doing body taps, rib-smacking… his body language read as not being comfortable with that, in that environment.
– he did not want to engage with the small toy when you were bending over towards himSo definitely keep going with what was working! And you can move to different spots (like further from the ring, or outside the door for a moment) to add some movement into it as well (I bet going outside for a moment will be a nice decompression for him too).
And the stuff he told us he didn’t like? Easy – don’t do it 🙂 Keep the leash super loose, don’t try to use it to get his attention because it creates the exact opposite. And you can ask him to do things like tap or tug without calling his name. And, like many BCs that are trying to regulate arousal, he says “no touching, please” and that is fine too 🙂
>>Then they started running. He couldn’t play anymore outside the ring.>>
That is good info too. Was he able to just stand there? Or just stand outside the door?
And before his run – how long was he in and out of the building, doing this stuff? Were the sessions all in the wait before his run, or scattered throughout the day? It is possible that in these smaller enclosed environments, he waits outside the door for most of the wait, or in the other room, until the dog or two before at most. In a bigger more open environment, I bet you will find it much easier!
>> Worse upstairs. >>
Yes, most dogs agree about that upstairs being a weird place LOL!!!
>>I went outside a couple of times to walk and play on the practice jump. When I walked back in the last time it was our turn so we went straight into the ring. >>
So he was outside, being a good boy on the jump, walking into the building and pretty directly into the ring… and produced that lovely work? I like it!!! At this stage, you can do short blasts of tugging or taps or anything outside the ring. But no need to be in there for a long time. The other behaviors that you will eventually like to have ringside will get built up and you can start to add them in the run up to his turn in the ring, and then it will all be easier.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I think the back and forth and find my face looked really strong, even with the distractions in the environment. The hardest part seemed to be having to put the treats in her molars to chew them LOL!! Other than that, she was great. Since it went so well, you can keep the session short – otherwise it ends up being a lot of the same, which can get boring for you both 🙂 If things are going great for about 90 seconds? You can move onto something else.
The sequence work is looking good – the best part was that your connection was 99% SPOT ON!! I think there is one spot you can connect better, but only one spot is fantastic. Yay! She was fast and fabulous on these.
You can also try to replace a lot of the FCs with BCs, like on seq 1 and 3. In both of those spots, you were starting the FCs as she was gathering for liftoff which meant she didn’t see the turn cue soon enough, and turned after landing. Since FCs take a lot of fancy footwork for us humans, you might find hat a BC in those spots (3-4 on both of those sequences) is easier to start on time when she is exiting the tunnel on Se 1 or landing from 2 on Seq 3, and the BC definitely easier to finish on time! And BCs can produce amazing turns, so totally worth a try to do more BCs than FCs at this stage. And that will help with the bars – at 2:20 and 2:46, the late FC was what caused the bar to drop (she didn’t have time to set up the turn before takeoff and tried to do it in the air)
Seq 2 – great job with your start position right on the line at jump 2, and great job moving to 3 on time with great connection. Her speed and line were amazeballs! Yay! You can add a little decel into 3 (as she lands from 3) as you start your collection cue to tighten that turn up over 3 a bit.
>>she is still uncomfortable with jumping the jump to the fence.>>
It is a hard line – more connection totally helps, and so does decelerating into it so she can add a collection. When you turned and said “tunnel” while she was in the air, she dropped the bar trying to turn. But on the last rep, you had the connection and some decel and an early verbal, and she did a great job!
Sequence 4:
For this FC on jump 3, you can also be trying it as a blind instead! At :10, you were facing her while she is jumping and ideally you should be finished and heading to 4. I bet you will love the blinds!
The rest looked great!Seq 5: On this opening, you can also line her up on a slice facing 2, rather than square to jump 1 where she has to turn after landing.
>>uring Sequence 4, the people across the street came home and had a crying child. That made Sequence 5 difficult on the start line for Syn.>>
I think this was at :40 – she couldn’t sit and then was looking away on the lead out. Big distraction for sure! When that happens, go to a pattern game of volume dial rather than try to continue the lead out. That will allow you to quickly get her engagement back, and then you can more easily run the sequence
The sequence is looking good! My only suggestion is to give her the tunnel exit turn info before she goes in, so she can exit turning to you. St 1:15 (BC) and 1:50 (FC), the last thing she saw/heard before entering the tunnel was you going straight, so she exited straight. If you start your verbal and cross when she is still approximately 6 feet before the tunnel entry, she will have a great turn on the exit!
Great job here! Have fun at the run thrus!
Tracy
