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Hi!
She did well here!
She was definitely doing a rhythm of look-release on the first rep, then caught herself: “oops, momma never said to start” LOL!Looking at the turn on 3 at :27 – the easy verbal is a strong choice for that type of turn! The forward-facing send doesn’t produce a clear connection cue for her, since hte body language still faces forward. Have you ever used a ‘brake’ arm (a two-handed collection cue) – that might be the sweet spot of collection for this line. If you have used it, try it as she is landing from 2 – give your easy with a brake arm and then peel away to 4. If you haven’t used it, let me know and I will send a video.
Suoer nice RC to the tunnel and ending line!
On the next sequence!
Nice BC timing on the opening line and the spin did its job – you got a collection before takeoff then she got to chase you down the next line. The earlier you can can cue that and leave, the tighter she will turn 🙂 She likes the running very much, so if a tight turn is the gateway to big running and toy chasing? She is going to turn SUPER tight!>> This is one of the things she struggles with a lot if I’m not right on top of the bar so I have taken the bar off here to try and work on it with a little distance and encourage her to stay tight.
That went well! I especially liked the last rep – super nice! You can add a low bar into the session – since she did so well without the bar, you can ask her to organize her jumping a bit with the cue she was seeing, to set up collection before the bar.
>>We are working decel front cross away from sequences with just one jump and a lower bar than her jump height, plus a toy on the ground to encourage her to stay tight. When I work one in a sequence I currently remove the bar like here so she doesn’t get to rehearse the big wide turns.>>
If you are happy with a clicker, you can click the moment you see that collection then have her chase you for the reward. I have found that chasing for rewards will really help with turns in the real world, more so than a placed reward where a BC has to stop to get it. Stopping her for rewards does not have the same intrinsic motivation that run run run as part of the reward does, so we get really incredible turns with running built into the reinforcement 🙂 It is a different style of placement: rather than stop and land here with a dead toy on the ground, it is more of a “the party is going this way, HURRY UP” and heck yeah, they hurry. I have also placed a toy on the next line after a tight turn, and played a race game: I cue the turn and then race to the toy. If I get there first because the turn was wide? My toy! I dance with it, play with it, do not give it to the dog. The next rep is when I see the dog dig in and turn a whole lot tighter to get the toy (I win that race game maybe once LOL!!)
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>> No food or toys allowed once you go through that area and that means the start gate could be 30-200 feet once you get in.
Well, that is bizarre for an agility facility. Yes, you will have to work up to that which also means – don’t plan on trialing there anytime soon, because getting into the ring will be a pain in the butt wkith very few tools in the toolbox available, and getting to the reward after the run will take FOREVER. What are they going to do about the NFC/FEO runs where toys are allowed? And why are toys not allowed? I know places have silly rules about food, but toys don’t leave crumbly stuff anywhere.
And, get yourself a nice tug leash! Introduce it as a toy then add it as a leash to tug on (on cue of course!). And if this place gives you grief about using a perfectly legal leash, or tugging on the leash? Then stay away from it, as the rules will be too restrictive, everyone will be tense (human and canine) and she doesn’t need to be in that place any time soon.
>>She still struggles when other dogs are running. Sprite can watch me run Gemma. Well, at least at home. But, it’s hard for her to see other dogs run.>>
That is normal! And that is where we will take the pattern games, starting as far away as possible where the latency is pretty low. 20 feet? 30 feet? 50 feet? Wherever you need to start is great! Eventually she will have no trouble doing it ringside,
Tracy
Hi!
>> I think we may have some holes in our training as this is a pretty common thing for her to do where she just goes around the jump. >>
I think there was a bit of a parallel path/shoulder turn question here, good questions from her!
I think the main thing on the first part of the sequence was that you were running parallel to the jumps (ideally you would be turning your shoulders) without a lot of connection, which was pushing her past the jumps. You can see it at :03, :15, :44 – you were running on a parallel line, so she stayed on her line which is actually correct (because your shoulder was closed and you were not serping her in). So – turn your shoulders sooner and watch her more: as she is exiting 1 and looking at 2, you should be turning your shoulders to 3 so she takes 2. Then when she lands from 3m you should be turned and facing 4-5. At :44, for example, you can see the convergence towards the jump which pushes her to the backside of it.
