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Hi!
>. now the weather has took a turn to the cold. Very sad.>>
For real! Cold, grey, and rainy here. EWWWWW!! Bring back blue skies and sunshine!!
Looking at the video, there was a couple of things going on that caused some questions:
On the left turn reps, you can add more deceleration separately from the rotation. You had the decel and rotation happening pretty simultaneously, so she was surprised and did most of the turning after landing. Try to decel for a step or two (or three) and then rotate – the rotation will feel slow and that is correct 🙂
When you went to the right turns, I think part of what was happening was that she was not comfortable turning away from the otehr obstacles towards the fence, combined with your decel/rotation combo accidentally putting pressure on the line – you were running in more towards the bar (and less on the outside of the wing) and the sudden rotation did look like you putting pressure to the left turn side, so it did indeed look like a RC cue. If that happens and you get a rear cross, reward her anyway with no reaction abut it being not what you intended – when you reacted to it and didn’t really reward (or rewarded later), she started to stress a bit and stopped coming to you – just started guessing on the obstacles and trying to figure out the line.
Even at the end when you had big praise, she still did not come to you to get the toy.After 3 or 4 times of know it was not correct and not knowing how to be correct, I think she was just in a vortex and was offering left turns and other stuff.
For the transition element, you can put cones on the ground alongside your line to remind you when to decel as you move forward (pretty early after she exits the wrap wing) and when to rotate (after you decel and as she gets closer to the jump).
For her, as you work out the decel mechanics, you can break it down to just a wing to wrap on and not a full jump, then just a wing with a bar without the other wing. That can help take out the rear cross possibility and you can work on the decel element (which is the main part of the cue).
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Hormones might have played a role, but we would see that more consistently rather than only when there was an oopsie moment 🙂And I think she played well with the toy when food was not as available – but when there was a pretty available food option, she was into the food 🙂
T
Good morning!
Find my face is looking good! She did really well with finding you, of course, and did take jumps that were on her line too! Yay! If she finds you but does not take a jump, no problem, you can still toss the next treat. Taking the jump is just a bonus and as she gets more experienced, she will take jumps more and more. Definitely use this in class if you ever happen to disconnect or disconnect on purpose 🙂 – you can toss the treat when she finds your face (or a toy :)) That will help transfer the game to new environments.
>>
I tried the hand touch back and forth, but it didn’t go well. She would only nose touch to one side and it was the end of the session.>>Try different variations of it to see what feels best with mechanics (note: small pockets for easily accessible cookies LOL!). And if it ends up being an up-and-down style hand touch on one side, because she is more comfy and so are you? Cool! Perfect!
So by up-and-down, I am thinking the ‘down’ is all 4 feet on the ground (head up) and the ‘up’ is her front feet coming up off the ground to do a hand touch a little higher up. That is definitely an incompatible behavior with grass-eating 🙂 and also that bop up and down should help center her arousal state into an optimized state by raising her heart rate and shifting her into a selective and then a sustained state!
Nice work here! Now I am off to google “hackberries” because I have no idea what they are LOL!
Tracy
Good morning!
Welcome back! Great ‘seeing’ you in the zoom last night!
>>I LOVE the pattern games. This and the volume dial is exactly what we need right now.>>
Perfect!
>>She is doing the thing I have seen BCs do – stare at the dog in the ring while I struggle to get her attention. When we get in the ring, I get her attention back. (It looks very much like her looking at the sheep when we go to the sheep pen.) >>
Pretty normal young BC behaviors 🙂 I am confident she will work through things, because she seems pretty level-headed overall.
>>I have tried asking her for behaviors, but I think the best start is going to be the pattern games. We are doing those at home now & I will take it on the road soon. >>
Great! If she cannot respond to cues for behaviors, the pattern games will be a huge help. Last night we were talking about how the brain processes: when she cannot respond to cues, her brain is unable to prioritize the cues/responses when it is being bombarded by all the other stimuli that are telling her to stare/stalk/herd or simply freeze 🙂 The pattern games will help her brain shift from that divided attentional state to the selective state where she can respond. Get the patterns to be really easy for her at home, and then take them on the road starting as far as needed from the distractions.
