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Hi!
>I can definitely try dialing back the motion if she needs it next time on this exercise.>
For the next session in a few days, try with medium speed and see what she learned in her sleep 🙂 then you can decide if you need to dial back more or can ramp it up.
>I might also try just taking the tug part off of the Holee Roller (the one I made myself by attaching a fleece tug to a plain Holee Roller ball) since she seems to want to target that part instead of the ball itself. For tugging games, I’ll keep the handle attached since she likes it, but for throwing games or anything where she’s getting it off the ground I’ll take that part off because it will be easier for her to pick up.>
Good plan! You can also get a small ball and put it inside the HR (I cut one of the little strips and shove a ball in) – that helps the dogs have something visible and exciting to grab in these high speed games.
The barrel wrapping went well! She looked pretty balanced and happy to wrap in both directions.
>I liked how when I asked her to trade the toy for boring kibble she skipped taking the kibble and offered going around the barrel instead.>
Just to make sure I didn’t miss anything: she wasn’t rejecting the offered kibble, it was more that she was giving the toy back and offering the barrel wrap before you could offer the kibble? Offering is great, that is what she looked like she was doing! The ‘work’ is also a reward for letting go of the toy and also letting go easily on cue is an indicator of a balanced arousal state for most dogs. Turning down food when offered is something we can look at but I don’t think that was what was happening (a little hard to see behind the barrel). If you were offering food and she was turning it down, then we can add in eating the food as the behavior we train her 🙂 Did she eat the scatter treats at the end? The video ended while she was tugging 🙂
Since she did this so well… onwards to the turn and burn game added this past week! I think she will really like it 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
The blind into decel and pivot went really well! He did a great job working outdoors! I think at first he had to figure out that something was going to happen after you tossed the cookie (not just looking for more cookies :)) But he caught on very fast and was great! By the end he had instant re-engagement when you were doing the pattern games.
Nice job with the blind and decel to the pivot, that looked really lovely! So you can add the next step: do the blind then the decel and as you complete the pivot, throw a toy or cookie straight ahead and race him to it 🙂
The wraps with the new barrel are off to a good start – Yay! He has a ton of value for the bowls game and was really zipping around! You probably will want to put something in the bottom of it so it doesn’t tip over 🙂 The barrel was a little too far away so he had a few too many errors in a row, so for the next session start with it so close to you that he can’t get between it and you 🙂 When he has that smoothly, you can start to move it away a bit.
>>He did really amazing so my dopamine flooded brain kept asking for more>
Dopamine is more of a frenemy than a friend LOL!!! It makes us take risks and that is not always a good thing 😁 so to help with session length, set a timer 🙂 Do 90 seconds then take a break (force yourself to NOT ignore the timer or do just one more). And as you mentioned, take a break between training games, or the total training time does add up to be too much.
Setting a timer will give you that nice little dopamine spike but also gives you a framework to ignore the risk-taking elements that the dopamine spike can produce.
Looking at the Folding it in session:
He was thinking really hard here which is great! One thing that will help is to hold onto him until he looks at the correct side of the cone – and the dish marker then indicates that the change of gaze is correct. He did focus forward a couple of times (yay!) but also sometimes you let him go when he was looking at the dish, which implies he should go to it 🙂 I think that was more of the question here rather than the session length – he was not sure how to earn the reinforcement, so really isolating the looking at the correct line before you let him go will help a lot! I think he will pick that up super fast.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
She definitely seems to be getting the concept of turn and burn really well! Yes, remember your marker for the toy but I think it will get easier the more you use it. And I agree that the ‘bite’ marker is excellent for stimulus control because really don’t want them grabbing the toy just because it is in our hand 🙂Good line ups and collar holds in between the reps! Also really good job starting the verbals before letting her go! Both sides are going well!
2 suggestions for this game:
– to get more of a rounded turn, change the angle of the wing so the flat part is facing you, or even better, use a barrel for her to go around. That will help her set her hind end better for when we add a jump bar.