A turn cue for 3 to get a collection stride would help show her the line (as she lands from 2, you could be turning and giving a little ‘brake’ arm), then fully turn your shoulders to face the new line 3-4 (while staying connected, but definitely turn the shoulders).Then on the line after the tunnel – at 1:06, she did not take the jump after it because you were running away from that jump rather than towards it.
She totally got it at 1:14 when you ran towards it with connection (super nice!!!) but 2 things happened after that:
the last jump is a bit of a threadle line, because the natural line for her is to the backside of it here. Plus, you were saying “GO!” when she landed from the jump after the tunnel and you turned after she landed – she tried to adjust but there was too much speed,So I think the key is to make sure all of the lines are natural lines (no backsides) so you can turn your shoulders to them. You can do a fast moving ‘lazy’ game where you just got around the line turning your shoulders as early as you can, and toss a treat when she finds the jump, to help solidify finding the lines and give you time to get your shoulders turned.
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>.He had a hard time understanding and I need to come up with a better plan for how I do things and create more clarity for him.>>
The key is going to be the 2 failure rule. If he fails twice (not just twice in a row, it totally can be twice overall), your plan is too hard and you need to make it easier. This includes reps where he gets a reset cookie or you hand him a toy – he still perceives those as failures (dogs read us very well), might not understand what the reward is for, and is probably confused. You edited out a lot of the reinforcement (feel free to leave it in!) so it was hard to tell what was happening. But he had several failures on the first session, which probably leaked over into the 2nd session which had several failures before he froze. The 2 failure rule is to keep the rate of success from getting too low, at which point the dogs get confused and stressed.
Remember to use your markers for the rewards, such as ‘get it’ so he knows to look ahead to get it. That will help clarify things for when you do throw a reward (saying “yay” or “yes” causes him to look at you and potentially miss a reward).
Bear in mind that as a 25% whippet and a 50% papillon, when there is a lack of clarity and pressure, both of those breeds are likely to stop working and dial up an Uber. The 25% BC might continue to work, or not – but either way, the freezing is a sign of confusion and stress. So while yes, the pattern games bring him back, ideally we don’t see the freezing up anymore and we don’t want to have to bring him back from it.
So since you have been seeing freezing up on multiple occasions in training, we need to change the rule for a while: it is now the 1 failure rule 🙂 If he fails one time, you need to make it easier so he is VERY successful for the rest of the session.
When thinking about motivation and success rates, there are 2 success rates in play at all times:
– the rate of success of the particular session you are doing
– the umbrella rate of success for all sessions that day, and all sessions overall, period. So if you have had a low rate of success session or several sessions, that will bleed over into future training and his tolerance/resilience for failure and lack of clarity will be greatly reduced. And I can vouch for this line of dogs, since I have one – they don’t come with the natural “resilience and tolerance for failure/confusion” app already installed, so you will need to be SUPER careful to build it up over time by keeping a hawk’s eye on the rate of success.>.He was looking at me a lot and I was pushing him on the line because he was not looking at the jump. >>
I think you were a little unpredictable with the line and reward, so he was looking at you a lot. Be sure to do a couple of straight line warm ups of the simple go cue where you are outside the wings, and he gets a quick refresher of finding the jump. And the toy can be in your hand the whole time, or in a pocket the whole time, or placed on the ground… but try to not to take it out of your pocket while you are moving because that draws his attention to you a lot and away from the line.
>> Makes me think I should use my left and right for soft turns no rear crosses which are the Super Skills verbals – but we don’t need to debate. >>
You can use whichever verbal you want to there! I will plant the seed in your ear that the way agility is evolving, the ‘switch’ to mean ‘rear cross’ will not be enough. It is a little too vague – extension? collection? wrap? And I know people say that your physical cue will show the dog the rest of the info, but then you will be hosed when you cannot be visible enough for him (like on the other side of the dog walk or layering a tunnel). I know that until recently, people didn’t have separate cues for each side of a wrap, or left/right, or separate backside verbals… but the sport continues to evolve so super specific verbals are the way to go.
