Love The Game

Dhali had some fun this last week - chewing up a hose!  That will teach me to put my things away.  Thank you for the lesson Dhali.

This post is all about Dhali, because tomorrow is all about Tibby.  It's her 6 month check up with the vet. behaviorist.  

Dhali has been doing great with his agility training.  He really loves playing with me.  He is just the dog I dreamed of.  Sure he has his own mind and does some silly things, but they are so cute!  

For example in this video he decides that he knows how to do the agility all by himself!  Very cute.  We are still working on the biting.  Right now my arms look like I get in regular fights with strangers.  When people ask about the cuts, scratches, bruises of all colors and teeth marks I just say it's from too much cage fighting.  LOL!  I'm like the last person in the world that would be cage fighting.  

The lesson with Loretta helped a lot - I have been trying to use the ideas she gave me.  Also adding a bed to our practice helps too.  Dhali LOVES driving and laying down on his bed.  The bed gives me a place to send him to and he always know what he's supposed to do there, so that eliminated a lot of his frustration.  One final thing:  working with food first and toys second.  Toys get him CrAzY and then he bites me.....so work for food and then as a reward we will play!  

So far this is working much better.  We are actually making some progress - Dhali isn't ignoring jumps and trying to mug me for the toy.  Also, I don't get injured as much.  It isn't diminishing his toy play - he still loves to play.  I'm still using toys in his agility training, but I'm also using food now too.  

Dhali is my little shadow outside.  He likes to make sure all the yard work is done with his helping paw.  He just has such an attitude about him!  Such a cute little guy :)

She Just Keeps Surprising Me

Tibby was so, so amazing at class tonight.  I think it was a result from our lesson with Loretta.  I kept thinking - trust her, trust her, trust her.  I did and Tibby did GREAT!!

The 2 things I wanted to work on were

1. Trust Tibby and give her space.  I don't have to 'manage' her all the time.  Really MICRO-manage.
2. Know the course.  Loretta said I should be able to do it with my eyes closed.  I tried!  I really really tried.  I walk the courses over and over - I was the first one to walk and the last one still walking it when everyone was ready to start.  But - I still forgot one course - bummer.

One new thing for Tibby was waiting for me while I walked the course.  She was NOT happy.  First I had her wait with Zoe's Mom (who came along to watch and is joining our class next week), then I had her wait in a crate.  She was SO MAD.  In her opinion, I was not allowed to be out there 'playing agility' with other dogs when she was in the crate.  Hmmmm, jealous much?  Everyone else walks the course with their dog. 

Maybe Tibby DID learn something at our lesson on Thurs!!!  Play nice or Mommy will play without you.

I thought her brain would be fried from all the tantrum throwing, but nope! she was still with me, focused, super star!

This first video doesn't look so impressive, but from where I was standing waaaaaaay far away from Tibby - it was pretty amazing :)



I haven't really practiced start line stays with Tibby, because up until now I have always been trying to get her reved up and running.  So I usually start with her.  Also, she could run away - so no start line.  Look at how she holds her position!!  And then she rockets off the line!  I wish you could see that I was keeping eye contact with Tibby and talking to her.  Just like Loretta taught me! :)


This next video is the first run of the night.  See how Tibby can go from class trouble maker to class super star (at least in my eyes LOL!)???  She's doing so much better! 



I tried to give Tibby her space and trust her, but still drive into the tunnels.  I hope I did it right!  It sure was fun!

This next video is the last run of the night.  Tibby had been throwing a HUGE tantrum - extremely noisy and NAUGHTY for a good 10 -15 mins.  She was over stimulated and waaaay over the top excited.  I had finally resorted to having her go into a crate.  I thought for sure this was going to be an 'interesting' run.



She did just fine!  Good girl!  I don't know how she did it, but she just shook off her hyper/crazy brain and ran.  :)

I really didn't like this run.  It's the one where I forgot the course.  Bummer.



I don't like trying to pull Tibby.  When I walked the course (a million times) I tried to think of a different way to run it - to push Tibby instead of pull.  The problem?  Well, Tibby throwing a loud and disruptive tantrum distracted me quite a bit!

