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Hi!
His face in the photo is adorable!>>Initially I just did the same as yesterday- making sure he committed before taking off.>>
These lookd great! You started leaving a little earlier at :54 and he maintained commitment – ticked the bar but I think that was the only time he ticked it.
>>2) I tried the throwback as you described. I realized I switched arms yesterday. It went ok, he read it better for rep 2..
Forthe throw back – you would be a little further across the bar so it feels less awkward đ more like where you were at 1:08 – you were center of the bar on jump 2, so it was easier to cue it.
On the 2nd part:
>>1) Iâm not facing the bar enough for the serp?>>
The send to serps looked great and this is a really common use of this “move”. I think you can rotate your shoulders & chest to face the bar a tiny bit more – as much as possible provided you don’t change what yo uare doing with your lower body here, which was great!
>>3) for the handling moves where he came in to me when I tried to take off earlier, should I do a toy drop to keep him committed to jump 1? Or just back chain and start him between jumps 1 and 2?>>
On the first moment where he came into you instead of taking jump 2 at 1:37 – you were too early there đ He didn’t get a chance to look at jump 2 (his front feet had just landed) when you were rotated away with a lot of countermotion – I think letting his back feet landing and waiting one more step will be perfect.
On the other reps where he didn’t take jump 1 – yes, yo ucan be a tiny bit later but I think you can try beind earlier but also being slower đ You had 2 variables happening: earlier and faster! And that was too much đ So be earlier, but walk through it and see how he does.
And yes, I would add in tossing a toy to the landing side of jump 1 (or leaving the MM there tucked into the landing side wing :)) to help him remember to look for the jump and not watch your motion đ
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyYou don’t need to push him, you can use it as an opportunity to set him up for success đ How is/are the instructor(s)? Can you chat with them about ways to make it a useful training environment and not a stressful one?
T
Hi!
Nice arena! Is this a place where she has been before, or been a lot? She was very engaged (and I am proud of her brilliance!!)
And she was GREAT about finding the one cookie in the dirt and not getting caught in looking for the other cookie crumbs đ
Sounds like a busy environment too LOL!I love when the dogs choose to offer engagement without us having to put on a musical extravaganza to convince them to play đ
When you are playing find my face with obstacles, you can totally reward from your hand and make it a big party for the 2 of you.
>>(was tough to incorporate tunnels, they were set up under the dog walk)>>
No worries, it was a great session!
Kryptonite session looked good!! I am so glad you have access to this! She was a good girlie! And I was just about to suggest changing the Kryptonite position and then the chair-sitter moved more into the ring. And the more you can get people involved and moving about, the better… then at some point, when she is comfy, you ease off the distractions a bit and move her through the same stages as the FEO runs. You are currently in the “Just Like Home” stage (with cookies in your hands, I think) so you move to empty hands, then in and out to the reward station.
>>The one time I did lose her I think I was tentative on my send in the first place plus no âyesâ marker.>>
Was that at about 3:35? My guess is that she was depleted and after having done s many good reps… there was nothing left in the bank account. So you can limit the # of reps you ask for (rather than a time limit) to help avoid errors of depletion.
Great job on these! I am excited about her progress!!!
TracyHi! These runs looked really fast and engaged!!!
>>I wish I had video of his amazing feat running under it. I looked in amazement at how he managed to slip so effortlessly between the tire and wing to still run under without moving anything.
OMG! Clearly he was a limbo champion in a past life LOL!! I think he probably needs a retrain on the tire, taking it out of the context of course work and doing some click/treat shaping in the class ring, where you are moving. Have it touching the ground so he can’t go under LOL!
>>And then he was so distracted by the smell on one of the feet my instructor and I had trouble getting his attention back to start.>>
Was this after the Tire Limbo Championships? It is possible that the tire confusion led to the sniffing, that is certainly something that I have seen happen with dogs.
>> I tried to run with empty hands but the dispenser kept falling out of my pockets so she said to continue and she would get it.>>
So it fell out, she picked it up, and he continued on with focus? WOW!
2nd run:
great run!
He did well with you helping him through the tire! And he seemed to like that connected cartoon lead out đ>> He got distracted by something in the sand for a moment before the weaves.
it might be the same as the foot sniffing near the tire – he is not entirely sure how to do the obstacle, so he sniffs as a bit of a stress reliever.
