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Hi!
I give you a big click/treat for not tripping over the slippers LOL! I totally would have fallen over trying to run in the đ
There was no sound in this video for some reason? So we will issue all the verbals were perfect đ
The session went super well! Your exit line connection looked super, she had no questions about which side to be on and you were able to move more than last time. I think she also liked getting the toy thrown ahead after the cross!
Placing the toy on the ground rather than tossing it definitely helped! And bridging that moment with food helped a lot too. SUPER connection on the exit of the barrel wraps!! SUPER SUPER! So she found the line to the toy really well.
Since placing the toy and rewarding with food was very helpful, definitely keep doing that on all new games or anything super high arousal.
And since the motion of the thrown toy adds a lot more challenge, work on that separately – do a short toss of the toy, reward with food for leaving it, then a barrel wrap to the reward from you hand⌠then cue driving to the toy.
Then add more and more motion to the toy toss, continuing to move her away with food and reward the barrel wrap with food or toy, your choice. I think it is worthwhile to do this as an arousal regulation game: The motion of the toy was very exciting! So we can introduce it more slowly to help her regulate aorusal and so you will be able to throw toys to where you want them and she will be fine with that đ My guess is the throwing of the toy is part of what bled over into the cue to get it, so we can gradually re-introduce it without making it all about getting the toy.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
I agree, the barrel wrapping looks great! Yay!!! You can now move forward to the turn and burn game đ>Iâm learning about the whippet stuff. This puppy is very different. Sheâs not a big tugger so Iâm going to have to work it a lot. Sheâs still young so.>
Yes, whippets and whippet mixes are different but in a good way đ Post a video of the tugging so I can send ideas! Generally they want long fur toy that are moving away from them (never towards :)) You can try it with the turn and burn game – as you do the FC and run away, drag a fur toy and see what she does. Keep me posted!!!
Great job here đ
TracyHi!
I am glad he had a good first Christmas!
>Please let me know if you see movement that concerns you>
Will do!
>or if you think weâd benefit from PT or a canine fitness referral.>
I always think every dog should have a PT person on their team đ I start my puppies pretty young, getting used to having hands on them. There is not a lot that we can (or should) do with real fitness work for puppies, but there are some baseline things that the pros can give us which makes it easier to help the pups as they grow up. If there is someone super good (like a Sports Vet) near you, that is where I would start. For online stuff, I recommend Dr. Leslie Eide – she is a fabulous sports vet AND agility competitor.
https://www.facebook.com/@thetotalcanine/>Iâm having a great time trying some of the games. Skizzleâs a lot of fun to work with.>
I am glad you are having fun! Skizzle is such a cool fun puppy!!!!!!
Looking at the videos:
The threadle wrap foundations are going great! It looks like he can turn away pretty equally in both directions (maybe a shade stronger to his left?) He didnât always drive back to your hand for the next rep, so you can reward him from your hand for driving in, then turn him away and reward again.
You can add movement to this, with you now slowly walking forward the whole time.
He didnât drive into the cookie hand at the beginning of the 2nd video too and didnât always chase the start cookie – so we can sort out a bit of his food interests. What kind of food was it? Perhaps fewer reps with inanely high value treats? Or, since he got moving more and then was happy to eat – maybe he needs to get tugging or just running around a bit more before starting with the food, to increase his arousal state. You can also play this with a toy, because that will get him into a higher arousal too and then if he prefers the toy, we can blend in food to increase the value of that too.
You can also move to a bigger environment, because chasing you more might be even more exciting (and making the food more exciting too!)
For the pivots, doing them slowly worked best. If you were too quick, he was not always sure where to be. So you can get him to chase you in a bigger space, then decelerate and pivot slowly.
He was SO FUNNY offering climbing on the barrel LOL!!!