– Also, do you have someplace to put this on grass or dirt? She is really having to shorten up to do this on turf, and it is changing her mechanics – her strides are short and choppy, rather than weight shifted properly. because she is trying to balance. I don’t love that for puppy bodies so we want her to do this on surfaces where she can move freely and not have to hold herself so tight.
>She made an error and not sure you can see I paid for a note touch instead. Not sure that was appropriate or not.>
It was fine to do because you moved away too early, but you can also reward her for the next line up. Or both LOL!
On the BC to the decel/pivot – she did super well here on your right side! Yay! If you felt uncomfortable, it didn’t show 🙂 You were nicely connected with clear, smooth mechanics and she was able to be very successful.
If you run away more, the transition into decel will be more obvious (and it will be more exciting for her). Just be sure to decel sooner since you are asking for more acceleration: when you are running, the decel will need to come no later than when she is halfway to you, so she has time to get the collection.
The hardest part of this session was at the end with the tugging – she wanted to interact with the toy but she would have had to unhinge her jaw to grab it LOL! So she got frustrated and jumped up on you. I am not sure if she has tugged with that toy in the past, but it was definitely too big for that moment – smaller toys will make it much easier 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi! These are looking really good!
> I could not find anything to put on the ground to mark when to go, but I need to find something.>
I use a dog leash most of the time – great visual for me, great to teach the pups to ignore their leash that might be on the ground nearby 🙂
>He’s pretty comfortable with me leaving when he’s about halfway, but when I tried to leave earlier, I got a mistake.>
Was that the only mistake? I only saw one error, right near the beginning of the session, where you started the FC very very early and he was like WHAT THE HECK?!? So you dialed it back a bit but by the end of the session, you could leave at that timing on both sides. So one error is actually very useful! It is multiple errors that we want to avoid.
But also, having the line on the ground can help you be more systematic about when you are starting the FC, which also helps you systematically add challenge. At this stage, the line could get more and more before he arrives at the barrel, which is starting to get close to the actual timing of a real life FC wrap 🙂
2 other details on the turn and burn game:
– when you let go of him to send him to the barrel, you can step to the barrel rather than remain stationary. This will help commitment as we start to move you further and further away from it.
– and to avoid motion overriding the verbal understanding, convince yourself to do what you did on the first rep: saying the verbals 7 or 8 times before you let him go. After that you were reverting to letting go at about the same time as the verbal and only saying it twice (on course, I think it helps the dogs to repeat collection verbals like a quiet chatter: digdigdigdigdig as you decelerate into the turn).
>I liked varying what I was doing with the prop – it made the RC much easier.>
This went great! Check out those rear crosses! It was easy when you had more room (coming towards the camera) but you also got it really easily in the shorter space of moving away from the camera. Very cool!!! And his parallel path is going well, you added challenge of more motion and distance – he seemed to be processing it then making the real effort of looking for his line. Love that!
For the prop game, you can add more countermotion – start with him in front of you then sending sideways from more distance away, and moving forward as soon as he starts moving to the prop.
>I need to get to the other game with the BC pivot. I have not shown any baby retrieve work – he has a full retrieve. I have done A LOT of toy work with him to make sure we have good skills and communication around toys.>>
Yes, the BC followed by the pivot is a good decel challenge (mainly for the humans, because we have to time it correctly :)) And sounds like the retrieve games are going well – we have higher level ones coming soon.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
>and lots of next steps on those!!!>
Yes – all we need is one or two good sessions of each game before we can go to the next level.
He did smoke you on the toy races but also, look at him bringing the toy right back! YAY!!! To add challenge to this game: throw the toy and THEN throw the cookie the other direction. That adds a layer of self-control and countermotion that is really valuable 🙂
>and we are camping lakeside which could be too much for his brain!>
Sounds fabulous!!!!! Has he seen any pattern games yet? You can do them to help him ignore the lake. And any goat game shaping is good too, because he will be in higher arousal and will need to think about his body in that arousal state.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Great idea with “gimme a second” cookie for when I can’t get the toy out. Holee roller toys are tough to stash on your body for training.>
I think I literally have said to my dogs “Gimme a second here” or “I need a minute”. Maybe that is a new marker LOL!!! Just kidding – we already have plenty of words 🙂
>Today I worked on some toy races, which surprisingly didn’t go as well as I would have thought. >
It went really well!!!! I have a couple of ideas for you, and also let her sleep on it for a few days and see what it looks like at the end of the week (whippets………)
What you were seeing here was the process of installing brakes on your sportscar 🙂 She was sorting out how to decelerate into the toy.
