Back several years ago the purpose of this blog was to teach Bentley running contacts. We gave up on that when he gained confidence and just jumped them constantly (not to mention we didn't have any idea what we were doing!) and went back to 2o2o thinking that if we set clearer criteria, we would have more success. We did for quite some time (probably a year or so) but, his criteria ALWAYS deteriorates at a trial, and it's morphed into not even having a 2o2o on the a-frame.
But, we can't pull him in the ring because I'm sure the fault is ours (he is ring wise, and we've done a poor job teaching the criteria). If you put Lexi in front of any raised piece of anything, and tell her "touch", she gets into a 2o2o. Bentley has no idea what to do. He tries laying on it, turning around the other way (2off2on) etc. So it's further proof that we need to do more teaching.
So now we're teaching the criteria with his head down (to encourage him to drive to the bottom into position, a current problem) and the 2o2o.
We started in the house on a couch cushion (just barely raised off the ground) and then moved outside to a board. But, in working with him outside (we have seriously limited time because the neighbor's dogs are outside 99% of the time), I think he understands the nose down, but still not the leg position. If I help him get into position with my motion, he's got it, but he isn't quite there on his own.
Showing posts with label 2o2o. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2o2o. Show all posts
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Friday, June 8, 2012
Foundation Holes
I feel as if I've always been pretty candid about the fact that there have been many holes in our training from the get-go, especially in relation to foundation sills.
Bentley's contacts are a prime example, and the reason I started this blog many months ago.
I mentioned in the post about our last trial that Bentley clearly has no idea what the criteria is for his contacts. He tries so hard, but is obviously confused. I am feeling frustrated because it's clear that what we're doing now is not working (targets -- fading them and proofing). It seems as soon as we take a visual prop away, he gets very confused.
Several things occurred to me when it comes to how Bentley learns (tricks, obedience, agility)--
1) He generalizes very poorly. Using props is a bad idea because he tends to rely on them and cue directly off of them regardless of how long they are in play or how quickly or slowly they are faded.
2) It is very important that he have a strong foundation skill before we start to build on it (this is likely true of all dogs, but exaggeratedly so for him)
Therefore, it's time to start from the ground up. No gimmicks!
We're going to start teaching him to get into his 2o2o like we're teaching a trick. You start with the basic behavior (touching the contact, getting onto the contact, having back feet on and front feet off, holding that position, running into that position and so on and so forth).
Well, we went in the yard early this week to start this new regimen and I realized almost immediately how much we missed with this particular behavior. He stood next to the dogwalk and stared at me. He offered sits, he offered downs, he marched, he spun around. He didn't even want to look at the dogwalk! We had to start with just that--looking at it. Mind you, I was armed with a clicker and real turkey!
In our second session he actually got on the dogwalk backwards and was in a 2o2o with his back feet on the ground. Needless to say, at least I know that this training is the way to go! Poor guy has had no idea what the end behavior has been all this time.
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Bentley's contacts are a prime example, and the reason I started this blog many months ago.
I mentioned in the post about our last trial that Bentley clearly has no idea what the criteria is for his contacts. He tries so hard, but is obviously confused. I am feeling frustrated because it's clear that what we're doing now is not working (targets -- fading them and proofing). It seems as soon as we take a visual prop away, he gets very confused.
Several things occurred to me when it comes to how Bentley learns (tricks, obedience, agility)--
1) He generalizes very poorly. Using props is a bad idea because he tends to rely on them and cue directly off of them regardless of how long they are in play or how quickly or slowly they are faded.
2) It is very important that he have a strong foundation skill before we start to build on it (this is likely true of all dogs, but exaggeratedly so for him)
Therefore, it's time to start from the ground up. No gimmicks!
We're going to start teaching him to get into his 2o2o like we're teaching a trick. You start with the basic behavior (touching the contact, getting onto the contact, having back feet on and front feet off, holding that position, running into that position and so on and so forth).
Well, we went in the yard early this week to start this new regimen and I realized almost immediately how much we missed with this particular behavior. He stood next to the dogwalk and stared at me. He offered sits, he offered downs, he marched, he spun around. He didn't even want to look at the dogwalk! We had to start with just that--looking at it. Mind you, I was armed with a clicker and real turkey!
In our second session he actually got on the dogwalk backwards and was in a 2o2o with his back feet on the ground. Needless to say, at least I know that this training is the way to go! Poor guy has had no idea what the end behavior has been all this time.
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Friday, June 1, 2012
CBC: An Update
Started Contact Boot Camp this past weekend...so I thought I'd post an update.
Lexi has (unsurprisingly) shown me that she remembers her 2o2o. In the past week or so of proofing, distracting, encouraging, and challenging her on the dogwalk, I think we have managed to pull her off only a handful of times. In class the other night she came off of her a-frame once (we don't have an a-frame here at home), but that was a huge improvement from the previous weeks!
For Lexi, we've done the following:
- Taken her right outside as soon as we get home (no saying hello, etc...) as she is VERY excited
- Made her dinner and taken her outside with the food bowl, again trying to get her to break because she is so excited
- Ran past the contact
- Used other words to try to get her to break
- Sent her on the contact and stayed back
- Stopped with her on the end, and accelerated away (without releasing her)
- Placed an obstacle right on the other side of the dogwalk and reached over the obstacle to appear as if I was calling her for a RTH position
Anyways, those are just a few things. Again, she's really doing great! I just hope that it translates to a trial environment where she is even more amped up. The problem is simulating a trial--she is smarter than that. She knows when she can get away with it and when she can't. I don't want to have to start taking her off for breaking, so let's hope this CBC works!
Bentley, on the other hand, is still displaying the same issues. We haven't been able to practice with him as often because of our neighbor's dogs (Lexi ignores them, Bentley will fence chase them and won't work). He is still hesitant at the bottom as if he doesn't know where his 2o2o is. If you put a target plate down, he's good to go. If you run to the bottom with him, he's good to go. I'm not sure what to do. We've tried fading both of these things and it works for the first couple times, and then he's back to creeping.
