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Heelwork To Music


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I still can't believe she would have got effectively a 56/60 :eek: from one of the judges (if she didn't lose a point for barking and I didn't lose a point for my lack of costume :laugh:).

Do you know how they score a routine? All as I know is that costumes are worth 2 points. And barking is a no no. Going to attend my first workshop soon... just not sure which dog to take with me

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Ok so back from the trainee judges mock trial and had it been a proper trial Kenz would have come away with a very nice scoring Intermediate Freestyle Routine - ok maybe I didn't talk her up :rofl:. She lost a couple for barking and it was suggested I could take some of the drive out of her and she isn't a dog that needs razzing up - hmmm will pass on that she has a blast and I am not to fussed :).

eek1.gif

Some of us spend a lot of time trying to get it, why on earth would you want to take it out of a dog, even if it means a slightly less polished performance?!

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:rofl: yeah that was my thought but in the end I bit my tongue and didn't say to much more on the issue other than she was a nervy dog and I was more then happy with it at this point and that we do work on it when I train. Its on the list - it was the barking they weren't so keen on.

I do think some of what I have been doing is working because I lost some of the "frustrating" barking I had at the royal and it seemed to be more "enjoyment" barking - if you can get the difference.

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Unfortunately excessive barking can really wreck a good routine and at worst get you DQ'd. If its only occasional most judges will only take up to a couple of points off but if it gets too much you can lose a whopping 4 points :eek:

Back to the original title of this post....anyone think of some good music that isnt too daggy ...sorry don't like most 60's music ;) for heelwork to music? Trouble is I like Rock or Blues type music and that doesn't really lend itself.

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Yeah I do agree bedazzledx2 about the excessive barking - we are training it out but I am not going to sacrifice drive in the process. Hmmm as far as music goes - a friend of mine and I both think some of the Disney type songs make for good HTM routines. Good beats and normally some reasonable pace transitions to :thumbsup:.

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That was fun! OK - maybe not quite as polished as you could get it - but the music is so happy, and you and she work so well together, that it all comes together - and quite a bit of variety of moves - it seemed to me.

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Okay, please no one flame me or get offended. This is purely an objective opinion from someone who doesn't know the dog in question. I noticed several things in ness' videos that are very reminiscent of the kinds of things Erik does when he is unravelling due to being way over-aroused. I'm not saying that means Kenz is over-aroused, but I dunno. Sometimes people have said negative things about my training. Most of the time they're just being mean and making assumptions, but I figure I owe it to my animals to take what's said seriously and re-examine my assumptions. So this is just putting it out there in case there's something worth thinking about in it.

1. Darting glances at things, ear flicks, pauses, momentary loss of focus are all things I take note of and use to tell me something is wrong. I have used that even across species.

2. Barking! Erik is extremely vocal by nature, so I know what it's like, but he doesn't bark while we're working unless he's losing it. Just putting it out there. Maybe it's different for BCs.

3. Avoiding cued behaviours. Kenzie doesn't want to do that rooftop. Even when she does it she cuts the corner and only barely jumps over it. In both routines, after she does the rooftop she loses focus for a bit. She also seems a bit worried about going out around the pole thing. She surges back sometimes almost like a charge. I don't think she wants to leave ness.

4. Jumping up. Erik particularly does this when he's super anxious. He puts his paws on my legs regardless of what direction he's facing. When he's jumping up on cue or because he's extra happy, he jumps up in front of me facing me and doesn't always get his paws on my legs. I've seen the same pattern in other dogs. I don't know what Kenzie's normal jumping up pattern is, but putting paws low on my leg from beside or behind is a pretty big deal to me. It makes me worry.

5. Reverting to instinctive behaviours. A few times it looks like Kenz is going to do a herder nip. She lowers her head and ducks it behind ness' leg while she barks. Erik does similar things when he's over-aroused.

6. Lack of precision. I don't know how well the behaviours were trained in the first place, but E gets sloppy when he's over the top. He also gets sloppy if I don't set him up right before I cue behaviours. Some of the behaviours that Kenzie does well sometimes get sloppy at others. I'm not sure why that happens with Kenzie, but I absolutely consider that a red flag in both my dogs.

I'm not saying Kenzie necessarily is overly aroused and anxious. I'm saying there was a lot of stuff there that if I saw it in my dogs, I would think I had a fair bit of work to do yet. I was seeing it with Erik in agility training, and that's why I pulled him out. He looks just like those videos of Kenzie when he's only just keeping his head. He looks enthusiastic and plenty functional, but I don't think he's having fun. He is much better now, but I manage his arousal with the aim that he can always control himself. It's not drive if he is just rushing around spitting random extraneous behaviour all over the place. That's arousal. Take my thoughts with a pinch of salt because it is just based on dogs I have known, but maybe it's worth considering what I have experienced? :)

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