The pushback and run to the toy went well, good brakes and she was turning to prepare to bring it to you. Yes, small celebrations and mini victory laps when she won, but overall she was very engaged with the toy and you!
>>Then with the racing part she did beat me there, but overran the toy so I was able to grab it the first time, let her come back to get it the second (so she wouldn’t get discouraged/frustrated and start biting), and the third she choked on a cookie right when she caught up and passed me so I got the toy and some biting ensued.>
She was having trouble with her brakes when the cookies tosses were added. She was moving faster, you were very stimulating and moving ahead (which is distracting, you can see her watching you a little). So she didn’t quite get the decel in time to get low enough to get the toy. Plus she was sorting out this new variation on the game.
I LOVED how she committed to the cookie even with the toy out ahead and all of your speedy countermotion, that was excellent! Truly fabulous!!!!
So two things that can help with the cookie toss element (because we want the countermotion skill and we want her to accelerate past you when you are ahead and running):
– use a bigger toy, something that she can scoop up as she runs through it. Have you seen the extra large hollee rollers? That is perfect for this game – it will have a higher profile off the ground so she won’t have to reach down for it as much. The reaching down might be pulling her weight forward and throwing off the deceleration.
– you can also dial back your movement a bit by jogging and letting her get there first once or twice, so she goes “Oh! Got it!” then you can start to dial up more and more of your motion.
And if you do win, you can party with it on your own for a heartbeat (keeping the toy lower to reduce jumping up or bitey feelings) then let her tug on it as you go back to reset.
>I would put overrunning the toy when they are trying that hard to beat you in the same category of just not focusing on the task at hand correct? And we should avoid setting them up to do that repeatedly?>
I think she was focusing on the task at hand, and processing all the things. But yes, we can break it down a bit so she can learn how to win… then dial the excitement back up.
All of these ideas might be moot because she might come into the next session later this week and know this game fully and also have read ahead for the next 3 chapters in the text book LOL!!! Whippety dogs. But definitely the taller/higher profile toy will help.
>Worked some of the Decel exercise that I seem to struggle with and managed to get her to stop nice and straight after the first one. I didn’t have a cookie in my hand, it was just a target.>
These looked really good!! You can definitely add in the slow pivot – she will drive to you with even better decel if she predicts the next thing will be a turn.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
He was absolutely brilliant here, no problem at all! This is exactly what this level of SSC should look like!! Your novel-neutral objects were perfect. Side note: I love your pants!!!Moving forward: add some novel-neutral objects to any other game that he finds super easy. And for this cookie recall game, you can move to the next step (novel-exciting!) which we added on Tuesday. Great job here!!!
Tracy
Good morning! This is a good session!
Note how he moves into your hand A LOT!!! That is big progress. He did lose focus at the end, but that was mainly because the other dogs were telling you that there was a visitor 🙂 He moves away as you reach for him, so as you build up this skill, a couple of ideas:
Keep rewarding as he moves towards you, letting him target his collar/neck to your hand. Reward as he gets closer and closer. And don’t reach for him – let him put his collar in your hand 🙂 That will require a lot of patience but it is worth it!
Separately, you can use a cookie to get him to line up at your side, then when he is next to you, gently take his collar. This will be reaching down more than reaching towards him, which might entirely change the game! So you can line him up, put your hand on his collar, then release him forward to the reward (similar to the forward focus games).