I learned that Tibby CAN go in the crate during our class.  She CAN throw a mighty raging fit and still focus.  I CAN trust her!  If we hadn't had our lesson with Loretta I wouldn't know that :) 

Wow, I get such a rush of adrenaline from agility.  Just a few seconds, but it's woooo! such a trip!  Now I see how addicting it can be ;)

Agility Class Table, Tire and Tunnel OH MY!!

We went to class again tonight.  I was able to leave work 45 mins early, so I went home and ran around like crazy with Tibby for 1/2 an hour - before we drove to class.  I'm not sure if it made any difference, but next week I plan on taking her for a nice 2 hour hike before class.  She just has too much energy.  Is it possible to have too much? 

She was a very good girl at class.  There was one spot where she went tunnel- jump-weeee!-run to a dog that I have been trying to get to all night - I'm free! - Tibby? Who's that?  Come?  What's that?  But overall she was a good girl.  The class goes by really fast. 

We had a new dog in our class tonight.  The reactive BC is gone and now there is a Yorkie.  Tibby was positive that the Yorkie wanted to play.  Um, no.  It will rip your face off, but play -NO.  The BC was, I guess, a rescue that didn't work out.  I've been there, so I will not judge.  I guess the BC, named Lucky, bit my classmate's 3yo daughter and then bit my classmate.  So Lucky had to go back to the rescue.  I feel bad for my classmate, because she really tried a lot of things with Lucky, but maybe she needed the help of a professional behaviorist + meds.   Probably not a home with 3 kids under 7.  Just saying.....

Anyway, back to awesome Tibby!  I wish I could let her bark during class.  I would just like to see what she would do.  She wants to bark.  But barking gets you the hairy eyeball from everyone.  Yeah she does have a piercing bark.  I would also like to have her go in a crate when we are waiting for our turn.  It's a little exhausting keeping her entertained between runs.  The other dogs in the class lie down when they're waiting.  Tibby bounces around, wants to play the focus game, look at that or show me her 5,000 adorable tricks and get treats!  The treats part is most important.  If I put her in a crate then she would bark and crate + bark = hairy eyeball.

There is some guy that comes and watches our class.  I don't know if it is the instructor's husband or father? but he make such random comments.  I'm pretty sure that if Tibby was barking in her crate he would "get involved".  If I have to hear about how amazing obedience trained dogs are I will throw a barking doolally!!!  He actually reminds me of my step-grandpa.  I have to constantly say to him, "Be nice to Tibby.  Be gentle.  Careful."  Of course, he has dementia.

Wow!  You made it this far into my rambling post!  Congratulations!

I made these treats for class using a dehydrator and ham.  Tibby liked them a lot.  I could break the ham up into tiny pieces and my hands didn't get all wet and gross.

Tibby is the only dog in class that drinks water (during class).  She drinks about 1/2 a cup to a cup in the hour long class.  Probably because she is eating treats i.e. meat. 

So want to see some clips from tonight's class?  Remember it is a full moon out there!  I tried to add some fun music, but Youtube kept crashing, so just mute the sound.  UNLESS you LIKE hearing florescent lights and me yelling stupid things! LOL!!!



Our best run. Also the longest one. I run into the weave poles. Who puts weave poles there?!?! After 2 other people did the same thing, she moved the stupid weave poles. BUT look at how Tibby stays with me! And the tire. Tibby was like, "Go through it?" Even though we have even worked on the tire at home!



This is the one where she runs off, like twice, he he he. Stinker. This was done before the last video - I'm listing them last to first. Anyway - see how she jumps through the tire no problem. But then our next run she goes around the tire? I don't know why. I'll have to rewatch the video.



Our first run of the night. I add my own FC 'cause I thought it was a good spot. THEN I almost run into a jump. Watching Tibby + running = I still can't do it!

I really like our Tues. night classes. It's nice to see that I can trust Tibby (mostly) off leash and she stays with me (mostly). It's also good for my handling - running into weave poles and jumps?????

And Tibby gets to see that agility is fun and it makes treats!

