Insanity, or Is It?!

I've posted this quote before and I'm sure we've all heard it said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.

Sometimes though, your journey brings you back to a point and maybe it isn't insanity to give that one more shot.

With Spencer, the first obstacle he learned was the weave poles - mainly because that was and is one of Baxter's weakest obstacles/skills.

Baxter was trained with channels and with Spencer we had just discovered Susan Garrett/Say Yes and the 2x2 method.

2x2's made sense to Spencer. Weaves are one of his strongest obstacles/skills. I'm certain that it helped that he REALLY wanted his toy, but teaching him 2x2s was super easy.

2x2 Weaves

Now fast forward to Nike. We didn't start doing much with the weaves until she was around 9 months and at that point in time I was just having her run down a wide channel to a target plate. I wasn't actually teaching weaves, just getting her accustomed to the pressure of the poles and teaching her it was nothing to be concerned about - so we didn't do it often at all.

After she turned 1 year old I started working on teaching the 2x2s ... but she was having none of it. She did not care what I had. Did not care about the poles at all. Just really wasn't getting it and VERY much wanted to flank the poles not run through them - even when we were just trying to build value for interacting with one 2x2 base.

So, rather than fight with it, I left that.

Channel weaves, open to closed

She'd already had exposure to channels, so I moved on to that method and started closing the channel. Problem is, when you have a herdy dog who already wants to flank things, she might or might not hit that entry, but she sure was not going to collect and get that second pole.

So, instead of fighting with that, I left that method as well.

Next we tried "windows." Windows are similar to guides but instead of not letting the dog leave, they are just a "window" that sticks out from the pole on the side the dog ISN'T supposed to be on. I love these because they help the dog understand the weaving motion, but the dog is choosing to stay in. It's also not as aversive as guides/xpens to those dogs who are touch sensitive.

Channels with plastic guides - not how I want to teach ...

Nike did like windows, and she figured how to hit the poles and stick in them even at speed. The problem comes when trying to fade the windows out of the picture. You slowly start removing windows in the middle, leaving the end windows (entry and exit) to help the dogs be correct.

Learning weaves with the "window" method

First time in the weaves using windows

However, as soon as I'd fade a window out, it was like she'd never seen the weaves before in her life and was not generalizing the motion through the poles with the windows to poles with no windows on them.

So now we're back to 2x2s. This time though, I've cleaned up my mechanics a little and my baby dog has grown up a little. We've also discovered the joys of chasing toys and playing fetch, which probably helps.

I've also gotten a little smarter in how I train. Spencer would keep trying even if he wasn't being rewarded because he really wanted that toy. He has pretty awesome resilience to disappointment - as long as you don't put any pressure on him. Nike has zero resilience to disappointment. If she gets something wrong (tries and is not rewarded) more than twice, she is probably going to leave work and go sniff/find something better to do. So sessions with her are very short and she is rewarded for coming back to me to try again.

So far this seems to be working, so I'm hopeful.

It is definitely a paradigm shift to take responsibility for EVERYTHING and not have any pressure on the dog. If nothing else, Nike is certainly greatly increasing my skills as a trainer.

Sayings evolve for a reason, so I guess even if I haven't gotten the dog I thought I wanted, I am getting the dog I needed - and sometimes it's evolution, not insanity if some time has passed!

Generalization in Training

 aka what they learned isn't always what we taught (or thought we taught.) Look what I found! Or in this case, remembered. More things I was going to blog about and then completely forgot.

Oh weave poles. Where to begin?

Since weaves were very difficult for me to teach Baxter, they were actually the first obstacle that Spencer learned. I figured if he could learn that, he could learn anything and possibly actually play agility - he LOVED them, and the rest as they say is history.

By that time I had 2 sets of 6 weaves, 1 set of 3 2x2's and 1 set of just 6 weaves, making 12 poles altogether. They have the thin little bases (about a inch across?) not heavy duty weaves by any means. Heavy duty weaves are the ones you will sometimes see in trials, depending on how much money the club has sunk into their equipment. Most of the clubs around here (2x4, Training Troop and Calgary Agility Association) have heavy duty weaves. The bases are a couple (3?) inches wide and the metal is way thicker, so that when the big dogs go through the weaves they don't bend all over the place and rip the stakes out
of the ground.