3rd run – he is on a roll! And I think you are more relaxed about running him, trusting him more – both of you entered the ring with a smile đ
I love how your classmates cheered, and they are correct – it was AWESOME! I bet they see a big difference because of all of the work you are doing!
And bonus – he did the darned tire LOL! And it is perfect, because then you could run out for rewards.
>>His two runs on Sunday for Standard and Gamblers will be from 10am-12pm and under cover. It will be a little cooler and hopefully heâs done before the storms as he does not like thunder.>>
Definitely don’t run him if there is thunder, we don’t want him to have a scary time. And this is USDAA (my memory is shaky today haha) – If standard is first, you can do a run just like you di dat the UKI trial, letting him know that you are obviously training (with all of the pre-run fun & games, plus the reward station). And depending on how that goes and what the gamblers course looks like, you can try for a next-level FEO run! I am home on Saturday so keep me posted about how standard goes đ
Tracy
Oh no, I am sorry to hear about the covid!!!! Ugh – being so careful and then you still get it. I hope you are feeling OK, and definitely hope your mom is feeling OK!!!! Fingers crossed for a very speedy recovery for both of you!! Let me know how you are feeling and if you need anything.
T
Hi!
I think she gets better and better with this, each time you play with it. She was really lovely in these 2 videos – she seems happy to leave the stash now, do some engagement near it, head to the line and do stays/releases without much difficulty. She was not tremendously distracted by Pip in the pen, even though she for sure knew he was in there đ She had a bit of barking at the end of the 2nd video, but I think that was more of a bit of unclear handling as you tried to get her past the DW.
So, since this went well⌠we can start to tackle the final frontier of when she gets really stimulated and breaks her stays đ The way to do this will be to let her watch Pip run through some tunnels and bark his head off⌠then immediately swap to her and play the game the exact way you did it here. If that is easy for her and she is successful like she was here? Cool beans! Then you can repeat the process but when it is her turn to move to the start line, use your âvolume dialâ moment to get her wilder and barking and nutty⌠then train the stay đ
>>2 days Lucky Dog UKI this coming weekend. Lanna has never competed there. It is one ring that has walls most of the way around.
Sounds fun, I am jealous! It sounds like a good environment. I think top priority would be to make sure she is focused and engaged like she has been recently, and then the next environment to to bring the stay back đ If you have the focus/engagement/speed of the last trial, and help her ârememberâ the stay? That would be AMAZING because it would truly be all the pieces coming together đ
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
As an âoutsideâ eye, it is easier for me to see the big leaps forward and improvements, as well as the next steps. It is harder to see improvements and next steps when we are working with our own dogs đ
On the videos:
She is already quite good at FMF because you done such a great job of building value already. This first session was a great refresher and she was fabulous, of course. Correct – it is just another silly trick đ I joke that the FMF trick is cued by my terrible handling hahahaYou can start looking more confused like trying to find the next obstacle on course or moving then freezing up a bit. That will be pretty realistic to the mistakes we all make on course đ
On the 2nd video:
Having the little living room obstacle course is clever đ and she wad great about finding her platform when you were disconnected and near it. Click/treat to you for creating a setup that taught her the concept!!!
When you were a little disconnected but rotated and kind of facing nothing and not moving… she was correct to just find your face at :34, good reward!And offering the wrap again at :52? And that 2o2o at 2:14? Also good! Basically, we are getting her to offer “work” of any sort when there is a disconnected moment or stop in the action (find your face, take an obstacle, all good – anything that is not leaving is rewardable!)
She was great here. So now you can take this game into an agility environment:
Warm up with fast, fun, easy find my face as a trick. Then add in a simple sequence, like tunnel to a jump: and disconnect on the way to the jump.
In general, if you stand still a few feet from an obstacle, the dogs just find our face (which is rewardable). If you are moving and/or close to an obstacle, the dogs are more likely to offer “work”. But remember that any offer of sticking with you during a disconnected moment is rewardable, even if her nose goes down but she comes near you at first (approximations :))Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
He was definitely âhotâ on the FAST run! It might not be a bad thing, though… I think he was super engaged! he probably needs to just learn how to run when he is hot like that, meaning start with simpler stuff and more normal lines. The backside at 2 was too hard for now, because he was moving fast and you tried to leave, but he didnât know how to take the jump without your help. So that independent backside understanding is definitely something to work when he is very simulated. And same with resets and fixes – when something went wrong in the send, you were trying to fix and he didnât know what you wanted… so he drifted around trying to figure out the line then he froze. For him, definitely have a âNo Fixingâ rule because it makes the lines disjointed and that is hard for him to know what to do.
