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Hi!
Her tugging looked really good here 🙂 When the environment is harder in the ring, you can use a really long toy and swoosh it around, almost like a flirt pole 🙂 That is kind of impossible to do outside the ring with dogs and people nearby, but you can use food outside the ring.
>At that point I was planning to go in and train, then she stopping tugging.>
Many youngsters find it hard to tug in close quarters around other dogs, so you can switch to food when you are outside the ring.
Then as you enter the ring, you can start getting her to chase the toy you are dragging around – I think she might like that a lot and it can also help her be able to line up and stay, etc.
>I do need to really work again with having a chair set up with her lead a treats. >
I think that will help her handle the trial challenges for sure! And it sounds like you are already doing this at home with your treats on the porch, so a portable reward station for class & trials will help!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Because we crated in the building, she was pretty desensitized by the noise by the time we went to the ring. >
I think it was more of a ‘bandwidth’ issue than the noises being very prominent to her. The young dogs have limited mental bandwidth to process all of the things in the environment, and it adds up: being in the ring, no food/toys/ new people, batting practice, etc… it added up and didn’t leave room to process or execute stay behavior. Pretty normal, but being able to train in that environment will help open up space with the bandwidth so the trained behaviors like stays can be easy to get 🙂
>She was very happy to eat and do tricks and games outside the ring. >
Perfect! The food and toys in that environment help a lot, and being outside the ring is definitely easier in terms of processing.
>She did some tugging over by our set up, but then lost interest in the most valuable of tugs, a rabbit skin on a bungee tug. I tried every tug in my bag, which are many! Even the inflation got no response. So many people and dogs. She just wants to see everyone. >
Yes, bandwidth… her brain was processing a LOT so she couldn’t really tug. But even just the visibility of the tug, or putting it on a long toy so you can whip it around, or doing simpler behaviors in the ring will really help her learn about the new environments at trials.
>This weekend I will bring her tug and we will just sort things out in the ring. She has quite a few Qs in speedway, but I’ve kept to just training in the ring with the trials last fall. >
Perfect! And how challenging the environment is can also help dictate how much you ask in terms of hard behaviors.
>In class I do tend to keep treats on me still, especially since I want to constantly reward her contacts, which are great. >
She sounds ready for you to add in training runs in class without treats or toys with you in the ring. Now, you can totally keep rewarding the contacts by giving your treats (and clear instructions about what to reward :)) to the instructor or ‘ring crew’ and have them reward the contact behavior. Teaching her that the food might be outside the ring (especially as she moves to the start line) is a really important trial skill.
> Otoh, at home, I keep treats on the porch instead of instant reward. Biscuit learned this years ago, so as soon as his done, I tell him, perfect!, and he runs to the porch. Kishka still stays with me until I say let’s go inside. At home she is pretty amazing though, and just loves the game.>
This is great! The skills are building up really well at home, so now we take those remote reinforcement skills on the road to class and trials 🙂
Have fun! Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi!
>Yes, we are still here. We had a few glitches with a season, weather, and Covid 🙁>
Bummer about Covid! Hope you are feeling back to 100%!
>Training has been going really well. Really, really well. So, to say I was a bit disheartened about her first trial, is an understatement.>
Watching the video – no need to be disheartened! I think she tried really hard but the environment was soooooo different than what she has ever experienced that you saw some behavior change.
> The noise you hear on the video is the batting practice in an area above the ring. Yep, a couple times the judge needed to retrieve balls that landed in the ring. >
OMG! I was distracted by it when watching the video… I imagine a baby dog would be like WHAT THE HECK IS THAT COMING FROM ABOVE?!?!?! So that definitely contributed to her questions.
> So, despite the chaos, she was happy, did lots of tricks and games before our ring time, including just outside the ring. >
Was this for food? Checking to see if she was happy to eat.