>>I will try a different approach to tricks, too, cause what I am doing at home is not working. (high latency?)>>
Tell me more! What is she struggling with?
Looking at the sequence videos: I think she is really finding her lines beautifully and also setting up really good turns when you ask for them! That is exciting! And since she is reading the lines so well…
Remember that if something goes wrong (like a bar or going around a jump) just keep going. Getting into flow is the main goal at this stage of learning (for you both 😁). And most errors are going to be handler errors at this point, so it it better to keep going rather than stop and fix. Even with a toy or treat, stopping is a bit deflating to a BC 🙂 continuing is likely more reinforcing than the cookie or toy in this context 🙂Looking at sequence 2:
>>We are struggling with that BC. What can I do here? If I am anywhere near the dog’s actually line, she will not take #2.>>
I think the commitment question was more of a connection question. You had your arm up high (shoulder level) and extended out parallel to your body, so she couldn’t see connection or when the blind started. As you lead out parallel to the line, be a little more lateral and lower your arm so it is pointing back to her nose the whole time. Let her see your eyes (and make sure you can see her eyes). Start by doing this and getting commitment to 1 and 2 as you move towards 3. Then it will be easy to add the blind!
You can see her trying to find the connection at :20, when she never saw connection, didn’t take 1, and then you started the blind too soon so she correctly did not take 2 (you were too early starting the blind a 1:13 as well).
You were moving towards the landing spot of 2 (towards jump 4) on a lot of these so while yes, it did get her to take it, you were in the way so she had a bar down (:04) and slowed down on the other reps to avoid hitting you (good girl, Liz!)
Definitely keep going on all of these, rather than stop and repeat. If she misses a jump, look at the video in slow motion before the next rep and see if you can see your eyes very clearly.
You had better connection at 1:20, and she took the jumps a lot better! Yay!
For the lead out push on the least rep: she read this really well! You can be more on the center of the bar of 2 when you release her so she turns before takeoff (and of course keep moving towards 3 so you are not in her way when she is jumping 2). You were on the far side of the bar (further from 3) so she turned after landing.
The rest looked great!!!
Seq 3 – This also went really well! One suggestion is to line her up on a slice at 1 (so she is facing 2 when she lands) rather than facing straight to 1 – so there are fewer turns and also so you can move away sooner.
>>BC is wonky, too. Maybe more work on the send for the jump before?>>
Yes, to get the blind tighter, send to 3 more by not really going much past 2 at all, so you are lined up with jump 4 – when she is landing from 2, send to 3. And when she looked at 3, take off towards the 4-5 line and as soon as you see her approaching 3 – start the blind.
Nice collection on the 5 jump before the tunnel!
She is looking great which allows us to play with the handling a bit, in terms of timing and connection.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyAlso remember to use your pattern games and volume dial on the way into the ring and see how she does!
Hi!
>> We also did some LAT…as long as the dogs weren’t running AND barking we were ok. Once both of those happen, her arrousal goes sky high and it’s difficult to bring back down.>>
If you are doing LAT, you can balance in some Up and Down too – especially if the dog she is looking at is barking 🙂 That can help her return to baseline in her arousal level more quickly.
Tracy
Hi!
Does she normally leave you on the startline, especially on the first run? If that normally happens – don’t require a stay on the first run. Let’s set up success! Start with a send or hand on collar followed by a ready set go! Or start with a tunnel. And you can start further from the people or ask them to move further away. That first run might be the hardest! And then if that goes well, ask for a stay in the second run.Your plan should be to keep going even if there is an error because it was a handling error 🙂 And if she does take off and leave, yes, keep handling your invisible dog (you can even give it a name. My invisible dog is named Fluffy haha!) then when she gets back to you, keep handling her for a couple more obstacles then reward. Remember that her struggles are rooted in being concerned about things or ring stress (she is NOT naughty :)), so all of this is designed to keep you both happy and stress-free!