When my Paps were puppies, I also used a small body harness to make this easier: they found it perfectly fine for me to touch the harness, even when they were not as comfy yet with me touching their collar. It is something to consider – putting a regular harness on for training (but mine could chew it so I didn’t leave it on when not training :))
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
I think these videos gave us a good look at Lift’s List Of “Do”s and “Don’t”s. She gives great feedback!
She had some trouble with the tunnel in this sequence. It is not that uncommon for Shelties and BCs to refuse tunnels – maybe because they can’t see us? Or this one was dark in the big curve and heading towards a way, away from the rest of the sequence? Hard to know for sure. If she can’t get into the tunnel, don’t keep asking – just abandon it and get her onto some jumps. Or do a stay in a different section and a straight line to release to something else. She did eventually get into the tunnel but arousal had tipped into overarousal at that point.
Running to the line was GREAT to get the arousal up! But doing it as remote reinforcement was too hard, especially if it was the first run of the day. I don’t think she has enough experience with remote reinforcement and sequencing and arousal regulation to start that far away from the rewards. Great info from her!
So- at this stage, do keep the start obstacle close to the remote reinforcement station for now, even if the reward station gets moved into the ring if the sequence starts 60 feet away. And minimize the amount of remote reinforcement work you are doing. The vast majority of training should still be rewards in the ring 🙂
Also, do keep the running to the line as a great arousal stimulator – but have cookies with you to help with the arousal regulation and the line up. The running dials her up, yay! And the treats in the ring will help her center her arousal. This is valuable for future trialing, where entering the ring will dial her up. And if she can’t sit? Just ask her to stay and lead out a little. Not being able to sit is great info that the young dogs are surfing that arousal curve and barely hanging on to the optimized state – and us humans staying there to get the sit just adds pressure to the situation, which tips them into over-arousal.
For example, at a trial yesterday, my little Elektra was PUMPED UP and barking her head off at the start line. She was in a stand in a relatively good spot when I took the leash off – but she could not sit. I asked twice – she said CAN’T! So I just said stay and led out… she stayed perfectly still til released, then she laid down one of her best Jumpers runs ever, smoking the class with perfect arousal and focus. So if Lift says “CAN’T SIT CAN ONLY YELL” then you can see if she will just stay put to give you a small lead out, then release and run. It is entirely possible that the best moments come when the dogs are like this 🙂 It is definitely outside the conventional wisdom, but CW doesn’t take into account arousal levels and neuroscience. And we don’t really care what position the dog is in, as long as they are happy and hold the stay til released 🙂 She offered a stand several times in these videos, so that is something to play with and see how it goes.
>Rep 2
This was after a snuffle mat and some hanging out on her cot behind the solid side ring barrier>This video is the same as the first one, can you repost video 2? I wanna see LOL!!
>. We did our pattern games/volume dial over to the ring entrance and past Kristin & Reacher. Both Lift and Reacher thought that was too exciting so add going by dogs to the homework list since I’d rather not resort to carrying her alot at trials. >
That is a great one to go to the top of the HW list as she is recovering from the spay! You can put Kaladin in a crate for example, and start with her moving past him with pattern games, then rewarding for just moving past. Then add in her friends from training and class, or have her doing it at the ring area if Kaladin is entered in anything coming up.
Video 3 – At hte beginning, I think she was confused about which jump was the start jump – she was facing the other one when the leash came off then she was unsure if she was supposed to move with you or not. And note the offered stand stay!
The opening of the sequence went well – then yes, there was a little disconnection and yay at :52 plus the pole is a weird visual for young dogs to wrap around. It might look like she is jumping head first into a pole, which is why she doesn’t want to do it. it has been very hard for her to wrap jumps near that pole, so it is likely a pole issue more than anythng else. I mean, I don’t blame her for not wanting to jump into the pole LOL!!
If she has a question, though? Keep going in flow to the next line. Stopping to ask her again or moving to restart somewhere else (especially restarting with a wrap) almost always results in a Big Mad moment.
She does really nicely when you start her in the middle of a sequencing a forward motion line to a jump, like what you did at 3:39!