>She did a bit of tugging, but then lost interest, so I opted not to do training in the ring.>
Even if she was not wildly interested in the tug, it might be useful to train in the ring anyway. You can bring out the best/furriest/craziest toy, and also the visual of you carrying the toy can bridge the gap from home/class training and the trial environment. The toy can signify that reinforcement is still available, even in the much harder environment.
> Her start line stay at home and in class is almost 100%.
Yes – that is great! And that is because of reinforcement history in both places.
> Yeah, yeah, I get the ring is different. >
This particular ring was so different, it was almost like the sit was an entirely different behavior. She lined up nicely but I don’t think she recognized the sit cues at all. For now… you can do training runs and send her to jump 1 with a wrap rather than a stay, until she is more experienced in the trial environment.
In class, how does she do with being able to do runs without food or toys in the ring with you? Making sure she understands the reward station and remote reinforcement will really help her get comfy in trials. And in trials, having a bunch training runs to gradually introduce her to the environment will really help too (especially when the environment is nutty like this one was).
>We have speedway runs (hoops, barrels, tunnels) this weekend. I plan on only training her start line, with a couple obstacles for the first couple runs.>
I think the first question as you formulate a plan will be what to use as a reinforcement – you can bring in an awesome toy, or two crazy toys tied together so that she can chase it as you swing it around 🙂 That way you can reinforce the start lines – without reinforcement, we risk adding stress to the start line which we definitely don’t want.
And for the first run – don’t ask for the stay 🙂 Just get engagement and play and a few happy obstacles on a line. When she is more comfy in the environment and will play with the reward: then you can add in the stays. Stays are HARD in trial environments, as hard as weave poles! So we want to gently introduce them with a good reinforcement plan. And eventually the reinforcement will move outside the wing, as long as she can do that at home and at class too.
>Otoh, she was very happy, and came to me to take obstacles in a tough environment, with plenty of ring crew, and dozens of people outside the ring. >
Yes, she totally checked in with you which is great! I think she was a little concerned about the weirdness of the noises in the environment (that is valid LOL!) so we definitely want to keep ramping up the happy factor and find ways to clarify the reinforcement 🙂
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
Really nice work in the fun trial and the seminar! He is looking great with this commitment, and your connection & handling was lovely! Yay!
>I didn’t get a video of his jww, which was a great run, he had the fastest time of the 20” dogs with no faults. His weaves are coming along!>
NICE! And very exciting!!!!
>He slipped on the ascent on the dogwalk and it slowed him down and affected his contact, he became very sticky. He didn’t seem to hurt himself and that was our last run.>
Yes, he might have been in ‘careful’ mode to avoid more slipping, wise choice!
>He seems to be running fast on the turf but I think he is more comfortable on the dirt. Turf is probably a bit slippery>
Yes, I totally agree! When I watch him – on the dirt, he had really natural movement with extension through his front and rear, and an easier time setting up turns. On the turf, he was running with shorter strides, keeping his legs more under his torso and adding more strides. Subtle for sure but definitely a difference.
One of the things I am curious about is if we wrap the dogs’ feet (like flyball :)) or use some of the sticky spray that people swear by, will the dogs feel more comfortable extending on turf without slipping? We can experiment with it!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
Frankie loves Perry and was feeling SPICY!
Looking at the standard run:
>she was on fire! I was LATE with my cue.>
Yes, and that is a hard challenge off a running dog walk! You can use a bigger physical cue, like an opposite arm and maybe even rotating towards her to get her eyes off the straight-ahead end of the tunnel.
I liked the blind before the frame! You can reconnect quicker to make it even tighter. The rest looked fabulous!
JWW went great – love how she barked at the start line!!! It was a nice course but not a lot of good places for blinds. The RCs worked well!
> there were a few creative challenges that I felt were outside our skillset and she got all the hard stuff! HA! That will teach me not to trust Frankie! 😉>
Ha! Frankie says I GOT THIS!
