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Good morning!
>>She’s used to me putting the toy on the ground, but I don’t usually put it in my pocket at home. I thought her eyes were going to pop out of her head when I tucked the toy in my pocket!>>
HA! I am glad you showed it to her so there are no surprises at trials 🙂
Sequence 1 – This is going really well! Great connection here and she is driving the lines brilliantly 🙂
Not sure it will make a difference to your position on course, but 1 is on the other side of the jump so she wraps left and then into the tunnel, so there is no lead out – it puts you in a positionally more challenging spot 🙂
Watching this session, I don’t think you have time to do a forward-facing-deceleration-then-turn like you were doing 2-3-4. It was delaying the info because you were facing forward and causing you to almost stop moving, which makes it harder to drive lines. Yes, a forward facing decel is still good for wrap FCs or spin on a wraps. But on these soft turns, the stand up decel is causing you to face forward too long and get behind.
At :12 and :48 – a little late starting the decel and you are facing straight over 3 while she is in the air, so she is wide and misses 4 on the first rep but got it on the 2nd rep with you a bit further away.
You were earlier on the decel at 1:27 but still facing forward – she did turn better over the jump, but positionally the big forward-facing decel-then-turn puts you pretty far from the line. Not a big deal on this sequence, but on a bigger course it will leave you in the dust.
What to do instead? As she exits the tunnel, be moving a bit forward but not really decelerating – turn and go to 4. To replace the decel as a turn cue, try a brake arm instead, as that can get the collection and also allow you to turn your shoulders and keep moving faster.
The line after the tunnel is going well! Good adjustment to get the blind and reconnection sooner on the 2nd rep of it (:53). That gave her a clearer line to the last jumps (the first blind re-connection was a little late so she had to find the new side at the last moment at :17).
And really nice job on the RC – you might not need to go as close to the tunnel to set it up because she smoked you, putting you way behind 🙂 You can experiment with where you need to be – maybe driving to the halfway point between the tunnel and jump?
2nd video –
Jump 1 – line her up on a slice so it is a less severe wrap. You started using the slice line more after about 1:00 and that will be a faster line for you both 🙂 The slice lines looked great!On most of the reps here, you didn’t do the forward-facing decel here 2-3-4 and she didn’t need it at all! You were able to keep moving. NICE! And when you did do the forward-facing-decel, it put you behind. More on that below.
Setting up the RC:
The trick to this is the turn at 4 then driving the RC line., with a little decel so she can add collection before takeoff. To get the turn at 4 to set the line, you can get up near 4 so as she is over the bar/landing from 3, you are decelerating and turning (this is where turning is really important and the brake arm can come in handy). When she collects and turns to lookout the RC line to 5, you can start moving to the center of the bar of 5 and as she passes you, decelerate so she collects into the RC.
First RC at :10 – this rep didn’t have the decel/turn to set the line 4-5, looked like a RC on the flat. No worries! Keep going on that – she was not wrong and stopping gets weird (“good try” and a toy can quickly becoming punishing for dogs who like to move and understand that the game is about moving). That can cause shifts into overarousal and frustration.
A little bit of overcompensation on the RC at :45 – you faced the left wrap wing til she was past you then tried for the RC, but she couldn’t adjust before takeoff. This is another time to keep going and get the ending line rather than mark and stop. I know the marker is not intended to be a negative for her, but it can quickly become a negative when consistently paired with stopping and a change in energy.
Plus, it gives you practice on how to recover from a bobble and keep going 🙂 There are lots of bobbles in agility and being able to keep going in helpful!
You came back to the RC later in the session:
At 2:09, you gave a big forward-facing-decel for 3, almost coming into a walk – this caused you to have to accelerate then decelerate then accelerate then decel 🙂 You were able to set the RC so she kniew it was a right turn, but because there was too much acceleration into it, she was a bit wide.So try driving up to the 4 jump and wherever you are when she is in the air of 3 – start to decelerate and turn, to set the line to 5. That will make it easier to set up a nice tight RC!
The BCs are going well too – and you can see on these where staying in motion is really helpful and the forward facing decel puts you behind.
On the BC at 1:06 a forward facing decel for 3 is what caused you to be late on the BC (you ended up on her line and she correctly took the backside). You can keep going here too – she read it correctly so no need to stop, even if she gets the toy.