>Vitoâs game has not resulted in the pattern of turning back and forth,>
You can do a variation which includes the bowl concept and also the âFold It Inâ concept from the Stealth self-control track: have a bowl with a cookie in it starting at the entry line of the barrel. You will line him up by your side, hold his collar, then send him to the bowl. Then the bowl will incrementally get further around the barrel, bit by bit. That can get the barrel wrapping and also fade out your hand cues! You can also do it with a toy – based on the retrieve video, he is very into toys! Let me know if that makes sense.
He is doing great with his retrieves! Nice job with your chase marker! You can add in a tiny bit of tugging with the tioy he retrieves while the chase toy is visible, so he doesnât think the visibility of the 2nd toy is an out cue. You can also start to change positions, getting yourself higher (sitting on something) with the goal that you are standing eventually đ
Backing up: he was again cracking me up with the stool LOL!! He has a future in show biz!
For the backing up – you can start the concept with front feet (which are easier for pups to think about). Using a bigger mat as a destination, start him with all 4 feet comfortably on it, the lure just his front feet off. Then let him step back onto it without your hand pushing in towards him – then reward again with all 4 feet on it. When he can easily step his front feet back on without your hand moving (other than to lure his front feet off :)) then you can progress to luring all 4 of his feet barely off – then wait for him to step even one foot back onto the mat. That can help him figure out how to use his feet and also will fade your hand cue quickly.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
What a fun session! This went great in an environment with some good distractions too. Super!!!
>yes thereâs a turkey in one of the stalls that you can hear at one point in the video. And I left in her new trick at the end of the video- first time doing it outside of a training session specifically working on that trick>
The turkey was hilarious! She didnât seem bothered by any of it. She did well with her new catch-me trick too – what a fun trick that is so useful too!
Your collection sandwich went great. Your decel was clear and that is key! She drove ahead really well and she was great with her toy retrieve which makes it all sooooo much easier fun đ As you finish the blind cross, you can have your new arm pointing back to her to let her see your eyes more clearly (then drop the hand in low to your side as you decel into the pivot). Showing a bit more connection will let her changes sides even sooner on the blind.
She had some questions about the pivot – I think it was because you were going too fast on the pivot part. As she arrived at you, you would sometimes whip around really fast so she lost side info for a moment (especially on those right turns) like at :38. But on the reps where you pivoted more slowly, like at 1:14 and 1:45, she had no questions and turned well to her right as well!
>Seems that she can turn left ok, but turning right sheâs finding hard.>
She might be a lefty (today LOL!) and that is fine – the right turns did seem a little stickier in terms of her mechanics even with the slower pivots, but nothing concerning at all. It is good to know for when you start harder skills (start with a left turn) or move more slowly on the right turns at first. But overall, she is very balanced and I know you will have her well-balanced and fit from your work!
One other suggestion: Accelerate and get loud with your go cue when you throw the toy or cookie. Let her see a change in energy from the calm, quiet decel/pivot into the high energy acceleration and GO!!
Great job here!!
Tracy
First video – Yes, the novel-neutral might seem easy but it can be pretty hard for young dog brains to process. When you enter the ring, you can ask her to do something as soon as you enter – he heard barking dogs then didnât know what else to do, so you can start the game.
The leash coming back on got her to leave to investigate something on the first rep – could juts be a bit of fallout from her brain processing processing processing. And that is fine! The rest went well.
>maybe the completely empty ring made the item stand out like a sore thumb.>
Possibly, but that is fine because she has already told us that her brain attends to new things in the environment, so letting these really stand out can go a long way to work on those neural pathways!
The ring entry stuff went well – there were definitely different challenges in the environment. Her barking at the beginning seemed to be more like alarm barking (and then I think Kaladin was barking) –
There were some weird high pitched noises in the background here too. She totally heard them at the beginning and that was hard! I donât think it was you making weird noises LOL! And then there was more barking in the distance – that kind of barking is not normal agility barking so she definitely had to process different challenges.>Practiced going in and out. first 2 reps with no treats on me and rewarding outside the ring. Last rep I rewarded her with treats in the ring>
I think in any environment that might be significantly changed or even weird, you can reverse this: begin with treats with you in the ring, then fade them. The association of treats with the behaviors we like can help her brain dismiss the weird stuff in the environment.