>>The Kryptonite video when Grady froze is on Carolâs phone. I will try to find itâŚHe was staring at me and would not move. All the distractions were just too much! I think I finally went back and tossed a treat to get him to move.>>
He did something similar here by the tunnel in the send – a frozen moment til you called him out and set a nice line. I have seen dogs freeze up when they are stimulated but donât know what to do in the distraction moment. I think his freezing here was more about trying to reset and fix, which is why the âNo Fixingâ rule is a good one for now.
Eventually you will be able to reset and fix in the ring… but that is after he learns both levels of Find My Face in practice and after he is happily running normal lines đ when he is stimulated. đ
Looking at the standard run video – he looks so much more relaxed and engaged outside the ring nowadays! Yay! You can give him a bit more leeway to look around or look down, because when you ask for the engagement (volume dial) he gives it to you immediately!
I donât think he liked being petted on the start line while in the sit, before the lead out – it caused him to stand up and shake it off. Most dogs donât like that and either shy away from it or shake it off, so you can play with a hands-free sit-stay cue and then lead out.
I loved the focus and speed on the release!!!
About the off course after the DW… I chalk that up to the âjoys of the running dog walkâ LOL!!! He was locked onto the straight line and you were a little late turning away (plus the turn away was subtle) so he went straight. You would have to turn sooner (when he was on the top ramp) and more strongly to get that line with his speedy running dog walk. I also recommend turn verbals (like a right cue) for the running dog walk for these types of lines. He was a good boy!
The rest of the run was a good indicator of why I like the âNo Fixingâ rule for him for now – when he was on the table, you went with it like it was correct, and he ran the next part of the course with focus, engagement and lots of speed. YAY!!! When he ended up on the a-frame off course, you fixed it…. and that popped the engagement bubble. Dogs often lose engagement and struggle with focus when there is even the tiniest perception of being wrong.
You didnât do anything mean to him LOL or you didnât tell him he was wrong, specifically… but dogs are sensitive to fixes and perceive them as being wrong. So, for now, just keep going – it is hard in that moment to know what to do, but my mantra is âgo with the flowâ đ If the dog ends up on a line I didnât want or anticipate, then I just keep the dog moving on the line even if I am making stuff up at that point LOL!!!!
Now, the reason he ended up on the a-frame and almost took the tunnel instead of the jump earlier in the course is just that with his sped here, he needs more practice running big courses like this with off courses scattered everywhere. AKC used to use jumps as the off course potential obstacles, but now there is a trend in AKC (and the other organizations as well) to put a contact or tunnel as the delicious, looming off course while we have to handle the dog to a less-visible jump. Grady is really smart, so a bit of practice and he will understand it better and you will also be able to turn sooner.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! This is going really well!
The lead out line that you walk is less important, now that he understands the setup and has such great commitment (he is really showing fabulous commitment for a baby dog!).I also really love how he is setting himself up to turn, which is one of the main goal of this game. The positional cue and handling indicates one of those âsoftâ turns which is actually a really hard turn! He is doing a great job. As he gets older, we will be gradually inching up the bar so he eventually can nail it at full height without losing this turning ability. We have plenty of time for that though, so when you revisit this you can add 2 inches to bar 1 and see how he does.