Tracy
Hi!
Thanks for the info – sounds like you took a really comprehensive, proactive approach to the end of run behavior and the results are wonderful!!
>>The show went well. Did LOTS of Fix N Go and FEO (was USDAA). It is SOOO hard for me to maintain my criteria and not continue when his Startline or contacts aren’t a faultable thing but don’t match what I’ve trained. I’m getting better but I 100% have to plan my responses/fixes during the walk through and remind myself right before I run.>>
Yes, it is hard! But totally worth it. I am sure you have heard/read the quote: “Don’t give up what you want most of all for what you want right now.” I think of that all the time 🙂 I think it is attributed to Zig Ziglar. I believe what you want most of all iis beautiful, clear, consistent, independent, fast contacts and solid startlines, to be used at the BIG EVENTS 🙂 A local Grand Prix is fun, for sure, but you know that your time while working contacts puts you in striking range of a world class competitor, so that is better than a Q with iffy criteria 🙂
>>I am waiting for him to sit on the Startline. I’ve tried letting him choose and he often chooses a stand but then can’t hold himself back. If he breaks and I ask him to come back he immediately sits so I think he feels better able to control himself in a sit.>>
That is excellent feedback from the dog! You can add in the good ol’ sit-tug-sit game (with quick releases for quick sits) – that is something I do on the way to the start line at trials! It can get the dog into a really optimized state for the actual sit-stay.
The delayed-cheeseball pattern looks good – add in disconnecting from him during the delay, as if you are looking at the course. And, are there any visually stimulating things you can do this in front of? Such as the other dogs cavorting or something?
Up and down – I loved all of your variations! Those are terrific distractions and the rehearsal was great! You can see the steam coming out of his ears LOL!! Loved it! The only thing I would add is using both hands and both feet on the up and down game – right hand puts the cookie on/near the right foot, then when he re-engages, the left hand puts the cookie on/near the left foot, and so on. That gets him moving back and forth AND his head up and down, so we are basically using ALL of the good things the patterns bring to the physiology.
Volume game looked good (with the helpful singing of the other dogs adding challenge :)) He did really well!
So now we start combining all of this crazy stuff so he is working the self-regulation:
volume dial, then a pattern game to regulate into high arousal/over-arousal then back to center.
When he is good at that, we will flip it around. More coming soon on arousal and attentional states!Great job here!
TracyHi! I agree, you both did a great job 🙂 You had really great connection except for the ending line, but that might have been caused by this:
>> I found a hole in the middle of the course at jump #6 and was a little tentative on that last rep because of it. Will do some lawn fill work in that area LOL.>>
It was probably in the vicinity of when you needed to go blasting up the line, which might be why you were looking ahead a bit – to find the hole!
His favorite reward is running with the toy, so you can totally throw it and let him run with it 🙂
He read 1-2-3 really well! He did a great job with the slice jumping here. He needed you to move closer to the #4 blue spread jump on the line which you did on the next reps. Being a little closer made it harder to get the side change after the tunnel (2:27) but you can start the verbal on time (about 4 feet before he enters the tunnel) even if you are still moving to position to help tighten up the turn.
Ending line 2:36 & 4:04 – start saying go go go to him (you were actually too quiet there LOL!) and don’t look ahead when there is no hole there 🙂 – that was when he was looking up at you. More connection, acceleration, and GO verbals will help keep him driving ahead.
One thing I notice is that he often freezes after the thrown reward until you pull out the next one back at the start line, or call him to line up. You can help him by adding some end-of-run behavior like, after throwing the toy, you can clip on a leash, walk over to a cookie station, give him treats like it was the end of a trial run, then go back to jump 1 on leash. That can be great rehearsal for trials!
Great job here!!
TracyHi!
