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Good morning!
Hoping for no more snow! And warm temperatures for a while!!!
The pattern game looked really strong here – nice use of markers and he was re-engaging really quickly. Super! The further you tossed the treats, the more he was able to move around. And movement is actually an important element of this particular pattern game (it helps with the arousal regulation).
He is ready for the next steps of this:
– you can start moving around too, walking back and forth while playing. This is just to simulate moving him through an environment while playing this game.
– add a leash to this, because he will be on leash when playing this most of the time. And leashes are a pain in b*tt in terms of mechanics for both you, so adding it at this early stage will really help smooth that out
– take it on the road into happy places, using high value food. Outside the ring at classes or trials will be perfect!>Judge did some nice backing up on the plank tonight as part of his puppy fitness routine, but I had shut the camera off already. He’s up to 1/2 the plank (6 feet) with a may to target on the plank.>
This is great! That is excellent body awareness for an adolescent big dude!!!!!
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
Driving ahead is a great skill to focus on with her!! I agree with your assessment that it is important for her and a better target to place at the end will really help.
In the first video, you started from the beginning and she was great with the tight work but had a lot of questions about going straight.
Part of the questions she had was that the angle of the wing that replaced the tunnel set her up on a slice over the first jump so she was turning left, not going straight, creating a zig zag.
The other part is that the understanding of going straight is not strong enough for 3 jumps yet, so she came back and jumped up a lot.So back chain it with one jump first, then 2 jumps, then 3 jumps – all to a high value target. What does she really like and will drive to? A manners minder? You can also throw the toy when you are doing 1 or 2 jumps as she will like that. Definitely don’t reward from your hand.
2nd video: this was a much better set up and had a placed reward. She did not drive to it, so the placed reward needs to be more visible and valuable. Be sure she sees you put it there, and use the marker sooner to hopefully help her get it.
3rd video – she was even better on the line in this one, but curling into you for the reward – so the top priority is finding something you can place out there or throw out there that she will drive to so you don’t reward in your hand.
Also, running without the toy in your hand might help too – the toy in your hand might be very exciting and overrides anything placed out far away.
4th video, longer sequences – this is going well in a lot of places and she is doing well with the bigger distances!!
One place she had a question was finding the jump after the tunnel – it is a similar thing to driving ahead on the line that he had trouble with in the other sequences.
From the handling perspective, you can make a bigger connection back to her on the exit of the tunnels – hand pointing low to her, eyes on her eyes, to show her the line to the jump. On a few of the reps, you were trying to run really fast but with a high arm so she didn’t know where to be as connection was blocked.
When you had the best connection and lowest arm (1:40) she found the line the most easily. Yay!
From the training side of things – that is a great spot for a placed reward! You can place a reward out past that jump and break it down, doing the tunnel to the jump to get her driving ahead. Then jump-tunnel-jump, and so on.
One other training suggestion: After the end of a sequence and after the reward, as you walk back to the start to try it again, she is jumping up on you a lot – that is exactly not the rehearsal we want from her.
To help direct her to behavior we do want, can you send her to a mat as you walk back to the start so she gets rewarded fro not jumping and then you can call her to you? Or do pattern games with treats as you walk back – this is to avoid the leaping up at you which is a rehearsal we don’t want and it gets her really aroused (made the sit a lot harder on the next rep with a lot of jumping up).
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
That is great that you can do what you like if you are doing a training run! So yes, definitely pick a start that is easy so you can do a short wait and send her a short distance, then get ahead on the next line 🙂
T
Good morning! Thanks for the update!!!
>You said let him run and He says that is a great idea. I was always worried that he would take his toy and not come back but I think the opposite is true.>
It seems so counterintuitive, right? But it turns out that it is a great decompression for them – the dogs love the freedom for a quick run to release some pressure, then they come back and work better than ever. And you can always trade the a cookie or another toy for the first one to help him bring it back, if his run takes a little too long 🙂
>We have a three day seminar this week and will try in incorporate all the games and engagement tools. I am also going to take my other dog on the third day incase he becomes maxed out.>
Sounds like fun!!! Seminars can be hard because we humans are trying to listen to the instructor and do right by our dogs, so use a lot of cookies, patterns and tricks right in the ring at the beginning to help him out – he might feel the pressure! Then as he settles in, you can add the other games as well. And remember if something goes wrong in the handling to keep going for at least a few more obstacles and reward – he gets concerned when there is a stop in the action and he doesn’t know why. He is really good about listening to cues and seminar handling often asks us humans to do hard things LOL!!