Compare it to the rep at 1:36 where you did not do a forward-facing-decel: you ran like mad to the BC and got it really nicely! You can be even more laterally away from 3 when you are heading to the BC, and you can start the blind when you see her over the bar of 3 so it is fully finished before she takes 4 (your motion and verbals support the line to 4).
Your line of motion and position relative to 3-4 will cue the line & turn, while giving you plenty of time to get the BC. And that will give you even more time to decelerate into the spin on 5 (1:39 was a little wide, late decel).
Really nice work here! Let me know what you think, especially about taking out the forward-facing-decels on the soft turns, to keep you ahead of her and setting lines.
Tracy
Hi! This was another good run!!
The jumping lines looked awesome. We are going to have to do more blinds because he was soooo fast that the FC in the beginning was a little late.
For the teeter – is he supposed to stop 2on 2off, or 4on? You turned into him and he stopped pretty high up the board. In the FEO runs, try to do exactly what you would want in training, so hopefully he can do it more independently.
>>Tunnel was odd, first time he has gotten distracted>>
Yes, that was odd. And I think he legit smelled something, based on his body language. He didn’t seemed stressed or over-aroused, but definitely track this in other FEO runs to see if he has another moment like this. Maybe he was mentally tired, which is pretty normal with baby dogs. You handled it perfectly – toy reward, then back into the tunnel for more toy reward. Super! I guess it was odd enough that even the judge was thinking it was odd – at the end of the run, he was heading over to the tunnel to look at it LOL!!
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
>>Lizzie does not bring the toy back so I don’t know what to make of that.>>
You can get more of a retrieve by developing a game of give her the toy, let her have it for a few seconds, then present another toy for her to come back to. She doesn’t have to bring the first toy back to start, but over time this can ease the transition into a retrieve!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>Ran into what I feel is a setback (maybe?) or challenge this morning.
I don’t think it was a setback – it is great info though! Yes, a bit of a challenge, but no worries! We have good tools for him.
If he was a major piggie foodie that suddenly couldn’t eat, I would be concerned. But food is a lower on his priority list (I know, crazy, LOL!!!!) so I am not as concerned about it. He didn’t look anxious, and he was able to play with the toy (YAY!) so it was probably rooted in the environment being very challenging and needing to be processed, and motivators needing to be highest value.
>>We’ve done this a couple of times now and he ran very well with two personal best times.>>
He ran 2 new PBs in this location? I was going to ask how he did in the environment when “working” but I guess the 2 new PBs answers that question LOL!!
>>But at both the beginning and the end of his runs he COULD NOT take a treat of any flavor, could not play with his toy, and could not chase his treat ball>>
How does this compare to other FastCat experiences? Could he eat or play at the other facilities? Has he been to this facility in the past? These can help us know where baseline is.
On the video, the food was not motivating in that moment but the toy at the end was!
He doesn’t look anxious or worried about anything. But not being able to eat or play and needing to look at/listen to the environment more is probably indicating a slightly over-aroused internal state.
One thing you can do is take him for a resilience walk! Let him scope out the environment and sniff and look around. It is entirely possible that the facility was weird that day, or extra noisy, or he was tired/not hungry/a little GI upset from training treats earlier in the weekend, or there was a bitch in season in one of those cars (learning to work when a BIS is nearby is SUPER important for our teenage male pups!!)
>>Where should I go with this?
Keep an eye on it but don’t freak out 🙂 Track it and see how he does the next time you come to the facility.
Also of note – FastCat elicits prey drive (chase that bunny!) and that type of prey drive can raise arousal into over-arousal, and can totally suppress appetite.
The other thing to so is play pattern games with 2 toys or 2 balls that you can toss back and forth. I do this for dogs that don’t eat treats reliably when they are a bit over-aroused. I posted a video of on the same page that has the recording of last Monday’s chat. I was using 2 frisbees, but you can use 2 toys or balls and toss them back and forth. It is possible that he needs to move more and that will help too!
>>I’m beginning to toy with the idea of entering him in a few trials after the first of the year.>>
HIGHLY recommend getting him into NFC/FEO trials! Those use toys as rewards and he likes toys! Try to find UKI to start with, for 2 reasons:
– you can throw the toy in UKI, and that is his absolute favorite 🙂
– it is inexpensive and smaller, so you can get lots of runs with fewer distractions.AKC is a lot more restrictive with FEO and it is usually more crowded – so while AKC might be your eventual prime venue, I recommend starting in UKI (or even USDAA) to ease the transition into the ring.