But for now… take the verbals off the rear crosses entirely because they are getting mixed up an he is not sure where to look. You can be quiet as you do them (hard to do LOL!) and definitely do not say “GO” on a rear cross because a rear cross is very different than a go cue.
2 ideas for you on the rear crosses:
– put a light line on the ground for you to run on, from the exit of the start wing to the center of the bar. You will run on that line until he takes off for the jump. You pushed in too soon on the first rep (your feet were going to the backside wing) which is why he did the left on the ground, On the 2nd rep you were saying go but also pushing in towards the bar a bit sideways, so he was confused. On the other reps, you were saying “go” which means straight then switch which means turn away – so he is watching you more because the verbals and body language are confusing. The line on the ground will help you run the proper line so he doesn’t have to look at you for more info.– you can put the MM tucked in past the wing for the rear crosses to help him look at the jump, but you need to leave it there for the GO reps (where he should not go to it). And if the MM is being used, you will still want to put the line on the ground and run the correct line.
Separately, you revisit the rear cross prop game from MaxPup 1 to break down the elements of the RC before working it on jumps and can play this little flatwork game:
Layering – it was a little hard to see what he got rewarded for but there were multiple errors and after the 2nd one, he froze up. Using the MM is fine, but put it someplace more obvious so he doesn’t consider cutting through the gap. And you can add more of your motion too – the layering is a motion skill (not a send, so you can send him around the start wing and move up the line parallel to the tunnel.
On both of these games, be sure to tug before, during, after the work! And you can use a placed toy out on the line, rather than using the MM as much. The toy might be more motivating for him! Yes, he won’t bring it back as fast but that is fine, it is better to have fun and romp around 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
Serps and threadles:
He did well on the threadles here! And remember that In In means come in and take the jump, so no need to say jump or handle to the jump, as long as you are not too far from it.>>In looking at the video I realized I am too far back from the jump which made the angle much more difficult for Pesto to get the jump>>
Yes, you were miles from the jump LOL! You need to be really close to it, close enough to touch it!
Does he have a ‘reward from hand’ marker? He is stopping what he is doing and coming to you when you say ‘yes’ or ‘yay’, which we don’t want – we want him to always be looking for the correct line.
On the serps – make sure you are close to the jump and between the uprights with your chest facing the center of the bar, to show the true serp position. Your lower body will do the same exact thing on all 3 skills here (serp, threadle, tunnel) and the proofing is about the upper body and verbal.
>> he had a much harder time with the tunnel. Maybe I should set him up differently? Any suggestions on how to improve the picture he sees when I ask him to take the tunnel?>>
For the tunnel cues – you are a bit too far from it here, so the jump was in the picture more than the tunnel. To help him out, you need to be a little further ahead of him and a little more past the jump bar. Plus, line up his sit so he is facing it and not looking at the jump – that should help too.
>> It is clear he has a better side and by the time I switched to the left side I think he was already starting to run out of steam>>
He was a good boy looking for the jump here but the verbals were confusing and didn’t match the handling, so he ended up looking at you more and more:
The first couple of reps had you saying
Go – jump – switch
or
go-switchSo then at :19, you said go then got quiet, and he kept looking at you as if saying… go WHAT?
then on the other side, the verbals were
left
go-left (he spun on the flat)
And at 1:11 you said go but converged into him so he was not sure what to do.Plus, the reward markers were all yes or yay, but a thrown reward for most of them, so he really didn’t know where to look.
So I don’t think he was running out of steam, I think he was confused so was slowing down and looking at you. But we can clean up the mechanics and that will help him know where to look!
For the RCs, the verbal should either be a directional or a switch/RC verbal (see below for my thoughts about that). A “go” only ever means straight, no RC, and “jump” generally doesn’t ever mean RC. So be sure the verbals match the behavior you are cuing. And, because you are throwin gthe reward, mark the behavior with the ‘get it’ and throw, so he continues to drive ahead and not look at you.
