Awesome, thank you!
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I always suspected he’d enjoy it so I’m glad I finally took him to try it out! Besides FastCat, I’d say any scent related sports are his favorite.
We did some training with his tunnel and I wanted to keep him as excited as I could! He seemed more “into it” so I had him go through back to back but kept the session really short, only about 2 minutes total. This tunnel is bigger than the barn hunt tunnel (which I’ll hopefully put together this weekend). The tunnel we used is 10ft long and 23 inches tall, the barn hunt novice tunnel is 6ft long and 16 inches tall.
Thats what I always did. Usually in novice the judges are kind and have the start box facing right at the tunnel so dogs often naturally do it first anyways. But if you make "tunnel" SUPER fun, even if he bypasses it like Ripley did at her trial even though it was RIGHT in front of her
, he should still do it easily on command.
I love how us trying to keep the enthusiasm and excitement level high has us out of breath more than themexcuse me looking and sounding like a crazy person
That’s what I’m hoping for!But if you make "tunnel" SUPER fun, even if he bypasses it like Ripley did at her trial even though it was RIGHT in front of her
I would say food, but it depends on the toy. If it’s a new toy then he’s more excited about it but he also has a harder time with impulse control. I try to play structured games with reward toys so he knows he actually has to work for it (and not be crazy/turn his brain off) like he does for food lol.
For real! And it doesn’t help that my heart rate is already high todayI love how us trying to keep the enthusiasm and excitement level high has us out of breath more than them
Impulse control was one of the hardest things I went through with my dog, but really worth it! Her brain went spinning out of control when I tried to switch from food to toy... You can start very simply with whatever toy really excites him and do simple things he knows exactly what to do: sits, fronts, down or stays reward with a click and toy toss. Reset & repeat. Clickers have become a favorite marker for me, I've found it enhances x 100 the exact goal the dog knows will bring the reward. So basically if the sit produces a click and the reward is 5 seconds later, they learn it's the SIT that brings the reward, not the 5 second waiting. This in turn brings enthusiasm to DO the sit as soon as they hear you say it (or when heeling & stop, they sit instantly w/out the spoken word. So same with tunnel. Hope this makes sense. He looks great in the tunnel video! I didn't have the sound on, so my apologies if you are already using the clicker!
YAY! Congrats on the RATI title!!! So proud of you guys.
He did amazing, and I'm impressed with how quickly he got to work – you can see him do a bit of a head whip after he passed the cradle, caught the scent, and realized he had a job to do. You did a great job making a call when you felt confident he'd assessed everything!
Oof, such a bummer when others dogs mark before your turn, but it happens. All you can do is discourage it, and he'll learn with experience that the ring isn't a potty zone. If I see our Remy sizing up an area that I know doesn't have a rat there (which presumably another dog has marked in), I'll immediately say "No!" and then redirect him with his search cue ("seek!") – which it sounds like you did. In practice, if he marks, just take him right out of the ring as soon as he does it so that he knows the fun is over if he pees.
That's awesome! The 2-string (lower height) tunnels are tough. I've only been to trials with 3-string tunnels, but Remy got to practice on a 2-string master tunnel last weekend, and he actually managed to turn around inside it and came back out the way he went in, even though I was calling him from the other side. I guess he decided it was too dark and scary to crawl through once he got past the first corner lol. So we'll be practicing this as well.
This is exactly what I do, that way you don't accidentally have the prong fall into the ring and get NQ'ed.
I’m hoping next time he’ll be further up on the list so there is less chance of other dogs having peed. I think he was the 10th to go for novice. Either way, we’ll work more on him ignoring that odor!
YAY! Congrats on the RATI title!!! So proud of you guys.
Thanks guys! Starting out quick and excitedly seems to be his style lol, but I’m curious if with more experience he’ll get even more excited or go straight “to work” after I release him. If it’s anything like he is with FastCat, he’ll be more amped up each time. It’s fun to watch him catch the scent, he does the same with scent work and whips right around. I love that because it gives me a clear sign!
Since he’s never smelt the litter tubes I was a little worried he might get distracted by that and I’d call “rat” thinking he found it. When he didn’t leave that tube I was pretty confident in his confidence lol!
He took awhile for me to call him off. He turns his brain off for pee smells.
I think next time if I’m unable to call him off after a few seconds I’ll just excuse him. I probably should have done that today but since he was there so long and hadn’t marked yet, I wasn’t expecting him to do it. He also will only mark if another dog has gone there, so it would be nice to run before that happens lol.
Thank you!