Foundations Class Lesson 2 Week 2

I said, " I think we are getting better! We are having fun, so that makes me happy I tried a couple of times to get Tibby to do 2 things in a row - cik and then the tunnel, but she isn’t ready yet. She also doesn’t think it is necessary to do mutiwraps! She told me off - shook her head and then took the tunnel. It was really funny She has her own mind about things!
I split the vid in 2 - for some reason I can’t upload any video longer than 4 mins."

Silvia said, " Cool! She is so cute playing at the beginning of the video! And so fast when she is doing her zoomies! GREAT that she comes in to you in between, so try to just reward that by running away with her toy and having her chase you – don’t stop it by grabbing her collar! That’s contra productive: you come and you get grabbed. It should be you come and we play together! Anyway, she seems to like all the new toys! On the plank, you can start clicking as she is running at the end of it. If you don’t have a wider plank, make some kind of a channel (poles or cones or you could even use a tunnel as a barrier to keep her on) – it’s really just a waste of time to try to teach her to stay on. It’s better to focus on just running and having fun. Well, you’re definitely on the way there! Great job, was fun to watch Tibby so happy!"

ST Foundations Class - Lesson One Week One

This is the lesson - there was a video to watch and then this:
1. restrained send to cik/cap - the purpose of this exercise is to play a nice chasing game, while teaching great sends, distance work and commitment - see how early I can start running in the other direction when sending Le to the jump.
Things to pay attention to:
- height: If you only did cik&cap on other objects so far, start with a jump now, but without the bar for first 3 sessions: and then put the bar VERY low - max. 5cm (2 inches) for smaller dogs, 10cm (4 inches) for BC size and bigger. You can then add some height every 5 sessions: 3cm up for small dogs, 5cm for bigger dogs - SLOWER with young dogs! If you already did cik&cap with more height, do this exercise on your normal height, send a video and I will tell you if it’s o.k. or you need to make it lower.
- distance: Start the dog very close to the jump first and then further&further every next try to slowly add distance. If the dog turns back to you (as Le does once in my video) or waits for you, start closer again and add distance more gradually.
- angle: Note from which angle I bring Le to the jump and in which direction I run away to reward. The purpose is to teach them to jump close to the wing, NOT in the middle of the bar! That’s why I always do this approach FIRST and do lots of it before trying any straight approaches.
- speed: You can’t expect much speed with multi-warps, but you definitely want it now. Restrain the dog, wait for a good pull, let him go and run away for them to chase you&the toy. Make sure the dog is rewarded when still moving - don’t stop and reward: run and reward!
2. If the first part goes well, you can also do some figure 8s + chase it game: it’s the same game, only that you use two jumps now and run from one to another, sometimes still rewarding the first wrap, sometimes 4th, sometimes 2nd, sometimes 5th, sometimes 3rd… Note the angle of the jumps and the distance between them: you want BIG distance to get good speed - something like 10m. Again, you want the jumps under this angle to make sure the dog is jumping close to the wing, not in the middle of the bar. DON’T do figure 8s on one jump, it teaches the dog to jump in the middle!
3. restrained send to a tunnel (obstacle discrimination!) + come to hand vs. go game
Restrain the dog very close to the tunnel, as he is pulling towards it, say “tunnel, tunnel” to them: pulling in the direction of that thing is what you want when you say “tunnel” - and then let them go. Slowly add distance. Later on, you can add more obstacles (jumps&contact) close to the tunnel to make the discrimination harder: only say “tunnel” when the dog is pulling in the right direction, you can feel it if you hold him. You do the same with jumps: call cik&cap and release to the jump that is first the only thing around and then add tunnels closer&closer. The goal is teaching obstacle discrimination AND actively pulling towards obstacles you call (as opposed to hanging with you, waiting to take them all the way to each obstacle).
To train even more things at the time, when the dog is out of the tunnel, either call to hand and when he is at your side, either do a front cross or a shoulder pull (see the video) and reward for closeness - OR say your magic “run FAST” word and throw a toy ahead when the dog is catching up with you - meaning that you’re moving in both situations, do NOT stand still when you send!
4. independent weaves
If you haven’t started weaves yet, set 12 poles in two rows (left row must always be 60cm/24inches closer to you when you stand in front of the channel in order to teach them correct entries), at least 1m apart, restrain the dog at least 3m before the channel, throw the toy through and release. As the dog is running to his toy, sometimes just stand back, sometimes run after him, on both sides, sometimes far, sometimes close, sometimes run and stop, sometimes run and turn etc. The purpose is to teach the dog to ignore your body language when in the weaves and complete the task. Slowly switch to a static toy 4m after the channel, bringing the two rows closer&closer as you practise independent performance (I’m using bowls with treats with Le as she isn’t too excited about dead toys… - but I quickly switched to a toy, thrown after she is out then to get more speed). See the video for some ideas on what to do when the dog is in channel. If the dog already knows the weaves, send the video of how independent it is. If it’s not, go back to the channel.
Have fun