A couple of little suggestions as you build on this:
On the first couple of reps when you were on the takeoff side of 1, it looks like you were not stepping forward with your dog-side leg at :07 and :14. He still understood the cue (yay!) but stepping forward with the dog-side leg (same side as the arm that is pointing to the line) will allow you to push off and leave better. When you were on the landing side of 1, you were using the dog side leg and it was easy to see how well you could push off and run the new direction.Since his understanding looked lovely and his jumping/turning looked lovely… you can start to âleaveâ sooner for whatever handling you choose. You were supporting commitment til he was just about at takeoff for jump 1, which is perfect for what he needed. On the next visit of this game, leave a step sooner: when you are on the landing side of 1, try to rotate for the FC, for example, when he is still a stride before takeoff for jump 1 (about 4 or 5 feet approx). Thatâs will challenge him to maintain commitment and turning skills while there is more motion and getting us closer to ideal, adult dog timing (which will be basically indicating and leaving as soon as he looks at that jump :))
Two little handling ideas:
When you are landing side of jump 1 and want to do the wrap exit (instead of a full front cross) – yo can play with a throwback, which is indicating the jump behind you with the same arm that cued jump 1. In this case, it would be your left arm: your left arm indicated jump 1, then when he lands from 1, you shift your connection to the landing spot and indicate the exit wing of 2 also with your left hand. It duplicates what they learned as wee baby dogs when we did those sideways and backwards sends to the prop đ And it gets a great turn with a more efficient handler line because you donât have to rotate your upper body nearly as much as if you changed hands to indicate 2.When you are the takeoff side of 1 and landing side of 2, you can add a serp! When he is committing to the 1st jump, you can move parallel to the bar of 2 with your upper body facing the bar and lower body moving forward (not rotated) to see if he can find the serp jump from behind you (start slowly at first then add speed when he is happy with it).
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Yes, you can add 3 more from the original 3 foot distances but I really like what she did here!
The goal of this particular exercise is to teach the pups to be âflexibleâ with their one-stride between jumps. So on rep 2, she correct does a smaller one stride. On rep 3, she does a longer 1 stride (YES!) and then back to the smaller one stride for rep 4. Good girlie! So keep bringing that 3rd jump further and further. At some point she will have to go to 2 strides (3 hits of the front feet between jumps 2 and 3) and that is fine đHer only question here was on the bouncing on reps 1 and 5. She was not using her hind end as well as she was in the other reps, so she was over-jumping a bit. The way to help her with that will be with the set point, the first grid we did. Revisit the set point once a week, Iâd say the first jump can be 8â and the second jump can be 12â for now, 6 feet apart đ
Great job! Let me know how she does on the set point and the next session of the accordion. No rush to do either, we donât want her to jump every day.
Tracy
Hi! Big thanks to the hubby for all of the video đ ASCA is a good organization for FEO runs.
Omg the various animals! But he didnât look too distracted! That is great! And I am happy to see that he loves the toy in this environment too.
Overall, I think he did really well! After watching the videos, I have a couple of ideas for your pre-run routine and at the start line to keep building on his success here.
Two details that can really help:
When you are waiting for your turn and you have a few minutes before you run (especially as you enter the ring area environment): add in the pattern games. Those cookie toss pattern games can really help him get comfortable and look around less.On the way to the ring area for the 2nd run, for example: Note how he is not able to really engage or respond to the cues as much, because he wants to assess the environment. This is the perfect pattern game moment because the pattern games give him the framework to sort out the environment and allow him to self-modulate his internal state by assessing the environment and returning engagement ot you.
Then, after he is very quickly able to offer engagement with the pattern games,you can move to the volume dial game (tricks!) But when you were trying for the tricks without pattern games, ti was harder for him to respond and get into that optimal state of arousal.
So the order of festivities would be 1) entering the environment with pattern games, and when he is offering engagement 2) volume dial tricks in the last couple of minutes before the rung.
The engaged chill looked good and can be mixed in after the pattern game at any time where you need to hang out and you donât want to do a million tricks LOL!For the volume dial tricks, to get him into the optimal state of arousal for the run (higher than the pattern games would put him): you can reward the trick by having him chase your hand for the cookie, rather than you delivering it to him while he is stationary. The movement will get him more ready to run run run đ And in the last moment before you enter the ring, you can play with the toy đ
When you arrive at the start line, you can play with the toy then take the leash off, then ask for a stay. He seemed really engaged and happy to play! It was great!
The 1st run looked really good. And I lean towards agreeing with your thinking about the 2nd run – if you kept going, he would have kept going too. Stopping might have been confusing so he checked out a bit. The Find My Face game will help that đ because he will become more resilient to stops in the action.
>> hope the scheduled June UKI trial is happening so I will have a chance to try again. We donât have many options. I noted our August AKC trial will have two rings running simultaneously. Not sure if he can handle FEO under those circumstances. It has been many years since we had a two-ring AKC trial in Utah.
