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Games 2 – Threadle/Push Wraps – 7/9/25
Kaladin
We did better on these than I was expecting given that it is one of our weaker skills.
3rd rep – I think I started my “in in in” verbal and other cues a bit late as he was landing from the previous jump, but he got it – maybe because I used his name too. Am I getting too far ahead of him on these? Hard to tell with the angle but I think I am past the jump as he is committing to the wrap on some of them. The one where he threadle slices I think I was moving too soon and coming in on his line a bit so he flipped the other way.
Lift
I started her on a station (way at the other end of the yard from turning on the video). She was boingy-ier heading into the exercise but I also cued a bark in there. We were using her new smaller lotus ball that is fabric instead of fur covered -and new beef jerky treats. She liked both. I also got her a clam shell lady bug yesterday but she is finding that one a bit harder to open so we’ll practice with it some outside of agility first. I have a fur pouch that pulls open too but she hasn’t gotten the hang of how to hold onto it and also get her nose into it to open it -it’s a pretty tight velcro.
Not surprisingly these were hard for us. I didn’t do much with threadle wraps earlier in MaxPup and we haven’t gone back to them for a while. I think I’m seeing my feet turn into her line on the first rep which probably contributed to her going over the front of the jump. I’m also wondering if it’s better for me to show more motion along her path to threadle wrap vs being closer to the jump and more stationary. Since she was clearly confused about the threadle wraps I moved to the push wrap which went beautifully the first time and then fell apart when I balanced it with the front of the jump.
Question on your earlier comment about cycling training skills for young dogs. Did you mean differnent skills on successive training days like day 1 weaves, day 2 rest day 3 RDW, day 4 rest day 5 handling
or did you mean a few training sessions of 1 thing and then the next few something different? I’ve been doing the former but now am wondering if you meant the latter. And of course there is the logistical issue of having teeter & DW plank out at the same time in my yard or finding the time to move them in and out…This might be it for us for Camp stuff until after our CT road trip at laest for Lift. It’s supposed to rain on Friday and Lift has a “Speedy Jumpers” seminar with Jacque Hoye at OTR on Saturday. We leave Monday morning to head east and won’t be back until July 23. I’ve got some time at my parents in NY on the way to the CT Classic but sadly they don’t have agility equipment (go figure!) and I’m pretty sure we won’t have room even for 1 jump in the car…although maybe the foldable fabric wings in the roof top carrier with a 4ft bar…hmmm…. Lift is entered in SS Challenge at the Classic but they had a bit of an oops moment with the online entries (or didnt’ understand that UKI counts entries and not runs so that Pentathlon is counted as 1 entry instead of 5 runs over multiple days). So they got way too many entries and just sent an email saying they had to cancel (and refund) SS Chlg #2 and Consolation SS. So poor Lift just lost 50% of her runs for the weekend.
Games 2 – Independence – Discrimination – 7/7/25
Yes – She’s run at OTR, Fusion, Animal Inn (fun run and 2 USDAA jumpers runs), and now Dog Dynasty (2nd outdoor location and I was really happy with how she was fine lining up relatively close to the entrance plus facing the tent with timer/scribe/judge) Had a leisurely hike at Jay Cooke State Park on our drive home yesterday so decided to look at the Games 2 package this morning.
Kaladin
Looking at the video, I may be turning towards the jump a bit in my “neutral walking path”, but I think Kaladin was already looking at the jump before I did that. In general I thought this went really wellLift
Had some challenges, but pretty impressed with Ms Lifty-Loo considering this is much newer for her. This session was after our morning walk. I think starting her stationed on the cot did help. She also has different treats in the fur lotus tug (I need to get some different tossable treat toys since she thinks the pull apart wallet-style ones I have are pretty hard to get into – she seems to like the lotus style opening better) She is still not a fan with me starting her while holding her collar so I ditched that after the 2nd rep and moved to the wing wrap (not too much better in her book so I wasn’t picky about which way she decided to wrap and just went with what she offered).I stationed her while I flipped the jump to the other side. Probably should have stopped while we were ahead. Unfortunately the video decided to stop itself right before the last rep where she did have some issues getting the tunnel. I ended up moving closer to it until I was level with the jump wing and then she went – Oh -Tunnel!
Lift – Dog Dynasty USDAA – P2 Jumpers – FEO
Entered her in P2 Jumpers at the end of the day so that I would have plenty of opportunity to get her out several times at the new location. Put her in P2 thinking we would be done sooner but mis-read the class schedule which was running Starters-Masters and not the other way around. Ran FEO so I could make up our own slightly more flowy course. (and to make sure I left open the possibility of running P1 again in the future). She was pretty amped up the first few times I got her out for short jaunts around the trial site but was able to do pattern games and recalls. Not at all interested in playing with a toy outside the ring. Trial had a small entry and there is a fair amount of space to warm up and hang out in so she was nicely focused going into the ring. Luckily the thunderstorms went through the night before so we just had some drizzle in the morning and then it got kinda muggy. At least the grass was dry by the time Lift ran. I was late on the blind crosses so she added a stride or two on the turns, but I stayed connected and no LLF moments! I thought she was going to run by #6 so just kept running and she actually made an adjustment and got the jump. All in all, really happy with the run, especially considering it felt like we were in a war zone the night before with multiple idiots setting off fireworks and something that sounded like a cannon next door and a few blocks away. Plus the City of Superior fireworks a few blocks away. Drugged all 3 dogs with Alprazolam which seemed to amp Lift up more for a while where she was frantically chewing on a bully stick for an hour before finally getting exhausted and falling asleep.
