Lexi: Handler/Obstacle Focus and a Clicker Challenge

The dogs enjoy a trip to Schiller Park in German Village.




I think I mentioned this, but since I'm behind I'm just mass-dumping the videos that I have on my computer from the past couple months. Here's a quick one of Lexi in the yard working on turns from the tunnel.




And, here's another one of me teaching Lexi to put herself into a box. She's a little unsure, and clearly doesn't know much about her back legs. So, it was definitely a good exercise. After this, I tried to get her to do it again, and she didn't get it. So it's a work in progress. I want to teach her to stand on something, and pivot with her back feet (great for rear end awareness!) so this was sort of the foundation for that. (I should also point out that Lexi is not really clicker trained. This was her first time using the clicker for shaping a behavior. She definitely is not afraid of offering!)

Obstacle v. Handler Focus

I love the Backyard Dogs drills found in Clean Run. Here's one by Stuart Mah that we found was really great for our dogs. Not too hard to set up (or remember!) and great for both dogs, though each have different skills to work on.



One thing that we found is that Lexi responds a bit too much to pressure. Specifically, at 1:07, she pushes out to the far jump only because Jonathan is turning, and therefore opened up a little bit to the far jump. I'm not sure how to fix this, because if I add a command for close (we use "here") then am I just babying her incorrect tendencies? Shouldn't it be the opposite...that she only goes out if I say "out", but naturally stays with us? I'm not sure. The same holds true at 4:45 (Sequence 5).

I've also noticed, from watching a lot of these, is that our timing as handlers really needs work. For Lexi, we're too slow and she turns and responds well, but we need to make sure we are asking for turns sooner. For Bentley, we tend to stomp on the brakes, and that causes him to pull in.

Random video updates

Bentley's contacts are worsening, if that's possible.  We tried putting a jump (or standard) at the bottom of the contact obstacle to get him to change his stride, but he refuses.  He either continues to jump from right above the yellow, or jumps off the side of the dogwalk in order to not have to adjust his stride.




Lexi's weaves are progressing fairly well.  She knows her job, she just sometimes gets too focused on the obstacle ahead and pops out around pole 10.  We're working on it...




Here's a good video that showcases one of Lexi's strengths...her responsiveness to differences/transitions between obstacle and handler focus.