The UKI would be a perfect next-step for him! A two ring AKC trial might be very hard… before then, will you have the opportunity to get him into any agility group classes or smeinars? Two-ring trials are much easier if he has had experience with more âchaosâ in class settings đ Even if it is a random class somewhere, it can be useful! I put my young dogs in classes a few steps below their ability-level so they can concentrate on distractions and not have to think about the agility as much đ
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
The kryptonite runs from 2020 and late 2021 were good to see the original Sprite, before he had se much more in his toolbox with you. He still struggle with his big kryptonite but he is already so much improved!!
>>I did map out his reward hierarchy so I had his highest value. How I deliver the reward is a factor with the reward value. He often wonât take from hand but will chase a tossed item.
Ah, this is great to know – for him, it is not simply the good cookie, it is the good cookie moving in the lotus ball. Definitely a good one to remember!
>>>I was able to practice his tricks, start line at home in mock set up with gate while she was nearby with the other dog. He was more interested in the toy with food than her. That same toy has no value in class. He did take glances over but returned focus quickly. I tried to send him to her for his reward but he preferred his toy.
This is great! He is doing so much better with such a challenging distraction. He is so interesting with the reinforcement shifts when the kyptonite get added. Some of it comes down to simply having more than one high value reinforcement available: if you whip out the reinforcement you think is what he will like, but he doesnât want it at that moment, you can switch to the other one. It is hard to predict what he wants in that moment (like wanting the toy here) but if you have more than one, you can shift gears instantly and still get high value reward to him. The level of distraction makes it harder but he is making big progress!!!
On the video:
>>it seems they let the grass turn to weeds and I finally realized it was hurting his paws.
Ouch, poor buddy! I see him lifting his little feet! That adds a whole extra layer of challenge but he was mentally engaged! Lots of distractions in the environment and below his feet. He couldnât do the jumps but the cartoon lead out definitely got him interested! You can do ti moving away from him and not facing him, I think that will help the engagement as long as you stay connected with your eyes đ He did an impressively good job, considering the ouch feet!
>>got the lineup order for his 5/21. Itâs a small trial and heâs first in both runs. And the judge from his last UKI run is 2nd.
Perfect! It will be fun! After class on Monday, we can start planning for it đ
Great job!
TracyGood morning! I am so glad to hear your mom is doing well!!!!
>>Even with only 2 dogs before me in a JWW run it could turn into 3-4 minutes or longer because you know, shit happens𤣠but we now have tools for re-engagement!
This is SO TRUE!!!! It happens all the time and there is a Murphy’s law of it: it happens all the time to the dogs/handlers that don’t have the tools to cope with it… and it almost never happens to dogs/handlers that have good tools. So since you have good tools now, I expect those ‘shit happens’ moments will stop happening LOL!
Lots of great stuff on these videos! overall, I am really excited by what he did at the trial!
Video 1 – pre-run and FAST: Yes, you ended up waiting for a long time before the run – this is where you can do an extended âengaged chillâ so he doesnât do high level engagement for a long time. You can switch to engaged chill or maybe a bit of pattern game (which is pretty chill) until the dog before you goes into the ring, then you can go back to volume dial for the lead up to your run.
Video 2: He a happy in his pot-run too! I donât think the video of the run is here though?
Video 3: This also has a lot of time in the âvolume dialâ state before the run – he was responding really well and was very engaged, but dogs lose steam if they stay highly engaged for too long so you can mix in more engaged chill đ
His run looked great – and yes, the judge was really in your way on the line to the weaves and Grady was fabulous! When you say âpretend it was FEOâ do you mean that you went in with the attitude of making it fast and fun, in and out? Mission accomplished! Nice! And he looked very happy with his post-run cookie celebration đJWW video: I am really liking his focus and responses outside the ring, with the high energy tricks! This was approx 90 seconds of volume dial before he went into the ring, I think that is a good amount of time for him. Nice line up. REALLY fat and focused on the release! He thought about having a sniffed at 2:04 but then reset himself and kept going (GOOD BOY)
>>we had some extra time due to the float toward the judge.>>I am not sure if that was judge-foot or if you gave a massive âOVERâ and point and motion to the jump after the weaves.. and didnât tell him he was turning til after he landed (I think it was more of a late-cue issue and not a âhello, judge!â issue đ Grady came right back as soon as you called him – I think the big cue to the jump and extra motion, plus facing the finish line, he legit thought you wanted him to go straight. The rest looked great, congrats on a lovely run for the Q!! And he was happy to eat all his treats afterwards đ
>>on this run he took the first jump to DW and then straight to the table instead of a curve to the rightâŚit was an, âIâve got it mom and Iâm sure that I am rightâ moment>>
It is possible he was correct and the turn info was late đ Dogs donât often go to the table as an off course LOL!