In a trial, he's so amped up that he usually comes down, creeps for a step, and then jumps! We've been able to get him to do this a couple times in class, but almost never in the yard.
Either way, we'll keep working both of them. I'll be interested to see how it translates for this weekend's trial.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Pushy, pushy, pushy!
You guessed it, Lexi is getting really pushy about her contacts! I've noticed it getting worse over the last month or so (we're taking a Contacts and Weaves class and it's easier to see now that we have more time on the equipment).
She ALWAYS gets her 2o2o, but about 50% of the time now doesn't hold it. On the dogwalk and a-frame she often gets into position and immediately releases herself (especially if I keep moving--which I almost always do). On the teeter she gets into position and then releases herself after a second or two. I guess I should consider myself lucky that she is still getting into position, but knowing how pushy she is, I can see this deteriorating further if I let her.
I spoke with my trainer last night and expressed my confusion. I had previously been feeding her in training when she gets into position, but she seems to anticipate when I'm going to feed her and when I'm not. My trainer suggested trying to switch things up. Sometimes quick release her, and sometimes make her hold it, but not to change my handling. I then asked her what I should do if she misses. She didn't necessarily recommend taking her off (though she did say that she thought Lexi knew her criteria well enough that this is an option if I felt comfortable doing it) but she did say I should walk her back to the beginning of the obstacle and not look or speak to her. Then just a verbal reward if she gets it right on the second try. Basically, I need to become less predictable.
Bentley has different issues, though I suspect for similar reasons. I would like to stop to pat ourselves on the back, though, because he has not missed a contact in at least the past 6 months. One year ago he was missing all of them! In trials I am still seeing jumping off the a-frame about 70% of the time, and creeping on the dogwalk about 50% (with it deteriorating as the trials continue). I think we need to try to make training feel as much like a trial as possible as well as make sure to vary the rate of reward.
So this summer we're enacting...wait for it...Contact Boot Camp (CBC)! Hopefully this weekend we'll be able to put up our dogwalk and our mini a-frame. The plan is to put the dogs on the obstacles multiple times a day and trying to think of ways to proof it. Because our yard is so small it's hard to build up a head of steam (one thing that causes the dogs to fail) but I'm coming up with other ideas to practice (taking the dogs IMMEDIATELY to the contacts when we get home when they are super excited, having to get into a 2o2o as we fill up their food bowls, etc...)
Thursday, January 5, 2012
St. Louis Trial: Bentley
Finally--Bentley gets his trial update!
As always, Bentley's goals are a bit different than Lexi's. We've been working really hard on his 2o2o on the dogwalk, and I'm always anxious to put it to the test in a high-energy trial environment. Needless to say, he passed with flying colors! He went 3 for 3 in dogwalk contacts! What a good boy!
Day 1:
Masters Gamblers: Gamblers just isn't his thing! He only has 1 Masters Gamblers Q, and hasn't really come close to any of the others. But that's okay--it's a skill that honestly got skipped when we were learning about agility, and handler focus became Bentley's major strength. Some day I think we'll have to drop everything and teach Bentley to work away, but for now we'll just understand that this is a skill that he is missing. I was hoping that he would at least turn to the teeter (the gamble was jump, right to teeter, left to a jump directly behind the teeter, back over the first jump and then a second jump beyond that), but it wasn't meant to be. Also, we learned that his a-frame contact is NOT there yet!
Masters Standard: Bentley hasn't gotten a standard Q in a year. A whole year! It's something we expected and actually pulled him from standard in many trials as we re-worked his contacts. I was very, very proud of this run as the only mistake he made was in the weaves. His weaves were off all weekend, which I think was a combination of lack of practice on 12 poles, and possibly him being pretty out chiropractically. (Also, I think we better work on laying down faster on the table-ha!) But on the VERY positive side, we got a couple nice forward sends, a beautiful dogwalk contact, and a very nice threadle!
Grand Prix: In our lives, we've never gotten a Grand Prix Q! Of course we haven't entered it that many times (either we felt Bentley wasn't ready for that level of difficulty or we were retraining contacts), but still. Anyways, another nice run that we were proud of. Good dogwalk, just a mistake in the weaves (hard to tell but he pops out at the end). You'll notice a theme of mistakes right after the a-frame, that's because he's supposed to stop, and when he doesn't we're scrambling to adjust!
Masters Jumpers Q: I felt like this was a nice run. I felt very in tune with Bentley, and he was really going out and looking for obstacles--good boy! Watching the video I definitely felt that I ran pretty passively, but I was glad that we qualified as we've been pretty close in jumpers in some of our last runs.
Masters Pairs: I won't say too much about these runs, just a mistake in the weaves again. He didn't run clean in his run that counted, but did run clean when he ran to accomodate the other 16" dog to help that dog Q.
Day 2:
Masters Gamblers: This one we knew he had no chance in from the beginning. His weaves were off all day the day before, and since his surgery we really haven't worked independent weaves. What followed was nothing short of hilarious. Jonathan and I talked the whole time we were watching others run how important it was to get the dog in obstacle focus before sending them to the weaves. Let's just say, that didn't happen. Unfortunately I was laughing so hard that you can't really see what happens in the video. Bentley kept jumping up on Jonathan's leg and grabbing his pants (something he does when he gets frustrated). Jonathan couldn't get him to let go and send him to the weaves. I haven't seen him melt down in the ring like that in a long time. But, we still had a good time!
Masters Standard Q: Bentley's first Q in Masters Standard, and first Standard Q in exactly 1 year! So happy for my boy, and the effort and work that he has offered to us as we worked on his contacts. I could have cried! To point out a couple highlights--loved his push to the teeter, and his recall to heel prior to the weaves (bad camera work by me!) And to point out the bad...naughty Jonathan EARLY released his dogwalk! I called him out on it and he said "I was so worried that we would mess it up that I got nervous and released him!" Hope that doesn't confuse Bentley!