>She didnât shake the first 2 times but I also didnât give her much time for it.>
She probably was not ready to self-regulate at first – there was a lot going on!
It was interesting to see her do the spins at the beginning – she was doing them but slowly and her attentional state seemed split. Part of the brain was like the âhey, I should be doing my tricks right nowâ and another part of the brain was like âwhat the heck are those noises?â But this is good rehearsal! She was successful and by the end, she was doing everything pretty much as she does it at home, even though the distraction level remained the same.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi! Hope you had a good Christmas!
>I have a minor strain in my calf, so I wasnât able to really run, but it still worked out ok. >
Ouch! I think that caused a couple of small questions in the handling, but you ironed them all out:
On the first sequence, you had a RC on 5 at :24 and I think that is what you wanted her to do based on your line of motion across the bar. I think you also wanted the RC at 1:44 but you were on the wrap wing at 1:43 when she was taking off so the RC info was late. Let me know if that is what you were planning? Nice work continuing even if it was not quite going as planned đ
On the opening line of the 2nd sequence like at 3:14 – you can be closer to the line to 2. Being stationary and lateral caused a zig zag 1-2, even with the forward focus cue (the forward focus did not override position and lack of motion). The info was much clearer at 4:12 and 6:14 because you were closer and moved a bit. Super!
On the Wrap cue at 4:19 – your rotation was too early, mainly because you were already decelerated (protecting your calf) so she had a delayed commitment. The wrap cues were much clearer at 6:24, with you waiting longer to rotate til she really locked onto the jump.
Looking at the Remote reinforcement elements – bear in mind when we start running bigger courses with remote reinforcement, the dogs are basically working for âfreeâ here so be careful about not doing too much and also about making it very very clear so they donât have any confusion. I think there can be more clarity and that will help her out a lot. You can see by about 5:50 she was a bit done with the RR practice and was slower to line up and didnât hold the stay as well. Remote reinforcement should be approached like weave training when you have 12 closed poles – do a couple of reps and be done, rather than repeat them a lot. They are fatiguing and not that much fun for more dogs.
>She has a new game where she wants to tug on her leash while Iâm putting it on or after itâs already on. I donât mind her tugging on it, but I do want it on cue rather than whenever she feels like it. >
I think that is likely an arousal regulation moment where she is actually making a great choice to tug on the leash to self-regulate (rather than say, bite you, or run off, etc). So I will take that info from the dog and let them do it, then give them an out cue so I can get it on, then immediately cue the dog to tug on the leash.
Looking at the things that went sideways here with the RR, I look at all of it as either confusion or frustration behavior. Video tells all LOL! Nothing she did was naughty or incorrect. Here are details:
>At the end of the first sequence, she ran over and stole her toy from my bag (which she doesnât normally do, so it was accessible to her). I had her bring me the toy and after putting her leash on, I took her to the reward station and gave her cookies instead of the toy that she stole. I wasnât quite sure what to do in the moment, but my goal was to make it clear that she doesnât get to steal the toy and play her own game while at the same time not making it an aversive experience.>
This was at :33 – I donât think she was wrong to go get the toy because it was unclear about what else to do there.
The run was clearly over, you said good girl, turned towards the toy bag for a step or two. She looked at you, say you do that, but didnât get any other info and âgood girlâ good girl is a reward marker that youâve used a lot⌠so she went to get the toy out of lack of knowing what else to do (you were not really connected or telling her specifically what to do). By the time you said something else, she was at the toy, which she then brought to you immediately.>She seemed to understand since she did not go for the toy again (other than the leash, but that context is a little different I think since we havenât worked much with that yet.>
I think she got the hint not to go to the toy again but that might have added to the confusion. She was like âwell if it is not that, then what is it, exactly?â So you got some other behavior like zipping around with the leash. Because there is already very delayed reinforcement at the end of the run – clarity and hurrying is super important for young dogs.