What I said:
"Hi classmates! Well, we tried out the 3 basic parts of the lesson. I think this class is maybe a little too advanced for us, but we are just going to go at our own pace.
When I was putting together the weave pole set I realized that this was the first time I had ever touched a weave pole - so you see we are beginners!
Tibby had a little tantrum (as usual) when we were working on the cik/cap. This is something we are working on and she has made a lot of progress in the last few weeks. She used to just run away, but now she will come back and play some more. She has 2 speeds - flat/calm and cRaZy! Someday her brain will catch up and I think she will be able to control herself. I like to get her excited, because I want her to be fast, but it is hard to know HOW excited to get her before she has a little tantrum. Even though she is 14 months she is very much a baby dog. Baby brain.
I hope you enjoy our movie - there are lots of funny parts "

What Silvia said:
"Well, it’s much harder with dogs who are hard to motivate… Definitely only use her favorite toy and maybe don’t use it for anything but agility, to make it more special. Try to move yourself as much as possible too. Spend lots of time playing between one and another try to not bore her with too many repetitions. And, most importantly… Try to take the zoomies to your advantage… When she is running around as crazy, call her “run fast” word and run around as crazy too, pretending like it was your idea in a first place. Once she knows the tunnel better, you might also be able to redirect her running into the tunnel: that would be a real win. Once there, it’ very easy to throw in few more obstacles. It would a huge breakthrough if she realized agility is about running and see how much fun it is to run through the tunnel full speed.

So maybe focus on making her liking the tunnel first. To make the tunnel easier: no rear crosses on tunnel yet (meaning if you are on left side of a tunnel when she enters, be on the same side when she exits)! AND move with her to the other side. And to make it more fun – have her chase you once she is out, make it more abut running.
In general, no problem with the exercises as such, so motivation is definitely our major focus here."

What a classmate said:
"Hi Catalina,
You make my day! I was laughing my head off!! What such a smart girl you have!
Do not worry if you are in the wrong class me too!, as we dont even have proper poles we use the sticks to hold the electric wire for the cattle! Video coming soon, hopefully I will record it when I arrive home!!
Eva."

What Silvia later said about someone's post:
"Why is everybody thinking they’re not yet there as the rest of the class? The 4 exercises above, all of your dogs can do, if you practised cik&cap. The only reason why things sound difficult to those new to agility is because there are many fancy expressions (front and rear crosses etc.) and rules where the dog should enter weaves etc. that you can’t know about. I’m trying to explain those things, but I sometimes forget some important parts as it’s just so self-understandable after you’re in agility for 20 years That’s why I decided for video form: so that you can see things I don’t see anymore

Yeah, I removed the sound as you can only hear the wind… But I started using my weave verbal already in 2nd session yes – I start using it as soon as the dog is searching for the channel and staying in. I like to introduce verbals very early as it takes very long for them to learn them: much longer as a behaviour as such. You can first just use a “go” or something and then switch to “weave”. As soon as you see she is o.k. with those poles on each side, you can close it somewhat. At the beginning you can do it as much as 3 inches/8cm at the time, but once you reach a stage when the channel is not much wider as the dog, you need to go VERY slowly, I will often only move two poles in (I check the set up and move in those which are set the widest: if they’re equal, I move in those in the middle), for as little as I can (about 2cm – less than an inch). – But I will do it as often as two times per session. It’s better to do it more often in smaller steps as less often in bigger steps. In short: you need to progress slow enough that it doesn’t make the dog pop out of the channel too often (you should go for at least 80% successful rate) – if it happens twice in a row on the same spot, move that pole out a little.
For the tunnel exercise, you can as well use a straight tunnel. Later on, it would be good if you could bend it at least some… You can always work around it too, but if you can somewhere get a real tunnel, that would be even better." 