As always, Bentley's goals are a bit different than Lexi's. We've been working really hard on his 2o2o on the dogwalk, and I'm always anxious to put it to the test in a high-energy trial environment. Needless to say, he passed with flying colors! He went 3 for 3 in dogwalk contacts! What a good boy!
Day 1:
Masters Gamblers: Gamblers just isn't his thing! He only has 1 Masters Gamblers Q, and hasn't really come close to any of the others. But that's okay--it's a skill that honestly got skipped when we were learning about agility, and handler focus became Bentley's major strength. Some day I think we'll have to drop everything and teach Bentley to work away, but for now we'll just understand that this is a skill that he is missing. I was hoping that he would at least turn to the teeter (the gamble was jump, right to teeter, left to a jump directly behind the teeter, back over the first jump and then a second jump beyond that), but it wasn't meant to be. Also, we learned that his a-frame contact is NOT there yet!
Masters Standard: Bentley hasn't gotten a standard Q in a year. A whole year! It's something we expected and actually pulled him from standard in many trials as we re-worked his contacts. I was very, very proud of this run as the only mistake he made was in the weaves. His weaves were off all weekend, which I think was a combination of lack of practice on 12 poles, and possibly him being pretty out chiropractically. (Also, I think we better work on laying down faster on the table-ha!) But on the VERY positive side, we got a couple nice forward sends, a beautiful dogwalk contact, and a very nice threadle!
Grand Prix: In our lives, we've never gotten a Grand Prix Q! Of course we haven't entered it that many times (either we felt Bentley wasn't ready for that level of difficulty or we were retraining contacts), but still. Anyways, another nice run that we were proud of. Good dogwalk, just a mistake in the weaves (hard to tell but he pops out at the end). You'll notice a theme of mistakes right after the a-frame, that's because he's supposed to stop, and when he doesn't we're scrambling to adjust!
Masters Jumpers Q: I felt like this was a nice run. I felt very in tune with Bentley, and he was really going out and looking for obstacles--good boy! Watching the video I definitely felt that I ran pretty passively, but I was glad that we qualified as we've been pretty close in jumpers in some of our last runs.
Masters Pairs: I won't say too much about these runs, just a mistake in the weaves again. He didn't run clean in his run that counted, but did run clean when he ran to accomodate the other 16" dog to help that dog Q.
Day 2:
Masters Gamblers: This one we knew he had no chance in from the beginning. His weaves were off all day the day before, and since his surgery we really haven't worked independent weaves. What followed was nothing short of hilarious. Jonathan and I talked the whole time we were watching others run how important it was to get the dog in obstacle focus before sending them to the weaves. Let's just say, that didn't happen. Unfortunately I was laughing so hard that you can't really see what happens in the video. Bentley kept jumping up on Jonathan's leg and grabbing his pants (something he does when he gets frustrated). Jonathan couldn't get him to let go and send him to the weaves. I haven't seen him melt down in the ring like that in a long time. But, we still had a good time!
Masters Standard Q: Bentley's first Q in Masters Standard, and first Standard Q in exactly 1 year! So happy for my boy, and the effort and work that he has offered to us as we worked on his contacts. I could have cried! To point out a couple highlights--loved his push to the teeter, and his recall to heel prior to the weaves (bad camera work by me!) And to point out the bad...naughty Jonathan EARLY released his dogwalk! I called him out on it and he said "I was so worried that we would mess it up that I got nervous and released him!" Hope that doesn't confuse Bentley!
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Homecoming! LCDA Trial--Bentley
Had a great weekend this past weekend. We were in Charleston for a long weekend as Jonathan had an interview (yes, we could be moving back) there. Of course, we had to cram in at least one day of agility while there, and it proved to be very much worth it.
I'll start with Bentley's weekend. To sum it up...he was very happy to be out there! He was excited, and had a blast. He did his thing where he totally ignored me to grab off courses, though, so now that he's healthy we're going to have to work on it. Not sure what he's thinking! Also, our teamwork was a bit off, but I think it's just because we're rusty.
Bentley Masters Jumpers
I debated the whole time if I should lead out push or keep him on my left and RC, but I was afraid that he might take the tunnel. Clearly my choice was not a good one! Then he read my moving FC as a go, and took the double off course--what a weirdo! The end was nice.
Bentley Masters Pairs
Bummed because with Bentley's one mistake, we ended up over course time. Weirdly enough, we were right at SCT (not including the mistake). I didn't think either dog was that slow, so I guess the SCTs were tight. Bentley's weave entries were off all weekend--just needs a bit more practice since he's had so much time off. I should also point out that Bentley slowed down on the DW, but then jumped when I encouraged him to come down into his 2o2o. Naughty! But, I expected some of that.
Bentley Masters Gamblers
Not a great run...again, we haven't really been in sync with Bentley since he has had so much time off. Gamblers is just not his thing...but that's something to work on for another day.
Bentley Masters Standard
Wait for it...wait for it...HE GOT HIS DOGWALK! 2o2o! I could have cried! He jumped his teeter contact, but the teeter was very different from the ones we've been working on. It tips a lot slower. He stopped where the teeter started to move, so he just hopped right off. Usually he is in the yellow when he stops. Definitely his best run of the weekend. Oh, and he did miss his a-frame (judge didn't call it), but I definitely expected that. We need to do a LOT more work on that.
The next day I dropped by the field, and Bentley nailed his 2o2o on the dogwalk and the a-frame each time. So clearly now we need to work on his position when he's excited.
I'll start with Bentley's weekend. To sum it up...he was very happy to be out there! He was excited, and had a blast. He did his thing where he totally ignored me to grab off courses, though, so now that he's healthy we're going to have to work on it. Not sure what he's thinking! Also, our teamwork was a bit off, but I think it's just because we're rusty.