>as you can see in the video at one point, she grabbed it off the ground and took a victory lap with it. >
This was the end of run at 4:27 – she was frustrated (a couple of things had gone wrong in the handling and she had already done multiple RR sequences and the end of run was unclear⌠so she grabbed the leash there I think and was like âIâm out! I need to decompress!!!â That is valuable information đ
>She also ran out in front of me when we were going back to the station towards the end of the video. I think she was herding me a bit, which I also want to avoid so I donât fall flat on my face, lol.>
This was at 6:43 – I just think she didnât know where she was supposed to be. You took off jogging but not connected to her and not telling her what was happening, so she curled to in front – partially frustrated and partially trying to see what was happening. I couldnât hear the RR marker – you might have been saying it very quietly after the leash was on, but it will work a lot better if it has the clarity and energy as the âgood girl!â marker does.
>I need to develop a behavior for her at the end of our runs I think so that she doesnât steal toys or the leash.>
She wasnât stealing them đ You can give info sooner & faster. It can be something with words like âgood girl! Where is your leash?â Then run to grab the leash, get it on, tug on it, etc. Then you can use a high energy RR marker and hurry to the reward station (which should be pretty close at this stage) with a lot of connection. The more information you can deliver, the more she will know what is happening and you will get an end of run behavior that you really like!
>What do you think about a hand target back to the leash or simply heeling (but as a fun behavior, not in a militant sort of way)? >
I canât speak for Katniss, but all of my dogs would immediately sell me on eBay (or even list me as âfree to good homeâ haha) if I tried asking for that at the end of an agility run LOL!!! She is likely going to have the same response. After all of the adrenaline of running a course, asking for extended control behavior is going to be inconsistent at best, and probably frustrating for you both – creating conflict. I think the best bet is fast, clear info to keep her moving to the leash then to the reward. It gets a lot easier when the dogs are more experienced but we have to help young dogs a LOT.
>I thought about having her go to her leash and sit until I get over there, but I can think of a couple of potential issues with that like her not knowing where it is or her grabbing it and self-rewarding. >
I can see using a âget your leashâ cue to help direct her to the leash. I doubt she will sit nor do I want to see you listed on eBay for sale if you try to make her do that LOL!!!! But she can go to it, pick it up, bring in to you – all good! She is highly unlikely to take it on a runabout if things are very clear and not frustrating.
>Sheâs becoming quite the teenager, lol!>
If you mean teenager as in A+ student who is very focused on her work, hangs out with the smart kids in the library, always brings her A-game to class, and provides excellent feedback? Then yes, she is a total teenager LOL!!! I think a lot of this training is getting feedback from the dog about what works, what is clear, etc, and she is doing a great job with that! So take her feedback – she wants more info and needs it sooner/faster, which is fine because you can add more words to help her out đ I think she is doing great!
Looking forward to seeing you on Monday!
Tracy
Good morning!
>At the very least I think that overstimulating walk + lack of nap routine has him just a little âoffâ.>
Yes, I think that is part of it – his brain is a little tired from all of this and his body is too. And he might be a little sore, which can change the processing too.
>My other dog is wandering aroundâŚ. he wouldnât go inside, LOL. So he got to be a minor distractor.>
I think this was a bigger distractor than it might have seemed in the moment. The pressure of another dog nearby and watching definitely draws mental bandwidth away from the other stuff the brain is trying to focus on, so I think that was a contributing factor as well.
So there were a couple of contributing factors but the main factor was that there were too many connection breaks. More on that below.
First up, the âOutâ session: Good attention to the detail of feet facing forward and not stepping to the prop! The arm cue looked good and he did well! You can add even more eye contact as your arm points to the prop, and you can add the âoutâ verbal too.