Also, on the more cchallenging sequences, do a short bit of the hard stuff and reward early and often, so the rate of reinforcement is high in case one of the harrder handling moments goes a bit sideways 🙂
Since she trains and will probably trial at Fusion and other places with poles, we can address her pole question. 2 ideas for you:
Do you remember the turn and burn game from MaxPup 1 when we sent the pups around a barrel and did a FC so they could chase us for the reward? Take the jump out of the picture and play turn and burn with the pole to help her recognize it as basically a giant jump wing 🙂 Don’t worry about her offering it in the middle of the course in the future, we will have fading that option out by then 🙂
For wraps by the pole, do a shaping game – walk back and forth past it and toss treats for offering to take it. Think of it as Lazy Game: Pole Edition
>I have her signed up for a drop in class on Tuesday as her last training session before she gets spayed on Wednesday. My plan is to work on the TSA game past the dogs that will be waiting for their turn in the aisle near the ring gates and some super simple 2-4 obstacle sequences so that I can focus on the line up & end of run stuff and some remote reinforcement work (maybe bringing my chair and the dish into the ring? It won’t be there for a trial but I’m guessing that it’s good to move it around and test whehter she can work around it until being cued to go to it).>
I think the TSA game is really really super hard so try it at home with 1 or 2 jumps… but not in class yet and not yet past the other dogs (if she had trouble with Mochi, the other dogs will be tooooo hard for TSA) until she has a bunch of sessions of thinking it is the best, easiest game ever at home 🙂
Think of it as making one variable easier when another variable gets harder:
Stick to fun & easy pattern games and tricks for treats when there are new dogs around. the new dogs and the number of new dogs make it challenging!And make the class setting a super grand time with rewards in the ring – take the pressure off of the remote reinforcement work for now. It is super hard and depleting, so I think we need to balance back into the ‘woohoo this is easy!’ in the ring, as more distractions get added outside the ring.
Think of the remote reinforcement work and TSA game as being on the same plane as backside threadle wraps or crazy *ss weave entries:
yes, we need the skill to be pretty strong eventually so we start practicing it in small pieces now… but we don’t need it to be perfect any time soon, we don’t need to do it all the time and we don’t need to do it in harder environments – do the easy fun stuff as the environment gets harder 🙂
> I can put her in 4s or 8 at either the very beginning or end of the class to minimize the chaos of getting to and from the ring.>
Put her in 4S at the end of the class – make the jump height variable really easy because the other variables will be hard.
> Then after this morning, I’m questioning that idea as I think she’s going to need a lot more practice on how to navigate getting to the ring past the normal trial chaos.>
That can be all about food value, outside the ring. Rotisserie chicken, for example, can be life changing LOL!! A friend’s non-foodie Golden was incrediblly impressive outside the ring this past weekend when she dipped into my magic chicken bag (thanks, Costco!) and also, she grabbed a couple of little peanut butter and cream cheese packets from the hotel breakfast bar – total change in his engagement outside the ring 🙂
The other key thing as you develop NFC plans will be if she plays with a toy in the ring. My food-driven rental whippet (Larry :)) plays with a furry lotus ball attached to another long fur toy in the trial ring for short bursts provided I am running and dragging it (we don’t have food boxes locally). I am sure I could use a frisbee with him too, now that I am thinking about it. Lift is similar – what toy can she chase? If her answer is NOPE then it is a food box thing of go in, do a trick, run to the food box, go do another trick, back to the food box. The complexity of leash off-leash on doesn’t even have to happen and you can still get great things happening. Don’t think of any of it as doing a run – think of it all as different ways to get ring acclimation. She will let you know when you can add more sequencing.