Bentley Masters Jumpers
I debated the whole time if I should lead out push or keep him on my left and RC, but I was afraid that he might take the tunnel. Clearly my choice was not a good one! Then he read my moving FC as a go, and took the double off course--what a weirdo! The end was nice.
Bentley Masters Pairs
Bummed because with Bentley's one mistake, we ended up over course time. Weirdly enough, we were right at SCT (not including the mistake). I didn't think either dog was that slow, so I guess the SCTs were tight. Bentley's weave entries were off all weekend--just needs a bit more practice since he's had so much time off. I should also point out that Bentley slowed down on the DW, but then jumped when I encouraged him to come down into his 2o2o. Naughty! But, I expected some of that.
Bentley Masters Gamblers
Not a great run...again, we haven't really been in sync with Bentley since he has had so much time off. Gamblers is just not his thing...but that's something to work on for another day.
Bentley Masters Standard
Wait for it...wait for it...HE GOT HIS DOGWALK! 2o2o! I could have cried! He jumped his teeter contact, but the teeter was very different from the ones we've been working on. It tips a lot slower. He stopped where the teeter started to move, so he just hopped right off. Usually he is in the yellow when he stops. Definitely his best run of the weekend. Oh, and he did miss his a-frame (judge didn't call it), but I definitely expected that. We need to do a LOT more work on that.
The next day I dropped by the field, and Bentley nailed his 2o2o on the dogwalk and the a-frame each time. So clearly now we need to work on his position when he's excited.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Indoor BRAG trial
We competed in our first indoor trial on Saturday. Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I expected. It was certainly the best Lexi has looked indoors.
If I remember I'll try to post the course map for Steeplechase (there were none for Adv. Standard...which is sort of annoying since they didn't have any at the last trial either) if I remember.
It was also a tough trial because we only had the dogs entered in a couple things, but we didn't want to get their too late. There was no masters (due to the rule regarding size of ring, they can't hold it indoors at this venue) but there was only one ring so it went really slowly.
First up was Lexi and Advanced Standard. I'm one that loves to agonize over the course maps, so I felt a little off when I just had to walk the course to see the numbers. It was probably the toughest Adv. Standard course I've seen. That is not an excuse--they are definitely skills Lexi should have! She just doesn't :) At one point there was a 3-way discrimination between an a-frame, a jump, and the teeter. I made eye contact, but dropped too soon and she took the a-frame. The second time we came around she didn't take the teeter. But other than that, I saw some really nice stuff! No insanely wide turns, and she was one of the few dogs that got into the correct end of the yellow tunnel. Oh, and how about that weave entry?!?! We've been working on them, and I was so proud! (I should note that no dogs Qd on this course).
Next up was Jonathan running Lexi in Steeplechase. Again, I feel like steeplechase courses are getting more technical, but Lexi was up to the challenge! Just one mistake at the end (darn those tunnels!) I think that if she had been on grass she wouldn't have gone out so wide coming over the jump at the end and would have made the turn. The same I think is true for the weave entry. I saw a lot of dogs miss that entry or not be able to hold onto it coming around that turn.
And lastly was Bentley's steeplechase run. I wasn't sure what to expect since he hasn't run in over 3 months! But, he ran pretty well. I was a little disappointed that I didn't get at least one 2o2o, but his contacts were much better. The second time he even slowed down coming down, just couldn't quite figure out the correct position. Definitely more work to do, but at least he is aware that there is something he should be doing there! :) And he took that off course because I accelerated over the broad. He has a tendency to nick the broad (or tumble over it!) so I wanted to push him over, and I pushed him too far. Darn!
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Awesome night!
I am going to preface this by saying that I had just typed up an entire post and it got deleted.
But anyways, we had an awesome night last night. Bentley got his contacts. I couldn't believe it! This was his first time on the equipment since his surgery, and he was awesome! I know they aren't perfect, and we have a long way to go, but I am so proud. We've been waiting on this moment for two years!
And secondly, Lexi was invited to play at flyball with some other club members last night. We had a blast!
I warmed her up by just practicing turns (no ball). They were okay. I think we got two feet about 75% of the time, and some ugly variation of four feet the other 25%. At least she didn't seem scared, she didn't hesitate, and hit the box confidently in some fashion every time.
Then the three other people there lined up and worked in one lane, and we worked Lexi in the lane next to them to see how she would do. We started just by doing restrained recalls. I thought she would be worried, but she ran back and forth to my husband and me with no issues at all. I eventually started sending her to get the ball and she only got worried when one dog came into her lane.
Lastly, we put her into the end of the "rotation" (after the other three dogs). She didn't do any passes, and she didn't trigger the box (we just set the ball on it). But she did great! The first time she had to check out the box loaded (though the box loader did admit to saying her name, so maybe that distracted her?), the second time she dropped the ball, but the third time she was awesome!
But anyways, we had an awesome night last night. Bentley got his contacts. I couldn't believe it! This was his first time on the equipment since his surgery, and he was awesome! I know they aren't perfect, and we have a long way to go, but I am so proud. We've been waiting on this moment for two years!
And secondly, Lexi was invited to play at flyball with some other club members last night. We had a blast!
I warmed her up by just practicing turns (no ball). They were okay. I think we got two feet about 75% of the time, and some ugly variation of four feet the other 25%. At least she didn't seem scared, she didn't hesitate, and hit the box confidently in some fashion every time.
Then the three other people there lined up and worked in one lane, and we worked Lexi in the lane next to them to see how she would do. We started just by doing restrained recalls. I thought she would be worried, but she ran back and forth to my husband and me with no issues at all. I eventually started sending her to get the ball and she only got worried when one dog came into her lane.
Lastly, we put her into the end of the "rotation" (after the other three dogs). She didn't do any passes, and she didn't trigger the box (we just set the ball on it). But she did great! The first time she had to check out the box loaded (though the box loader did admit to saying her name, so maybe that distracted her?), the second time she dropped the ball, but the third time she was awesome!