>I’m excited to see how she does this coming weekend. The last time we were at this trial location, she was shutting down a lot and I felt like she really did not care for this location. I’m starting to think it may have been less location specific and more about overall stress and the fact that we were trialing so hard that year. I think she was burned out and stressed. There were a few other locations that I had flagged in my head as places she didn’t like and had skipped going there for a while that we returned to recently and she did well with them.>
That is really interested! Burn out is a real thing! Also, you’ve taught her a lot about remote reinforcement recently, which can make a big difference in how she feels in different environments. I am excited to hear about how she does!
Nice work here! Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi!
> I love the idea of ramping her up & letting her tug & have fun ahead of time and then doing the pattern games and volume dial tricks when we wait to go in the ring. It may bring out her “all business self” in the trial enviroment.>
For some dogs, especially younger dogs, the last moment before the ring is kind of a balancing moment and pattern games are perfect for that. I do that with a couple of my dogs (Contraband!) before we go in the ring, especially at bigger events to help him be in the right head space.
>. She wanted to tug on the way into the ring, so I let her (and watched my fingers!)>
That is also a self-regulation. I am glad she is doing it!
>We had a 1 day trial this weekend and Bazinga did great! I was not on top of my game for some reason. I just couldn’t get my head in the game but fortunately, I don’t think the dogs noticed!
She had one run. It is a 2 ring, indoor arena on dirt. Pretty distracting environment and I think she had a lot of focus!>She did GREAT! Perry is a much bigger environment than I remember her being in, but she had no problems. SUPER!!!
The run was super nice, I LOVE how she drove ahead in the opening and especially on the big line at the end!
I am looking forward to being able to put the weaves in so you can just smoke the entire course 🙂 It sounds like you are making excellent progress in getting them finished and taking them on the road!
>. I think I slowed down to do rear crosses in the beginning sequence and I think Bazinga responded by slowing down too. I think if I had moved a little faster, I could have gotten BCs in instead and encouraged Bazinga to stay fast.>
Yes, you can power through the RCs a little more, but she still read them really well. And if you experiment with sending with more distance, you can try to get the BCs. In these training runs, you can totally try for the distance and blinds, because you aren’t trying to Q 🙂 You can reward her and even re-send her to a line if needed.
The class sequences are going well too!
>I do think the times she curved in to my line, I was turning forward instead of keeping my shoulder and arm back and that broke the connection.>
Yes, you were cueing a straight line and a couple of the jumps were slightly offset. In the walk through, try to look for jumps that are offset and use a bit of a ‘get out’ so she shifts away to it (like 3rd jump on the first video and 3rd jump on the 2nd video too). You can get that shift away be being ahead (with a longer lead out, like you did at the end of the 2nd class video) or by using a ‘get out’ and maybe even an outside arm if you are not ahead
>Now that we are taking some small sequence classes, and people are seeing her in action, I am getting the feedback “you need to be faster!” because she is so speedy. >
Well, be as fast as you can of course, but running faster is not really the answer 🙂 Using distance and getting longer lead outs will help! I don’t think any of us can out run her LOL!! But you can send her on a big line and get where you need to be.
On the huge distance straight lines like the big distanceto the jump after the double tunnels at the end of the first sequence, where she smoked you: enlist the instructor or classmates to help her find that line by throwing a reward for her so she drives ahead. It looks like you had someone throwing the reward in the 2nd video and that was great!
> I’m a little anxious about these sessions because I feel like I’m less in control of the environment and I’m trying to be conscious of rewarding her and not talking to the instructor & being distracted with her. I want to be sure that if something is too hard for her that I can break it down and make it easier for her. On the flipside it is good that it is pushing me to assess and react and see what we can do.>
It looks like you were doing a great job keeping things fast and fun for her! YAY!! As long as she gets lots of reinforcement, I think it is a good experience for her to be in a group class.
>I’m trying to decide on the next class that is best for us CAMP 2025, the Connection Masterclass or the Timing Masterclass. What do you think is the best place to go after MP4?
I think you have gotten the Connection info in the MaxPup and previous CAMP class, so we can eliminate that one. The Timing Masterclass has a lot more content (all the way up to full courses and a year to do it all). The CAMP class is more of a specific focus (independence!) so I guess it depends on what you want to work on. Either way, you can share one spot between the 2 dogs if you want!