On the circle wrap at :29, you were correct to begin moving forward as soon as he was past you! To help him, as you move forward past the wing, shift your connection to the landing spot to help him commit then throw the reward behind you. You stayed on the landing side at :38 and :46 so he got it, but we can teach him the independence commitment by using a connection shift rather than having you stay at the landing spot.
Question – is push your backside wrap cue? Or is it the same as the backside slice? I definitely suggest 2 different backside cues, one for wrap and one for slice 🙂
Definitely feel free to leave the reward moments in the videos, and that can really help us sort out why he is looking where he is looking.
Nice work!
Tracy
Hi1
It doesn’t sound like you are behind at all! You are working all the smaller pieces and that brings everything together easily! Being able to switch from toys to food to toys is HUGE!!!! Yay! And seeing the future teamwork is very exciting! Let me know how the rear crosses go – she is going to be speedy so you will need rear crosses in your toolbox 🙂Thanks for the update!!
TracyHi! Thanks for the kind words, it was super fun to win!
I am glad she is feeling so confident with this game! It is pretty hilarious! She does indeed love it!
>>In our last class I believe you mentioned not to start on teeter training until they’re older?? Something about it being too hard on their bodies.>>
Yes, there is a lot of impact on the dog when the teeter hits the ground – the joints have to absorb it all. The PT vets and rehab vets want us to do very few reps and til the dogs are older (the teeter, a-frame, and weaves should be taught last, per the vets). And we want he dog to shift into the hind end for balance to help absorb the impact. So on this game, because you are holding the board and dropping it, it is harder for her to predict the drop and she is not shifting her weight back at all. You can tweak it a little so that the wobble board is on the ground, so she shifts her weight back as she learns that she can control the movement of the board.
You can also have her jump on the very end of the teeter – the teeter should be propped up so that the end she is jumping on is less than an inch off the ground – she will get the idea of moving the board, and she will control it and that will help with the weight shifting. We have some teeter games coming in MaxPup 3, but I generally don’t start the teeter stuff til the pups are over a year old, so the balance and coordination are more fully developed. Doing the wobble board to build confidence is very important – the next thing you can do with it is have her tug on a toy while on it, so she can learn the weight shift through the tugging 🙂
Nice work 🙂
TracyHi!
Thanks for the kind words! It was a pretty big win. I don’t know why the stream went out for everyone – it might have had something to do with the higher level teams getting filmed for ESPN? I guess we will see if any of it ends up on ESPN (that would be fun!) One of our races is posted on our facebook page (I think that was the race that clinched our spot in the finals). I don’t have the finals video yet – it was a nail biter!First video – very nice job with all the different ways to handle that jump!
Your decel and transition at :50 created a GREAT wrap turn! It did sound like a right verbal not a wrap verbal – you were caught up in the moment LOL – but the physical cues were great. And he read the rear cross with no questions. So nice!
The backsides looked good too. I htink you might have blocked the wing a little on the very last rep – that circle wrap is the same position (wing meets the bar) as the FC you did there on the other reps.About the verbals:
>> Backside slice should be “Push” and wrap should be “Dig”.
Great! Now we can clearly define when to use them. There are so many different turns and lines that it can get a little grey, so I use the push (slice) cue when the dog enters on one wing, and exits towards the other so there is not a lot of collection. And the “dig” i s for any time the dog enters and exits on the same wing (lots of collection) even if it is not a full circle. I would use dig for both of the backsides you did here – the FC on the landing side is on the same wing as he entered on, and so is the circle wrap. That can help get collection for both of those challenging turns.
On mission transition – the more he could see you move from running fast to decelerating, the better his turn was. And his commitment was SUPER – freeze your video at :47 just before he takes off and you will see that you are fully rotated and movnig the other way while he maintains his commitment and turns really tight. Happy dance!
Layering –
I think saying ‘jump’ is btter than ‘out’ because he is simply staying on a line and not really lead changing away from you. He did better on the reps where you said ‘jump’ so feel free to keep using that verbal.Moving the wing made it a little too hard in that first session, so you can keep it on an easier line and can start further from the wing or barrel to get more momentum. That way he is in full stride going around it which will help propel him to the jump.