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
The way dogs learn (2o2o)
I've posted before about how interesting I find it that dogs learn differently.
My two, for example, are night and day when it comes to training and learning.
I remembered a perfect example yesterday.
Lexi misses contacts for one reason, and one alone. She's excited and going too fast and either doesn't slow down, or doesn't slow down in time. When she misses in training, she gets a marker "what happened?" and she does the obstacle again. If she does it correctly, she gets a more positive marker "that's it!" but no treat. She does it a third time, and receives a reward if she does it correctly, and at this point, she always does.
[Background: This entire blog was started to track Bentley's contact progress. I don't have the time (or the patience!) to list the things that we tried and the mistakes that we made, but we have finally settled on re-teaching the 2o2o and were in the early stages when Bentley had his surgery. We are just now getting back into training, and we have him on the down side of a dogwalk plank, and a low a-frame. He's still using targets for some of the time, but we're working on fading them.]
That being said, yesterday we took Bentley out to work on the a-frame. He did well, and we put him back inside to work Lexi. We brought him back out and immediately put him on the a-frame with NO target. You can see in the video what happens, but I knew that as soon as my husband started to do it that it was a bad idea...Bentley missed his contact, though you can see that he stops himself and tries to figure out what he is supposed to be doing (he lays down!). My husband makes him do it again, and Bentley gets his 2o2o. I would have rewarded that, but my husband used Lexi's method, and just gave him a verbal marker, and then asked for it the 3rd time. The 3rd time Bentley jumped. As if he was saying "well, I didn't get it the first 2 times, I should try something else". So, lesson learned. At least until he is more comfortable with the position, he should get rewarded for the correct position, no matter how many attempts.
Sorry about the bad camera work...I was holding Lexi and she was not happy!
Here is a video where in the beginning Lexi comes off her contact. You can see how Jonathan marks it, she does it again, he marks it more positively, and then she does it a 3rd time for a treat.
(Warning: turn your volume down...lots of barking in this one!) In this video I am holding Bentley and he is barking and growling, and an ice cream truck is parked right outside our house playing kids' songs and Christmas Carols!
!
My two, for example, are night and day when it comes to training and learning.
I remembered a perfect example yesterday.
Lexi misses contacts for one reason, and one alone. She's excited and going too fast and either doesn't slow down, or doesn't slow down in time. When she misses in training, she gets a marker "what happened?" and she does the obstacle again. If she does it correctly, she gets a more positive marker "that's it!" but no treat. She does it a third time, and receives a reward if she does it correctly, and at this point, she always does.
[Background: This entire blog was started to track Bentley's contact progress. I don't have the time (or the patience!) to list the things that we tried and the mistakes that we made, but we have finally settled on re-teaching the 2o2o and were in the early stages when Bentley had his surgery. We are just now getting back into training, and we have him on the down side of a dogwalk plank, and a low a-frame. He's still using targets for some of the time, but we're working on fading them.]
That being said, yesterday we took Bentley out to work on the a-frame. He did well, and we put him back inside to work Lexi. We brought him back out and immediately put him on the a-frame with NO target. You can see in the video what happens, but I knew that as soon as my husband started to do it that it was a bad idea...Bentley missed his contact, though you can see that he stops himself and tries to figure out what he is supposed to be doing (he lays down!). My husband makes him do it again, and Bentley gets his 2o2o. I would have rewarded that, but my husband used Lexi's method, and just gave him a verbal marker, and then asked for it the 3rd time. The 3rd time Bentley jumped. As if he was saying "well, I didn't get it the first 2 times, I should try something else". So, lesson learned. At least until he is more comfortable with the position, he should get rewarded for the correct position, no matter how many attempts.
Sorry about the bad camera work...I was holding Lexi and she was not happy!
Here is a video where in the beginning Lexi comes off her contact. You can see how Jonathan marks it, she does it again, he marks it more positively, and then she does it a 3rd time for a treat.
(Warning: turn your volume down...lots of barking in this one!) In this video I am holding Bentley and he is barking and growling, and an ice cream truck is parked right outside our house playing kids' songs and Christmas Carols!
!
Monday, September 12, 2011
Contact Proofing (and more ball work)
As usual, I'm behind on my posts. Did I mention that I just started working again?
Anyways, I did say before that we had started a new class on contacts and weaves. I was pleased with Lexi's work in class, though she did break a few times (when we ran past her, when we FCd the first time) but she quickly learned the drill and seems to be doing much better.
Here's a quick list of some of the things we did in class to practice proofing:
-Run past, FC, BC, RC, throw a treat on the ground, do jumping jacks, say words that sound like the release word, etc..
-Test the dog's recognition of its release word by not moving your body at all, but saying your cue (no problem for Lexi, "okay!" is her favorite word!)
A couple things I tend to forget:
1. Remember, no reinforcement (or even a NRM) if the dog misses and has to be placed back on or has to try again. You can give a marker at that point "Yes, that's it!" but no reward.
2. Always reward the dog looking ahead with a low topline. You can work this my having the dog stretch and reach for the treat a bit. The dog should scoot its front legs to reach.
An interesting thing that I learned (that makes sense) is that dogs are usually more likely to break a 2o2o when the handler uses a front cross versus using a blind cross. This is because a FC puts pressure on the dog, but when you release the pressure (complete the cross), the pressure is released and the dog responds to the release of pressure by breaking. A blind cross never puts pressure on to begin with. Obviously not advocating one over the other, just something to think about (and train for!)
Here's a video of Lexi at home working on some of the things we practiced:
We also worked weaves in class and Lexi did great. Of course, we were only doing straight approaches, but that's when our instructor said that Lexi slowed down, collected, and go on her rear (HOORAY!).