>>Havanese Nationals are at the end of May and I’d like to enter him in Novice if he’s ready. >>
FUN!!! With May as a potential goal for real runs, try to find some NFC runs so you can start easing him in and working out any questions he might have.
>>I’ve read up on the NFC/FEO information you’ve sent but we’re not there yet. I guess I don’t know how he’ll be in the ring but I have an inkling he’ll be like this outside the ring.>>
I think he is ready for some UKI NFC! There is a bunch of NC if you want to take a short drive 🙂 And we will get him sorted outside the ring – the trick is to NOT put any pressure on the behavior, and instead to ease him in and let him give us feedback.
>>there’s nothing like sibling rivalry. He then continued to eat them at home during the pattern games and teeter training. But now he won’t eat them again – I tried again today>>
There are some studies that show that jealousy can increase motivation in dogs and other mammals 🙂 Because food is not his #1 motivator, you can constantly switch it around. Start with something he likes and then after a few bites of it, end the session or switch to something else. That way there is a rotation of good food that won’t lose value as much.
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Yes, it will feel weird at first, but walking the courses as if you are actually running him – saying the verbals, connecting with your invisible dog 😂🤣 will all help when you run him on the course!
Tracy
Good morning!
The connection looked a lot stronger here for sure! There are two types of connection in play here: the regular connection where we are looking at them and it is a little more peripheral, and the more extreme connection where we look at them VERY directly. That extreme connection is what works best here to get him to the backside when you using a bit of distance. As the he gets more experienced, he won’t need as much connection but for now, the extreme connection should work very consistently 🙂
When he was on your right at the beginning, the connection was better for the first reps but at its best at :29 when you REALLY looked at him but also kept moving. SUPER! He had already done a couple of sessions on your right, so was able to be successful even if the connection was a little softer.
On the last 2 reps on the right, be careful to not run a ‘banana line’ which is motion towards the entry wing then pulling away to get past the other wing. That will often cause dogs to curl in at the last minute and not go to the backside. So remember to run on a straight line forward, parallel to his – and we will get you further and further across the bar 🙂
The countermotion is also looking strong! As we start to put the pieces together, it will be easier to fun forward if you fade the arm across the body as you are passing the exit wing. You can use the connection shift and arm closer to the jump to look back at the landing. And if you throw the toy behind you, try it from the outside arm but just tossing it behind you from the same side your arm is on, rather than across your body. Let me know if that makes sense or if I need more coffee haha!
The connection on the other side was a whole new ball game 🙂 The first couple of reps were the softer regular connection. Compare that to 1:59 and 2:24 where your connection was much stronger, more extreme 🙂 and he got it really well! Adding more running speed to be ahead helped, but the more extreme connection is what made the difference.
Since he has trouble when you change sides, you can angle the jump on the very first rep so the backside entry is more visible as you come up the line.
He had a question at 2:18, and that is a bit of a softer connection moment and you did a slight banana line 🙂 of moving away in a curve before he was committed. So keep emphasizing the straight parallel line motion and BIG connection 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
On this ’empty hand’ remote reinforcement sequence, he was able to weave away from the reward station (the previous rep required him to weave towards it) so that is good info – you can isolate the weaves in that context to be able to work on them without anything in your hands. You can also bring him into the sequence on leash, so he sees you put it on the station when you take it off.
He did have some trouble when someone came in! That is a great thing to set up – ask a person to come in as he is finishing a sequence, so you can reward him for staying with you. This will simulate the next dog/handler coming into the ring!
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHe had a little trouble on the weaves here and then trouble on the line versus turning after it… a few too many errors. If that happens when working with empty hands/remote reinforcement, you can go back to the rewards and reset then make it easier. When working with remote reinforcement, try to minimize errors so that he doesn’t get frustrated and take off for the reward station.
It looks like you had a reward with you and rewarded the poles – yay! You can use the remote reinforcement in shorter blasts with no treat or toy on you, so he gets used to that too. I am sure he can smell the treats/toys hidden on you LOL! So the ’empty hands’ visual is definitely challenging, and the remote reinforcement with nothing in your pockets can be worked separately in smaller slices.