Now, if he runs on the correct side of the tunnel – you can still throw the reward out past the jump even if he doesn’t take it. Think of it as a shaping game – if he is heading towards the jump, throw the reward because we can shape the behavior with reward placement. Successive approximations will help build the distance. He was already figuring it out, as you can see from the next-day video.
>> It does’t feel as natural to me to use the outside arm, but I can see how it would make the line clearer to the dog, >>
Also keep in mind that he can’t see your feet because the tunnel is blocking the view, so the outside arm is a lot more visible for him.
On the zig zag grid – the overhandling really helped him 🙂 There is a lot of coordination that he has to do, lots of footwork, so it was taking him a minute to get it sorted. I am sure he will start to recognize the setup and get the footwork going better and better each time – it is a hard skill!
One detail: be sure to start him right next to the first wing, so his shoulder is almost touching it (just far enugh away so that is it easy for him to get past the foot of the wing. Too much speed actually makes it harder for him to sort out the footwork, so starting him pretty close is a little easier.
Lap turns: Be closer to the wing so he sees the context. You should be close enough to it to touch it 🙂 And be sure your magic cookie hand is fully extended towards his nose so he has a focal point then when he just about gets to it, you can step back. Your hands were a little high, so having the hand lower will help. By the end of the session, you were closer to the wing so he was able to read it all better. Yay!
The out session went well! Try not to change the line of your lower body at all for this proofing game – I could tell which one you were going to cue based on how you pulled away from the wing or not on the first few reps LOL!
One small detail: Remember to keep your out arm lower as you add more speed – at 1:00 your arm was shoulder height which he won’t see as well. You can keep the outside arm at the height of your belly button as you cue the out so he can see it better.Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Sorry for the delay, I am finally home and catching up!On the first video, you were working them more as post turns, where she came around the wing and found the jump directly by turning to her right or left. Nice job with the verbals!! If you pulled away from the wing to soon, she did not find the jump, so keeping connection until she saw the jump worked really well!
So the nex step is to make her line more of the “S” shape for the harder serps. The way to get that is for you to run a line parallel to the jump bar, with the MM on the end of that line. So you will be sending her to the wing and then moving parallel to the bar, close enough to touch the jump, with your shoulder facing the center of the bar (and serp arm back like you did here) That will be harder, so you will want to maybe do a fast walk through it at first instead of a run.
The rear crosses are going well too! Yay! She is definitely seeming to understand the RC pressure of you pushing into the line towards the center of the bar and found the correct direction really well!
I think your left turn rear crosses were better than your right turn RCs, because you were heading for the center of the bar before she was even out of the tunnel. That was great – no need to run straight til she exits, you can get on the RC diagonal line as soon as she enters the tunnel.
>> LOUDLY declare the turns ahead of time.>>
Ha! Loud is good! Your verbals were spot on!
>> I am trying really hard to look at her as she comes out of the tunnel & keep running.>>
You nailed it! She seemed to have no questions 🙂
>> When I see it on video it looks so lame, but in real life it feels so intense.
It doesn’t look lame on the video at all! It looks connected and fast, and she knew where she was going. Lovely!!!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi! Sorry for the delay, the last 36 hours have been a nuts getting back from Indianapolis.
>>You mean rotate at the waist instead of trying to do some kind of awkward backbend like I was?
It might feel easier to do that! Or weirder 🙂 Either way, you can experiment and see what works best!
The Diamond is looking great!
>>Full transparency – this was our 3rd different day playing this game.
Well, the practice you already put into it is really showing up beautifully!
I loved your timing on the tight blinds – you were trusting his commitment and starting the blinds early enough to be finished before he really even got to the wing. You can see that at :31 and :43, for example, but really they were ALL like that. You might find it even easier and faster if you keep your arms in tight next to you rather than fully extended out to the sides.
The race tracks also look lovely! He is powering up and down the lines with no questions. Super! The only questions he had were at the end, the last sequence, when I think your plan was not as clear and you were talking to him with ‘good’ and ‘yes’. Otherwise your verbals were lovely as well as your connection!