Lift – Games 1 Jumping Popout 5 & part of Jumping Course 2 – 7/1/25
This was from Tuesday morning. I stationed her on her cot as we came outside. Not sure if that made the difference or she was just in a more obliging mood.
At 2:00 she coughed up a treat as she was exiting the tunnel (LOL)
I can try to rotate treats more but she’s still not into non food-stuffed toys for agility so kinda hard to mix up toys very much. I’ve been able to sometimes get a single jump with a frizzer or tug toy reward but it’s 1 jump wrap or backside jump to toy and then she’s done with the toy after that.
Switching back and forth more for teeter/RDW training is partly logistics with the yard due to space. I was getting to the downward slope on the teeter and didn’t want to confuse her with that one day and then the RDW going down the plank a few days later.
Lately I’ve felt like the agility training has been going well, but her general house manners have regressed. She is by far the barkiest Sheltie I”ve had – just about anything can set her off into a boingy-barking fit. Usually she settles back down again fairly quickly but sometimes it takes a while for the brains to recover after they’ve fallen out of her ears.
For Kaladin on Jumping Course 1 – I”m not surprised the outside line that kept him in more extension was faster even though he was pretty tight doing the inside wrap. The “S-lines” often are for him even if they are up to 6ft longer.
We’re up in Duluth for hiking today and tomorrow. Then entered in an outdoor USDAA trial on Saturday and hoping the weather forecast for all day thunderstorms is wrong. Lift is entered in Jumpers at the end of the day so that I have plenty of time to get her out multiple times to do things and settle in before she goes into the ring. Then some hiking on the way home on Sunday.
Kaladin – Games 1 Jumping Course 1 (modified) – 6/29/25
I was going to do some of the jumping popouts and then realized I could set the course with some tweaks – I replaced one tunnel with the tree since it works nicely as an obstruction, made the other tunnel 10ft, used 6 weave poles, shortened up some distances (esp vertically) and combined jumps 4 & 12.
I accidentally made 6-7 harder the first time by thinking 7 was a backside. Later we tried different handling options for the correct 6-7. I also wanted to test sending to the poles and he hit the 2nd opening twice when I didn’t escort him in more. (it’s hard to see with the shade)
Laughing at your comment about no breathing -nothing but verbals on the layers. I was just thinking about whether I was too loud and cueing the jump too much for layers but I guess we have the answer here.
Lift
OMG – so glad to hear you’re not quite sure what she was protesting about either. There’s just so much going on her little brain with poprocks and who knows what else.She got the day off from agility training today. We did some toy play inside and now she’s out cold on the living room carpet…well she was until I dropped my phone with a loud clatter and she jumped up to complain at interrupting her nap for a hot second before moving to a dog bed to continue her nap.
My plan for tomorrow is to run her on small parts of the jumping course or some of the pop-outs. Kaladin has class tomorrow night and while I think there’s space for me to bring Lift, I think we do better when I only have her to focus on and am not constantly swapping dogs out to the car (so neither rehearses bad waiting (aka FOMO) behavior in a crate near the ring). So Lift is going to continue to get a break from doing much training at Fusion for the next month or so. (they have a lot of 3-day AKC trials there in the summer because they have AC and OTR does not- so there isn’t much opportunity for me to book ring time and dropping into classes is hard to line up my schedule and a class/instructor that I want to drop in to) Plus, we have so much to train at home with camp, weaves, and RDW stuff and at some point I need to pause the RDW a bit (or get it to a better place) so I can switch back to the teeter. I feel like going back and forth will confuse Ms “I am very Literal and hae lots of rules”.
And speaking of Ms “I’m judgey and I have lots of rules”, I’ve had some interesting groups chats off and on with my 2 agility friends in Canada who have her litter mates (both boys). There are definitely some genetic (and/or early puppyhood experiences triggering genetics) that are at play with these 3. The small boy, Zeplin, seems to be more extreme than Lift in some of his “lack of pre-frontal cortex” and FOMO moments. (he’s the one that will add in biting his handler’s butt with his LLF moments) Wyatt (the Kaladin-sized one) is more moderate in temperament but also still has a ways to go in “growing up”
Here’s part of what she posted for his 2nd birthday so I reached out to say Dean and I were laughing…in commiseration with her.“Today is Mr. Zeplin’s 2nd birthday! I think I find it hard to believe he’s 2 because he still has the mental capacity of a 6mo. So far, I think he has 2 brain cells, but they dont always work together. I’d be extatic if a 3rd joined the party.