This is ’empty hands’ and a bit remote reinforcement with a treat station and a big sequence – nice! He is a few steps ahead of the class on this game 🙂 He was actually FASTER on the sequence than he has been in the past – FLYING! Maybe there is a bit of challenge in the remote reinforcement that he finds very stimulating? Be sure to add in decompression between runs like this, so the extra stimulation doesn’t become over-arousal (he is still a teenager LOL!)
Since he is a bit ahead of the class here, keep doing this sometimes (not all the time) and also take the easier remote reinforcement games on the road to different places.
This is the end of run game, adding his leash on at the end. This went well! He thought you wanted him to tug on it at first so you will probably need a cue that says tug on it (I say “bite”) versus a cue to put it on
He also did really well with going past it on course, then going to it when you said get it. Nice! He seems to think this is easy and fun, which is exactly what we want it to be 🙂
For your next FEO run, you can add this in to the end: reward with the tug like you did, then send him over the last jump and grab the leash, put it on, the more tugging 🙂
T
Hi!
This is find my face – he did really well on the flat and also when you added the jumps. No questions! Yay! You can definitely take this to new locations, even if it is just on the flat outside the ring.T
Hard to see the cones here but it looked like he was looking forward more when you were parallel to him until he missed ten he started looking up a bit more (especially on your left side). After a few successes, he started looking forward again (on your right) but is still looking at you on your left side.
So the next steps would be to put the MM out behind one of the cones. You will always start on the cone without the MM (you can change sides so he practices being on your right and on your left). And now we can shift the reinforcement out to the cone to continue emphasizing looking ahead at the ‘work’ and not at you. When he has gotten all 4 feet through the box, you can click the MM . Then he comes back to you (not through the box) and starts again on the cone without the MM.
And, during all of this – start to vary your position: from that start cone, sometimes you are moving with him and parallel (this is where he is at this best). Sometimes you send to the start cone from far away and get ahead (walking) – this is where he leaps over the box in this video. And sometimes you start right next to the start cone and send him ahead to the box – all of this simulates what will happen on the actual a-frame.
Good morning!
I gotta say, the future is very bright for you and Golly 🙂 This is a pretty picture perfect FEO run!!! Lower height, fast fun lines, great connection, tons of reinforcement IN the ring (not just at the beginning or end). You started as a team, he was successful on the start line, and you ended as a team. The video cut off before you got back to the leash – did he have any trouble getting leashed up? I am guessing he did not have trouble.His only question was the first weave entry – is he pretty solid with weaves in a sequence in training? If so, and he misses a weave entry in NFC, you can go back to the previous obstacle and try it again (with a little less motion from you). If the weaves are a work in progress in training, skip them in a sequence in the NFC run for now and just do them in isolation in the NFC run (and reward like you did).
Fantastic job, this could be a demo video for what the ‘Just Like Home’ NFC/FEO should look like!! I think he had a fantastic time in the ring!
Tracy
Good morning!
Sequences – I think the handling looked terrific! In general, you are super connected, moving fast, spitting out the verbals (this is the hardest part LOL!) and he is focusing on his line really well, showing distance skills when asked, running super fast, and turning when asked. Love it!!! The entire opening looked great (1-6) each time.
On the 2 RC reps – on the first one, more acceleration to the last jump (rather than on a parallel line to it) and looking at his butt more will help keep him out on the line to the last jump. Looking at his butt when he is driving ahead of you will be the same as connecting to his eyes when you are ahead of him: it turns your shoulders to the line, and he can read that because he has good peripheral vision.
On the last RC rep, it looked like you had a line more towards the last jump and you more connected, saying ‘jump’ directly to his butt LOL!! Looked great 🙂
The blinds are looking terrific too. The use of lateral distance and verbals and connection to send to the #6 tunnel so you could easily get the blind was fantastic! The section where you did that from 5:14 – 5:20 was particularly chef’s kiss top notch excellent. Lots of confidence and connection from you both!!!