After I started trialing with Spencer I noticed that he was often very worried about the weaves, to the point where they are a least favorite obstacle (teeter and chute rank right up there too.) Which I found odd, as he LOVES them at home, and in the different green spaces I go practice at.

Not quite this amount of drive for weaves at a trial ...

Sometimes at practice or in trials he would be fine and other times not so much. I couldn't narrow it down to figure out the issue. Is it his leg/knee causing the issue? The angle of entry? Onside, offside, indoor venue, outdoor venue? What?!

Then Regionals. We'd done a few lessons prior to them and I had some good suggestions that were working well on improving his weaves in practice. At Regionals he was fine - however, that was the first time I noticed a correlation in between the weave bases and his performance. All 3 rings at Regionals were running thin weaves.

Fast forward to Nationals, or specifically the warm up ring at Nationals. The weaves had thick bases. My baby dog acted like he'd never seen a set of poles before in his life. At the time I didn't realize that toys are okay in the warm up ring, so I had nothing with me to use as a reward. Tried a few obstacles, then the weaves. Nope. Not weaving on those to save his life. We spent the entire time in the ring trying obstacles - weaves - more obstacles - more weaves. Nope, nope, nope.

Weaves? What weaves? I've never seen these before

After the debacle in the warm up ring I also had Steeplechase, just to warm both dogs up to actually running at the venue. Spencer's ring had thin weave bases, so I thought we'd be alright even if the course was 2 x12 weaves. Nope! Since the last time I tried to get him to weave was on those weaves with the bases that were apparently going to kill him, he refused twice on the poles the first time through until he realized that they were thin bases and then all was well. 2nd time through the weaves, not even a moment of hesitation since he knew they were "safe."

So, on to making the weaves at home harder and the bases more noticeable so that the don't phase him in a trial - and then to take that show on the road!

2013 AAC National Championships - Part 2 The Trial and Results

Since this year was my first Regionals, it only follows that this was my first Nationals as well!

I was supposed to share hotel and benching with our friend and trainer Kim, but that plan changed when Spryte went into heat a couple of months earlier than anticipated. So now I was on my own - but agility is about you and your dog right? So I hoped it would be okay. Besides, there would be other people up there I would know and could hang out with - just no other people I had really trained with before.

Baxter making sure we're organized with the catalog

I also a little concerned about the layout, being able to find everything and about conflicts running Spencer in Regulars and then Baxter in Specials. This was a bit of an issue at Regionals, but since I sort of knew how to deal with it from Regionals I wasn't too worried about it for Nationals.

The trial venue was awesome. Really nice grass to run and exercise/play ball on. There was also a lake to swim in less than a 10 min walk away and some lovely pathways to walk the dogs on. Swimming at the lake was a hit until I accidentally threw Spencer's bumper into the cattails on Saturday and then wouldn't let him try to get it back (I couldn't see it and I didn't want him to drown if he got stuck in the plants.)

Nationals was an absolutely amazing experience.

Ribbons, ribbons everywhere!
L - Individual round placements 1-10th     R- Aggregate placement ribbons for each class 1-10th

We made some new agility friends with local and out of town people. From people going out to grab takeout supper to eat at the trial site, to joining buddies at the banquet, to random helpful strangers (who turned out to be running in 6" specials with Baxter) helping set up the shade tent.

The energy and tension during some events was just crazy. During the last day running the final 26" regular dogs there must have been over 100 spectators surrounding that ring - and when the top 10 dogs were running it got progressively quieter, you could have heard the proverbial pin drop for the final 2 dogs (who were 1st and 2nd place for that height.) The crowd cheering on the dogs with silent tension was crazy, like we were worried about distracting from a clean run.

Steeplechase Finals were just the opposite, same energy but now that energy was given sound. The fighter jet flyover (convenient timing!) doing The Wave around the ring waiting for the event to begin, watching some truly amazing dogs with fabulous handling and training.

Baxter - 2nd Overall in 6" Specials

I am so proud with how well my boys did at Nationals! We struggled through some things, realized others and grew as a team. Both dogs really tried for me and ran well in some pretty warm conditions. Both had moments of brilliance that will only get better! I figured out some more of the mental management side of things that I have taken for granted before, and like the dogs, will only get better!

After Regionals with Baxter and having no expectations, I did have some going into Nationals I won't lie. I wanted to hit the podium with him (like in the Olympics -  you get Gold, Silver or Bronze so I wanted 1-3 place.)

