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Hi! I love planning NFC (or whatever USDAA calls it :))
Plan to play some games outside the ring, like the pattern games in particular. I play those separately from any class I need to run, and also as part of the pre-run routine. I don’t start the tricks or volume dial until I am about 90 seconds or less away from the run. So the pattern games are GREAT for allowing her to be ringside and assess the environment, and relax 🙂Part of the planning for the actual run is to set goals and use the NFC to achieve them. So what would you consider your primary goal? Staying focused and engaged while moving to the line with you, lining up, and releasing into the course? The goals can change based on how the weekend progresses, of course – but I find that most of us have, at some point, done NFC with no goals in mind and it doesn’t go so well LOL!!!
And I want the goals to be achieved in 2 runs before I change anything. So if you get the goal in Starts Gamblers? Super! Lather, rinse, repeat exactly the same in Standard. If you get it twice in a row, then you can change something.
To get what I want in the ring, I only change one variable (ramping it up) and when that happens, I ramp the others down. Since the environment is the big variable change, I recommend a full on “just like home” approach to the NFC runs – let her see the toys, let her engage with you on the way to the line doing tricks-for-toys, reward the stay (make it a short one so there are no errors, etc). Then do a super short blast of a fun course, with another reward in the ring. Criteria for the agility behaviors should be easy peasy because the environment is so darned hard.
With my youngsters, I spend entire weekend doing the ‘stage 1’ Just Like Home NFC runs so I can be absolutely sure that they are fully engaged. At my last USDAA trial, all baby dogs did NFC runs with the 2 youngest dogs doing them fully in the Just Like Home mode, with some variables changing as the weekend went along (mainly decisions on what/when to reinforce). All the time spent in the Just Like Home phase allowed them to go into stage 2 and then to real qualifying runs at their next trial, so I consider it time well spent (even though people, including the judge, kept asking why I didn’t just run them for real LOL! Ignoring peer pressure is a fine art).
So if you get 2 runs in a row the way you want them? Change something. Maybe reward later? Maybe go in with the reward visible then shove it in your pocket or down your pants 🙂 But only change 1 thing.
And only ask for obstacles/lines that are easy to do and fast and fun (my youngest dog only did jumps and tunnels in her first NFC weekend).Also, because I know Lanna likes balls – if it is a one ring trial, ask the judge (who is the judge, btw?) if you can throw the toy. Then you can go in with a tuggie and a ball, or two balls. I always go in with more than one toy. At my last USDAA, Bill Pinder was the judge and it was a one ring trial – so he had no problem with me throwing the ball as a reward 🙂
And maybe by the end of Saturday, she will say she is relaxed in the environment and you can do starters jumpers for realz. Or not – it is fine either way, because we have bigger dreams for her than a local starters jumpers 🙂
If you do a class for real, then the next class should definitely be NFC just to keep things balanced. And if there is an error in the ring, like she runs past a jump or goes off course – just keep running like it was part of your plan LOL!
On Sunday – I am pretty sure you can do Starters Snooker NFC because I have done it that way a few times, no problem 🙂 Just make up a fast, fun course in your time. Snooker is generally a terrible class for baby dogs so I just do it NFC forever and ever.
And same with Biathlon jumpers – just like home, fast and fun!
And if you are not at work and have a chance to play in starters jumpers? Maybe it will be for real, maybe not – she will let you know 🙂Try to video everything! And keep me posted as things go along over the weekend!
TracyHi!
Insightful video! In this situation, she is totally saying “this is not how it is done” when you present the toy as the reward in the beginning. It almost looked like you got a bit of trial-like behavior! Bringing her in on leash is a big change (and simulates some trial stress, to a degree, which is helpful!) That is a conditioned response, and so rather than frustrate her, we can go with it:
Bring her in on leash, take the leash off and when she offers looking at you (which she did perfectly here at :24) when the leash comes off: cookie time (the cookie can be in your pocket).
Then after the cookie moment, you can bring the toy out and carry on with your other training plans 🙂 She did get on the toy when she realized it was a play session and then ran the sequence really well!You can add the leash into every time you bring her into the training area: leash on, to the start jump, leash off, cookie for looking at you… then back to your regularly scheduled plan. The goal is to change her conditioned response in that moment. You’ll know you are making progress when you pick up the agility leash in the house and she starts to get really excited 🙂
Let me know if that makes sense!!