T2B: more lovely engagement outside the ring -he really likes the tricks and barking and jumping around đ This was also about 90 seconds of engagement before the run, a good length of time for hi warm up indeed!
I really liked this run! He was a little confused about the release on the start line, your arms were swinging a bit so he was not sure if you released him.>>he spent about 6-7 seconds on a float>>
Yes, about 4 seconds of floating (I timed it because I am a nut haha) however – still a big win! In the past, he would struggle to be able to resist the distraction and continue with amazing focus. But in this run, he brought himself back from the distraction pretty quickly and then was amazing for the rest of the run (very speedy – which is why you ended up rear crossing, but your connection was lovely and you were able to shift gears without hesitation!). I was very happy with how well he flew by the judge and then at the end, flew past the sniff spot from early to continue to the teeter. Lovely run! And nice post-run celebration too.Jww 5/8:
I think he has the volume dial game pretty solid now – only 45 seconds of tricks before the run and he was very engaged. You might need more in the beginning of the weekend but as he gets comfy, these 45 second – 90 second lengths work really well!
There was not enough connection (eye contact from you) on the release and opening line and that caused him to not be sure about the opening line, but the fix and go allowed you to re-establish the connection and practice running off the line. Nice!Standard:
I am also happy with this run, SO FAST AND ENGAGED!>>I was quite a bit ahead on the dog walk and didnât indicate the slight right turn early enough or Grady thought it was the end of the run.
I think he had a big case of the âI AM GOING FASTâ and couldnât quite get himself turned for the jump. And you were feeling his speed and also going fast, so you were late on the cue. No worries, still a great run.
>One of the individuals that I occasionally take lessons from said that the dog walk was awesome, but we actually missed the contact zoneâŚjudge also missed the call>>
I zoomed in and slowed down to see if it was a tight call⌠nope, he missed LOL!!! But the agility gods giveth (no call), and the agility gods taketh away (off course after it) LOL! But still a really strong run!
On the training videos:
Cartoon versus all business? The cartoon definitely gets him pumped up. And on the 2nd rep, where you reconnected and gave him that sly look and crouching posture, he broke the stay which is a sign of more stimulation. The all business lead out was perfect but that is in training mode – it is possible that at a trial he will do better with the cartoon lead out, because you want more stimulation (but do shorter lead outs so he doesnât break). The running release is also really fun and he did well in the JWW run with it! Definitely play with that just be sure to add in connection so he is able to know what the opening line is.I just loved this kryptonite round Robin that you, Carol and Kaiaâs hander did! Such a a great way to embrace distractions and make it fun to train through! I already saw Chuckâs videos, it is fun to see it from Gradyâs perspective. You seemed like the ringmaster here, thank you for doing it! You were so funny and helpful!!!! It was hilarious to see Gradyâs flying ears pop into the video here and there as he as jumping around before his run LOL!
On his first line up, there was noise behind him but not growling so he did well – he was able to speak on cue, line up, hold his stay on the running lead out⌠perfect! I would just add a little more connection of looking over your shoulder but I agree that the running lead outs are great!
>>Grady absolutely froze on the start line when Chuck was growling when playingđł>>
I donât remember seeing this on Carolâs videos? When he froze, was he looking at you or at Chuck? And what helped him move off the start line: running or cartoon silliness, or all business release?
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>> I agree she is taking off a lot faster,
MASSIVE difference. She is head up, running hard off the start line.
>>and without a leadout we get disconnected almost immediately.
For now, you can plan easier lines in the opening and also have her set up on angles that are simpler for her to be facing the line you want when she explodes forward even if you donât have a longer lead out.
>>She also doesnât have nearly the âobedience / commitmentâ to verbals as I thought she did â or at least not in the presence of so many people.