We did succeed.  Baxter placed 2nd overall in 6" Specials with 439.44 points. He was a good little Fluffy, but if bad luck had not befallen a fellow competitor in one of their rounds we would have been third. Still a very good placement in my mind, especially for our first Nationals with only 2 clean runs. We had a couple of little bobbles here and there, due to some handler nerves and some stress when Baxter wouldn't work away AT ALL in Gamble 1. Then towards the end of the weekend, more moments of brilliance, his Standards were lovely, weaves were great and he almost managed to get Gamble #2 just ran out of time (and then flew off the teeter ...)

Baxter with all his ribbons.
We were trying to do it like Pokemon and collect one of each placement.
We did get a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th! but then a 7th and 8th to ruined our chance to get a flush!

He also took 2nd in the Steeplechase #2 qualifier round, earning his first legit steeplechase Q on a course with 2x 12 weaves 3 seconds under SCT!

Spencer did amazing. He missed ending up in the aggregate placement ribbons by less than 6 points, placing 12th overall in 10" Regulars with 419.25 points, which is more than he earned at Regionals!  He did however earn a couple placements in individual runs, placing 7th in both his Jumpers runs and 4th in Standard 1!

For the dog that I thought was not going to weave at all at Nationals (a story for another time) to actually run and run well was enough of a achievement in and of itself. I've said it before, but I'll say it again, I am so happy with my baby dog.

Spencer ran 3 clean rounds, and did better in Gamblers than he has before. I knew he was in 10th place going into the final Standard on Sunday and I am sure that I inadvertently screwed up his run with handler nerves too. So things to learn and work on for sure, but some great successes as well.

Good Boys - Good Weekend

I love trialing with Baxter.

The ultra competitive people way out of our proverbial agility weight class don't say a lot, but the other people have such nice things to say about my steady little dog, which makes me so happy. We will never be that team on the course with the amazingly fast and crazy dog, but that's okay. We're working on ending up one of those teams that flow around the course and make it look easy. Of course, I hope by then to be able to get our gambles ... and have permanently patched up those holes in our training that have once again become apparent.

This weekend was the Dec 2x4 Agility trial. 

Baxter got another Master Snooker Q, that I am very happy for. We were having a great snooker run, and had "practiced" the #6 obstacle jump, jump, tunnel combo in the opening - so why I lost my mind and almost send him over the wrong side of the second jump, then pushed him way off the jump into empty, time wasting space in the closing is beyond me. I wish had video of the run. As soon as I flubbed up the handling and he stopped, turned and looked at me like WTF lady I think my heart stopped. OMG we needed to finish 7 before the buzzer for enough points!!! I spun around and I don't think I've ever been that frantic on a course before. He pulled it off though, with a couple seconds to spare. Managing to salvage that one merited us some applause, though really, I'd rather get it for a good run without the drama!

We had little issues with his other runs, and a steeplechase that he did very well and still ended up 2 seconds over time but had 2 very nice jumpers runs to finish up the weekend with our Expert Jumpers Bronze title.

Spencer was very good, but ever the sensitive baby dog. Something about the weaves threw him and he kept popping or avoiding. Maybe the wide base without much dirt on it, maybe the different poles, who knows? I thought I had chute issues fixed in the last few days of practice before the trial, but apparently not. However, he continued to do it after the first refusal.

After great days of teeter and chute practice I was hoping he would rock on the only standard run he was entered in (otherwise he just plays the games right now.) Now I'm glad that I went with my initial feeling and just put him in 1.

After the refusal on the chute, which at least wasn't a complete deke around it - we hit the teeter. He had a great teeter, but it dropped fast and the surface was packed, so it slammed into the ground hard and fast, despite that - he held and waited for his release, but the noise and the motion worried him.

Teeter drama (likely over the noise more than anything) carried on through the weaves where I got half-hearted performance at best and then to the dog walk where he bailed half way up. By that time I was worried about my little guy. I spent a lot of time and effort working on the dog walk and having vastly different (run it vs teeter) cues to avoid this very issue. He did take the dog walk the second time, but very hesitant on the way up and I had to stand and encourage it, not just cue it and run. He did it on his own though, which I think speaks volumes to his trust in me and our training.

In hindsight, what I should have done after that teeter hit the ground and he looked worried was to play for a few seconds in the ring, do a couple of decent nose touches if I could get them and play push back and run over a couple obstacles on the way out to stuff him full of cookies and play ball. Scary thing = party!