A drill that I found particularly helpful was where you put your dog in a stay and lead out farther and farther into the weaves until eventually you can stand at the end of the weaves, then release your dog and they are to find the entrance and weave entirely on their own. The reason that this is helpful is that it teaches your dog to ignore your motion in the weaves. The weaves are the only obstacle where we want them to do that.
Here's more of Lexi's ball work:
Anyways, I did say before that we had started a new class on contacts and weaves. I was pleased with Lexi's work in class, though she did break a few times (when we ran past her, when we FCd the first time) but she quickly learned the drill and seems to be doing much better.
Here's a quick list of some of the things we did in class to practice proofing:
-Run past, FC, BC, RC, throw a treat on the ground, do jumping jacks, say words that sound like the release word, etc..
-Test the dog's recognition of its release word by not moving your body at all, but saying your cue (no problem for Lexi, "okay!" is her favorite word!)
A couple things I tend to forget:
1. Remember, no reinforcement (or even a NRM) if the dog misses and has to be placed back on or has to try again. You can give a marker at that point "Yes, that's it!" but no reward.
2. Always reward the dog looking ahead with a low topline. You can work this my having the dog stretch and reach for the treat a bit. The dog should scoot its front legs to reach.
An interesting thing that I learned (that makes sense) is that dogs are usually more likely to break a 2o2o when the handler uses a front cross versus using a blind cross. This is because a FC puts pressure on the dog, but when you release the pressure (complete the cross), the pressure is released and the dog responds to the release of pressure by breaking. A blind cross never puts pressure on to begin with. Obviously not advocating one over the other, just something to think about (and train for!)
Here's a video of Lexi at home working on some of the things we practiced:
We also worked weaves in class and Lexi did great. Of course, we were only doing straight approaches, but that's when our instructor said that Lexi slowed down, collected, and go on her rear (HOORAY!).
A drill that I found particularly helpful was where you put your dog in a stay and lead out farther and farther into the weaves until eventually you can stand at the end of the weaves, then release your dog and they are to find the entrance and weave entirely on their own. The reason that this is helpful is that it teaches your dog to ignore your motion in the weaves. The weaves are the only obstacle where we want them to do that.
Here's more of Lexi's ball work:
Friday, September 9, 2011
Good signs!
I'm a little behind in posting about our daily activities...but having a job is much more tiring than I remembered!
Anyways, just a quick little update. Hopefully this weekend I'll have more time.
Tuesday we started a new class with Lexi (we didn't enter Bentley this session because he isn't ready yet physically) about contacts and weaves. She needs a lot of handling work, but we can't afford more than one class, and Jonathan and I have committed to working on all the RTH positions with her during the week on our own.
I will post more about the class another time, but I had to say that our instructor actually used Lexi as an example while we were doing fast, straight weave approaches, and said "see how Lexi rocked back onto her rear and collected into the weaves?" I thought I would cry. I couldn't believe it! I guess our work is paying off!
And then, another moment of Zen on Bentley's part. As many of you know, we've struggled consistently with his contacts. As a quick recap, we started with 2o2o but he was unmotivated, lacked confidence, and crept down the down side of the equipment. It would take him 10 seconds to come down the a-frame some times! And then, he would creep and jump off and STILL miss the contact. So, we switched to running. It did wonders for his confidence, but then he got too confident and starting jumping (which was partially our fault as we started rewarding jumps by accident) off too early. Now, we're back to 2o2o because it's the only thing holding him back from Standard success!
Anyways, my little boy just doesn't learn quickly or generalize well. He never seemed to get the position, and often just seemed confused despite our best efforts. We had recently started retraining just with a target on the flat, or with little incline. Tonight we took him outside (after over a month off due to his surgery) on the lowered a-frame and he got into position like a champ! He showed true understanding of his job because when he missed it, he slowed down, but couldn't hold it, and got back into position moving his back legs. What a good boy!
Anyways, just a quick little update. Hopefully this weekend I'll have more time.
Tuesday we started a new class with Lexi (we didn't enter Bentley this session because he isn't ready yet physically) about contacts and weaves. She needs a lot of handling work, but we can't afford more than one class, and Jonathan and I have committed to working on all the RTH positions with her during the week on our own.
I will post more about the class another time, but I had to say that our instructor actually used Lexi as an example while we were doing fast, straight weave approaches, and said "see how Lexi rocked back onto her rear and collected into the weaves?" I thought I would cry. I couldn't believe it! I guess our work is paying off!
And then, another moment of Zen on Bentley's part. As many of you know, we've struggled consistently with his contacts. As a quick recap, we started with 2o2o but he was unmotivated, lacked confidence, and crept down the down side of the equipment. It would take him 10 seconds to come down the a-frame some times! And then, he would creep and jump off and STILL miss the contact. So, we switched to running. It did wonders for his confidence, but then he got too confident and starting jumping (which was partially our fault as we started rewarding jumps by accident) off too early. Now, we're back to 2o2o because it's the only thing holding him back from Standard success!
Anyways, my little boy just doesn't learn quickly or generalize well. He never seemed to get the position, and often just seemed confused despite our best efforts. We had recently started retraining just with a target on the flat, or with little incline. Tonight we took him outside (after over a month off due to his surgery) on the lowered a-frame and he got into position like a champ! He showed true understanding of his job because when he missed it, he slowed down, but couldn't hold it, and got back into position moving his back legs. What a good boy!
Friday, February 11, 2011
Lexi's contacts
Lexi continues to do pretty well on her contacts. I would say that she is self-releasing about 10% of the time. But, when she does, we just ignore it. It's hard to do..
Here's a video of her most recent attempts. (Please notice her teeter performance near the end...thanks Stuart, it's going well!)
Here's a video of her most recent attempts. (Please notice her teeter performance near the end...thanks Stuart, it's going well!)
Monday, February 7, 2011
Speeding up a 2o2o
As noted in my previous post, Lexi had significantly slowed on her contacts in an attempt to do it correctly.