Great job here 🙂
TracyWelcome back!!! It sounds like the vacation was amazing!!!!! I am confident that you will jump back in with no problem at all. You can even start up again with the Wind In Your Hair games – the new one is Mission Transition and should be a lot of fun!
Tracy
Hi! The video finally loaded up!
Good practice session with the baby dog! He has some learning to do on the slice angle of jump 1, with you moving further and further away.
He was definitely more successful as you used lower body input – the step to the jump really helped him (like at 5:41 and 9:48). Two other suggestions:
– Put the toy on the other side of it too! You can then let him look at the toy when you lift your arm (before the release) and then release to the jump. You can show him the jump by moving to it and pointing at it, before moving to the lead out position (some dogs do really well with the handler “marking” the jump like that” but mainly I think placing a toy on the other side of it will be a quick and easy and fun way to get him seeing it as you gradually get further away.
-If you feel his stay is strong enough, another option can be to put your arm and leg forward to the jump, take a breath… then release.
One observation:
Try to handle him like you would handle Enzo 🙂 It won’t be as smooth or easy of course, but it will help him learn to read the lines better.If you try to help too much, he ends up pulling bars or hitting wings. The #3 jump here was the hard one and that was where things were harder to get the turn AND get up the next line. So the over-helping was causing the bars to come down a lot. I prefer to not rehearse that (I am sure you agree) and I don’t want to punish bars because he was trying to read the handling – so I prefer off courses at this stage for 2 reasons:
– bars stay up!
– off courses give great feedback on timing and handling needs.You were over-helping on 3 at 5:44 for example, with a big rotation towards him (I thought you were doing a FC there) then you were really late showing the next line standing still at 5:46 so he hit the wing of 4 and hit the bar of 5 turning the wrong way. There was similar activity at 13:25 (big rotation towards him over 3 so he hit the jump at 4)
The FC at 9:50 3-4 was a little late in terms of setting the motion to 4 (same thing happened at 14:18 You were rotating as he was over 3, but backing up. So when he landed at 9:51, you took one more backwards step so he went off course. To paraphrase Linda Mecklenburg, backwards motion is basically the same as forward motion! Ideally your feet would be facing 4 before he takes off for 3 (easier said than done with a baby dog that is a rocket!). You got in to the FC sooner on the next attempt and at 14:53, but then stood still so he went to the backside because you were on his line to the takeoff. You did get the front of 4 at 16:12 (yay!) but the standing still got you caught behind the jump and opened up the wrong end of the tunnel.
Check out how you kept moving at 7:10 and gave GREAT connection on the exit of the cross – so he had no questions about 4 or the 5 tunnel: SUPER!!!!! (And also more like handling Enzo – not managing lines, just running lines :))
At 12:23 you started to handle more like you would with Enzo and we got great info from him in the form of an off course. I would rather have an off course than him looking at you or hitting the bars. It was rewardable because he was not wrong!
So for that pesky 3 jump and 3-4-5 line… because when you did it as a post turn you got an off course, the next thing to try would be sending into a spin on 3. The rotation for the spin will get the collection on 3 AND keep you moving up the line 4-5 to set the rear cross (on the 5 jump before the tunnel, or on the 4 jump or on the flat when the tunnel is 5). I don’t think you will always need a spin there, but for now it can help him read the turn while you continue to move up the line. This will help teach the collection (rotation then chasing you up the line!) and keep you moving so he sees the next line and can set up the jumping nicely.
When you can lead out further from 1, the FC 3-4 or even a blind will be easier to get because when he lands from 2, you will be past 3 and able to start and finish the the cross very easily.
You’re an the ending line nicely and he did well (just remember to keep driving through the ending so you don’t stand up and he pulls the bar looking at you and the toy).
The pattern games are looking good! It is good to play them near the obstacles! Question – what is his current level of experience near a trial ring? How does he do in that environment? We can start bringing these games into his group class or seminar environment (or maybe when you are in Enzo’s class, in between your turns).
Great job here! I will let you know what I figure out about the iOs! If I can’t figure it out, I will ask tech support aka Facebook-land LOL!