You can now add more laterally distance and toss your start cookie further away. That added distance will also allow you to mix in reps where you donât cue the out, but instead cue him to move with you past the prop.
Strike a pose is also going well from the harder angles. When he is coming to your right hand (first part of the video), you can move your position to be less centered on the bar, and more centered on the jump upright. You were in the exact correct spot when you changed sides in the 2nd half of the video and his line was perfect! Super!!
>In the very last rep of strike a pose, and then during this game, he was much more distracted by noises than usual>
Sounds like there was a jet engine rumbling in the distance at the end of the SAP video. And yes, he totally could have been tired out too!
Looking at the rocking horse videos:
At the beginning of the rocking horses, I think the toy in your opposite arm was too big of a visual challenge (especially if he had just been playing with it vigorously). You switched to food and a less visible toy, and it was much easier for him!
Now about the connection – as he was exiting the first barrel, you had a moment of connection but then you were looking forward and pointing forward, which breaks connection and changes the side info. You can see that at :50, 2;08, 2;44 (he thought it was a blind cross) on this first video.
We have a better angle on the disconnection on the next video – you can see it at :33 – :36 where you connected as he exited the wing and then looked forward and pointed forward while he was still behind you. He jumped up on you in that moment of disconnection (a bit of frustration). He was getting frustrated because the disconnection was being paired with stopping and a verbal, rather than continuing and a reward. You did toss cookies to reset but those were far enough away in terms of time, that he didnât relate them to the disconnection moment.
And a couple of times you sent to the barrel and then stepped backwards as he was passing you and he was not quite ready for that so he looked at you and didnât wrap (:06 on the 2nd video, :13 on the 3rd video).
And there were a couple of times when he started to go around it and you praised as you turned, which pulled him off the barrel (praise is a reward marker even if we donât intend it to be) so if you praise and it pulls him off, keep going or reward. He was extra watching you there because he was not totally sure, so that is why continuing or rewarding is critical there.
When you were more connected, he got into it really nicely and did lots of great reps!
So the main thing to learn from him here is to 100000% live by the 2 failure rule. This is a total of 2 failures, over the course of the training of that skill in that day (even if there are multiple sessions in a row, you still donât want to go past 2 failures). If you get to 2 failure, you need to make it easier to find success (watching the video often hopes a ton) or quit for the day. He had a lot more than 2 failures here in these multiple sessions, so he was not all that pumped up for the game. And the failures were caused by connection breaks or motion questions (plus the added external factors) so you ended up getting less participation from him.
As you are training, if something is happening (like he is not wrapping) and it is unclear why – step away from the game and watch the video. See if you are connected as he is passing you on the way to the barrel, or if youâre pointing forward/looking forward. When you are looking forward, you might be able to see him peripherally but he canât see your eyes so he loses side info and stops moving.
And if something goes sideways (because it is dog training and things do indeed go sideways LOL!) know when to quit ! If there is a struggle and he gets it? Cool! End the session and resist temptation to make it harder. This will help you live by the 2 failure rule and avoid the dog opting out of the session.
And set a timer for the session. Or, donât allow yourself to bring more than 10 cookies outside đ If you bring the whole bag of treats, there is no limit for how much training can be done. But if you bring 10 treats, you have to be finished after there are no more treats left đ
Also, remember that you do not have to finish on a good note! You donât need to keep looking for something to reward. That can end up digging a bigger hole. Even if you go back to the simpler barrel wrap like on the 4th video – you donât need to ask him to do that. It is more important to keep sessions short, stop and look at the video, rather than risk more failure.
>he wasnât able to do harder today, which is totally ok but Iâm struggling a bit with adapting in the moment.>
Adapting in the moment is hard for sure! That is why the setting the timer/limiting the number of treats you have available as well as the 2 failure rule are so helpful – they give strict guidelines for adapting đ
The threadle wrap circle turns looked great! You can add in a little more motion by tossing the reward ahead after the circle – then as he is going to get it, you start moving the other direction.