We have a 2 day trial this weekend and I’m excited for it! I’ll send video & updates 🙂>
Keep me posted!!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
>In Synch was going great we just had a few off courses because I either didnt see something when I walked it or I couldnt get the commands out early enougn to prevent. The courses were all at the hard end for the level.Will post videos when get round to editing them. Nice that I knew each time what went wrong although after a mistake is made it is hard to get a smooth run back.>
It sounds like things went really well! Off courses are normal at this stage, she is very fast 🙂
>Waits need a lot of work – she has totally worked out the game so lots of work happening here.>
I think it is time to make waits the top priority. The more she runs at trials without a wait, the harder it is to get a wait at trials. What is allowed for training runs – a mat? If she breaks the wait, can you bring her back and reset, then reward her? We definitely want to focus on waits a lot now.
>Interesting getting alot more drive over the last jump but no longer wanting a pick up she is growling with excitment as she goes around. Was very pleased so much value for the bag as when she didnt want to be picked up we just headed to the bag and moved away. Got the treats out and she was putting her head in lead for treat. This was our original plan before she started coming to me to be caught. So no panics no pressure just a practised finish.>
This is great – you had already put value on the bag, so when her arousal got really high (BCs and BC mixes often don’t want to be touched when they are in super high arousal) you still had a behavior to do for the end of the run. PERFECT!
>Interesting she was highly focused on food especially at the end of a run this is new usually toys are all she is interested in.>
This is also pretty normal – perhaps it is her nervous system trying to calm/regulate arousal? My high arousal dogs are like this too – food after the run at trials.
>Weaves I opened up and got more range in terms of direction. When closed again didnt see any change in that still going fast and from different angles. so the opening was a good move. Have added a jump before the weaves and she loves that.>
Great! When she has seen them in a sequence and has a history of success, you can bring them into training runs at a trial.
>Contacts have been using a target at the end of the dog walk – she is much more confident on my dog walk and getting a run down to the target.>
Also good! Are you allowed to put a target on the ground in a training run at a trial?
>Overall pleased with progress – just need to work hard on generating value for the waits.>
Yes – sounds like everything is going really well! We definitely want to ask for waits and maintain criteria at trials.
Nice work!
Tracy
Good morning!
She did a great job with her moving target (and stay) here! Super!! And I like how it is helping her power through the jumping. By the end of the session, she was stepping in PERFECTLY over jump 1! Excellent hind end push off. She has a little extra height over bar 2, but that will go away with more experience (and as we raise the bar).
I am tempted to see how she feels about a 7.5’ distance, and a 10” bar on jump 2! Everything with jump training is so individualized for the size and structure of the dogs. Try that and let’s see what she does – no need to do it more than once a week or so, though, so no rush.
Smiley face game went well! Her commitment looks really strong! She did best when you kept moving: -she stopped on the first rep at the wing because you were standing still looking at her LOL!!
You have more motion on the other reps and she did great!
One thing about her is that you will have more time while she is in the tunnel than you do with Sly: she has to crunch down to get through it (she might even need heavier tunnel bags!), and he can stay in full extension. So you probably don’t need to start your wrap cues as early, you can begin them just as she is exiting. And we might consider giving her extension cues more on the tunnel exit, so she powers out the collection needed to get through the tunnel.>worked on my verbals here….. And boy do they need work!>
Ha! I think she caught you by surprise with her speed and commitment, so you can plan the verbals before you run her. Give yourself a walk through 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
The set point skill looked good, both with the moving target toy and the slightly higher bar on jump 2. Yay!
>We ended up working just on the set point today because I had some trouble getting the toy back from him so I spent some more time on that instead of trying another game! I was having to ask for it 4-5 times before he’d drop it. He did quickly trade for a treat at one point though!>
He was still super engaged and didn’t seem overaroused… just not giving the toy back as quickly. I think part of it was that on the other sessions, you had used food a part of the flow of getting the toy back. Even though food is not his #1 reinforcement, it still worked well!
