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I am going to figure out a way to do the puppy class for real live on Thursday, I will bring a couple of devices and tripods – it will be a FIRST if we can pull it off!!
And bummer that Annalise has to go to school, gets in the way of the fun 🙂
See you soon!
TracyGood morning and happy New Year!
>>doesn’t he have the cutest sit? His down is similar. He will kinda lift up both front feet and then plop into a down, which is just so cute. I would like a fold-back down but how can I resist such a cutie?>>
SO CUTE!!! Much cuter than a fold back down LOL!
>> I’m a weirdo retired person who prefers to meet during the week. Darn people with jobs, they get in the way. 😀>>
HA! Don’t they know we have puppies to train? LOL!
>> Since I’m crappy at training loose leash walking, I strap the harness on my little dogs and go. He pulls me all the way in. 🙂 I figure we’ll learn to walk nicely one of these days so I can get him a CGC.>>
Loose leash walking is not my favorite thing to train either LOL!!! I am just happy if the dogs aren’t choking themselves and aren’t pulling my arm out 🙂
>>I was trying to see if he’d take even a step towards me, which he did only once. Then he got bored of the toy. Afterwards I pulled out one of my own real fur toys, but the phone was set the wrong direction so I got 2 minutes of baby gate video. hahah gotta love that. Anyway he seems to just want to play with and tear up the real fur himself, so instead of interacting with me more, that causes him to play on his own more. What should I do? >>
He tugged on your legs really nicely! And nice job marking the moment of turning towards you with it (2 moments, actually!)
Since we want the retrieve to be fun play, there are a couple of things to try:
– you can definitely keep the sessions to 30 seconds or less, or switch toys more frequently (probably not the fur toy for retrieving yet, if he will just shred it)
– you can enucrage him to bring it back to you with a bit of silliness, sich as hiding your head under your hands on the ground, making silly noises, and tapping another toy.
– if you have enough room in the hallway, you can drop the toy the run the other way and clap and be silly, and see if that helps him turn towards you with it.The goal is to keep it part of a fun game at this stage, then we can shape it towards the full retrieve 🙂
You can also clicker train picking stuff up and putting it in your hand, like a ball or a sock or something LOL!
Stays – let him settle more in the sit or down – no feet moving (he had his front feet up in the air and moving a lot in the sits). Bigger dogs are slowing in their movements so we can get away with just watching their butts 🙂 But with the littles, we have to watch their front feet too otherwise they can move them at the speed of light!
So, let him settle into a position, any position, wait til all feet stop moving, then smile, breathe, maybe say a quiet goooooooood… then click and toss the reward to him.
You can also start adding a bit of moving away as you do this: while he is settling into a position, you can ever-so-slowly be stepping away, then reward when he has settled for a couple of seconds 🙂
I love that you got the tunnel thawed out to play in the house!
>. And I think I was using the MM more as a lure than a reward, but I figured that was okay for his first time. >>
PERFECT approach to getting started. Nothing wrong with a good lure to jump start the behavior, especially since he has to move away from you and the tunnel blocks his view of you. As the Manners Minder grows in value, this will be even easier. He was learning the tunnel and the MM here, and I think he did really well! The session ended up with him have a great time going back and forth through the tunnel, what a great intro to the obstacle!!
For the next session, start like you ended here to see what he thinks of it all. Then if he needs to repeat this session, great! Or if he remembers it completely, you can go to the next step of holding his collar before sending him through, so you can add the tunnel verbal 🙂 That is the gateway to the more advanced games.
Great job on all of these! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Happy New Year!
>> I haven’t been recording them, but I will. I have been playing it when we go to trials or any new environment and it really helps her have something familiar to do.
They can be challenging to video, because you need 3 hands or another person LOL!!! Each puppy needs their own reality-TV film crew!
>> We went to the Invitational in Orlando as a cheer-squad and she had an unusual day where she seemed afraid of a large dog off in the distance. I moved her away & we went back inside but, later, I took her back outside to the same area (dog was gone) and played that game and she relaxed.
Great! That environment is probably REALLY challenging, and she is an adolescent, so yes it makes sense she might have had a concern. Getting her out of there in the moment was smart! If you have cookies with you, you can also acknowledge her concern about the big dog in the distance and try the pattern game. That is a great framework for helping the pups!