>So not sure if weâll take time off all training, or just the barrels, or go way back on the barrel wrap teaching stuff? The other stuff is going well but suddenly barrels are *hard* LOL.>
I think you can give him a couple of days off from the barrels⌠but you can train without him and work the clarity of connection with your invisible dog đ Videotape yourself: are you connecting to your invisible dog al the way through the send to the next barrel, with your dog-side hand nice and low to his nose so it doesnât block connection? â¨Then after a couple of days, move the barrels to someplace new and try it with him!
And since he has had a busy week with a different schedule, you can let him sleep more and maybe do one simple training session a day (not barrels for a few days, though). That will help him bounce back to baseline (resilience!) from all the changes that the holidays bring⌠I wish we could all get a few quiet days off to get back to baseline LOL!!!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
With one toy on the ground, come around the barrel to tug with a toy in your hand (opposite hand ideally so you can really open up connection).
Use a toy-in-hand marker for that. And for some reps, cue her to go to the toy on the ground. Mix it up!T
That’s great!!! And definitely yes – don’t ask her to do it at home đ I’m glad she got on it at the training place!!
Tracy
Super great to have people watching at home base!!! Plus your attention a little split with all the things (people, glasses, etc). Plus a dog barking in the background – plus the toy on the ground – plus the clapping 0 there was a LOT in the environment. A whole lot!
She was very aroused (faster, jumping on you more than usual).
>I think the people bothered her less but she was hard to handle because she was not driving to the obstacles.>
I donât think the people were bothering her in any negative sense, or producing anxiety in any way⌠looks to me like we were seeing multi-sensory integration in action! On a normal day, her brain is bombarded with all sorts of sensory integration but she has had enough rehearsal in quiet environments and with one person, that her brain can prioritize certain things (the mechanics of finding the agility jump, for example) and doesnât need to expend bandwidth to process the other stuff.
Add in all of the elements on those first two runs? Yes, a LOT more processing is happening and her brain was *almost* able to fully prioritize doing all the agility. Almost! Really darned good!!! And that is also why rehearsal is so key – because it is not an operant skill we teach them, it is happening in the neurons and neural pathways need to build through rehearsal. For all we know, it is possible that her brain told her that she took every.single.jump on the first two runs (which is one of the reasons why it is important to keep going like you did).
The more you can set up positive rehearsals like this, the less her brain will have to work hard to process and prioritize info – the agility will get MUCH easier. And when the brain is having to process *A LOT*, I find that we see tendencies pop out – some are breed tendencies (like my teenage whippet will run straight and fast but not always OVER the jump LOL!) and some are possibly inherited – like getting a little sticky in those heavy processing moments (rather than jumping up and biting, for example, which I have certainly seen run in certain lines).
So what to do about it? Keep setting up rehearsals with the people and âstuffâ in the environment. One thing I would change is for the really hard rehearsals, donât start them as remote reinforcement. You will want a reward in the ring in your pocket, to be able to throw it and surprise her with a reward out on a big line, for example. That surprise element (hello, dopamine spike!) can build up a lot of motivation to find the jumps even when the brain is very busy processing. Then as she gets more experienced and her brain doesnât have to work as hard with the multi-sensory integration, you can add in harder skills like remote reinforcement or things like weave poles.
None of this is actually operant, in that she is not actively making a âchoiceâ about taking the jump or not. But it is powerful learning, nonetheless.
It would be cool to be able to have an fMRI machine on them while running đ
And yes, it is different with one person watching versus a small group. Not much was different in your handling, but she was able to find the lines more easily. Her brain was being bombarded by less info, therefore less to process, so she had an easier time prioritizing the agility skills. Plus, if this was the 2nd session, she had already seen the agility setup so she didnât have to work as hard to process the location of the jumps.