Bringing the other dog is a great idea, both to help him stay relaxed and in case he needs a break.
Have fun! Keep me posted!
TracyI think I got mine at Clean Run – the biggest one so I could tie it to another toy easily. The real fur is what makes the difference, I believe.
>The other potential issue is that she can get mad about giving up a tug (if she is in the mood to play with a toy) and I won’t have a handy treat in my pocket to toss for her to settle her arousal down a bit again.>
Trading is probably part of what helps with the arousal, not just the cookie, so you can bring 2 toys in for ease of trading. I do that all the time for exactly that reason. And early in the NFC/FEO attempts, I did a short thing, rewarded once and left for the cookies, so I didn’t need to trade in the ring.
T
>s there any issue with using the pristine furry lotus tug in the ring when it usually has food in it in other situations? She does like to chase and pounce on it, but she doesn’t always pick it up since it’s bigger than her head.>
I have it tied to another long furry toy and have used it at 4 trials now with Larry Whippet. Not a single judge has said anything about it at all. Other students have used it at their trials, also no issues. I am not using it in an obvious lotus ball manner, it looks like a long furry tug toy and he is chasing it and tugging 🙂
T
Hi!
Baby steps are always the best plan!>Novel environment and loss of her fav reward (sparkle ball)
Yes, those are the hardest things in the transition into trials for a homeschooled dog 🙂 And for any dog, really.
>> know she would be wicked a flyball- she even recalls to me when her house mates are running full tilt away)>
I wish you lived closer, we would totally grab you for our flyball team, wine and snacks as bribes LOL!
>I assumed that since I take her to all these environments it would be ok but she is a little marshmallow. I knew this when I decided to keep her but her structure was so nice and she was so fast…>
She is pretty perfect, of course you were right to keep her! I think it is not a marshmallow issue 🙂 it is more that she is getting exposed to a lot of new things and needs to process them (other dogs, all sorts of people *right there*, weird footing, weird lighting, etc etc. That is harder to replicate at home so any opportunity to get her around other people and dogs will be an absolute game changer.
>Last night I asked my husband to sit in a chair while we worked for a toy on jumps. She wondered why he was there for a moment ( no vid) but worked beautifully. >
PERFECT!!!!!! More of these type of trainings will help. Can he bring one of the other dogs with him next time? And maybe play a YouTube video with agility noises or barking dogs?
>Ginger said she is happy to come over and drink wine and watch me run 😉>
Perfect!!!
>So I can add some people distractions at home. I also have 40 acres. At this time of year that is about 10000 PRACTICE spots . >
Yes, you can change locations and do purposeful practice in different locations – adding different novel things to the environment, people, noises, etc. Doing it in new but very quiet locations will not make progress that quickly – adding trial-like pressures and distractions will be big help/
For example, on the video: rather than bring her in off leash and let her explore the area, you can use this new area to simulate trialing: enter on leash, do some pattern games then tricks just before going to the first jump, then go in and run the sequence *without* giving her time to acclimate to and explore the ring. That is the holy grail of dog sports: can they simply walk into any environment and do the thing 🙂 because they will never be able to explore or acclimate to the ring before running. So you can simulate it at home – at first the sparkle ball or a toy can come with you and then you can eventually add in more remote reinforcement.
The sequence work looked great! She was pumped up with the sparkle ball and maybe from being in the new location, so leading out with connection supported her stay on the 2nd run. And the sequence itself looked great!!
At the very end you were saying something about *not* saying go and saying jump instead. It depends on what it means: for me, GO GO GO means take the jumps on a straight line and keep going forward. “Jump” is a single obstacle cue which does really mean full out extension. So I think saying GO was correct here.