After a couple weeks of working with Stuart's double target method, we're seeing marked improvement. Her dogwalk speed has doubled! She's now running the dogwalk in around 2.5 seconds (sometimes as low as 2.1!) Previously, it was over 4 seconds.
Here's a video from a week ago that shows her improvement:
After a couple weeks of working with Stuart's double target method, we're seeing marked improvement. Her dogwalk speed has doubled! She's now running the dogwalk in around 2.5 seconds (sometimes as low as 2.1!) Previously, it was over 4 seconds.
Here's a video from a week ago that shows her improvement:
Monday, January 31, 2011
Stuart Mah: Contact Advice, Lexi
Again, we had the opportunity to work with Stuart at our club. This time, he offered private seminars, which were great since we had a lot of specific contact questions to ask.
We started with Lexi, and I'll explain our issues and his comments below.
1. Slow 2o2o. Recently Lexi has developed a bit of a creep down the down side of both the dogwalk and the a-frame. She is able to eventually find her position, but it is slow. I was very worried that we would end up with what Bentley had (that led us to his running contacts).
His thoughts were that Lexi is slowing down because when she misses the contact, our reaction was to pick her up and put her back into position. She's interpreting that to mean "you're running too fast". Stuart compared her thought process to the idea of a person getting a ticket for speeding. After that, you're a little gun shy, and you don't drive as fast.
The first extremely interesting bit of information that Stuart shared is that he would recommend that we go to a running contact with her. His words, "if I wanted to just do well locally, I'd do 2o2o. If I want to compete nationally, I need the running" (even with a quick release, you lose time with a 2o2o). Also, he thinks her stride might be pretty conducive to running, even more so than Bentley because she's smaller.
But, he said that if we want to teach 2o2o, we have to let her blow through a contact. So, if she misses it, we let it go. If we stop and mark it, she will slowly creep down the next time. Obviously she doesn't get a reward, but we can't mark it as a mistake. According to Stuart, "we have to let her blow through it and miss on occasion, because the alternative is that she'll creep the next time to get it done". Stuart said that we'll take our lumps initially with a running, but in the long run it will be worth it.
If we want to teach a running, she has to learn to focus, and still move. That means she'll blow a few at first.
We decided to work on speeding up her 2o2o for the next couple weeks. Stuart will be back in February, so we'll re-evaluate at that time.
We ran our first dogwalk, and it took Lexi 4 seconds. Not great. We have to first learn to ignore mistakes, and teach her to speed up. To speed her up, we added a secondary target beyond the first (behind another jump not too far away). Also, we kept the energy up the whole run, encouraging Lexi to go faster. On her second attempt, it took her 3 seconds. On the third attempt, she was easily under 3 seconds.
2. Barking/Herding in between runs: Lexi has a tendency to bark and jump around my feet while I'm walking from obstacle/sequence to sequence. I always interpreted it as bad, and asked Stuart if I should discourage it. His answer in short, "no". She just thinks we are running a sequence and is asking me for information.
3. Lexi's crazy "go go go" attitude: Lexi loves agility, and she often can be seen barking or going nuts up at the field. Also, everything she does is fast (sometimes at the sacrifice of details). Several people in our club have mentioned this, and we do have a few people in our club with crazy second dogs. I have been very worried that Lexi is going to turn into a dog that forgets to focus when she's in the ring. So, I asked Stuart if he saw that in Lexi, and if so, what should we do about it.
He asked us what we do at home, and I assured him that we work on control all the time. Lexi has to wait for everything: dinner, treats, leash, going outside, playing with a toy. He agreed that this is extremely important. He said that the tendency for people with slow first dogs is to cut the second dog a lot more slack, and to allow them to get away with things and to be a brat.
He said the key is that we need to be in charge of the pace of things. He set up a short sequence ( a circle with 3 jumps and a tunnel) where I was to run the circle at full speed, and then on the second pass, slow down and have Lexi slow down as well. Lexi's so cute...because Stuart was just going to show me as an example, but she started to run with him, and performed correctly. She immediately slowed when Stuart did and looked to him for further instruction. Lexi allows us to dictate the pace, which indicates that there isn't a problem. According to him, "you need the drive to win, but you need the control to qualify". If she's missing turns or floating wide, it's probably us.
4. Teeter: As I posted previously, Lexi has now gone through 2 periods of fear when it comes to the teeter. Stuart believed this is because Lexi understands everything about the teeter except what makes the teeter move and more importantly, what makes it stop moving. He recommended lowering the teeter and putting a target at the end. It is her job to run from one end to the other. We are not supposed to say anything, especially if she slows down or starts to look confused. We will continue to slowly move the teeter up.
We started with Lexi, and I'll explain our issues and his comments below.
1. Slow 2o2o. Recently Lexi has developed a bit of a creep down the down side of both the dogwalk and the a-frame. She is able to eventually find her position, but it is slow. I was very worried that we would end up with what Bentley had (that led us to his running contacts).
His thoughts were that Lexi is slowing down because when she misses the contact, our reaction was to pick her up and put her back into position. She's interpreting that to mean "you're running too fast". Stuart compared her thought process to the idea of a person getting a ticket for speeding. After that, you're a little gun shy, and you don't drive as fast.
The first extremely interesting bit of information that Stuart shared is that he would recommend that we go to a running contact with her. His words, "if I wanted to just do well locally, I'd do 2o2o. If I want to compete nationally, I need the running" (even with a quick release, you lose time with a 2o2o). Also, he thinks her stride might be pretty conducive to running, even more so than Bentley because she's smaller.
But, he said that if we want to teach 2o2o, we have to let her blow through a contact. So, if she misses it, we let it go. If we stop and mark it, she will slowly creep down the next time. Obviously she doesn't get a reward, but we can't mark it as a mistake. According to Stuart, "we have to let her blow through it and miss on occasion, because the alternative is that she'll creep the next time to get it done". Stuart said that we'll take our lumps initially with a running, but in the long run it will be worth it.