>>I’ll start on the Part 3. I’m going to teach Frankie these games too – I think they will really help her with her fearfulness <3>>
TOTALLY yes!!! These games were originally designed for dogs that had worries or fear, and then we adapted them for puppies as a bit of a preventative 🙂 I am sure Frankie will learn them really quickly.
The stays are looking good! She is hilarious, backing up into the stay on those first couple of reps. Ha! It indicates that she realizes the reward is coming “back there” and it is pointless to move towards you as you move away LOL!
Remember to step away before you click like you did later in the video (you started by clicming then stepping away). That was great, you had good duration and distance added! And great job to you for clicking and THEN moving your hand to toss the treat, rather than doing it all at once. Your mechanics were very clean and clear 🙂
>>I let her offer a sit at first and then after a while, I asked her to sit.
Asking her to sit was the correct next step – she was offering the down, which was fine, but to isolate things to the sit was great and she seemed to have no question 🙂
>> I have a question on how to introduce the “Break”. This is a new verbal for her. I want to use “break” because my “ok” is sloppy – hahaha. I say it way too much!
TOTALLY relatable, I say “ok” and “yes” every 5 seconds LOL!
>>Do I just add the “break” cue at the end of the “Catch” sequence & run with her? Or should I also add the “get it” along with the “break”?>>
Use the break separately from the catch. For example, you can do what you did here: cue the sit, step away, click, ‘catch’, toss the treat back to her.
Or, you can cue the sit, step away, say “break!” then encourage her to move forward to you. Since she doesn’t know what ‘break’ means, you would say it then you can tap the ground or wiggle a reward to help encourage her. I teach the ‘break’ release with the tugging version of this game: tug tug tug, cue a sit, then when she sits, I say “break!” and tug tug tug more 🙂
After she sees the break game a bit, it is perfectly fine to do both in the same session because it is a fun way to help the pups discriminate between the words. Sometimes you move away and click then catch (toss a reward back), and sometimes you move away and say ‘break’ and she drives forward to you. I do both with a toy (tossing the toy back too) or both with a cookie, or even mix it all up (toys and treats) in the same session.
Rocking horses:
The first part (the warm up) with cookies looked great, very clear mechanics and lovely commitment!
The distance added on the next part was pretty significant for such a little dog (lots more strides for her :)) so when you add more distance, you can mirror the warm up where you reward each one to help get her moving away even more. Once she got the idea, she did GREAT!!At this stage, we can use the rocking horse game to clarify the verbals for her, because I think that will answer the questions she had.
The first thing you can do is add the wrap directionals as you send her to the barrel. When you are pointing forward, she is ready for them, and that will help when you add the sideways and backwards sends. And when you do add those, be sure to shift your connection from her eyes, to the barrel (letting her see the shift). When you did the backwards send, you had a GREAT connection shift and she was perfect! The sideways sends didn’t have quite as much of a clear connection shift, so she had a few questions including pummeling the barrel LOL!
And, you can clarify your reward markers 🙂 Instead of a ‘yes’ or quietly presenting the reward, add a marker that specifically tells her to come get it from your hand (like “bite” or something :)) This will really help her sort out when she should look for the toy, and when she should ignore it. For example, at 1:41 and 1:45 the toy was in your dog-side hand and you wanted her to get it, so you moved it forward and she chased it. Then the toy presentation looked similar to 1:48 (toy was higher, but same hand, similar motion) so she totally thought it was available and jumped up for it. Adding the marker for “now you can have the toy” will clarify things so that she will quickly sort out to NOT look for the toy til she hears the magic word, even when it is in your hand and in front of her.
One more thing to add here are longer connection moments before the send to the next barrel. At 1:47 and 1:57 where she jumped up – she was behind you and you were already pointing forward, which broke the connection so she didn’t know where to be and got frustrated. You can hold that “hallmark moment” of connection til she is just about getting to you, then send her past you.
One thing that will help that is if you keep your dog-side hand pointing to her nose the whole time, so it is moving forward as she is passing you but not too early. Here is a better explanation of what I mean LOL!
The turn and burns at the end looked great! Yay! You can definitely add the toy marker to these 🙂
Rear crosses:
The left turn rear crosses looked great! On all of those, you were already on the ‘new’ side before she had to make a turn decision, so she turned to her left really well.