>I was wondering if maybe her dial would be better with a toy rather than treats?>
You can ask her and try it! It might be perfect, or it might be over-arousing if you are asking her brain to process the external environment as well as more arousal in the internal environment. The only way to know is to try it đ
I donât think this was an arousal issue though – arousal optimization is great, but her brain still has to work through the MSI in these early stages. Then the 2 come together quite nicely and it will soon be like she doesnât ânoticeâ any of the people at all.>You said see you on Thursday. Do we have another live?>
What I meant was see you today n the forum, after Christmas đ
Great job here!
TracyHappy holidays!!
The right turn wraps at the beginning looked really strong! You were very clear on the connection at the exit of the FCs and you were moving but not going toooooo fast so she was able to read the handling cues.
Left turns were harder – it might be a combination of her not being a lefty and you working on the side that is less comfy for you đ or that she had just done a bunch of right turns and needed more of a break in between the turns. So rather than switch sides in the session, you can take a break, play with a toy, then come back a couple of minutes later and try the other side.
At :51, she cut in front to almost do a right turn – you were a little further from the barrel there so moving closer on the next reps really helped get her into the flow of the left turns. You can also use a reset cookie there – rather than line her up and move her by her collar, you can have her come back to a cookie lure to line her up then start the next rep. The line up cookie can keep frustration levels low – the dogs know that the rep was not quite right (based on your reaction) so the line up cookie rewards her effort and smoothly brings her to the next rep.
Getting her to come to your left side worked great when you moved a little more slowly and had ultra clear connection. On the successful reps, your movement and connection looked the same as it did on the other side and she read it great! Super!!!
You can keep adding more motion to this, building in more speed while maintaining the great connection. And you can also keep things super clear like this and try it with a toy on the ground. You can reward with a toy in your hand for coming around the barrel, to help teach her that the toy on the ground is not the cue to go to the toy on the ground đ
Great job!
TracyHi!
Hope you are enjoying the holidays!!>They donât leave the NFC box up. I assembled it and tool it down again when we were done.>
Wow! Totally worth the extra work, it was a great rehearsal!
>She is cleared for official (aka longer) sprints on the 31rst and low jumps the 2nd weekend in January.>
Time will fly and she will be back at it soon!
>I think the shake off is her way of regulating arousal. She needs to do it and then she is good to go.>
Agree! And we can also “ask” her to shake it off if she has not done it on her own – I do that by stroking the dog’s coat the wrong direction, starting at the base of the tail and moving my hand forward to the base of their neck. By moving the coat the wrong way, the dogs are very likely to do that full by shake to reset the coat and reset their system. Let me know if it works with her!
Tracy
Hi!
That should not be a hard choice for people: 18 degree weather or free chocolate. I would choose the chocolate LOL!That is a fun pattern game but yes, it is hard to find room for two mats. What if you tweaked it and used 1 mat in front of you, and tossed a treat off to each side. Then he can get a the treat (just past your shoe) then hop back on his mat, then get the next treat (just past your other shoe)
Nice job with th leaping hand touches at the beginning!
He was definitely stimulated and had a lot of excitement in the stay and speed⌠then blew through the teeter contact. Was it the other ring, or being very stimulated, or that you started running a bit when he was getting on the first teeter (2:13) so the decel was late, but then were really decelerated on the 2nd teeter (2;34) – maybe he needs more handler decel on contacts especially when he is really excited?
He released when you moved at 2:37 then took off – but then ignored the there ring when he was able to run the jump/tunnel line even right next to the other ring, so maybe getting him moving was better to help with distractions than stopping on the teeter? Many inexperienced dogs do better when we keep them moving – so at a trial, try to avoid a stopped contact (or weaves) at the beginning of the course.
>Ring crew here was sitting right next to the tunnel entry and I think he did well! >
He did GREAT!!
2nd run – was there music playing too? Perfect! And he was definitely aware of the leash runner here but was able to regulate his arousal and ignore her. Note how he had to do a big shake off to ignore her.