>then the U with more people then there is CPE nearby too.
Oh yeah! The U with more people is PERFECT. And you can enter her in CPE – I know your agility dreams do not involve CPE, necessarily, but what a great opportunity to do lots of NFC with a smaller crowd around!! I just entered 2 days of USDAA this past weekend for the same reason: TINY trial, zillions of runs for all the dogs (my hamstrings are angry) and a lot of great training for the youngsters 🙂
Nice work here! Keep me posted!
Tracy
Thanks for the video!
Yep, she just did not like that tunnel going that direction – probably too dark. Definitely trust the dog when she says it is not a good setup and refuses it – just do something else. Even from the camera angle facing the entry she did go into, it looks like a dark abyss so it might have been even darker on the other side. I mean, even the experienced dogs at the USO said the outdoor dog walks were teeters, so I just trust the dog when they say NO to going into a tunnel. And she totally said OH H*LL NO!The rest really looked great! Connected, smooth fast! So I think that some of the tunnel caution will go away with experience (she will learn to trust flinging herself into long dark tunnels more) and also I think there is a movement towards only using light colored tunnel nowadays.
>Lucky for Lift that there are no UKI or USDAA Trials at TCOTC – land of a forest of I-beams!>
OMG yes that place is like a maze of poles! EEK!!
>>Will definitely not ask for a tunnel as the first obstacle in a future NFC run – unless it’s short, light and straight maybe.>
Good plan! Her current value status is that straight line forward motion jumps are the easiest to handle in arousal. Light colored tunnels with not a huge amount of curve are good – the one she struggled with was a 20 footer? I don’t think she has seen a lot of those either.
>I can visit classes to work on pattern games and moving around with other dogs around. It will be easy to keep that separate from doing sequences since she can’t for a while. And do TSA game at home (add in Kaladin and/or Demi on cot/in crate as “easier” distraction – in quotes since they are familiar but Kaladin is her favorite interactive toy)>
I think the main plan now is happy-making exposure to the trial environment or class environment, so she looks forward to grand times about to happen 🙂
>New plan for tomorrow’s drop in class – Higher value rewards (we do have leftover turkey that got frozen and can come out again). Use pattern games with high value treats to get to the ring instead of figuring out TSA game. Treats in the ring (may be visible or not, but have them on me). If things go off the rails, freestyle it and re-start with something on a line (if necessary) Remote reinforcement station in ring nearby if I use it for 1 rep.>
I like it! Leftover turkey sounds yummy and good change up from cheese! Now, she might tell us that turkey is CRAP so cheese can come back out, but if that happens I will revoke her Sheltie card. Ha!
>So I think NFC will be a food box thing for her at least starting off. (and luckily I run a lot of the UKI trials in the area and we offer it)>
The food box sounds like the most reliable choice! And also, if she likes furry toys, you can use a furry lotus ball: get two of them. One can have treats at home, and one can be pristine for FEO/NFC. Attach them to another toy for maximum dragging and whipping around. She might really like it! I use that for Larry Whippet in his NFC runs because he is really mainly food motivated but does like the lotus ball (and there are no food reward boxes done around here).
>I think the Yay comes out more often when our original plan gets thrown out the window and I’m free-styling.>
Ah that makes sense. You can try to replace it with go go go or jump jump.
> It also comes out when I finish a run/sequence and I don’t have a reward on me. When training with Kaladin, I tell him to get it and toss his frizzer at an end. Lift gets a tossed toy or treat (right now mostly food). So now I’m re-thinking what I want to do at the end of something with Lift when I don’t have the reward on me. Is it just cueing her to push her head through the leash and then Happy Hour and out of the ring we go? >
Yes – and having done UKI and USDAA recently, I don’t even put the leash on my food driven dogs. I grab it and run out of the ring to the treats (legal in those venues) so it all happens really fast.
>Does she need something else between last obstacle and leash (some kind of trick)? Or maybe Ms Keep it to the facts does just want the next cue that gets her closer to the reward? >
Yeah, I think she would shiv you in your sleep if you asked for another trick at that point LOL!!!! She just wants the cookies 🙂 so whatever gets them to her fastest is going to be the best.