When you switched to the right turn rear crosses, you were late getting to the new side from :30 – :55 – she could still see you on her left side, so that is where she turned (especially after all of the other left turns).At :57 you got into her line of sight on the right side on time so she turned right: happy dance!!! And same for the next few reps – nice!!! You were a little late at 1:17 and 1:24 so she turned left but you nailed the timing at 1:26 so she turned right. Those last couple of reps are great for showing the difference in the timing: if she is making the decision about which way to turn (just as she arrives at the treat and she can see you on her left… she will turn left. If she can see you on her right? right turn! Yay!
And, it is possible that Bostons have a slightly smaller range of peripheral vision because of head shape, than a sighthound would, for example. My Staffy/Rat Terrier mix has slightly less peripheral vision than my whippet (which makes sense based on what their breed functions are LOL!) so it took her a bit longer to sort out the rear crosses as a puppy because I had to be more visible to her. I used this game to help her an it might be something Bazinga likes too:
The backing up looks great! I love that you have a “reset” marker! And you’ve added the beep beep cue which is perfect 🙂 She did a great job here!!! You can start to see if she will back up to something that moves a little – maybe a really deflated disc or super low wobble board. Having the deflated disc or low wobble board is needed because she is so small and we don’t want her to have to lift her hind legs up super high 🙂
>There was less bow-ing (as sad as that is really because it is so cute)>>
That is the only downside to this!! But I bet you could easily shape it now and put it on cue, since she has figured out the backing up so nicely!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Sorry to hear about all the snow – ewwww!!!>.We got hammered with snow and I am trying to think of something fun I can work on with her tomorrow in all the white fluff. I will think of something.>
If you have room for wrapping a laundry basket or barrel, you can try countermotion where you send her to it with you backwards, and you walk slowly forward with the toy dangling from your hand. Then if she wraps it, you can mark with the ‘bite’ marker then play. You don’t need much room for this, because you are only walking – you only need enough room for her to wrap something 🙂
Stay warm!
TracyHi!
Great job to Prytania and Annalise here!Ideally, the get out cue would come sooner (as Amy mentioned on the last rep) but it was hard to predict when Prytty would finish finding the treat LOL!!!! But, she read the cue beautifully and that is great 🙂 The next step can be to add more distance between Annalise and the prop, so Prytania moves even further away. I like to put a leash on the ground for us humans, so we can add distance without accidentally migrating over to the prop haha
The hand cue for the prop game is fine but as you add more distance, you will want ot keep your hand up until she reaches the prop (I like to point my outside arm at the prop, which eventually turns into a jump or tunnel).
Great job here! Do I get to see you all in Mississippi this weekend?
Tracy
Happy New Year! Sorry that I missed seeing this get switched to unlisted!
She is doing well with hitting the mat here. You can ditch the clicker if you like in favor of the ‘get it’ marker. She was watching your hands, which might partially be because of the clicking, but also you were moving your hands a lot as she was going back and forth. The main thing here is to be perfectly stationary for now, and have cookies in both hands – then say get it and flick a wrist as you toss the treat 🙂 You can stand up too, that will help her not be as locked into your hands 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning! Happy New Year! Lots of good stuff here on this video!!
Rear crosses:
Bear in mind that these are probably the hardest handling move to teach dogs! So it is normal that it takes some fiddling around to get it right.>>Maybe using my outside arm isn’t ideal but I’m sure I can fade that.
On the left turns where he was successful, it looks like you were using that outside arm as almost a tandem turn, and then he caught on so you were able to fade it out by the end. Also, you were getting to his other side a lot sooner on the left turns (see below).
On the right turns, you hadn’t used the arm so he was still in left turn mode, plus you did not get to the new side – so he didn’t know to turn to his right.
So about the arm – yes, we can fade it, but we also want him to learn to use his peripheral vision to be able to turn even when he can’t see the arm cues.
We basically need to teach him that he *can* turn away from the original direction based on your motion alone, so two ideas for you.
First, here is a way to teach him about the motion of the rear cross, check out these 3 videos (they break down the behavior a little more):
Second – when you add back going to the cookie or going to the prop, try to be a lot sooner getting across his line and into his peripheral vision on the new side. On the reps here, especially the first couple of lefts and all the rights: you were late getting into his line of sight, so he is going to turn towards where he could see you.