TracyHi!
The leash on the ground does totally help you stay on a better line!
This leash line was in position 2 (center of the bar) and she doesn’t really understand it yet from center of the bar. When she got it right, she was getting it off an arm cue and a little step like at :08 :32 1:28 on the first video and and :07, :18 , 1:29 on the 2nd. The physical cues are small but they are still there – and when they are not there, she is a lot less successful. That means we can help build better understanding of the verbal:To get better understanding, put the leash line in position 1 with the line of the leash going to where the wing meets the bar. And have her next to you, holding her collar, say the verbal a few times then let go and move straight forward up the line. That can totally help! It is easier but not too easy.
She is beginning to understand that there is a backside opportunity, like at :54 on the first video, and also at :29 on the 2nd video when you had a good line up and the verbal starting early.
Position 1 is more like the line you moved along at 1:13 on the 2nd video, that worked really nicely!
One other idea, especially as you work on the hard stuff like this skill:
Be sure to give her reset/line up cookies for lining up at your side before you take her collar to start the next reps so the overall rate of reinforcement doesn’t drop too low and to keep her happy to keep coming back to try again.Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyAwesome update!!!! Looks like an amazing event so far in a gorgeous facility.
Good boy Fever with his pattern games and chill!!! 13 seconds of chill on tape is a dramatic amount of time – there was a lot of activity in the area. Yay!!
Have fun and keep me posted!
TracyHi!
At this stage of the line up game, there is a lot of running back and forth and into position so it would be hard to hold the leash. For now, let him run a bit wild and without the leash (at home). We will be narrowing the behavior and adding the leash soon 🙂
TracyThis is a good list, especially the pee on cue LOL!!!!!
And the recordings can be very useful to bridge the gap – you can play them at a low volume in the background while you do simple training, then get them louder and louder 🙂
Have fun!
TracyHi!
If she loves the treat n train as the remote reinforcement station, have you tried using it at trials? It can be on a chair or in a bag. As long as she knows where it is, she might really love it! I use it with my Papillon, Nacho. The sound is off and at the end of the run, I run to it and flip the cover up and let him shove his face in it LOL it has never distracted any other dog.
TracyHi! I’m glad he stayed with you and came back. Yay!!!
Moving to the line on leash is great, I do it too. You can isolate the focus and engagement needed in the moment when the leash comes off by just practicing that section. By doing a full stay, you are cuing a lot of behaviors and I’m not sure if he knows just how much we like that offered engagement in the moment when the leash comes off 🙂Good morning!
Wow, she is getting faster and faster each time! Look how fast and tight she is on the wraps!
One general idea: because she is moving so fast and you need to get to next line and be able to make connection on the exit of the tunnel for the next wrap or left turn – after a wrap, stay connected like you did and move forward and repeat your tunnel cues (you were great with those!). And see if you can do all those things while your feet are moving away to the next line :)So your voice and upper body will support that tunnel cue, and your motion can start to move away so you are way ahead of her at the tunnel exit. Let me know if that makes sense (there is not a lot of coffee on board yet haha)
At :28 you were doing this a bit and you were miles ahead of her at the tunnel exit at :29, making the next cue very connected and lovely!
:41-:42 might be the only spot where you were not connected. As she exits the tunnel there, you were looking ahead so she kinda looked at you. On the send to the wing, you were looking ahead and pointing ahead and didn’t quite step to the wing, so she was confused because the foot and shoulders didn’t indicate the wing.
Nice reset cookie!!!!! It was a handling blooper (baby dogs need a ton of connection and physical cues) so the reset cookie was correct and kept her happy and in the game.
Your physical cue at :57 for that wing on the next rep was much clearer!! Add more connection/eye contact to that and it will be perfect. Looking back at the early reps, like at :19 – you had VERY clear connection coming out of the tunnel and a strong physical cue, so her commitment was super strong on those reps!
It is great to do a bit with the toy then switch to the lotus. That was a great toy 🙂 Since she seems to like to chase, you can tie it to something and swing it around as part of the reward delivery.