>>We didn’t get closer while dogs were running. It was very windy and cold and there was a long time between classes with one judge. However, I do the pattern games in class while other dogs run. Getting video is harder in class.>>
If you can get video, be sure to track latency and take a note or two about how the run went right after it 🙂
>>She absolutely grabs grass at class and in the training yard. So, teaching a different coping skill is my preference. So, if I do hand touch and a tossed treat is it a back and forth game by my side? >>
Well that is GREAT that she does it in training, make it much easier for us! I don’t think I would toss the treat on this, because it is closer to the volume dial game plus we really don’t want her mouth near the grass as that could risk an accidental chain of touch hand – grab treat – grab grass 🙂 So think of it as a back and forth between your hands: touch empty hand. Other hand reaches over and puts cookie into the hand she just touched so she eats it. Then ask her to touch the other hand (the one that just delivered the cookie). Original hand digs out a cookie to deliver into the hand she just touched. You will need relatively easy access to the cookies for both hands and also there will eb a slight delay (less than 2 seconds) as you get the cookie, but that is fine because it will add in a little bit of head-up chill 🙂 Remind me to give you a visual tonight in the chat 🙂
>.How would you fade the food?>>
With the remote reinforcement game, building it all the way up to running courses.
>>I can play with leash tugs on the way to the line as well.
Yay! And she will give us feedback on that. Certainly having something in her mouth will prevent grass grabbing 🙂 But will she grab after you get ask her to out the leash? I personally use the leash as a toy like I would in the volume dial game, so I have a sense of the dog’s arousal level, and so the dog can breathe a bit too. But there are certainly dogs out there that do their best when they tug from the ring entry to the start line – that optimizes their arousal. We can experiment and see what she says about it.
>>So, I’m trying to teach a between my legs trick. Gemma loves it. Sprite doesn’t want to come in between. I’ll have to see if I can dig up a video somewhere as I’m doing something wrong.>>
Yes, grab a video. Some dogs might just find it uncomfortable (my baby whippet things it is uncomfortable, so I don’t really ask him to do it).
See you later!
TracyHi!
>>I thought she was very forgiving for my bad rears – she read them all. I just should not have gotten so far ahead of her on the line.
Yes, you can stay closer to the line to set up the rear crosses. But she was definitely not mad at you 🙂
>>As you can see – oftentimes, I have trouble continuing on when we have a mistake. I just get flustered and we party.>>
Tell your instructor and classmates that your goal is to keep moving, and have them remind you mid course – keep going! Don’t stop! You will all have fun doing it and you’ll practice staying in motion 🙂
>>I will have someone film me tonight in class in case my imaginary dog needs to run with me. Is it okay to turn in those videos?>>
Perfect! Yes, I am interested in seeing it! Have your classmate film it like it is a reality TV show – from before you go into the ring, and everything that happens until your turn is over. Don’t edit it at all, it will be very insightful!
Have fun 🙂
TracyHi! It sounds like she did really well! Good girlie! And yes, those Shelties are fun to watch LOL!! Which games did you feel were easiest for her, and/or that she could respond to the best?
>. she was out for over an hour and the stimulation was too much.
That is a long time, she might have needed a mental break. You can try a few minutes then a rest break in her crate or the car and see how she does.
>>I even got her to tug on her leash!! >>
Yay! That is useful, because it is basically like having a toy in the ring 🙂
>>One thing I realized however, I’m using “get it”
for both the thrown treat and for striking the leash. Is that going to mess her up eventually and should I change one of the words?>>I think the dogs figure it out eventually, but we do want to avoid confusion in the meantime – so yes, ideally, you would change one of the words. I say get it for tossed stuff, and “bite” for grabbing the leash in my hand 🙂
Le me know what you think!
TracyHi! I am glad you were able to get training time set up, and that your mom is still doing well. And she has a ton of good skills here! The soccer place is great for prepping for trialing! She definitely does not like it when you mark behaviors with oopsie or try again – you can see that she gets careful or freezes – so if something goes wrong, just assume it was handler error 🙂 and keep going or reset with a reward for the next rep.
