Nettle has recently begun her weave pole training with
2X2’s. She’s catching on quickly, and
we’ve progressed to 4 poles, with some pretty difficult entries. She’s been able to work through all of the
challenges I’ve given her, and that makes me very happy!
It's 6 am - and 50 degrees outside with a north wind - Yep, I'm dressed up! NOT!! (':
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from our other dogs
is, ‘Don’t make things easier after a failure!’
Let the dog work through it, or they will learn to be helpless. They learn we’ll come and ‘save the
day’! I wish I would have learned this
sooner! Or at least, really taken it to
heart. I know I’d heard it before, but
it never truly sunk in.
Just like people, every dog learns at a different pace, and
in different ways. This doesn’t make one
dog smarter than any other, it just makes them different.
For instance, Seeker blasted through 2X2s in about 7 days,
it just made sense to him, and he LOVED doing whatever I wanted to do. Thus his name “Hail Yeah”, because any time
you ask him if he wants to do something, this is his response! His failures are easy to work through; he’ll
keep trying no matter what. He loves the
game so much. His attention is just on
figuring out the puzzle, not about the outside reinforcements. This is why he can weave through poles with
chickens in them; he’s not thinking about the birds, he’s thinking about the
game!
Nettle on the other hand, is very distracted by her
surroundings. She likes the game well
enough, but doesn’t LOVE it,’ yet’.
Sometimes she’s like the joke, “How many kids with ADHD does it take to
change a light bulb? Let’s go ride bikes.”
That’s okay, that’s who she is, and although it makes some things more
challenging, it also makes the ‘breakthroughs’ very rewarding.
Nettle likes to do what pleases HER! Gosh, who doesn’t! So, one of the challenges we’ve needed to
overcome was ‘bringing a toy right back’ when it’s thrown. This might not seem like a big deal, but ‘self’
rewarding by sprinting around with a toy isn’t very good ‘team work’. It’s also difficult to throw a toy with a
line on it. Yep, been there, done
that! Stepped on the line, tripped on
the line, and couldn’t throw the toy far due to a knot being in the line! Trust me; it’s a comedy of errors, that lucky
only the neighbors will see! Honestly,
they have probably already seen enough for a life time!
So, our retrieve work has become no direct return, no
cookie. I might play some tug if we were
working on 2X2s and she did a wonderful job…but, no cookie! Or, as Tracy P says, “No Soup For You.”…which
is way more fun! It’s amazing how this
works! In the video clip, Net does a
really nice job with her weaves, but decided a small victory lap was in
order. No cookie, although we did
tug. The next time she came right
back. Good Girl!
I’ve also been very diligent about not making things
EASIER!! This is really hard! We want to help them understand, but what we
are really doing is teaching them by failing, we’ll make it easier! UGH!
So, I do video tape my sessions, then go back to make sure I’m not
moving in such a way to make it easier.
In fact, I try to remain where I released her at this point; just to be
sure I’m not tempted to make it easier, knowing I need to add some movement to
these difficult entries as well. I’ll do
that tomorrow.
There is one point in this video that she fails 3 times in a
row; she’s looking for something else to do.
Yes, she’s stressed, but she needs to work through it. She sniffs the
ground, eats some grass, and at one point finds a leaf that she thinks about
grabbing and running with. In the end,
she came back and did a nice job! It may
not look like a hard entry on the video, but I was at pole #3 (second to the
last), on the left side, she had to go search for that entry. I would bet few experience weaving dogs would
be able to do that. This is the one she
did the small victory lap, no soup, but we had some play time.
If I would reward those ‘victory laps’ with a cookie, I
think I would be increasing the likelihood that she would repeat the
behavior. Now, none of us really knows
what our dogs are thinking, but I have tried rewarding for what I thought was ‘finally’
coming back. Guess what, it just kept
getting worse! Instead of a small lap, I
was getting the “Triple Crown” lap around the 120’ by 80’ training yard. Yep, “I’ll Have Another”!!
By withholding the cookie reward whenever there is the ‘slightest’
victory lap, those have become less and less likely to occur. I’ve also been able to ‘unleash’ the toy,
which makes tossing into these high winds MUCH easier! Double bonus!!
