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Hi!
Definitely start to find the engaged chill behaviors! Being able to just chill is a big piece 🙂Also, with the remote reinforcement – do you mean the game in isolation, or being able to run full courses at home with the cookies or bl visible on a table outside the ring. That is a piece we will be looking at closely too 🙂
TracyGood morning!
He did a really good job with food in pockets in video 1! His behavior is already sharper and he did really well not seeing the food first. 2 more ideas for you:
– you can use the cookie more like a toy, moving it so he moves yo follow it as you deliver it. That can be a good balance of food and toys for him, in terms of arousal.
– the backing trick is still hard for him, he tends to not quite get it right. So for now, you can use the other tricks that he isnpretty perfect with and we can revisit the backing up later.The toy is definitely more stimulating 🙂 and this game will actually help him center his arousal because he has to kind of back off and control him self to doing something precise, in order to earn the toy 🙂 Perfect! He did really well, so a couple more sessions of this are in order, especially at the seminar this weekend.
You can also do the combo of food and toys, that might end up being his ‘sweet spot’ for trial settings.
Toy pattern game – do you have a word that says “grab the toy now”? I heard a bit if get it but not always – a specific cue for toy in hand can really help, especially if get it also gets used for tossed rewards.
He wasn’t distracted all during this session 🙂 so it was more about establishing the pattern with the toys and he did well!!!
Try not to hide the toy behind your back, I think that makes him a bit leapy for it 🙂 but as soon as he recognizes the pattern with the toys, it will be even easier!
Since you have the seminar opportunity this weekend, try to bring the pattern games into the setting (with food, first and then try with toys). That’ll give us some great feedback for trials!!Great job! Have fun this weekend!
TracyGood morning!
>> Yes students walking a course and lab just off screen soliciting play are less distracting than the barn :).
I believe it! This building has fewer distractions in general (fewer smells) plus gating plus the people were not watching her :))
Lots of good work here, she did really well!
On the pattern games – try to be ‘quieter’ in your mechanics, meaning have the cookies ready in both hands so you can just flick one with which even hand is closer to where you want to toss it – you were leaning back and forth a bit and that can become a cue especially if you are early: and we don’t want to cue her, we want her to offer.
For the pattern game, put a leash on her – at first, just all her back and forth with neutral distractions and when she is happy with that, and walk her amongst her peoples (your students) as they are walking the course and ignoring her 🙂 That can begin the process of teaching her to ignore the people because she has trouble with that 🙂The line up game looks good – remember to release from the stay after the dismount. I think you can add more duration now!
And she had fun in the tunnels too! To keep all the games super predictable (which is one of the keys to helping her focus and engage), separate them a bit with a quick mat break or tug break in between so she can say “aha! This is the pattern game!” Rather than trying to figure it out on the fly.
Great job here!! Onwards to adding that pattern game around more people 🙂
Tracy
Hello and welcome! Grady sounds like so much fun! And my favorite reward is filet mignon too hahahaha!
Thank you for the very thorough history! After reading it, I think that we can concentrate on getting him more pumped up (first with cookies visible, then without) and also teach him how to run with a lot of passion on course with distractions… even though all the cookies are outside the ring 🙂
There are a lot of games to start with, so take a look at the tricks game, the remote reinforcement game, and the pattern game (which will TOTALLY help him learn to ignore those random bits of things on the ground!!)
I am excited to hear more! Keep me posted!
TracyHi!
I think eventually it won’t matter if yo are calm or energetic 🙂 But I don’t want him to rely on you being very energetic, I want you to be able to relax a bit if you want to 🙂
Have fun!
TracyGood morning! She did really well here – there is a lot of good distraction around!
2 ideas for you on this game:
– when you enter a new environment, you can start the game as soon as you step into the environment with the get it. That way you don’t have to wait for her to engage (because she might be overwhelmed if it is a really challenging environment) and so she knows how to assess the environment with the offered engagement. Plus, she will recognize the pattern and be flooded with happy feelings 🙂
– to keep the pattern SUPER predictable, stick to one food delivery in the session – either the toss or the drop on the feet or the hand delivery. Mixing it up makes it a little harder because she can’t completely predict where the food is coming from – and this is the one game that we want to be soooo easy for the dogs 🙂 So, whichever cookie delivery you start the game with, stick with it for the session.
You can add movement now too, walking around and playing this game 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! It is hard to know exactly what she had trouble, but here are some ideas –
Was she settled in the car while the other class was going on, or barking or unsettled? She might have been tired from not being able to rest while the first class was happening.
Also, she definitely was concerned/interested about the person and dog behind her. Does she often get to work in a quiet ring with one dog behind her in the distant? That was definitely distracting her.Also, there is a repetitive mechanical sound in the background that got louder in the 3rd video – was she possibly concerned about the sound?
I agree, the engagement games will help. Try to use your food more like a toy, so yo are moving and rewarding her rather than handing it to her – a higher arousal state can help whatever distractions she is experiencing fade into the background. Or use a tug toy, if she will play with it there 🙂 You did notice she was not as focused so you tried to break things down and help her be successful, which did help!