Looking at the videos:
Set point – her jumping skills are going well! To keep advancing the skills and keep her head down, you can put yourself next to the MM (not laterally away from it or between the jump and MM) . That way she won’t consider your position a turn cue 🙂 Next step is to move to the moving target (dragging toy) as the reward, so there is more power and arousal added.
Smiley face game, video 1 – This went well! She is ready for more distance between the tunnel and wings so that she can add more speed and so you can start the turn cues sooner for the wraps. I see that you added the distance in the next video – super!!
With these sequences, you can give her a lot more connection on the tunnel exits and also on the way to the tunnel. Pretty direct eye contact and low hands will show her the lines as you stay in motion. And if something goes wrong, keep going or reward (stopping or oopsing was causing her to deflate, and continuing on will help keep her in the game and ignoring the distractions like the people cheering).
About the connection – You can see her looking at you a bit when you were trying to point forward, and that led to a few errors where she didn’t get a reward for the sequence, so she was not as convinced about the tunnel and was losing a bit of focus. The tunnel closer to the camera in particular was hard because you were turning away/disconnecting then saying yes – so she was unsure of where to go and freezing up a bit. So be sure to really maintain connection and move forward til she is in the tunnel then reward – and if an error happens, just keep handling as if it was right, and add more connection on the next rep.
Tunnel exit turns – she is finding her lines really well!! You can give all of the verbals soon 🙂 You were giving the Go or left/right verbals as she was exiting the tunnel, and ideally you would start giving the verbal and showing the handling when she is about 4 feet away from entering, so she sees it before she goes in. You can put a line or a cone on the ground about 4 feet before the tunnel entry as a visual for you, so you can be starting those cues as she is passing the line or cone.
When the Go verbal was a little late, she would exit looing at you. When the soft turn verbals were a little late, she would end up wide on the right turns in particular. So letting her see and hear those verbals should really help smooth things out on those lines and turns.
Nice adjustment to get the better connection after the FC on the GO reps! She didn’t seethe connection no the first rep, then you really ramped it up on the 2nd rep and she read it really well!
I think you had a right verbal naming a left turn on one of the reps 😉 Totally relatable! Make sure you take a moment to remind yourself of the verbals before starting the reps.
Nice stays and lead outs in front of the tunnel!!! That looked awesome!
Wind in your hair 1:
She did really well finding the jump, both with you walking and with you running! You can connet more here too as she exits the wing wrap – you were looking a little too far ahead so she was looking at you and coming to you as she exited the wrap. If you look at her more, she will look at the line more.Good job placing the toy and adding the GO verbal! She did really well here and was terrific about ignoring the toy until it was time to run to it 🙂 You can add more and more distance to this skill.
Minny pinny – the new location is distracting! To help attach the verbals more and keep her more focused, you can line her up on your side and gently hold her collar (but don’t lift her feet off the ground) and say the verbal a few times before letting her go. You can also use a toy for this game, as it might be more helpful to ignore the distractions.
In this session, we can see that she is NOT a fan of being told she is wrong – she freezes up and looks at you as if judging you LOL! So rather than mark something with an oopsie, you can keep better flow if you call her back and reset with a treat for the next rep. Definitely no more oopsie markers for her 🙂
Sends and serps On the send, adding more connection and being a little closer will help get her heading to the wing more. When you pointed forward and you were right next to the jump, the pointing turned your shoulders to the jump, so that is where she went. So less arm pointing and more connection will your shoulders pointing to the wing more.
For the serp, try to rotate at the waist so your upper body is facing the bar, with the center of your chest facing the center of the bar. That will get better come in-go out behavior – you were turning your shoulder perpendicular to the bar (simialr to a post turn) so she was coming in, but not reading the “go back out” part of the serp til after hte MM mae the beep noise. The rotated upper body will cue both in and out for the serp, so you will be able to move through it more easily.