So it is possible that the info he gave us here is that food is part of the cue to get the toy back 🙂 And that is fine! We can make a tweak to how/when the food comes out, so the cue definitely is the verbal cue and change in how you use your hands with the toy, not the appearance of the cookie:
Play with the toy, then relax your hands… then give your out cue. Then a second or two or three after that: pull out a cookie. Then reward when he releases the toy. That can help the out cue be separate from the visibility of the cookie 🙂 And also we can fade the cookie out eventually too (but I would keep in play for now, for a few more sessions or anything that is super stimulating :))
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
She was thinking hard on these! Really nice session here!!!!She did really well keeping her head low and bending her body. I think she might have been having a hard time balancing on the mats, so she was adding strides? You can try angling the wings and bars/bumps so they are a little closer together, so she can bounce the distance more easily
I loved the rep at 1:39 where you asked her to turn away to her right – she solved the puzzle! YAY!!!! There was not a lot of room there to find the jump and she squeezed herself in perfectly.
She also worked out the puzzle on the left turns – I think she is a righty so turning away to the left was hard! She initially turned right then caught herself and turned left. Then she was perfect on the next left-turn-away rep (last rep on the video).Great job here! You can revisit this here and there to keep the left/right verbals sharp as we build up the other skills too.
Tracy
Good morning!
Zig zags are going really well, she seemed to have no questions. Yay! Since these wings had a decent distance between them, you can add challenge 2 different ways:
– Using the 3 wings, you can shorten the distances. That will challenge you to cue sooner and it will challenge her to make the lead changes faster 🙂 Try having the wings 6 feet apart and see how it goes. If she says it is easy peasy… move them to 5 feet apart : )
– Keeping the spacing here in the video, you can add a 4th wing and a 5th wing. That will challenge her to hold a really long stay and also to do more lead changes on the way to you.
If both of these go well? Try 4 or 5 wings at the 6 foot spacing and see how it goes 🙂
Great job! Keep me posted!
Tracy
Good morning!
He was great about finding the jump here (and also turning when cued). Love it! And he was super fast 🙂
There was only one blooper, and it was a connection blooper. When he exited the tunnel at :35, you were looking at the jump and far ahead – that means he could not see the connection on where to be so he came into you. When you were close to the line and running and saying go, the connection was not as important and he did great! When you were further away, the connection is more important – so remember to make a big connection and point your arm back to him as you add distance, so he can see the line you want 🙂
>On a separate note, Max hates the car. He hides when he sees me gathering things to go, even when we are out and it is time to get back in the car, he tries to pull away. I feel bad about this. We do spend a lot of time in the car, it is 2 hours to Levelup. Any suggestions? Thanks>
Poor little guy! He might get a little motion sick. A couple of ideas:
On days when you are NOT planning to go anywhere, scoop him up and put him in the car for a few minutes along with something he loves: a bully stick, a stuffed Kong, a Toppl with cream cheese in it, etc. You can even feed his meals in the car crate! That can help make the car crate a good place 🙂
Also on days when you are not planning to take him anywhere: gather your stuff up as if you were going to class or something, pick up your keys… then put it all down and go watch some TV or something. That can help un-couple the cues that he knows mean you are leaving (which cause him to worry).
And as he feels more relaxed, you can add in turning on the car while he is chewing his bone or eating his treats. Then build up to short rides.
You can also ask your vet about adding a motion sickness med for trips – I know there are some good ones out there that do NOT make the dogs sleepy.
Great job here! Keep me posted about how he does with the car!
Tracy
Good morning!
>She turned 8 months on the 9th.
Still a baby dog! We have plenty of time. Fun times ahead!!
>Shes pretty awesome.>
Totally agree!!!
> Different than what I’m used to.>
The sighthound brain brings differences to training for sure!! But I really enjoy it (as evidenced by me now having 3 whippet mixes and 2 full whippets LOL!!!)