He did take off to a moving ring crew at approximately :50. Rather than call him back, try this: keep handling the course with your invisible dog đ Then when he rejoins you, do another obstacle or two, then reward. We donât want everything to stop when he goes to investigate a ring crew person, or for you to yell his name – we want him to begin to understand that the gateway to reward is to continue with you. If you keep handling the course, you will find that he leaves you less and less đ
>Next step with the ring crew here, once heâs solid with them sitting, maybe have them randomly walking?< Yes - that will increase the challenge. And you can just continue handling your invisible dog if he leaves :) He will come back! >Might have been him trying to keep warm, but it felt like he was leaving me behind in the dust last night>
Cold weather can be very stimulating!!!! He was definitely feeling the arousal of it!
>Speaking about the weather, 18 degrees â how cold is too cold. I did keep him in a nice warm car when not working.>
How cold was it inside the barn? It didnât look to be 18 degrees but maybe I am a wimpy southerner now (my New York roots have faded away haha) If he is able to keep warm in the car then get a full warm up and cool down before each run, then running in 30 degree barns should be ok (sporting dogs do fine in the cold, generally). You can warm him up in a coat to keep his muscles war, then cool him down in a coat too. If it was truly 18 degrees in the barn, then maybe that was too cold LOL!!!!
Great job here! Have a wonderful holiday!
Tracy
Hi!
This was a really fun training setup! It sounds like all the dogs did really well!!!Video 1:
She did really well entering the ring at the end of Mochiâs run! That is very realistic and likely to be a scenario she encounters at a trial. Having her come in and do cookie games was perfect – she seemed able to ignore the ring crew đ>We also tested being able to leave the NFC reward box to go out and do a thing (running by Kristin too) and then leashing up to leave.>
This seemed to go really well – it is really cool that they leave the food box up so you can train with it! She did some barking/hopping around during this session, but I think it was excitement, and not overarousal or frustration.
2nd video:
>Cameo from Dean as the pushy leash runner>Dean is a saint LOL!! Please pass along my thanks, this really helps!!
She seemed to have no questions about The Daddy in the ring, and also no questions about Jimmy. That is great! He also did well ignoring her. All good rehearsals!!!
3rd video – Dean got enlisted to call numbers and faults! I am glad he was rewarded with muffins! LOL!!
Lift did really well entering – note the big shake-off when you took the leash off, which might be an indication of the level of challenge. There was definitely more energy and distraction in the ring in this session but she still did really well! And using the food box several times seemed fine with her (then coming to it at the end outside the ring with Reacher right there – both pups were great!!!)
Last video – was Khamsin pretending to be me, adjusting the tunnel bags? HAHA! I do that all the time at trials LOL!
>got an extensive shake after the leash came off >
That might be one of the ways she regulates her arousal, because every time she does the shake-off, she has great responses to cues after that. And yes, she did great with people cheering and a bit of other dogs barking too đ Super!
This is all really good rehearsal for things she will experience in the ring! I donât suggest doing too much more running past jumps, even if you are handling past them because we do want her to be actively looking for jumps in the ring. When is she going to be cleared to jump?
And happy 18 month birthday, Lift!!! You are almost done with adolescence (hopefully đ )
Great job! Have a wonderful holiday!
TracyHi! His turn and burn looks great!!! He was committing really well, even when you were rotated sideways and doing the FC nice and early. SUPER!!!
You can start a little further away now, which will give you time to start the FC right before he arrives at the barrel. On your last rep here, you were doing the FC right as he arrived at the barrel, so now try it one step sooner: right before he arrives at the barrel. And if he thinks that is easy? Cool! Add in starting the FC when he is two steps away from the barrel đ You might need to put a line on the ground (like his leash) so you can give yourself a visual aid of exactly when to start the FCs.
One more thing to add: wrap verbals! These will help increase distance as well. Start saying the wrap verbal, then send him to the barrel, then do the FC. The wrap verbal will help support commitment so you can do the FC with earlier timing, and more and more distance.
Great job here! Have a wonderful holiday!!
Tracy