Standard was our last run of the day on Sat, while Gamblers was our first for Sunday. I went back to my game plan of spending 40 seconds playing with the dog on course and not even worrying about points or the gamble. I just wanted my happy running dog walk performance back.

I needn't have worried. He blasted off of his start line and blew past me standing mostly still at the bottom of the dog walk (to support the performance and prevent another bail off) Did 2 of those and I went for broke to see if we could do the weaves that were plaguing us all trial. After missing them on the first entry he hit it and I had my good weaves back too. We missed on the final gamble, but the run was a success in spite of it! Sometimes I think with sensitive dogs that we as the humans worry a little too much where the dog really doesn't care, as Spencer proved!

Snooker and Jumpers were our last 2 runs of the day, and like Baxter, he nailed em. Little bit of a bobble in Snooker with a tunnel refusal on a bi-directional tunnel, but those aren't faulted in Starter Snooker, so I didn't send to the other tunnel mouth.

Snooker and Jumpers finished off his Starter Games Dog of Canada title! He's not quite sure what that pretty ribbon is for nor why I wanted him to sit with it, but hey, it got him lots of cookies so that's cool! Such a good baby.

Just about a Year

Or it would have been had I posted this on time! So it's like a year and a month - whatever!!

Baxter started trialing and got his first Q last year on 31-Aug.

I am SO happy with how far he has come and how we've grown as a team. I'm pretty happy with me for sticking with the sport as well and growing as a person/trainer. Granted, Baxter isn't as difficult a starter dog as some people have had, but it's easy to start out with something and then decide that it really isn't for you.

I love it when there are photographers at the trials! I got one of each of the boys @ Medicine Hat! Photographers Album

Aside from guarding the hotel room, he was fantastic at the Flashing Canines trial last weekend. We came home with 2 Q's; his first master standard and his first master snooker. But, he tried in all his runs AND he hit all his weave pole entries and didn't pop out. I also got fast weave poles (we can get single stride weaves at home and are working on transferring that to other venues) in his qualifying master standard run. The things we've been working on are improving!

We had a couple little bobbles here and there, what I'll refer to as "baby dog" (and possibly baby handler) mistakes. I front crossed on the flat to push him onto the dogwalk and instead of going up the dogwalk plank he went beside it in a standard run. He missed a jump because I drifted a little bit laterally away from it in one jumpers. Then we both buggered up a backside of a jump in the other jumpers. But we're getting there. I have a happy dog who wants to work for me in a trial. THAT is what I care about, the rest will come with polishing. I didn't get lost on course either, which I am happy about!

Notice I don't mention either of our gamblers runs though. Those were just sad. First run I tried the mini's on, and he wasn't terribly successful. Not only did he not want to work away for the mini, we also didn't get the super awesome main gamble either. 3 jumps, 2 tunnels, 4 multi directional obstacles. It was like a gift!

So. I changed my plan after some advice. Stop worrying about the mini's. Plan a nice speedy path to wind him up instead of struggling in the first 40 sec which is going to pretty much guarantee me a melt down in the final gamble. Ok. Makes sense. I think we did better in the second gamblers run - except for Mr Excitement jumping a dogwalk contact >< That final gamble was hard though, out to 6 weaves, twice and some jumps, only a handful of dogs even got to the weaves, only one did the gamble correct but over time. We weren't any of those dogs!

So I need to break down distance work to not such a distance I think, and get it solid there. In our distance class we took I usually had to step over the line to get Baxter to read the handling right. If that's what it takes in a trial, that's what it takes. I'd rather step over the line and help him get it right than for my handling to be unclear and teach him not to trust it. That's the plan for now anyway. Gamblers is going to be the hardest thing for us to master, but I knew that right from the beginning when it took forever to even get our first gamblers Q's.

Even though he is doing good in agility, I'm thinking about dropping him into veterans once he turns 5 in January. It still feels like a little bit of a cop-out right now, but if he needs a couple extra seconds to qualify when he's trying I don't think I'm going to stay in specials until he's 7 just to make the a point of doing it "the hard way." I guess I'll see in Jan. We're in Steeplechase this Wed and I'm curious to see if he will make time or if he'll still be over.

Tibby or not Tibby?!

That was the question. However, the CKC agrees with Tibby and I've finally gotten Baxter's PEN!