Ideally, you will be on the new side and in his peripheral line of sight (at worse, at his shoulder) when he is at least one full stride from the prop, but ideally 2 strides from it. If he is less than a stride away, the decision about which way to turn has been made (and if you are still on the original side, he will turn the original direction like a FC).
I have some screenshots for you of the timing, followed by a couple of screen shots from the demo video of how much earlier you can be 🙂
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pJcx2Es9HLT3A_iCAluYWap-w0bXzP8pWfVY2X-Q0do/edit?usp=sharing
Rocking horses – his commitment is looking really good!!!
>>>>I was trying to get him revved up and a few times in the middle of the sequences I was saying ‘ready, ready,>>
I don’t think you need to get him revved up, he looked great! And yes, I think the main thing here is to clean up your words 🙂 SB is doing really well so let’s clarify the verbals:
For the wraps – you were either saying “go” (at the beginning) or “ready” (towards the end). Replace both of those with your wrap verbals 🙂 “Go” and “ready” don’t apply here 🙂 so you can now put in the wrap verbals. His commitment is strong so I think he is ready for those to be added!
And for the rewards, *definitely* clarify the reward markers! You were using “yeah” but that is not that clear if he should stop or keep going or what. He had two questions about the reward marker that you can see here:
You wanted to reward at 1:21 but he continued around the barrel because you stepped to it, good boy – the ‘yeah’ and hand in pocket is not a clear marker that he should stop, and also we don’t want it to be 🙂 This is a good place for you cookie-in-hand marker, even if you toss it and say ‘get it’.
The other spot he had a question was at 1:27 – you were a little too early on the countermotion when you tried to move into his line, he was not past you yet – but the toy was right there and moving so he was not sure where to look. So yes, be one step later to let him get past you for now, but also add a clear toy marker so he knows when it is available. If the toy might be available when it moves, he is going not be sure if he should look at the toy or look at the barrel. But if the toy is only available when you say “bite”, for example, he will stop looking at the toy because he doesn’t have to try to track when it is available or not.
So as you keep playing with the countermotion, focus on the verbals for the wraps and for the rewards, and then things will be super easy!
Strike a pose serps – also a good place to use a marker (get it, for example) and not yeah 🙂 It is my mission to de-yeah and de-yes all of us, because it confuses the dogs 🙂
>>Here’s where we’re at with the toy on the ground. I hadn’t rolled tape initially and there were several runs straight to the toy but on one of these I called him back on course. And on a few of these attempts I could see him trying to decide whether to come to my hand or just grab the toy. But he did good!>>
I agree, he did really well! It is a hard skill with a lot of handler pressure, and he sorted it out nicely! I thought on the first couple of reps you were a little too far from the jump, but then you got closer (especially when he was turning right on the 2nd half of the video) and it looked great.
>>Why did he run behind me a few times?
Because it is easier 🙂 There are 2 turns on a serp, and it is easier to do one turn LOL!! At 1:47 for example – he was coming in at a hard angle,so it is easier to go behind you plus you released the position too early (by turning your shoulders towards the toy) so it affirmed his decision. At
1:52 he was coming in with a TON of speed so it was easier to go around you (your shoulders were perfect here). He fixed it on the next reps though had lovely turns to the right!So two approaches to this:
– you can add more speed by having him start further away like you did here, but have the toy dangling from your hand rather than on the ground for the first few reps, so that he can be instantly rewarded for the turn (and not going around you) and so you can keep the toy and just use a boring reset cookie if he does go around you.– then the toy goes back o the ground, start him closer so he is not coming in as fast. That way it is easier for him to make both turns rather than go around you.
Then we will merge the two together.
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I love your energy here! His tugging looks great!
He was very good at driving to the toy when you were not moving. When you were running, your motion was distracting- he would look at you or jump up at you. So, to smooth out his path and get him accelerating ahead even more: throw the toy about 10 feet away (not too far), but you don’t need to run yet (just walk, for now). Yes, he will win 🙂 but also he will get confident driving ahead without looking at you or jumping up. Then we can add more of your running 🙂 since he is going to win the races, you can add in the retrieve by turning and running the other way as soon as he arrives at the toy 🙂
I think he was running naked here 🙂 Having him wear a collar will help too, because you can hold him one heartbeat longer, to build anticipation before letting him race to the toy.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
His retrieve looks lovely 😊 and he really likes the hollee roller! It is a great toy to use for agility training because it is easy to throw and easy for him to scoop up. You can add it to agility training by doing things like playing the turn and burn game and then throwing it past you as he catches up to you. Then when he is chasing it, you can turn and run the other way, so he retrieves it 🙂 That adds turning, toy races, and retrieving all together 🙂
Nice work!