I like how you are also using these sequences as a framework to work those in-between moments – yes, keep throwing the toys on the lines here and there and also using the treat station was great! You can have a 2nd leash at the treat station in case you forget the 1st leash at the start line 🙂
>.Yes, he has done this since he was a puppy. To be honest it has always bugged me but I have always hoped in the back of my mind that this will improve as he matures.>>
It is definitely an interesting behavior and somehow he decided that is how it is going to go. LOL! It is not a problem at all, as long as he can immediately come to you when called to line up, and more importantly – at the end of a run. At a trial, the line up part is easy because you will go to the line on leash. It is the end of the run which is harder, so be sure to keep working on what you did here, which was adding in the treat table after the reward. And we will add in getting the end of run behavior going too (more on that below).
>> I ran him over to the treat bench but he was being a fussy fellow. I was offering him a treat that he didn’t want, and after several attempts I gave him cheese, which he thought was just super. Of course yesterday meatball was absolutely delicious, but today he didn’t want it. Today he wanted boring old string cheese instead. Go figure.>>
When he ate the meatball yesterday – was it in a different context or similar scenario? Just curious. Arousal states can shift what the dog wants to eat. And since he can be picky in general, it is better to have a bit of a buffet of treats so if he says ‘no thanks’ to one treat, then you can immediately switch to a different one.
>>I usually would trim out the playing and petting at the end of our session but I wanted to ask you about this. Baxter is a VERY affectionate dog and is always by me or on my lap if I’m relaxing. He seems to really enjoy physical interaction and searches me out for it. At the end of this session I get down on the ground and play with him, rub his tummy, pat him and rough him up a little bit. I don’t think you can see because the jump is blocking but he is leaning into me against my leg when I’m patting him up. Would this be considered decompression? Just curious.>>
I think it is great that he likes that! Is it decompression? In the scientific sense of the word, probably not – it is stimulating so it probably stimulates his body chemistry (in a good way) rather than helps return it to baseline. Should you still totally do it? HECK YES! Use it as part of the engagement and reinforcement! Do it before a run if he likes it (some dogs do NOT like to be touched before a run and that is fine :)) and at the end of the run, maybe part of getting the leash back on.
Also, since he likes all of that physical interaction and getting in your lep, maybe teach him to jump in your arms at the end of a run! You can do it by having him jump into your lap with you sitting or kneeling, then we gradually get you more and more upright.
For decompression, you can take him for a sniffy walk between reps, or scatter some treats in the grass or on a snuffle mat. The free sniffing is definitely what will help return his physiology to baseline. This will be useful after each high energy run. You can see he was starting to get depleted (tired!) by the 3rd and 4th run, so a sniffy walk or a snuffle mat between runs will help him be able to reset and keep the energy high.
The find my face game is going well! The pattern is very strong – he is returning engagement before he even finishes chewing LOL! And when you added the pivot, he was very quick to re-engage as well. And it was indeed hilarious when he tried to get between your feet! SO CUTE! Good boy to try to keep offering LOL! You can take this onto a simple sequence and deliberately disconnect and reward when he re-engages.
Great job here!!!
Tracy
Hi! He has such great engagement and commitment outside and on the bigger distances! Super!!!! Nice job with your connection here too – the strong connection totally helps support the line you want.
Video 1 – I will keep bugging you about verbals 🙂 It was easy to get the tunnel
discrimination here because he is looking at you trying to watch the handling. You can get the same line and less looking at you with the verbals to turn him and the tunnel discrimination verbal (which should be different than his tunnel word or get in, because if the words are the same it could mean either end of the tunnel). I use “tunnel” to mean ‘take the tunnel entry on your line’ and “kiss kiss” to mean ‘come in towards me and take the tunnel entry that is not on your line’.Video 2 – this is where you can see he is asking more of a question – Note how he looks at you before the straight line to the tunnel, because it was the same cue as the previous video when you wanted the other end of the tunnel. We was coming towards you to check in even though the handling was strong. So we can smooth that out with the different verbals.
The last 2 videos have longer sequences, so they are good ones to walk with the different verbals in place before you run it! As the courses get juicier, you can walk it a few times without him and even video tape the walk through to check if the verbals and lines are correct. That way you are ready for his speed and have all the verbals prepared. He was watching you and adding some strides here and on the last video, because the verbals were mainly “go”. That might make it hard to get him to drive straight lines, so be sure to replace most of the Go cues with a turn cues (like left/right or the wrap cues) or if it is not a straight line but also not a big turn, you can use a ‘jump’ verbal to go along with the physical cues.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