>>And separate topic – since I keep blurting out “yays!” mid course, should I figure out a way to train around that? It might just be easier than my trying not to say it. >
As you walk the courses for her (and definitely walk the courses for her like you would at a trial for Kaladin!) plan the verbals very specifically and walk the course using them (like what we do in CAMP when we are trying to match our walk throughs to our runs). That will help avoid the extra yays 🙂
And because we humans still like to yell YAY! I think that the most important thing is to never stop and reward with the yay – we want to unpair it from reinforcement and that way she will learn to ignore your ocassional YAY moments 🙂
>>Wondering if I should try something like – cueing a trick – saying yay! – cueing another and then rewarding with tossed cheese>
I think that will still draw attention to you and the cheese, so I would not add any more value to the Yay 🙂
>> Also looking for things I can do in the early parts of the post spay recondition plan that don’t involve extended sprinting or jumping. (working on remote reinforcement with tricks on the flat and going by the station before cueing it is also on the list)
You can do some stationary tricks like lifting one foot at a time, or visiting classes to walk around outside the ring. And remote reinforcement is fine to do some of, but remember that it is just a fancy agility trick to do sometimes, and not a lifestyle 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!! A lot of great work here!!
>We have been busy working the basics of getting to the line with a leash on and removing the leash.>
You had some good fun tricks happening!! The scatter right before moving to the line might have been confusing because he froze up a bit – maybe do the tricks then go right to the line with connection will be clearer.
>> We have been going to the line playing games and I did work on creeping away to keep him engaged.>
He seemed to LOVE that! He really exploded off the line!
>> The training at our training field included distractions. A dog he knows in an x-pen with a stuffed kong and another dog barking in the car. He was distracted but kept working. I had moved his remove reinforcement several times. I can really see his speed improving.>
Yes! All of that was really hard but he did great! And you can mix in running sequences with the high value reinforcement right there with you – you don’t always have to have it placed outside the course. Building speed and confidence is also helped by variable reinforcement and surprising him with it in the ring sometimes.
One thing I noticed was he was a little sticky on the release from the contacts on the first video. It is possible that he almost always gets a reward at the end of the contact, so you will want to mix that up too – sometimes yes, he gets a reward there. But sometimes the reward comes after the next jump, or later in the sequence. It is also possible that he was facing his magic cooler and that is why he was a little sticky on those releases 🙂
He did well on the 2nd video too! There was a handler blooper at :46 on the backside: he went to it really well but then your position (moving forward to the next line with a bit of a closed shoulder) and your connection looking at him past the jump) did not support the landing spot, so he did not take the jump. In that case, it is best to keep going rather than stop. Continuing can really foster speed and confidence, while stopping and restarting is really deflating even if there is a cookie involved. Those types of errors are 99% of the time handler errors 🙂 so it is fine to keep going.
You helped him a lot more there on the 2nd run – so if he misses on the first run because he needed clearer cues, no worries! Keep going to finish strong then fix later 🙂 because we are working for speed and confidence.
This sequence was also tightly spaced and very technical, so he could not really open up and run fast. So try to set up sequences (or modify, even if it means taking out a jump) so he can mostly run fast with bigger yardage, with a technical moment thrown in but sandwiched with big fast fun lines 🙂 Let him run run run more than turn 🙂
>I have figured out that decompression at its best is a full speed run in a uniques environment round the outside of the space. We visited a Sniff Spot with the intent of doing some low stress scent work. He was able to do pattern games out of the car but was having to work very hard with this environment. I took a new approach. I think I have been butting too much pressure on him. I did let him run and did not call him to me. The area is 3 acres. He came without being called when I feed my other dog cheese. I had let him run so I gave him a reward to coming and then released him to go play. A couple of minutes later I asked him if he wanted to go swim. He came running and we played in the hose. He then was able to stay engaged as I put both dogs in the truck to set hides. I work nicely when I took him out. I know this is much less stressful than agility but we have to start somewhere. He stayed engaged for the rest of our time there I let him run and play and he kept coming back to get cheese and check in. This was so much better than when I put a lot of pressure on him to continually come to me. He chose to come to me.>>
This is very insightful! He is a young sporting dog – and those dogs need to run! Free running and playing is definitely something you can add to his world as much as possible. Sounds like the sniffspot was great for that. Don’t make it all about work – play and freedom and actually just as important for work as training is.