> Training for agility and flyball of course takes time plus taking care of an injured dog.>
Poor Snap! How is she doing?
> I’ve learned that she does need one session to understand expectations then Bam! She’s got it! Love her!>
That is the sighthound… they think their way through the first session. Then they sleep on it, and come back knowing what we want and also knowing the next steps LOL!! So fun!!
Great job with her 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
>if you read this on Tuesday, I’ll be joining the Zoom call late – probably 7:15-7:30.>
I saw you pop in! Thanks for coming!!!
>Ellie did well with these, which surprised me because at class she almost always runs past the jump after a tunnel on the first rep. >
This session went GREAT, she was pretty locked onto the line which is awesome!
For running past it in class… could be the environment is harder, or you were moving faster? Or could be that your trainer (and her BFF :)) was too much in the picture… so of course you can test the theory and move the trainer away and see is Ellie finds the jump.
>’ll probably need to wait until May to start working on varying the trainer position.>
May seemed so far away until I realized that today is April 16th LOL!!! It gives yo ua couple of weeks to keep building up the skill.
> I edited out the first two reps, which had big swerves toward me. The reps on the video have some hints of swervy-ness, but by then she was probably expecting the reward to be straight ahead.>
The big swerves and little swerves might have been because you were walking and quiet, but she was pretty perfect when you were moving faster and she seemed to REALLY like the big loud GO verbals 🙂
My only suggestion is that you can throw the toy sooner. The throws were coming as she was arriving at the jump or just before it – you can move them up earlier, to when she looks at/locks onto the line to the jump. That will keep her looking forward even more.
Since this went so well, two things to add for the next session:
You can run all the way to the tunnel, touch it, wait for a heartbeat… then start running forward. That can get her really driving ahead! You can throw early on those and if it is hard to get a good throw in when you are behind, you can place the toy instead.
As a balance, you can add in sometimes showing her a turn cue (like a FC and verbal) before she enters the tunnel (at least 6 feet before entering) so she turns on the exit and doesn’t take the jump. She looks like she is ready to add the balance in.
Great job!
TracyGood morning! These sessions went well!
You can give your verbals before the tunnel sooner, when she is still 5 or 6 feet away from entering. They were happening as she was entering, but I think part of that was because the spacing was a little tight. Spreading out the wings will give you more room and therefore more time 🙂
For the wing after the tunnel on the relatively straight line, you can give a GO for the tunnel exit before entering – she curled into you on those exits, a go can help that
You gave a dig at 1:20 jut as she was entering, which can possibly indicate a turn on the exit. So the Go can indicate exiting the tunnel straight, then as she is exiting you can switch to the dig dig for the wing collection (I know, soooo many words LOL!)One important thing to note: Excellent connection here! You were super strong with that. Only one blooper was at :47 so she ended up on the wrong side of you. More connection was needed there which you added brilliantly at :55. Yay!
Good job with the verbals in the minny pinny! She did well with figuring out the turning away from you too! One blooper, but that is useful for her: knowing what is correct versus incorrect (in terms of how to get reward) really helps learning as long as there are no too many bloopers (which would increase frustration and not be helpful :))
The SOTC probably has a bit more wear to it so it feels different? But what she was doing there was restricting her natural movement and not moving her front or rear with extension or shifting into collection. If you want her legs, she keeps them tight under her with very little ‘reach’ from the front, or ‘push’ from the rear. Her legs remained basically under her torso, probably so she could stay balanced – it created a bit of a ‘rocking horse’/up and down movement.
In the minny pinny, the skill doesn’t ask for any extension but note how she chooses to carry her rear rather than push from it – that is probably also so she can stay balanced and not slip.
They are good decisions from her! But they are both unnatural movement – I bet if you took these out on grass you would see her move very differently. And repetitive unnatural movement can be problematic, so I will continue to be a pain in your butt to convince you to wrap her feet so she can feel stable and move naturally on turf 🙂
Great job here!!
Tracy