TracyGood morning and happy New Year!!
Wing wrapping is looking really good! He has strong value, is turning beautifully, and you are able to do the FC and run away so he chases you 🙂 yay!He only had one question, when he was on your right side: he want entirely sure when to start and go to the cone. To help him, you can show a definite start with arm and leg send, so he is cued to begin rather than waiting for him to offer. When your dog side leg is back, he is not sure if he should start or not. So he was on your right side here – line him up next to you (using a cookie or using tugging to get him there), you can gently hold his collar, then release the collar and step to the cone with your right leg and you can swoosh your right arm towards it too 🙂
When he was in your left side, you did take a small step to the cone (your left leg was forward instead of back, and he had no questions. You can see it at 1:59, for example.Since this is going so well and his value looks strong: he is ready to start the rocking horse games! That will be fun!!
Great job 🙂
TracyGood morning!
She’s definitely getting strong with her stays! Her first stay looked great with good duration til the release, and your motion away – but the toy was not a strong enough reinforcement in that environment. Good job changing to food for the game! Separately, try to get her chasing the toy tied to a long line or something so she will play in the dirt arena too.As you extend duration, try to keep moving further away but you don’t need to try running away yet – just a brisk walk 🙂 She had trouble when you were showing the switch to going fast. So, fast walking will help build up the stay with fewer errors.
Nice job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Sorry for the delay, the videos didn’t want to load this morning. The sessions all look really good!
Serps – I think you can be one more step over to the wing perhaps, it looks like your hand was a little closer to the center of the bar. But other than that? She did a great job! Super!!!!! She is bending really well and only had one or two crimes of passion where she went to the toy instead of serping LOL!!! My only other suggestion is to stay completely stationary til she arrives at the reward – just your use your verbal ‘get it’ and don’t turn your shoulders. On serps, you will keep your shoulders open (in serp position) til she commit to the next jump (which the reward simulates here) so you don’t want to rehearse closing your shoulders.
Rocking horse part 2: the emphasis on mechanics at the beginning is looking really good! You were very connected and that really helps!
When something goes wrong… just reward as if it was right. She is starting to show her frustration by jumping on you, which we don’t want to progress to biting you 🙂 You should immediately reward ALL errors in handling as if the dog was correct b because she was indeed correct :). If you are not sure what happened, stop the session after rewarding her and look at the vide frame by frame 🙂
Looking ta her questions:
She had a question at :35 – you suddenly accelerated before she passed you and she could either knock you over, or NOT take the barrel. She chose to NOT take the barrel, good girl – your line actually looked like a rear cross cue. You should immediately reward ALL errors in handling as if the dog was correct b because she was indeed correct 🙂 Compare that to the next rep at :57, where you let her commit and then did the turn and burn, and she was perfect.Her question on the countermotion was that you were too abrupt at 1:03 by slamming on the brakes. And also, let her see the connection shift from her eyes to the barrel on the throw backs. When you did that, she committed every time. When you were too early and she didn’t see it, she did not commit smoothly (like on the last rep).
You can also do fewer wraps before the rewards: do only 2 maybe 3… once you get past 3 in a row, it is too much drilling and not enough rewards .
Remote reinforcement – yes, she looked worried about the crate here so it is possible the noise startle was causing that . She had no trouble walking away from the cookies! Nice!! And she also did a great job with the toy! Yay! She was able to do some tricks too! This skill will serve her well in the future. Stay tuned for more as we build on it 🙂
Running contacts – she was doing well with getting her feet on the mat but she found the hold thing a little boring hahahaha I don’t think it was being in season, I thirst think it was a bit dull for a girl who likes to run run run LOL! so you can tug before and after, to get her a little more spicy 🙂 I think that is all she needs to think it is more fun: a tug moment, then a couple of treats for hitting the mat, then back to some tugging 🙂
She did well with the ladder here. It was smoother when you let her take a few steps before tossing the treats, and she was doing a great job of trotting with balance and not looking at you!