The FC on the wing for the balance reps looked great!
Zig Zag on the wings – this is going well! I didn’t see her have any questions or trouble here, so you can start to do the cues a little sooner (so she makes faster lead changes. You an also move to the next step where you add the bars 🙂
Wind In Your Hair
On the go reps – keep moving even as you throw the toy on a straight line past the wing of the jump, so there is no pressure into the line like there is on the Rear Cross. You were running to center of the bar on some of the GO reps, so she was not reading the RCs as quickly because the cue looked the same as the Go
Don’t mark oops and remember to reward her even when you mess up 🙂 For example something went wrong at 3:38 and she didn’t get rewarded, so she got a little frozen there, and that bleeds over into the next reps where she is a little more cautious. And you can use your “get it” more on the thrown rewards, she was being a bit careful there too.Rear crosses: Nice job with the reward placement!
As you work the mechanics and running line of the rear crosses, you don’t need to add the verbals yet as long as you don’t say “go!” You had a couple of different verbals happening but emphasizing the physical cues for now will be more effective – really getting right on the line to the center of the bar so she can feel and see the RC pressure. Eventually the verbals will match whatever the turn is (left/right, or wrap, for example).Backsides are going well! Good job showing her the wing! Be sure to keep your dog-side arm back and make more connection so she can see the wing. When you do a big send arm, like at 4:41, it blocks the wing a bit and she considered the other jump that was off to the side.
Strike a pose proofing
– she did well here too with both the serp and the threadles! Be sure to have your shoulders rotated facing the jump and arm in position all before you release, so that she can see the cue before the release and also so that she does not release on the hand movement. That is what happened at 3:42 – you started moving your hand so she released (because that is what had happened on the other reps). So, be sure the hand is in position before the release, even if you end up having to put the hand up and rotate your upper body before you start moving into position.For the tunnel reps, you can connect more as you say the the tunnel verbal – if your back is too her like it was on the first rep, she is likely to come to you 🙂 And if she gets in the tunnel just reward even if she accidentally took the jump first – if she got it right then you ask her to try again, she will be confused (and freeze up). You did a great job breaking it down to help her, so just add a little more connection and she will have it.
Ladder grid – she is doing well with this when the lines were straight and also when the bars were angled, so we can make some adjustments in the setup to help her keep her head down and power over all 3 jumps.
At the beginning, it was hard to see where the reward was, but she was jumping with her head up at 3 for the first couple of reps so it was probably too close and not enticing enough 🙂 At :35 and the next rep the toy was out ahead but you were positioned a little past 3 and not near the toy, so she (correctly) came to you, reading it as a decel cue. Good girl!Having a cookie out ahead helped and towards the end, a higher value toy definitely helped her look forward too! but the cookie (and you :)) were a little too close to jump 3 – ideally, you would be 10 feet further past 3 so that she can land and accelerate to the reward and not decelerate to it over the bar.
So to help get her driving forward, you can use a placed reward about 10 feet or more past 3 with you right next to it. Or, you can go to the moving target (dragging reward) so she is watching it and keeping her head down the whole time.
My only other suggestion on the grid is to start her closer to it, so she doesn’t take a step before the first jump – she just lifts off her hind end. That probably means her front feet will be about 6 to 8 inches from the first jump.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>We were able to practice the pattern games while at a Nosework trial this weekend. She also did some serious chewing to decompress after searches.>>
Awesome! How did she do with the pattern games? And the chewing is a great decompression 🙂
Sequence 3 here looked great – you were connected and energetic and fast! My only suggestion is that you line her up on a slice for jump 1 so she doesn’t look at you like are nuts when you lead out 🙂 (that is what happened on the first rep LOL!). And also lining her up on a slice facing 2 will take out extra turns so you can handle less and get a better line.
Nice tricks before the sequences on the 2nd run!
>>My rear crosses suck. I wasn’t patient in letting her get ahead of me.>>
They looked good here! Feel free to leave in the bloopers because those can be informative for handling and more importantly, for arousal states.