>In which case I might need to add something that means go to your leash since “leash” is put your head through the loop while I”m holding it and we can hope that she is driving ahead of me on that last line. >
You can praise and keep running to the leash! You are welcome to add another marker but I am thinking another word to remember will be hard in the heat of the moment. She will recognize your praise and urgent sprint to the leash and no other obstacles as the leash up moment 🙂
>She will often voluntarily want to hop into my arms/lap, but less so if she’s just been moving.>
I agree – most dogs just want to get to the reward because arousal is so high at that point. So grabbing the leash and getting to the reward as quickly as possible is the best bet 🙂
Tracy
Hi! This is a great update!!!
> We trialed over the Thanksgiving Day weekend and he did fabulous! 🙂 >>
YAY!!! So fun!!
>It was very exciting as there were pigeons on the floor along with all the usual commotion. It was an indoor two-ring trial, so up there on distractions. Two of the runs were after two dogs that love to bark non-stop. This amped him up, but I was able to get him back with the volume dial. Thank you for all of the work with that and the pattern games. I used both and both helped tremendously. With the barking dogs, he was a little higher than optimum, but still good enough that he held everything together. He was also able to give me all of his tricks outside of the entry gate and was right there to go out and get his toy at the end of the runs. It took me a day to not panic a bit down on the floor LOL. I took him down when we weren’t running to just play with it and see what worked. That helped me a lot to understand him and settle my nerves as well. LOL.>>
It sounds like a challenging environment and you made a big effort to help him out, using the various tools. And you were rewarded with his excellence in the ring!!!
> At first, I wanted to avoid it, but I was like nope… let’s use it and figure it out. Each day my confidence rose that I could still connect with him even after the barking dogs.>
Good for you! It can be nerve wracking to start the career of a young dog, but you are doing GREAT!!!
>He was FEO in preferred and we used FAST and T2B for practicing sections. Then we did remote reinforcement for each jumper’s runs. They were great runs and would have been Q’s. He was happy, happy, and wanted to go back to the practice jump after the runs to play some more. He’s loving it.>
This is exciting 🙂 You are playing the long game to set up a nice long career and things are going really well!
>The only thing I saw was that he struggles a bit with weave entrances and staying in for all 12 when he’s coming in hot. I’m thinking we need to work at home with speed loops (one then two tunnels?) into weaves with as much arousal to help him learn how to handle it? And then add that speed to more difficult entrances as he progresses. Thoughts?>
That is pretty normal with young dogs. Yes, adding arousal and high speed entries in practice like with tunnels and general craziness will definitely help! And doing high speed entries in the FEO classes will help too, so you can reward right there was a toy.
>I was also wondering regarding next steps. He’s up to 22 inches in practice and is consistent enough that I was going to move to 24″ at practices. >
Great! He definitely measured into 24?
>For his dog walk he is struggling with hitting the bottom when there is a choice ahead of him. So dog walk into a tunnel or dog walk with a right to a jump. I give his verbal while he is on top of the dogwalk, but I still see him struggling with locking on to what he sees. I can get either the touch or the right choice, but it’s still tough to get both the touch and a right or both the tough and the straight tunnel. >
In training: work the touch and the choice with less speed and arousal for now, making it a little easier. At a trial, don’t ask for that choice yet – just get the touch, that is more important. When he can do the touch AND the choice in training, then we add arousal. And when he is up to about 90% success or higher in touch AND correct obstacle after it, then it can go into the trial ring. But you don’t want to bring in misses to the trial ring, so go for the easy lines and touches/success for now.