It is the people/Kryptonite. The brain canât multi-task the reflexive response to the people and prioritize the operant response to the verbals. Reflexive always wins out (DAMMIT, PAVLOV!!!) which is why we work so hard on changing the reflexive response (as you can see on the start line)
>>and there was so much ring crew / spectators against the exit wall.
Yes – that was a whole lot of weird looking distraction!
>>Our reward station was required to be in another part of the arena).
So you couldnât have your little pile of stuff in the ring area? Why do agility organizations/venues gotta have such silly rules? Sigh.
>>I decided to not run today â I want to be able to work on all of the above when I can actually control the setting / distractions / rewards and have a plan. We went to the trial but I couldnât come up with a course plan for the first 2 games that could avoid running straight into ring crew.>>
Youâre smart! You are making good progress so it is important to be able to keep that going. If there is no way to keep it going? No need to run.
>>First up â Find My Face in a bigger space and with equipment. Youâre right, I havenât really begun to stretch that game beyond the first step.
She is really good at the first part of it, so the 2nd part will help in those moments of disconnection.
>>The good news is that at the trial this morning she drug me over to the practice jump and was super with our silly walk lead outs. Iâm glad to have stopped for the day on that positive note.
Perfect đ I am really liking what I am seeing! The final frontier is the people Kryptonite! Then it will all click into place đ
Tracy
Good morning!
Great job setting up the Kryptonite games and distractions to practice trial-like behavior! I love how you all worked together to help the dogs, it was really wonderful!Going in order of the videos:
1st video (titled Warm up at PK):
He was very close to the action and had trouble responding or tugging – you can move further away and to get responses to tricks, and also in that close proximity, you can be doing pattern games to help him Handel the environment.He liked the silly lead out đ there was some big crash noise behind him and he was able to return to engagement after it!
2nd video (titled run 4): Kryptonite with leash runner
The leash runner made me laugh out loud, that was brilliantly obnoxious LOL!!!!
He was like WHAT THE HECK hahaha You can release sooner, he was being good til she started hopping lol3rd video (titled Warm up 2):
He was better able to engage here on the tug toy! Yay! So you might need to be further and do pattern games on the first run or two of the day, if this was later in the day and he was more relaxed.Excellent distractions happening behind him! Lead out looked great, release looked great, sequence looked great. He doesnât want to tug on that toy, so you can open it and feed him from it.
4th video (Titled run 3) Kryptonite leash runner
This is hard for him! Stay closer on the lead out with people that close, great suggestion to reward him then start over. The other thing you can do is pattern games near people, so he learns how to handle being close to them and staying engaged with you.
You can release nice and early with the leash runner distraction, so he maintains engagement. He did well here!5th video (titled run 5):
He did MUCH better with the hopping leash runner here! Good boy! And good job getting back to the reinforcement right away. Really nice!5th video (marked run 6):
This didnât have any dog training on it, it had the humans figuring out if the video was on or not LOL!6th video (titled Grady):
Grady was a most awesome distraction with that silly lead out – fast and focused! Chuck did well too – one thing to consider is that you can release sooner, while he is looking at you. When you get further and further away, he has more time to think about distractions behind him. So if there are things happening which might be difficult or distracting, you can release him while he is still looking at you so he is more successful.7th video (titled Kia and Chuck): You three humans were amazing here, I wish I lived closer so my dogs and I could come train with you too!! It was a trial-rehearsal round robin: brilliant!
Awww, Kia is such a cool whippet! She was totally like âWHY ARE THERE CRAZY DOGS AND PEOPLE BEHIND ME đ but she did well!
Chuck did well here too – as with the other reps, my only suggestion is that you release sooner, while he is still looking at you. There was crazy stuff happening behind you and he did well (so did Grady :))8th video (also titled Kia and Chuck) is the same as the 7th video – let me know if it was supposed to be different.
Overall:
You were all brilliant to embrace the trial stresses/distractions and work through them with games and reinforcement. The dogs were AMAZING! While waiting outside the ring with Chuck, if he looks super distracted or if it is early in the day or session: add more pattern games and if he still is having trouble – move him further away from the distractions. And the other suggestion to remember is to release earlier when there are big distractions behind him – you were brilliantly connected on those lead outs, so you can seize the moment of engagement and release, even if it is not in perfect lead out position.Great job! Are you three able to re-create this in a barn setting, where you have lots of trials?
Tracy