>>She had been jumping on me a lot this day.>>
During the sequences? Leave those parts of the video in so I can see what is happening and give you ideas to help her NOT do it.
Seq 5 also looked good! You can call her and give her the right verbal a few feet sooner, so she sees and hears it all before she goes into the tunnel (my general rule of thumb is to do it when the dog is 6 feet away from entering the tunnel.
The handling looked connected and fast here too! The serp-to-blind on the 2nd run was TERRIFIC! That put you a little further ahead than on the previous run and you ended up turning your shoulders too soon at :47, which got the wrong side of the jump at :48. She came in and jumped at you (even though you were praising her) – so if something goes wrong or something unexpected happens: keep going as if it was totally correct and finish the sequence (or make up an ending :)) She was reading you correctly, so stopping can be frustrating for her even if she gets a cookie. Dogs do like their cookies and toys, but sporting dogs generally like to keep moving because they understand that stopping in the middle indicates an error.
>>Oh, I also tried running with my imaginary dog today when she left me at a practice field. She came back pretty quickly.>>
Perfect! Do you have videos of when she left, or when she was jumping on you? That is even more valuable to look at than the videos where you were perfect 🙂 Post both of the videos: the perfect runs so we can look at and talk about what works beautifully, and the imperfect runs so we can talk about what triggered the jumping on your or leaving the course.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Glad you had a fun weekend!
I agree that she was not super comfortable here in the pattern game video – the location was very hard, soooo many people in and out carrying weird things, and the door slamming. That door is loud LOL!
Were you able to do this further away from the traffic and the door (like in one of the alleys away from the ring, or the back room) and if so, how did she do? You can start further away until you get her feeling more comfy.
>>Well, first, I didn’t consider the fact that Syn has always lived in Ranchers and has never had to deal with all of those weird steps, so that took a bit.>>
Ah yes, good point. And that open balcony is a bit weird for dogs – they are not used to be up in the air like that, above the agility! So the frenetic behavior was just arousal because of that. We observe it and the patterns will help her – and next time at RSCR you can try it in easier spots downstairs and then again upstairs and see how she does.
>>but it was like my brain overrode that thought anytime something happened. I need to work on mistakes being part of the plan.>>
Practice this in training all the time – in training we often stop and give the dog a toy, or stop and fix – and then we stop and fix in trials 🙂 So treat training just like trials, and keep going all the time 🙂 When you stopped, she is starting to jump on your (JWW
>> We also need to work on our weaves. She always gets the entry and “weaves” but doesn’t usually make the turn to get that second weave.>>
She seemed to need you to be behind her and not moving that much in order to get them. It might just be too early in her trial career to ask her to weave. You can use a toy in NFC classes (T2B and FAST, and ASCA and UKI) to specifically work on the weaves, but for now I think the weaves are too hard in a ‘real’ trial run.
Also, what is her contact criteria? It was hard for me to tell, which means it will be hard for her to tell and you might end up seeing the behavior shift during trials. She was starting to look at you more and slow down sooner.
Looking at the runs – it seemed like you were first in your height for all these runs, which meant a LOT of tine on the start line waiting for them to finish changing the heights. In the 2nd standard, you were there for almost 90 seconds! So bring her in a little later especially in standard where they have to change the table. And keep her moving with the tricks like you did, that seemed really helpful!
Overall, your connection looked good throughout! The handling bloopers were only in spots where you needed to push her away on a line and didn’t do it soon enough. And example is the standard 1 run, where the line after the table was not a straight go line (the jump before the tunnel required a left turn) so it would be a ‘Get out’ or handled on the other side to get it nice and smooth. Another example is the line after the teeter in the 2nd standard where you had to push her away out you were not quite far enough ahead to do it.
The handling lines in JWW and FAST and standard were really strong overall! FAST went well – it is a great opportunity to use your toy for those weaves 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