>I believe I need to back off and relax. I tend to worry and keep recalling him even when it is safe and I have released him to play.>
As long as it is safe, let him run run run run run 🙂
>I hope I can find a happy medium where he does not have to run full speed for 10 mins. to decompress.>
You can get a long line and let him sniff, run, etc at a trial site, if there is room to do it. Or, find a run spot for him the day before and let him clear his head with big fun runs.
Great job here! Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi!
WOW I think she really liked the big ring! WOW!! The first run was really strong and the 2nd run was even stronger! Wow wow wow!!!! I am excited for you, well done!!!!!!!
>. I was a bit stressefd as it was super hot and I had been working in the ringso everything abit rushed but she behaved like a pro. >
Well, that is probably how you will feel at a trial (stressed, hot, rushed) so it was good to let her deal with that. She was great! Your foundation work really shone through.
And it is really cool that you can bring food in too – I wish we could do that here in the US.
I really liked 5 big things here:
– she stayed engaged and thoughtful when you took the leash off. No running around, no jumping up, biting, barking, etc
– she had a good wait!!! And you were clear on the release.
– she was REALLY looking for her lines, even with bigger distances than she might be used to.
– you kept moving and did not stop to over-manage lines. I guess the course was so big that there was no place to stop but that is good – you staying in motion really helped her out!!
– you stayed connected. Your arms were pretty low (because you were running hard) and you were watching her. Perfect!
Finding the big huge lines is HARD and I think after the holidays, we will make a it focus for our young dogs (my whippets are having similar questions on the big huge lines and there is NO WAY that I can keep up with them LOL!)
So when planning the course – because she has a short wait, you will not want to start with a big long line that would be ideally handled with a 2 jump lead out. For now, since you are training, will they let you start by taking 1 backwards: meaning, start with you and her between 1 and 2. Send her to wrap the 1 jump (so she is taking it the ‘wrong’ direction). Then do a FC as she commits to it, and start the next line: you will be much further ahead which is a very good thing with her 🙂 They allow that kind of start here in training runs, so hopefully they allow it in NZ too.
>Plus thanks to alot of practise with your idea of using a small lid with amazing stuff we managed to get a measure of 2mm under the height change. she managed to stay still enougn and didnt freak at stick miracles happen>
This is also fantastic!!! YAY!! What a great day, you must be floating on cloud 9! Well done all around!
Tracy
Hi!
The sequence work is going well here! The handling suggestions are mainly about the subtle details which is really cool to be working at that level!!!
> I tried different things on the start lines just for information.>
He seemed pretty happy with what you did here – you can add in a longer lead out (past the first jump) with a cartoon silly connection and release, and see how he likes that!
Sequence 1 is looking strong – very nice connection and high energy, so both of you were very fast! The only handling suggestion is to do a blind cross on the exit of the serp jumps rather than rear cross the next jump. He read the RCs really well, but he will be faster with the blinds (all of the dogs will :)) because he will get to chase you.
Sequence 2 also went well – not as fast, but I think this was the “OMG I NEED TO POOP SO BAD” run? That would explain why he was slightly clenched during the run LOL!
One thing to consider on this sequence is turning him to his right on jump 6 (at 1:18) rather than wrapping to this inside, to his left. It is possible that it is faster because it is a full on extension line with fewer turns. It might look like more yardage, but if you walk it with all of the turns the other direction, I bet the yardages are either the same or very minimal in differences. I say “it is possible” because with small dogs, they can wrap so tight and fast that sometimes the wrap is indeed faster. With big dogs, the outside line and extension line is definitely faster. With small dogs, we try both directions and compare the times to see which is faster.
Watching round 2, you went to the outside in that section so I timed it – the outside is slightly faster – but not by a lot, because his turn was good on the wrap to the left too! Also, you did a blind to a threadle in round 2 on the jump after the tunnel, which might have contributed to it being faster. Definitely something to look at (and to possibly make different choices than large dog handlers would).