Bottom line, if you are one that rewards your dog after they’ve
run off to see someone and then comes back, you might want to rethink
that. Verbal praise, sure…but does it
really deserve a cookie? Are you only
increasing the likelihood that will happen again? I guess that’s only a question you can answer
for yourself.
You might think I'm kidding, but I'm really not. Now, I wouldn't expect anyone to become totally equal in their abilities to use each hand, but being better at it can sure help!
Being timely, and rewarding in the proper area is very important to dog training. In agility, we really don't want to be reaching across are bodies with our right hand to reward a dog on the left, and visa versa. Why? You are encouraging your dogs rear end to swing out, and you are no longer facing in the same direction. It's just not good placement of reward.
Same for tugging rewards. You want to when possible to reward at your side, facing the direction in which you're going. Now, I'm not saying you can never reward in front, but think about the game of agility, you are 'generally' heading in the same direction, side by side. It's a bit hard to run a course if the dog is facing you in front. So, by becoming more ambidextrous, you can successfully tug on both sides of your body.
Good news for right handed obedience trainers!! You are likely pretty good at delivering food rewards with your left hand. Sorry Lefties....you might not be as proficient on the right, since the majority of obedience work is left oriented. Reminds me of the days when dogs only weaved on the left! Yes, it's true!!
Ambidexterity is a skill we all can improve at. It would be nice to be able to deliver, tug, throw, (okay, so I know a couple people that can throw with their dominate hand!!) rewards of all kinds with equal accuracy. Luckily, it's not hard to do!!
Each day while you're doing a task, simply switch hands! Unscrew a lid, wash the dishes, unload the dryer, etc. At first you'll need to think about what you're doing, but it can seriously become a natural habit. EAT with your non-dominate hand! Trust me, almost all my friends are borderline 'food aggressive', you WON'T STARVE! I promise!! It's a great way to improve your dexterity for your 'off hand'.
Another great benefit is if you ever have an unexpected accident, like your horse steps in a hole and you both take a tumble into a ditch, you'll be able to eat with no worries!! Lucky for me I'd already been practicing!! I would bet wrist fractures are up there as the most common! Be prepared!
Play kids games, horse shoes (okay, maybe not), bean bag toss, Pictionary, "Operation" is a blast using your off hand!! Deal cards, make coffee, put toast in the toaster, slide your credit card! There are so many things we do everyday without even thinking about it, it's clumsy at first, but you'll be surprise how quickly you become good at it.
No turning back, no chickening out, no making excuses!!
This WILL HAPPEN!!!
Be GONE "STICKY ICKY ICKY A-Frame"!
Now for planning the strategy!!
When teaching any behavior, you need to know what you want. It's not enough to say, "I want a running A-Frame.", although I'm sure some people do, and are able to get it. For myself, I need to know exactly 'what I want'.
So, my first question is, what do I 'personally' think of when I think about a running A-Frame. First is confidence, a dog that runs up and over without hesitation. Independence, the ability to complete the AF no matter where the handler is. Along with that, however, a dog that can turn tightly off the AF to accommodate turns as needed on course. A dog that skims over the top. I don't want 'air', air looks cool, but wastes time IMO. Leg separation, striding naturally up and over. Let the number of hits on the way down "go" and focus on comfort for the dog. Able to maintain the above criteria in the 'face' of an extremely rewarding tunnel at the end, or any other piece of equipment!! Able to hit a 90 degree weave pole entry from the AF. I'm probably missing something...but, those are my thoughts for now.
I took Silvia Trkman's running contact class last year, in preparation for Nettle, so time to dust that off and go back to the introduction material. Now, Seeker will only be working on a running AF, so I won't be using a plank, just the AF itself.
It's also important to keep track of successes and failures, so I have a notebook. Video is great too, so I have my flip taped on the bottom (now top of course) of a 5 gallon bucket. This will help me watch my criteria, and give me ideas of areas to focus on in future training sessions.
So, this morning Bill helped me lay the AF flat in the building, just waiting for the games to begin! I got Seeker's favorite toy, his 'Squeaky Ball', and out we went. Okay, it was pretty simple this morning, the AF was flat and I tossed the ball out about 10' past the exit. Released with a 'go' and clicked when he hit in the yellow. Not terribly complicated. Worked about 8 reps and stopped. This afternoon I might put a tunnel on the approach side, just to give him something else to do. The plan on this point is to move up one chain link at a time as long as I feel the criteria is being meet. I'll also need to be sure to work front crosses, rear crosses and turns sooner, rather than later.