She bolds the parts that everyone should read.

Ok  our video and then I will tell you what I am thinking.....

Ok,so
1- I don't see Tibby as that difficult to motivate. I can make her crazy very easily, but once she is at 100 mph I can't do anything with her. Yes she has her own opinion and if she doesn't want to play with a toy she won't. But 99% of the time she will play with me.
2 - Tibby likes to think things through. She doesn't want to be rushed.
3 - Yes we only use certain toys for agility - check. Favorite toys - check.
4 - Yeah tried the whole run with Tibby when she is zooming and try to name it something. I give you Exhibit A RunRun Video.
Yes in some ways it worked. She was kind of running with me. I think? But she can run like this for a loooooong time and if I'm not running with her? No big deal. Also, I lost my voice from yelling to her "run run". Plus side - I can now say this and she will run really fast. True story! Anyway..... This is NOT a video of Tibby excited - this is her playing and running. See today's lesson video for a true excited zoomie.
5 - We just need more practice. Tibby will eventually go in one side of the tunnel and come out of the other side. Right? Fingers crossed :)
6 - I REALLY NEED TO STOP WATCHING OTHER CLASSMATES' VIDEOS!!! Do these dogs all arrive with perfect focus and drive?!?! *whine* It's not fair!
7 - Whatever I think Tibby is awesome.

Well, that is my opinion and it is totally biased toward thinking Tibby is the best dog in the world, so that is that.
P.S. We are having fun.  And come on!  Tibby is so cute when she's naughty!

First Foundation Agility Class

IT WAS WONDERFUL!

It was so much fun!  There are 6 dogs in the class: Tibby (of course :P), Bella a 6 month Labradoodle, Dog an 8 y/o pit mix, Scarlet a 2 y/o pit mix, Jack a tiny terrier ( not sure on age or breed they came 1/2 hour late) and a 4 month old Belgian Malinois (forgot name).

This is our homework for the week

1-Load marker word or clicker.

2-Use marker to shape touching nose to target.

3-Reinforce attention in front and all sides.

4-Decide on trick. (we get to pick one to work on for the 6 weeks of class)

5-Two cookie game.

6-Bring bag with mat.

We worked with a clear plastic target in class.  At first Tibby was scared of the target, but she figured it out pretty fast.  I wish I could use my clicker in class.  I think it would go a lot faster, but we have to use the marker word 'yes'. 

  Then we did a game where one person has to be the dog and try to figure out what the other person wants.  My Mom went with me to the class and the instructor asked her to be the dog.  The instructor wanted to shape 'pick up my bag'.  It was so hard!  My Mom had no idea what to do, so she was a good person to do the first demonstration.  I've read some of Agility Right From the Start, so I knew what the instructor was doing.  Poor Mom!  She was a good sport though!

Tibby did NOT like waiting while we were doing our exercise.  She hates to be crated.  Really, really hates it. 

We did some restrained recalls and Tibby did great!  She ran after me right away.  One time she went to my right side and one time to my left side.  I was so proud of her!  We have come a long way from when she was 4 months old and she wanted to run to everyone in the room except me.  Scarlet was the only dog that ran away.  Bella was super jumpy, so the instructor had to wait for her to calm down. 

It takes about 1 1/2 hours to get to the training barn.  Tibby is awesome in the car.  She just goes to sleep.

The only thing I didn't like was all the dust in the barn.  It has a dirt floor and every time we ran big puffs of dust went everywhere.

~

So, what trick should I pick to work on?  I don't want anything that involves rolling on the ground, because of the dirt floor.  Trust me Tibby was dirty enough without doing that!  Any trick ideas?