Big Steps

Big steps in both directions with Ri this week at training. Backwards and forwards we go!

Firstly, her tug drive has really diminished. It has been frustrating since she has always had tons of tug drive, but after her season she lost interest, and with hindsight, I have made it worse (albeit accidentally). Because I got worried that she had stopped being driven to what had previously been her primary motivator, I started putting too much pressure on her to tug, especially in situations where she was over-stimulated. She’s also much more sensitive to “failure” when her tug is her reward. If her tug is withheld for a failed attempt at something, she immediately loses interest in it, and this has been a change from her behaviour before (pre-season?).

So, this week we swapped to food rewards and Rio’s switch was flicked. She was super focused and offering behaviours, and happy to “fail”. I have to come up with a plan now, because our arena is sand-floored and not suitable for treats, in general.

Not all negatives this week however. Ri did her first big-girl Aframes! I haven’t taught the Aframe this way before and so Rio was the trial run, but I am really, really, happy with how this experiment has panned out. I’ve done no backchaining or target training at all. I taught her the 2o2o stop position as a separate behaviour, and then we did restrained recalls over the Aframe, raising it a little every time to a top height of about 3-4ft. Rio was allowed to run/jump/whatever on her restrained recalls, all I was interested in was speed. Today we put the Aframe up to (almost) full height and included it in some sequences. I didn’t ask for a stop, and fully expected her to run it. Rio was rewarded after the Aframe every time before continuing the sequence. She did two running Aframes and then started offering a 2o2o stop, holding position until released.

Honestly, I was not expecting her to progress this quickly. Rio has done restrained recalls over the Aframe maybe 4-5 times total, and the plan was to continue with running Aframes for at least another 2-3 sessions before beginning to ask for a stop. I will jackpot any stops at the moment, but if she chooses to run, that’ll get a reward as well for the time being. I’ll start tightening criteria if she maintains her current speed and confidence. I’m going to train the dogwalk in exactly the same way, starting this week. Then I need to figure out a plan for the seesaw … hmm.

Dylan was on top form as well, really driving and actually had a few poles down as he was flattening out a little much. Beautiful Aframes and just generally super, I do wish I could get that super Dylan at competitions! We’ll see how he does at Lune Valley this weekend.