>I’m also working decision points at home on the flat with a mat and two choices. I would say we are maybe 65%. Any ideas on how I can help him with that? >
65% is kind of a low success rate, so make the decisions even simpler – make the ‘wrong’ decision harder for now. Ideally, we want 80% or better. Then slowly add in harder challenges. Running dog walks take a LONG FREAKIN’ TIME to train to fluency 🙂
>Finally, I was wondering on where to go next at trials. Should my next step be to try FEO at his regular jump height once he is ready? Do I back up in the process and go back to just pieces, just like home? How should I work on adding in his full jump height and then eventually moving into standard?>
Add in the full height jumps here and there in training and then work up to full courses in training at full height (including the weaves). I don’t think you will need to do JWW as FEO at 24, because he is a little too fast to stop and reward bar with – easier to just keep going which is a nice reward for him too! It might take a bit of adjustment in training so be patient – he will sort it out.
For standard – when you think he has a 95% chance or better of gettin the contacts correct in a trial, then start to do FEO runs just do one contact and see how it goes. Then try 2 contacts, see how it goes. You can reward the of course! Add the RDW when it is an easy exit so he can be super successful.
>Thanks for your ideas and I was thrilled with how well he could handle a busy trial. I’m looking forward to starting the timing course on your other site as I know my handling is going to be our biggest challange. LOL He’s going to do what I ask him even when that wasn’t what I meant to ask for. hahahah 🙂>
Ha! Yes, it is so true – he does whatever you ask him to do, even if that is not exactly what you wanted to ask for 🙂 And I agree – he is doing an amazing job at trials! YAY!!
Keep me posted 🙂
TracyHi!
He did great being a goat! He got his feet on the object before you even got it al the way to the ground!!Your mechanics were good – you got lots of rewards to him and used your marker words! I think a longer toy will make it easier to tug and also save your back from bending over too much. His pivot on the 2nd box was adorable! Since he is so confident with this, you can make a big playing field by putting a bunch of these objects together, so he can get all 4 of his feet on easily and walk across them. Also, do you have anything that might move a little as he walks across it, even if it is something like a couch cushion or something? That can definitely be added to his goat tricks.
Great job here!!
TracyHi there! She is looking great here!
Because she is really fast, you can toss the cookie and start to run away from her immediately 🙂 I think you were waiting for her a bit before you moved away, but she is too fast for that 🙂
Then when she is halfway to you, you can decel – that will make the collection and pivot even easier and tighter, because she can slid right in next to you and turn nice and tight with you (without her butt swinging out).
She really liked the ball!! So that was a good choice for the go go go moment! And yes, it does make the training more efficient if they bring the toy back 🙂 So keep using the ball for this and separately (indoors, as that might be easier) you can get her to bring a toy back by trading for a treat or another toy.
Great job here!!!
Tracy
Hi! All of these games are looking pretty fabulous 🙂
The prop game looks great! He clearly has high value for the prop! His victorious pounce on it at the end of the video was brilliant and all hilarious 🙂 The ready game went super well and he was great with managing his arousal AND sending away when cued.
The sideways sending will be easier for you both if you send with the arm closer to the prop, as if you have completed a front cross and are already moving away. You were using a cross arm, which tends to twist us humans up a bit (restricting our movement out of a cross). He also has a question on one of the reps where he turned away instead of hitting the prop – that looked to be because you were a little in the way and the cross arm turned your shoulders away. Using the arm closer to the prop should make it all more visible.
Backwards sends at the end looked great! He is ready for you to add the next level of this, which is the countermotion 🙂
Wrapping the upright to the bowls: easy peasy, he was super fast and accurate. He was also super strong with the barrel where you were standing – Yay! You can add in a little more distance between the barrel and you, to get him wrapping it further away and making sure he truly understands to go around it even when there is an easy path cutting through the front between you and the barrel 🙂
I think he *does* understand that, so if he agrees with us and is great when you try it, you can immediately move to the turn and burn game. I think a taller barrel will help for that, if you have one, so he can’t see over the top of it 🙂
The blinds went well! Yes, you can be earlier but look at how instantly he responds when you give him that clear exit line connection!!!! He seemed to have zero questions. Keep practicing those (strange) new mechanics 🙂 because you all get super snappy responses to blinds and fronts without having to worry about timing as much 🙂 Since he did so well here, you can move to the next game, the collection sandwich 🙂 which includes decel and pivots, followed by accelerating ahead of you after it.
Great job on these!!!
Tracy