C'mon easy agility! Erm, did I say that out loud?! Excellent may not actually be easier, but at least to get there is quicker than moving up to Masters in AAC. Fewer skills to master as well. No distance skills (Gamblers) or crazy handling (Snooker) needed. Just Standard and Jumpers with Weaves.

Last night at Wet Creek was not so easy agility. I struggled with all sends in Gamblers. Obviously I'm doing something he doesn't understand in a trial. Or maybe he was just hyped and thrown off by the venue. We've also gotten to point where Baxter's 12(ish) obstacles in the opening is going to be really close for qualifying points in masters and I need to work on being able to send to mini's, which he also struggled with. When working on our distance skills I'm also going to work on obstacle value.

On the positive side though, his weaves in gamblers and in relay were good, and quicker! Not quite single striding but not plodding through the poles either. I'll absolutely take that over a Q!

He was doing very nice in Snooker too, until my brain melted and I didn't think on the fly. I didn't try to pull him off a wrong obstacle with motion (ie serp arm) as well as a verbal. He might have pulled off of the wrong tunnel if I had thought to stop forward motion and pull him away from that entrance with a serp. I'll have to try to set that up again out in practice sometime. I find I'm also a little hesitant and look sort of lost in videos, which doesn't help him be confident of what I'm telling him to do.

I also discovered I use Baxter's nick name more than I thought.

I was talking to some people at the trial who were in town from Vancouver. One of them was a younger girl and she introduced her Sheltie, Bonny and then said "And this is Snickers, right?" Close and a cute name, but not quite! The thing is, I seem to be calling Baxter "Snackers" a lot.

In my defense, he came to live with me with that nick name, thanks to the rest my family and his fondness for food. It also starts with a S ... so when I screw up on course and call the wrong dog name Snack and Spence aren't terribly dissimilar, right?!? Maybe they don't notice! (yeah right!)

My boys! <3

Dog-gone Long Weekend

Am I ever late in posting this, but better late than never! Without further adue ...

If I would have planned it right, I would have sent the paperwork in for Baxter's CKC PEN a long time ago and entered the AKC (Alberta Kennel Club) show that was at Spruce Meadows this weekend. As it was, I still went and visited/watched but the dogs weren't entered in anything. I wish I would have been though. Nothing like watching agility to make you want to do it more - or to comment in your head how your dog could absolutely do that course! Plus it was a gorgeous venue.

CKC agility starts off a lot easier than AAC agility not having weave poles in novice standard. It makes me a little jealous. Jump heights are a little different though, so Baxter is likely going to have to be jumping 8" instead of the 6" he jumps in AAC. It was interesting seeing some of the people who are regular fixtures at AAC trials in a different environment as well as all the different people and breeds.

Saturday evening I took Spencer out solo for some urban training on the boardwalk by the lake. He did fantastic. Even when a small dog was growling and barking at him from about 10 ft away as its people dragged it along he just sat beside me and alternated eye contact/watching the dog. We also practiced some impulse control games that we do with yellow ball on the off leash portion of the path.

The part I was happiest about though was when a crowd of people walked by. I had put Spencer into a sit off to the side of the path through the off leash area because sometimes he is weird with strangers, especially if the strangers aren't dog people. He had his leash on and I was standing on the end of it just in case he reacted badly. But he didn't move, just glanced at them and then back to me. The people commented on how well my little guy was trained. Woo hoo! I'm not just imagining progress!

To top it off, since it was late and the boat launch was deserted, I took him over to see if he would swim. I didn't have to encourage him at all, just waded out with his ball and he was right there paddling away. You could have knocked me over with a feather - and not just because of the super slippery algae covered cement ramp I was standing on! Good dog!! Out of my immediate family's 8 small dogs, I have the only 2 that will swim without being put in the water.

As I commented to one of the vendors at the AKC show, I have chihuahua's but they're not the Paris-Hilton type dress-me-up-and-put-me-in-a-handbag-landsharks. They're real dogs, just shrunk!

With that in mind, Penny came out to agility practice at Wet Noses on Monday. Sometimes I feel a little guilty that I spend a lot of time and effort training the boys while she gets less attention. I make a effort to do one on one things with her and have little Penny-adventures, but she doesn't play like they do or come to agility things like they do. For having never seen full size contact equipment or a 12 foot chute - she did really well. She was sniffy, which is her norm, but she actually ran with me and had a good time getting cookies.