My one concern (if you want to call it that), is I have a trial the first weekend in June. I wanted to pull, but Bill didn't want me to. So, I told him, "I'm not even looking at my AF, you've got to accept I will say 'go' and what happens happens." You can't start this, and then not follow through at trials. That's just not fair to the dog.
I know it will take time for him to trust that he can run through. It will take time for me to trust he will run through....and, it will take time for him to figure out the stride he's most comfortable with. In the end, I know we can be successful at this. There are so many teams out there with lovely running AFs, so, there's not reason we can be one of them too.
Well, back to the 'drawing board' with our A-Frame work. Just when you think you have it licked...the last two weekends have shown that Seeker still has massive confusion when it comes to the criteria for the a-frame. Let's be honest here, it's NOT HIS FAULT!!
In DSM over the weekend, he ran so well, but we lost 3-5 seconds per run on a sticky a-frame. It's going to be difficult to compete at the USDAA Nationals this Fall losing that much time.....
So, back to the drawing board! First I need to decide, what do I REALLY REALLY WANT!! 2o2o, or running. Then I need to focus on making that happen.
Time for some soul searching. Then time to write out some lesson plans. Bottom line, it needs to be something that is very black and white for Seeker. If there is any question as to what I want, he will stick. Got some great ideas over the weekend, THANK YOU!!! Now it's time to decide what direction I want to go and stick with it!
If you're a women reading this, which you likely are.....you need to ask your spouse, or significant other what they would do in the following situation. I'm curious to hear the answer.......
You, a friend and your spouse are returning from an agility trial. 'You', ride with your friend, in her van, and your spouse is following in your van. Now, there is an 'exchange' exit about 90 minutes into the trip in which "You" get out of the friends car, so she can go home, and you ride the rest of the way home with your spouse. The exchange occurs on the shoulder of the exit. There is also a gas station a short distance away (1/4 mile tops) that we use as a 'meeting' place to leave for events.
Hopefully you are with me so far.....
So, the Friend is 'flapping her lips', and misses the 'exchange' exit. The Spouse takes the exit.
What would your spouse do?
A. Wait at the shoulder of the exit for you to return.
B. Go to the gas station, and wait for you to take the next exit, and come back.
C. Jump back on the Interstate and follow you.
D. Call you on your cell phone and ask "WTF"!
E. Go Home
F. Don't take the exit, since your friend didn't.
Please respond!!! Inquiring minds REALLY want to know!!
Some of the signs in the soccer facility were very fitting!!
Yep, even this one!!
Of course, it was the dogs that were flying!
Sunday started with PICTURES!! Okay, I'll be honest, not my favorite part. Getting 45 dog/handler teams into a small area, isn't terribly pleasant for most. Add to that, the dogs wanted to (run agility!), didn't want to be this close to other dogs, and many of the handlers are NOT morning people! The large dogs then ran third, which means you now had 2+ hours of 'down time'.
For us, that worked out just fine, I'm a morning person, and Kruz got to watch the small and medium dogs run! Life IS Good!
Seeker ran clean in the first run of the day, JWW. I was very happy with my send to from the broad jump to the straight tunnel that allowed me to get down past the tire for the 270 from 19-20. A few people tried to layer from 18-19, but the dogs 'correctly' came in over the back side of 20 reading it as a serp. GOOD DOGS!! Heck, we'd been doing that all weekend, so why would they think anything different? Seeker ended up being 16th on this course.
Standard was amazingly fun! Seeker was fantastic, staying off the teeter (which is his TOTALLY favorite thing), and taking the weave before I was half way up. Unfortunately I got a refusal at the jump #9 due to 'losing connection', and Seeker came into me. GOOD BOY!! It was clean after that, although I was behind, so a bit wide.
Overall a GREAT WEEKEND!!
I had a blast doing what I love,
RUNNING AGILITY!!
Seeker did well on what I thought he'd excel at. His aframe still needs work, but we'll continue to work through that. We'll continue to run at 26" for now, as he's qualified at that height in USDAA Nationals that runs in the Fall. We'll see where we're at next Spring, and will hopefully go again.
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