She did well on the plank too – it is a little wobbly but that is fine for now 🙂 he had no trouble walking back and forth but turning around in the center was HARD for sure! She wants to turn to the right be cause it is either easier for her or she is a righty. It is possible that she is less comfy turning towards you, so you can try the left turns with you on the other side of the board and see if turning away to the left is as comfy as turning away to the right.
Great job on all of these! And Happy New Year!
TracyGood morning!
Great job problem solving this behavior – it is a HARD behavior especially with those fast little terrier feet. I think shaping it like this (a combo of shaping on the flat and targeting to the board) added clarity. Yay! You are definitely on the right track.
She was targeting nicely to the big board! I am not sure she understood backing further up the incline, and I don’t think it was comfy for her (adds an awkward front end and spine position so she was not offering much there – so you can slide yourself further away so she only has to target to it, not back up to it.That is what you did with the thin plank (slid yourself further away) – but then you did not have your legs in a “V” so she was confused at first. The leg position on is part of the cue for the pups when we shape on the flat here – at 2:5 4you reset your leg position and BOOM! Backing up. Very nice!! And the legs in a V help the pups be straighter too.
So keep going with this progression, I think she is definitely getting it! Maybe try it every other day, or every couple of days, to let latent learning work some magic too 🙂
Great job! And have a Happy New Year!
TracyGood morning!
>>I’ve been there with a wildly distracted dog, who found very little value in agility. I did so many things wrong with her,
Same here! Lots to be learned from those adventures 🙂
>>but the thought of waiting to go into the ring until I’m 100% sure my dog will not be distracted/aroused/stressed means I will never trial. Because I NEVER will know. >>
I agree in that we never know exactly what the dog will do… but with repeated positive experiences and exposures to trial-like distractions in training situations where you can control the distraction level and reinforcement, you will have a really good sense of what she is going to do. The goal it not to be able to 100% guarantee anything, but to be surprised if something goes differently than expected. But if we expect that the dog will have distraction questions, then we need to prepare the dog more before asking for them to work in that environment.
>>And I’d rather pay $20 to go in on leash, tug and enjoy and run out with success (which is ultimately my goal) than invest another year of training feel confident then to only realize I need a different approach. >>
It doesn’t take a year 🙂 And over the course of the training, you will get a really good sense of what she will do so it is highly unlikely hat in a year you will need a different approach. Going in and tugging and playing fun games on leash is a good way to do FEO. I suggest repeated experiences of that with super high success (she will tell you!) before you go to leash off or asking for agility.
>My goal is never to have her run off, I just want predictability if she does. I have lots more work until she goes into the ring to sequence. I know that. I just think she needs a lot of FEO time.>>
FEO is harder than it sounds because there is pressure on the dogs even if we don’t intend it. Before any FEO exposures, show her what will it will be like in a training environment. If she understands what will happen? Easy peasy! If everything is different : environment, things you ask for, etc – things will be much harder.
>>Stacey is a very different dog in the conformation ring than she is outside of it. I had done a ton of foundation and work and she stood outside the ring barking, then went inside the ring and did her job.>>
The two things I see that are different about conformation versus agility are:
– conformation is a more predictable sport, in terms of what will happen, where the people will be, and so on.
– conformation has the dogs on leash and there is reinforcement I(food) n the ring.In those 2 ways, conformation is like flyball! Predictable game, predictable reinforcement. Makes it easier to prepare the dogs for competition. Both have a ton of distractions, which the dog needs to be prepared for as well. It doesn’t mean one game is better than the other, it just means we take different approaches to preparing the dogs 🙂
Agility is wildly unpredictable: the obstacles are always different in their placement, the people are always in different places, different dogs, it is off leash, and there is no food in the ring. All of that makes it harder, plus agility has a wider variety of skills that need to be brought into the ring (with apologies to flyball, which I love: there are not that many skills needed in flyball as compared to agility LOL!) Conformation is similar to flyball in that regard as well.
So with the lack of predictability in agility, paired with our dogs being asked to debut while they are adolescents and at the time of life where they are least able to deal with unpredictable things… making the systematic progression into the ring and teaching her all that goes on there.
I think it is great fun to bring youngsters into the ring for FEO games at the front of the ring, as long as they love to tug and have the tools to ignore the distractions. That would be fun to set up in class, with people around and practicing the tricks and tugging you would be asking for a trial – that will totally add predictability to a relatively unpredictable environment.
Tracy