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>He sometimes won’t take his toy if he’s scare or barky lungy but we can always keep building.
You can toss or roll it away and if he is interested in chasing it, which can be stimulating and get him away from the scary thing.
>>I try to keep him engaged or put him back on leash.
Engaged chill is helpful here! I bet you will find it already happening elsewhere in life and we can transfer it to agility!
>>I need to also work on letting him take the toy not attached to mom in a seminar setting.
Yes! The real friz, with real throws 🙂 wheee! You can ask other people to keep their dogs away so you feel more comfortable letting him be free 🙂
TracyHi!
That is odd that she is feeling emotional about the stay… is she coming into season? You can break it down and just make it easy and fun for now 🙂I agree, she did really well here! She was lovely on the tight turns!!! The jump height didn’t seem to bother her, she jumped really well at any of the heights including 12 🙂 super!!! 12″ was definitely a little harder but she was sorting it out and looked great. And after all of the wraps, the Go at the end looked terrific.
I noticed that she didn’t jump up at you at all when you were running 🙂 I guess she hates walking haha and even fake running with arms pumping is better than walking. 🙂
And a big breakthrough at 1:19 – you moved away from the FC too quickly and she didn’t commit – notice how she also didn’t bark at you or jump up. That’s huge! Good girl! She got right back to work. That was probably the best moment here 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyLeft and right is going well! And she did well with the Go reps too. You were definitely moving faster, especially in the 2nd part of the video – I think adding more distance between the wing and the jump will help you feel like you have room to run.
Have you tried the exit line games? Those are a good Next step for her after these.On the serp video: nice work with the verbals here, she did really well!!!
You can get a little further ahead now, try to get past the jump (you’ll get to really run run run!) to add even more challenge.
She needs a little bit of the open shoulder to help her come in on the serp jump and that is fine for now, so as you add more of your running, you can turn your upper body towards her a little bit more.
Great job! Let me know what you think 🙂
TracyHi!
The threadle vortex is a real thing! For a lot of dogs, it is really hard to get them to STOP threading and that was part of what was happening on the first side.So, you can help her out by getting more into the gap between the wing and jump to support the line, or to angle the serp jump ever so slightly towards her, so she sees the bar more and the threadle possibility less.
The other thing to be careful of is rotating your feet on the threadles: ideally we don’t want you to rotate your feet, but if that is what you want to do, then you need to do it every time.
You did it on a couple of reps on the first side, at :34 you rotated but not at :47 or :54 or 1:02 so she legit thought those were serps. At 1:12 and 1:25 you rotated your feet so she threadled.
After a couple of good serps (this might be a harder side for her to turn, making the threadles harder and serps easier), you did one more threadle with just a tiny bit of rotation.
So I think she might be guessing a bit, and watching your feet like a hawk 🙂 try to keep your footwork the same unless you want to rotate on your threadles (and if so, do a clear rotation each time :))
Nice work!
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
She was on fire here!This session went well – yes, she had a question or two but you can totally help with a little more handling. On the tunnel reps, you can take that one step towards it. And with the wraps, you can rotate a little bit. She was perfect on every rep where there was a little bit of handling (and the young dogs can see a little handling here because trust me, if they wanted to go into the tunnel instead of wrap, they will ignore the handling LOL!)
How is she doing with going back and forth between cookies and toys lately? Last i remember, she was fine with it, so you can use cookies for line ups and resets, and toys for the wing and tunnel rewards. I think she did really well on her tunnel exits – we do want a good balance of turns and Go, so for the next tunnel game, check out the week 2 handling game which works different types of tunnel exits.
Great job here, let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! This was a great session, she was on fire!!
I liked the timing of your toy throw on the last rep the best – it was really early so she could just run run run to it 🙂 You can throw it as early as the moment she looks at the jump, as long as you keep moving forward like you did here.
And yes – work these games at the times you know she will be toy crazy 🙂 so you can get the excitement that you had here. She was great!!!
Nice work 🙂
TracyHi!
The more I think about his hind end, the more I think he is trying to gallop and the bar is at an awkward height for him in the set point – he doesn’t have to jump for real, but he can’t gallop for real either. He is almost 13 months, so I am tempted to show him a 16″ bar here and there and see what he does (in a very limited way, no rush).On the video:
This looked really good!! Lovely commitment from ahead if you and behind you! And I’m glad he was relatively careful with your flesh LOL!
Watching his jumping, he doesn’t seem to be doing anything unusual over the bar here with his hind end (was it at 12″?). Really nice use! The toy throw was changing the jumping a little – technically you were not late, but it was more that he keeps getting faster and more confident 🙂With that in mind, I think the toy throw either needs to be sooner (as soon as he exits the wing wrap) or placed well past the landing of the jump especially when he is driving ahead.
One other thing to do with this stage of the game is add even more distance between the wing and jump. Wheeee! We will build on it in other ways soon 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
