[Tom Toomla]

Hey there

When he didn’t take the #4 jump, was he just running past it (handling) or was he thinking about the other ring? – I’m thinking it was a bit of both, I have to be perfect when the environmental pressure is on – going to be a while until we enter any multi ring trials

Yesterdays seminar went well Here’s our volume dial and openings from the 3 runs. Course challenges were some layering, some backside sends and some tunnel / backside discriminations. 2nd rep, there was a barking shit show going on right next to us while we were getting ready to enter – he handled that well. Third rep, he was a bit flat – I don’t train enough send away starts and he’s done a lot the last couple of days – time for a bit of R&R

I did get a why are you rewarding your dog for making errors lecture with a warning that it would give me problems with maintaining criteria. My response was it’s not him making the mistakes LOL

• This reply was modified 7 months, 2 weeks ago by Tom Toomla.
• This reply was modified 7 months, 2 weeks ago by Tom Toomla.

[Tom Toomla]

A bit from our class last night

Did a bit of chill after coming out of the crate -then some pattern games – into the ring and then turned up the volume a bit. Got good focus from him, but it was a challenging opening sequence for us, a couple of redo’s and yes he got rewarded well.

And yes, distance work may be next on our agenda LOL

[Tom Toomla]

Good morning
the freak out at the beginning – Ana had her two dogs in a soft crate in the ring – Coal was on his way over to say hello – never went back that way the rest of the day. Yes Ana did use the occasional “AAK”

Some of our last turn for this this seminar, we were working on jump-jump-jump-tunnel-weaves. As usual, when I did well he did well.

My take-away’s from this seminar

Do not toss the target to the instructor – LOL

Working out of the car is our friend – keeps him much more relaxed.

8 minutes on the floor is a loooong time – tough to keep focus and engagement going, especially when repeating sequences – more ping pong food tosses to keep him going?

I keep thinking I need to dial him down when we get to the line. Maybe what I need to do is dial him up – get him excited for the work.

Have another seminar tomorrow afternoon – Anything I should be doing differently?

• This reply was modified 7 months, 2 weeks ago by Tom Toomla.

[Tom Toomla]

Here’s the video again, now unlisted = sorry about that.

[Tom Toomla]

Seminar #1 – Run #1

the seminar was perfect for what we wanted to work on – topic was weaves with some short sequences to various weave entries. I chose to work out of the car with him which is something I should probably do a whole lot more of – he was much more relaxed coming into the ring.

Couple of times left him ina sit stay for a bit too long – yes?

1st time meeting Ana so there was a bit of mugging especially knowing she had a handful of our cookies.

Video is a bit long, sorry about that if you need me to shorten it just ask – looking for your comments on the startline and space in between work times.

[Tom Toomla]

So I’ll give the hierarchy of cookies some thought and yes, the Cheetos are way up there.

This video is of some setup and opening work while at class. It was taken right after the one I showed you with the mat work. We left the mat and came into the ring. I’ve been doing the marking and rewarding for focus on me rather than focus on the outside of the ring. You can see his head turns to what’s going on. Is this focus forward stuff helping or am I just letting the adrenaline build, you can see the result of the 1st release, I gotta run a bit Tom!!

Regarding seminars, got a few in the real near future
10/19 -4 hours with an Ana Mrksic
10/22 – 4 hours with Lee Gibson and Ola Kordas

Both of these are in the turf arena, too tight inside to do much pattern work in there while waiting, but I usually work them right outside the open door. Looking for your thoughts on how to best use my time at these seminars, I do realize that his mindset is paramount to get on the right track.

[Tom Toomla]

Great, now I can tell people that we are working on our “divided attention state”

As far as treats go, I use high value like grilled pork or turkey meatballs when I’m teaching I’m something. For pattern games, I usually use kibble, but then again any food is high value to him. Do I need to rethink this?

In the last video, yes the treats were crunchy, crunchy Cheeto’s in fact. Not necessarily the best choice, because I end up eating 1/2 the bag LOL, but they do show up when I toss them in the horse arena

[Tom Toomla]

Yes, the whole arousal thing is something we still need to figure out as a team. I also find that the need for arousal changes training to trialing. In training when it’s just the two of us I generally need to amp him up a bit to get speed. In class or trials with other people and dogs around, I need to dial him back. His brain is split between what’s going on in the ring and all the activity outside the ring.

Here’s the tricks I generally use with him while waiting or at the start line. Also have some ping pong / back and forth in here – medium latency?

• This reply was modified 7 months, 3 weeks ago by Tom Toomla.
• This reply was modified 7 months, 3 weeks ago by Tom Toomla.

[Tom Toomla]

Hey there
Italy – Rome Venice and Florence

Here’s some baseline Temperature stuff we worked on last night at our weekly class. Some pattern work and some chilling on his mat and then taking his temp with some simple tasks while the PWD is out there running.

The crate release, leash on, sit and then go to mat is a routine that I try hard to maintain every time I take him out – the only thing that stops me is lack of room sometimes, then I’ll chain as many of the steps as possible.

I don’t think the issues we are trying to fix are due to stress or lack of confidence. If anything Coal probably has way too much confidence – over arousal is not our friend.