If we want to teach a running, she has to learn to focus, and still move. That means she'll blow a few at first.
We decided to work on speeding up her 2o2o for the next couple weeks. Stuart will be back in February, so we'll re-evaluate at that time.
We ran our first dogwalk, and it took Lexi 4 seconds. Not great. We have to first learn to ignore mistakes, and teach her to speed up. To speed her up, we added a secondary target beyond the first (behind another jump not too far away). Also, we kept the energy up the whole run, encouraging Lexi to go faster. On her second attempt, it took her 3 seconds. On the third attempt, she was easily under 3 seconds.
2. Barking/Herding in between runs: Lexi has a tendency to bark and jump around my feet while I'm walking from obstacle/sequence to sequence. I always interpreted it as bad, and asked Stuart if I should discourage it. His answer in short, "no". She just thinks we are running a sequence and is asking me for information.
3. Lexi's crazy "go go go" attitude: Lexi loves agility, and she often can be seen barking or going nuts up at the field. Also, everything she does is fast (sometimes at the sacrifice of details). Several people in our club have mentioned this, and we do have a few people in our club with crazy second dogs. I have been very worried that Lexi is going to turn into a dog that forgets to focus when she's in the ring. So, I asked Stuart if he saw that in Lexi, and if so, what should we do about it.
He asked us what we do at home, and I assured him that we work on control all the time. Lexi has to wait for everything: dinner, treats, leash, going outside, playing with a toy. He agreed that this is extremely important. He said that the tendency for people with slow first dogs is to cut the second dog a lot more slack, and to allow them to get away with things and to be a brat.
He said the key is that we need to be in charge of the pace of things. He set up a short sequence ( a circle with 3 jumps and a tunnel) where I was to run the circle at full speed, and then on the second pass, slow down and have Lexi slow down as well. Lexi's so cute...because Stuart was just going to show me as an example, but she started to run with him, and performed correctly. She immediately slowed when Stuart did and looked to him for further instruction. Lexi allows us to dictate the pace, which indicates that there isn't a problem. According to him, "you need the drive to win, but you need the control to qualify". If she's missing turns or floating wide, it's probably us.
4. Teeter: As I posted previously, Lexi has now gone through 2 periods of fear when it comes to the teeter. Stuart believed this is because Lexi understands everything about the teeter except what makes the teeter move and more importantly, what makes it stop moving. He recommended lowering the teeter and putting a target at the end. It is her job to run from one end to the other. We are not supposed to say anything, especially if she slows down or starts to look confused. We will continue to slowly move the teeter up.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Contact set back (Lexi, for once!)
I'm a little bummed. Lexi seems to have had a big set back with her contacts (2o2o). She has had an awesome 2o2o for the past few months. It seemed to come very natural to her. We got rid of the target plates, and she has slowly started to be unsure of where her 2o2o should be.
Just the other day I started adding the target plate back in randomly, and she did better.
But the other night we had run-thrus (gamblers) and she creeped a little bit on the dogwalk, and then blew her a-frame contact! I think it was because the a-frame was part of the gamble, and we were a good distance lateral from it. Since we couldn't be right there to "manage" it, she was unsure of the behavior.
I'm a little bummed, but it's obvious that we haven't trained her to get her contact independently (no target plate, no us standing right there).
I think the problem is that we moved the target plate away and continued where we were (which worked).
BUT, I just assumed that she would be able to generalize the behavior in any situation. But in reality, she was keying off of us to tell her what behavior she should present. So when we were removed, she was confused,
We will need to go back to sometimes targets, sometimes not, with the handler in different locations. I think we practiced too much with us standing right next to her or running ahead--not behind or way out to the side.
Just the other day I started adding the target plate back in randomly, and she did better.
But the other night we had run-thrus (gamblers) and she creeped a little bit on the dogwalk, and then blew her a-frame contact! I think it was because the a-frame was part of the gamble, and we were a good distance lateral from it. Since we couldn't be right there to "manage" it, she was unsure of the behavior.
I'm a little bummed, but it's obvious that we haven't trained her to get her contact independently (no target plate, no us standing right there).
I think the problem is that we moved the target plate away and continued where we were (which worked).
BUT, I just assumed that she would be able to generalize the behavior in any situation. But in reality, she was keying off of us to tell her what behavior she should present. So when we were removed, she was confused,
We will need to go back to sometimes targets, sometimes not, with the handler in different locations. I think we practiced too much with us standing right next to her or running ahead--not behind or way out to the side.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Lexi A-Frame
I set out to originally make this a Bentley contact blog. BUT...I think since I only have three followers, I can make it whatever I want! So I think it may morph into a dog training/agility blog.
That being said, I can't resist showing a video of Lexi's contact training. We did decide to do 2o2o with her, for a number of reasons.
1. She's smarter than Bentley (sorry buddy, it's true)
2. She's extremely fast
3. She's very obstacle focused and it's good for her to learn to gather herself.
We've been practicing "touch" on a board for the past couple weeks. We did the A-frame in class the other day (at a low height), so today we decided to practice on our training A-frame at a low height.
Without further ado, here's a quick video. She's doing really well, and seems to really get it. The mistakes she makes can be attributed largely to her rear end strength/awareness, which we're working on.
That being said, I can't resist showing a video of Lexi's contact training. We did decide to do 2o2o with her, for a number of reasons.
1. She's smarter than Bentley (sorry buddy, it's true)
2. She's extremely fast
3. She's very obstacle focused and it's good for her to learn to gather herself.
We've been practicing "touch" on a board for the past couple weeks. We did the A-frame in class the other day (at a low height), so today we decided to practice on our training A-frame at a low height.
Without further ado, here's a quick video. She's doing really well, and seems to really get it. The mistakes she makes can be attributed largely to her rear end strength/awareness, which we're working on.
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