All in all it was a dog-tastic dog-gone long weekend! Way too hot, but still a lovely 3 days off.

Monday Night Class

It's over! I think I was more tense about this class than I was about Baxter's first ever trial! Tonight I brought Spencer to agility class with Baxter.

I've had some major ups and downs with Spencer. Sometimes he does well in new environments and sometimes he just shuts down. We can usually bounce back out of a shut down with some time and effort, but I'm always concerned in the back of my mind that maybe Spencer can't handle this. Maybe he doesn't want to and I am just pushing him too much because I would really, really like him to be able to do something that is just beyond him.

Agility has helped a LOT with Baxter and his self confidence, I think it could help with Spencer too. We just need to get to the point where he has some self confidence.

Last weekend at Wet Creek he did alright, but he was nervous and obviously not having the best of times, despite some awesome encounters like Matt Bonner sitting down in the dirt with him feeding him cookies. So I worry about my little dog.

He's had a couple of  encounters that have thrown him in classes too. In Novice Rally O a large dog barked at him during the "quick" heeling station and he shut down for the remaining 2 classes. Then another time when I brought him to a agility class in a different barn, he got jumped on by a enthusiastic, large dog when I was playing tug with him (not a great way to build tug drive btw!)

So I *might* have been just a little tense about tonight. He did really well! I had my silly, happy, bouncy little dog the whole class. He doesn't have contacts quite yet so "running the course" was a little laughable. I'm working on component games and the end targeting behavior so he'll have them eventually. I'm not in any drastic hurry since he's just a baby and not quite 18 months yet.  BUT he did all 12 weave poles. Did I mention that I LOVE Susan Garrett's 2x2 weaves?!? He's only been doing 12 poles for 2 days now. I was super impressed he got them after we've only had 1 day practicing in different locations (bad trainer!)

So today was a good day. One I'll have to remember to look back on when we have a bad day. Days like today make me think that this isn't just all in my mind and he does really enjoy the game. I just have to figure out what I need to do so he keeps having fun!

Sometimes it's just about clearing that one obstacle

2, 4, 6, Weave

Gimmie dat toy!

I've started weave pole work with Spencer, since they're a stumbling block with Baxter. Baxter is a little lower drive and he learned weaves initially with channel set poles and then did some re-training, or attempted retraining using Susan Garrett's 2x2 method. It is hard to get motivation for the weaves with Baxter. I'm toying with the idea to start Baxter over from the beginning and work him though with Spencer. Using jealousy to help motivate and just working on building more drive ... but I digress, that's another topic! Spencer is being trained via the 2x2 method exclusively.

I am super impressed using this method with a dog from the beginning. Spencer has been working on this for about a month now - I don't train it every day or even every other day, he'll see the 2x2's maybe once or twice a week for short sessions of  3-5 min max before we work on something else. Since he's up to 2 sets of 2x2's (4 poles now) I have to train outside - there is no non-slip space large enough in the house. All the rain we've gotten lately is dictating when I will (or rather will not) be working on this!

See look, weave poles somewhere in this picture

In about 6 sessions over those 4 weeks Spencer is to the point where the 4 poles are nearly straight and the behavior we're practicing almost LOOKS like weaving. He can find some pretty nasty weave entries from on and off-side - which in itself is impressive since (due to the obedience work he's done) he was sure that standing on my right was going to result in some horrific doggie torture and would cross behind to my left at every opportunity.

As soft as Spencer is, even when he gets a entry wrong I can resend him multiple times and he will figure it out because of the toy drive. For now with only 4 poles I don't use a NRM (non reward marker) I just recall and send again, no reward is pretty obvious as his toy is still in my hand. Once we're up to more poles I'm not certain what I will do. The "pro-NRM" for weaves camp has a point - the weaves can be self-reinforcing, so you want to stop the reinforcement/reward if the behavior is not correct. The "anti-NRM" camp has also got a good point, that stopping motion and calling the dog off the obstacle for incorrect performance (both handler and dog error) can cause anxiety issues, stress and shut down behaviors. That'll be a bridge I will have to cross when I get there.

For not being a very confident dog I love having a training method that he has enough fun with and enjoyment in (or at least enjoyment in getting his ball reward at the end!)  that he can keep working at something in order to get it right, instead of shutting down. It makes it so much easier to train and I enjoy the process a whole lot more.

I has toy!