To get the serpy lines to be as tight as the blind to threadle line, you can do the blind on the exit where there is a side change – or where there is no side change, you can use countermotion to run past the exit wing s he sets up a tighter turn (rather than run parallel to the bar). And on the serps that do have a tight exit and side change, use countermotion there too – you would be running forward past the exit wing, looking back at the landing spot to support commitment then as soon as he looks at the bar – do the blind.
An example would be at 2:46 – it is a backside serp-to-blind (aka German turn). You moved parallel to the bar and so when you did the blind, you were still on the landing side. That widens his line (plus you are in his way :)) so ideally when you do the blind, you would already be on takeoff side. That does require sending him to the backside a bit more independently so you are moving to the middle of the bar and not the entry wing, but I bet he can do that!
>>Our next NFC try will be Dec. 15th (UKI trial) up at On the Run. I did just one day but 2 runs.
Great! You can try to get some fresh new rabbit pelt or something as his toy 🙂
And if you have ring rentals or classes planned, try to get people out and about with their dogs so he gets exposed to the more chaotic trial environment.Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
>I believe that speed and arousal are directly linked, he needs arousal to run fast, no or low arousal = ho hum, too much arousal and he can’t think. So it’s a balancing act keeping him in the right state of mind. >
Absolutely! If you are in the mood to google, check out the Yerkes-Dodson Law and you will how well it fits him 🙂
>>The work we’re doing here and pattern games in general is definitely building the levels of arousal he can work with, that’s a good thing!>>
Yes, and you are using your toolbox really well!
>This video is our typical per run work – some pattern game to chill to volume dial. he’s taking some looks at the ting action – a bit of LAT, but he does snap back to me.>
It looks good to me! And it is totally fine that he looks around – we want him to be comfy in the environment, and part of that is looking around. And also, part of that is indicating something he might not be comfy with, by looking at it multiple times.
> towards the end, when he does lock on a bit, there’s a big Rottie coming at him in the weaves =he did refocus on me fairly quickly – yay>
That is legit, a big dog coming towards him! And yes, he was great with his focus.
The real key will be to try this in different locations and get data about what works, based on how he runs. If this works? Perfect! If not, we can alter the order, or add something like a snuffle mat or a lick mat – those can be amazing for arousal regulation outside the ring!
Keep me posted 🙂
TracyHi!
It is really fantastic to have such a supportive instructor! Yes, start small but also – feel free to add some real trial-like distraction and see how it goes. Maybe he will tell us that the other dogs are the hard part, so then we can really isolate that!Keep me posted 🙂
TracyHi!
Before I forget to ask: Does your area have any fun matches? It would be great to get her to those. Sadly they are a thing of the past in most areas. But AKC, UKI, and USDAA have fantastic training opportunities!
Her work on the practice jump in the first video was great. This session definitely goes into the bank as a win! For practice jump moments… can you bring her over to the jump when there are other dogs around, other people, etc, to simulate the crazy environment by the ring? Or bribe friends to come be your ring steward, leash runner, etc at the practice jump 🙂 A couple of people walked by and she was perfect and the golden came over at the end and she was also perfect, so now you can see if you can add more challenges in that environment.
>I had her right where I wanted her and they called us back out of the ring because an inexperienced novice person combined with a gate not paying attention meant that a 4 inch dog needed to run.>
Annoying! But also a great resilience moment and it sounds like you handled it perfectly.
Entering the ring – your starting point was far from the gate, so you can keep the volume dial on high by running into position, or tugging on the way to the line.
I can understand why she noticed the judge… the judge was right behind her LOL! But you handled it great. She had trouble collecting for the tunnel entry with all of the visual clutter behind the tunnel (plus someone running in the other ring, teeter slams, etc). But you recovered and kept going and ended super strong! YAY!!!!
I love how the end of run routine went – she really came right to you and was great about getting the leash on!!
So really it is just exposure to the things she will be seeing in trials, which she doesn’t get to see at home. She is doing great! The more exposure she gets in a positive way like this, the more her runs will begin to look like what she can do at home. Are there any seminars or classes you can get her to? That will also help in the exposure-to-trail-atmosphere environment.
Great job!!
Tracy