Great job here!!! Fingers crossed for more spring weather so you can keep up this lovely handling work!
TracyGood morning!
I will dig up a threadle/wrap video, I have a bunch somewhere 🙂
Really nice stay here makes the training of this grid SO MUCH EASIER!!! So great job with that and with all the reinforcement to maintain it.
She did well here with an introductory session on this grid. It is possible that 5.5 feet is a too wide and 5 foot distances would be better to get her landing more in the middle of the space – although some dogs juts set up their jumping to land slightly closer to the bar in this grid.
But before you change the distance… the next variable to add in is the moving target (it is not in the demo video mainly because we gotta get the dogs introduced to the grid without a moving target, to make sure the stay and the coordination is where we want it. Well, she hit a home run on that so we can have you dragging the moving target toy for the next session. Do exactly what you did here, back chaining it, and let’s see where she lands exactly. The moving target changes things so don’t change the distance. We might go back to 5 feet (or not LOL!). But either way, that is nit picking and I think she did a GREAT job here!!!
Tracy
Good morning (or afternoon now haha)
She is just the most fun dog to watch – adorable and brilliant and fast!
I totally agree that left was easier. She is a lefty! So for the right turns, you can use a pre-placed reward a few times to help her out: either hold her and toss the toy to between the 2nd and 3rd bar, or use food by putting a food bowl out between the 2nd and 3rd bar for her to target to (with a cookie in it at first, then without a cookie and you can toss the cookie in)
You can use a reset cookie on the good try moments or if that might disturb the tugging, you can reset then tug then try again.
She did really well turning away from you especially to the left. When you were too close to the jump wings, turning away got harder and she went the other direction – so for the next session or two, you can stay nearer to the center of the bar on the turn aways so she can have full success.
Zig zags:
Great job rewarding the terrific stay!
Having the 2 wings angled more visibly like you did on wings 2 and 3 really helped her – smart training! She did really well with her lead changes here. How far apart were the wings? They looked to be a little less than 2 meters, so you can try them at 1.5 meters. And if that goes well, you can try them at 1 meter. That will be pretty close and require her to do very fast lead changes (and require you to do fast handling LOL!) but because of her size, working that short distance will help her get super quick with the lead changes.Great job here on both! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! It is perfectly fine to put several games in one post.
You are so right: connection sounds so easy, but yet it turns out to be the hardest thing for all of us LOL!
On the serp video – having the cross arm seemed to really help the upper body get into position. Might not always need it, but you can also choose to keep it! It is totally personal preference.
On the serps, she was coming in really nicely and able to transition back and forth between the FCs and the serps easily. Nice!! She also got the backside pushes really well – SUPER!!!
My only suggestion for the serps and the pushes is to place the reward out ahead on the next line (towards where the next jump would be on a serp). She is looking at you over the bar and not making the next turn til you throw the reward. So placing the toy (or a food bowl) will help direct her focus to the line so you can get both turns on the serp and backside slices.
Zig zag video:
Having a great stay totally helps! This went well!
She did well on 2 wings and just needed a bigger indication to come to the correct side on the first rep of 3 wings. When there is a handling error (because that was indeed a handling error because the lead changes are cued by handling :)) you can totally give her a reset cookie. She didn’t know what to do and by walking away, you got some stress sniffing. So stay connected to her, give a reset cookie when there is a handling error. Note the difference in her striding when you gave a clearer, earlier indication at :43 – she was great! And be nice and early like you were there – you were a little later on the last rep so she was delayed in responding.
For the next session, start like this on 3 wings for a couple of reps. And then if it is going well, move them about a foot closer together so that you and she both have to do it all faster 🙂Find the jump – wheee! I think she liked this one LOL! Be connected but keep moving and upright. Think of it more as running while looking towards her eyes, rather than hovering (you were bent over and hovering on the last couple of reps). As long as you keep your dog side arm down and back towards her, you should be able to connect and run without bending over back towards her.
She was perfect here, so you can add more distance between the jump and the tunnel, as well as change your position. You were ahead on these, so now try to be more lateral. And you can run in closer to the tunnel so she can drive ahead of you.Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