Next up for viewing will be some startline sequences – want to show you as much as I can so you can get up to speed.

[Tom Toomla]

Thanks for the course fit offer – your 80 x 80 is already perfect for our 80 x 90 space

[Tom Toomla]

Hey there
Having regrets about not having taken a working spot, but we are where we are. It will work out.

“And I think reinforcement/reward station should be really close outside the ring, rather than all the way back at the crate – it is MUCH quicker for the dogs and also being ringside makes it more predictable for the dogs (and they thrive on predictability of reinforcement).”

Yes, thinking bout it, this is what I do now. I always shave a food bowl waiting outside the exit gate for some immediate reward and then the celebration when we do get back to the crate

Volume dial – Yes, I’m always thinking about turning down the volume. Monday class at the horse arena I have enough room so I can set up mat next to crate. I will take him out of the crate about 2 minutes before his turn – onto the mat to watch for a bit. Leave the mat to do some position changes by me. Call to side and sit – call to front and sit – call to middle and sit. When it’s time, either 1,2,3 to the ring or 2 step sit, 2 step sit to the ring. Always a sit at the ring entry, then ready and walk to the start – sit and leash off.

Friday class – much tighter facility – no room for the routine I described above. Here I will take him out of the crate – sit at ring entry – enter the ring and then more often than not ask him to do some leg weaves and middle position – then sit and leash off.

Regarding crating – a food toy, lick mat, marrow bone will always take care of whatever frustration he has about crating. Also, crating issues are specific to agility / obedience – he does crate like an angel at home. I think the boy has FOMO issues – he thinks every turn should be his. I do bring Cody with me to some sessions and have Coal stationed in a crate with the door open while I take Cody out on the floor for some work. So long as I stay away from tunnels all is well – the sound of another dog running a tunnel is a huge trigger for Coal.

Working on building strength for his jackpot cue – working at home – leaving the food bowl, move about 5 to 10 feet, ask for a simple behavior such as a sit or down – mark with a jackpot cue and then go back to the bowl with him for reward.

Will get started with NFC Part 2 at our classes – no lotus ball, food in my pocket

Also working on end of run put your leash on – shaping his putting his head thru the leash loop.

I assume it’s OK remote reward, NFC Part 2 and leash routine concurrent;y – yes?

[Tom Toomla]

Hey there – some random thoughts.

I’m following Ginger and Sprite’s work. Her journey seems similar to ours.

Still working lots of pattern games with him. Primarily up and down, ping pong and 1,2,3. Use the 1,2,3 for transport and the up and down for waiting ringside. He organically inserts some LAT into the up and down to check out what’s going on in the ring and then focus back to me.

Quiet crating is still an issue – the sounds of agility get him all ramped up – doesn’t have to see just needs to hear. Interestingly enough, if I put him on a mat or station right next to the crate, all is good – I’ve built enough value for mat work so he can hang in the open. Crating is getting better, down to about 10 minutes or so to settle down.

Ran him in some CPE this past weekend. Would bring him in about 10 minutes before his runs to let him acclimate – do out thing in the ring, back to the crate for reward and then out to the car to let him decompress – It’s a routine that has possibility for him.

His skills are coming along very nicely. He is super responsive to my body which puts a lot of pressure on me. One wrong step and damn, I’ve sent him to the backside again

Still working on building some toy drive in him. Got him playing tug in the LR now, still no chance when his arousal is up. A work in progress and I need to commit to getting it worked out.

One other hole I need to fill is remote reward. Reliance on the lotus ball is a problem when I can’t bring the ball in with me – takes him just one run to figure out there’s nothing in it for him. I need to start building a ring routine leading to remote reward – would ultimately love him to be dragging me back to the crate. He’s such a foodie so I do think that’s attainable. Seems like a good limited mobility project! I do have a bunch of stuff from NGL that will help get me there. Next trial is mid December, will see what I can get in place by then.

Let me know what you think.

[Tom Toomla]

This is our last run of last nights session.

Lost him to the next ring momentarily after the 1st tunnel but he reconnected quickly – is the smart move here to stop and reward the reconnection?

Off on my timing on the RC – should have taken one step more?

I lost connection after the backside – did not see him take the OC tunnel

Did not use a turning cue coming out of the 2nd to last tunnel – led to a big turn to the last tunnel

[Tom Toomla]

“As you go in to the ring, you can do some tricks for cookies to get him more pumed up – the patterns get the dogs engaged but not necessarily stimulated enough to do agility with complete focus.”

So here’s what I use for tricks
– Hand touch -do use it to jazz him up a bit – also use it when I want a behavior I can reward

– Leg weaves use this to get focus and also as a pattern to kill time for waiting. I think he gets a chance to take in the scene while being able to do something.

Been hot out lately so haven’t done much, weather should break for the better tomorrow so we’ll be back at it.

[Tom Toomla]

Hey there

Here’s one of our sessions from class last night – complete with wildlife

Some up and down pattern work while we were waiting – the person on the left side of the screen did have her dog on a station here – a couple of glances from Coal, but super fast reorientation – yes?

Could have been more timely with my cues and shoulds have rewarded him after I set the wrong line to the 2nd tunnel. Mistakes = frustration = checkout

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