Tracy
No worries about the scent, if more than one dog was really interested. Must have been a good scent LOL!! If you see something he has trouble with, you can move a little further away and try a pattern game. I am really excited about how well he is engaging in the trial environment!!
Hi! You are doing awesome with your cues! It is totally normal to have to learn the different timing needs of new dogs as we start trialing, which is why it is important to just carry on if something goes wrong – that way the dogs still feel comfortable giving us the feedback on the handling and don’t slow down or get mad at us 🙂
Keep me posted on how she does at AKC this weekend! You can use food closer to the ring at AKC trials than at NADAC trials, so you can try the up and down game closer to the ring and see how she does!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>Food is powerful EVERYWHERE!
I can relate! LOL! Food is life!
>>There’s still times she’ll disengage from the chicken hearts- my trainer calls it that her brain is too full- so she’s just done. She’s not one of those border collies that can keep doing the same thing over and over again.>>
Be sure to keep a timer on your sessions – 2 minutes or less! If she is working for too long and stops eating a high value reinforcement, that definitely means she needed a break sooner 🙂
>>yes- the indoor lesson instructor said it would be best if she stayed in one environment, so whatever..
I disagree, I think the pups should be in all sorts of different environments! So the more places you can get her into, the better 🙂 I think you and I are on the same page with that 🙂
>>My local club is being very supportive though! Especially when they remembered back when their dogs were young and doing the same thing! So often we forget when our dogs were babies when we’re up in Master level!.. we just dont have an indoor place to practice all the time.>>
That is great!!!! I love that they are supporting your adventures with her!! Maybe when you are back on your feet you can do a training tour of different backyards?
>> I was just talking about her being in season as a reason we had to stop going to the run thurs recently. indoor sessions only happen every once in a while so I was a bit upset that we have to miss them.>
Ah, that is a bummer! But I am glad she didn’t get overly hormonal.
>>Regarding the mat- yes sometimes we go to the mat- and run again and so on! just the mat helps her understanding, it seems- just can’t seem to get rid of that as I think I/we dont know how to end appropriately.>>
No worries! The mat will eventually move outside the ring (I hav a game for that) and the leash will replace the mat. Fun times ahead!
>>so we literally have to train in a regulation ring to make ANY progress.>>
Yes, that would be great, but also not required 🙂 The bigger ring brings more arousal – so we can simulate that at home by adding more arousal. That is where the pattern games and volume dial game comes in, because we use those to regulate arousal WAY up (like a trial) then back down. It is very cool and can really help!
>>I did have a question about the Volume dial game- so she can go from tug tug tug, we out the toy- then I down her and she listens and sit theres and waits for me to do it again. How do I know she’s NOT still over aroused? like she’s anticipating the game now so she’s downing because thats what I said, but her insides are still over aroused?>>
Excellent questions! And the answer is… we don’t know til we noodle around with it in different contexts. Her body has to learn to regulate up and down, and that takes time and practice. Neural pathways! Plus, she needs more maturity (you will see a HUGE difference when adolescence is finished) and experience.
And in the meantime, we practice the games and observe her responses during the game, as well as what happens after it. It is an observational, experimental process that helps us develop a plan for her, helps her manage herself, and helps us know what it looks like when she is under-aroused, over-aroused, and in that perfect state of arousal 🙂 Kind of like Goldilocks and the three bears – she was eating their porridge and it was too hot, too cold… just right! It will take us a little bit of time to sort out what her “just right” is, and her pre-frontal cortex needs to finish developing (that part of the brain controls the executive function and suppresses emotional responses, both of which are very helpful in agility LOL!)
>>I really appreciate answering all these questions! This is so helpful and I think once I get her back from the breeder (she goes Saturday :(( ) after my surgery, Im hoping to have a nice game plan! Im hoping to get her back once I can at least walk so maybe I’ll have her back before this class ends!>>
Keep asking the questions, I am enjoying the planning with her! And since you have some time off your feet, we can put together plans for when you are back in action! And I can also point you to other threads to watch, as we figure out which pups will be similar.
When is your surgery? I will be thinking of you!
Tracy