This boy is the sweetest, cuddliest, friendliest @ssh*le you’ve ever met. He loves everyone, but needs some anger management courses every once in a while. I couldn’t imagine our lives without him (though there are days he’s lucky he’s still here!)”So we’ll keep plugging away at training and remember to enjoy the journey. Thanks for all of your support. It’s been invaluable!
Kaladin – 4 Corners – 6/28/25
Yesterday I pushed the 2 jumps on the other side of the tree out further -15ft from center of tunnel to center of bar – for Kaladin. Any further out and it would have been too squishy from the deluge earlier in the week.Had some issues with the end of sequence 5 where he went around jump 11 – I think I was rotating to the right arm for 12 too early.
Lift – 4 corners – 6/29/25
Lift says her hooman did move the layering jumps in closer (11 ft from center of tunnel to center of bar) try harder to stay connected, throw the reward sooner, and not pull her off lines but that she still had some LLF moments.I am wondering if the recent weather is a factor. In the last week we’ve had several downpours and then the air pressure got weird again yesterday and we had some pretty bad thunderstorms overnight which kept waking all of us up. Tari was very sensitive to air pressure changes and I’m wondering if Lift has a touch of that too. Tari used to be clingy when the pressure dropped in advance of a storm. Lift doesn’t get clingy but I feel like she has been more on edge. had less impulse control in everyday life, and had less resilience in training.
I left almost all of the session in the video so you could see the transitions. I did crop out about 20sec of her happily hunting for a cheese fragment in the grass while she was behind the tree.
Lift would like to thank her Counsel and says, I rest my case, so there, stoopid hooman!
In good news we just did our 1rst session of an obstacle (jump/tunnel) before 4 straight poles and she was brilliant!
Games 1 – 4 Corners – 6/27/25
We survived the 102 heat indices last weekend thanks to cooling coats, a kiddie pool, fans, and lots of liquids. Luckily Lift’s Sunday afternoon session (the sauna day in the afternoon) got moved inside. Then I strained my calf during Lift’s session (a side effect of rolling my ankle back in early May and then an insufficient human warm-up because I was so focused on Lift – this getting older thing has some downsides!). Didn’t do much of anything with the dogs during the week other than tossing a frizzer in the backyard when we weren’t thinking about building an ark (seriously we had days of downpours – I heard reports of 3-5in on day). Got into a PT on Wednesday so have been diligently doing my exercises & stretches and just bought different shoes today (PT recommendation to switch back to more arch support after several years with zero-drop shoes). PT gave me clearance to do our hiking/USDAA trial trip in Duluth over the 4th so fingers crossed. (I did scale back my entry to only do 1 day)
Kaladin
He was a rockstar at Monica’s Podium Chasers session last Saturday morning even with the upper 80s/low 90s temps. Dean reported that he channeled his inner slug and slept the whole time I was gone with Lift.I went hunting through training and trial videos to look for a good example of an a-frame hit and miss and found some, but still need to crop them out.
Set up the 4 corners course for this morning when the yard dried out a bit. I had a late cross at the end of the 3rd rep so he went a bit wide, but I tightened it up with an earlier cross on the 4th rep.
Lift
Ms Lift got to do her seminar (novice zoom zoom) on her 2nd birthday but we had mixed results. The indoor space in Animal Inn was a lot cooler than the sauna outside but the ring is long and narrow with Great Mats (not the comfort king she runs on at Fusion). She figured out the footing quickly and started out well but relapsed into a Leaping Lizard as the session progressed. A waiting dog erupting in a fit of really loud barking just outside the ring right before her 2nd sequence in the first rep did not help (Monica instituted a “no waiting in the ring ring” rule after that). I actually didn’t register how disruptive it was until I watched the video. She recovered quickly and kept working but it expended a lot of mental energy so she just didnt’ have much in the mental reserves later even though the sequences were very short and would have normally been below her paygrade. It didn’t help that my calf knotted up so I was not running normally or at all (although she surprised me with how well she did on a speed circle at the end with me sending and walking.
Anyways – she got most of the week off as I was babying my calf.
Here’s this morning’s session which was after our morning walk. She does some exciting leaping as we are starting but then the frustrated leaping lizard shows up later. She struggled with the layer so I placed her toy on her line between the 2 jumps and she blew right by it to take the jump.
In other news, massage therapist on Wednesday did find tightness in her grasilis and more on the right than the left. It did loosen up but I’m keeping a close eye on it and massaging her some too. It certainly doesn’t seem to be inhibiting her airborne tendencies.
Lift’s seminar on Sunday is called Novice Zoom Zoom -it’s going to be more like Novice Putt-Putt with the weather forecast!
She does get measured regularly by Dr Julia and is typically even. However her June 4 visit had a typo in the notes as 1 rear limb is 24cm and the other is 264cm! I emailed to ask if Dr Julia remembered her being even or not. She likes to play with Kaladin and she can be boingy during meal prep so it’s more likely to be something from boinging around than a strength imbalance.
Kaladin had a fairly nice RDW, but it needs more maintenance. He’s always missed one here and there but it’s deteriorating which is why I am running him through the Shape Up foundation exercises too. (figured I might as well since Lift was doing it). He got a toenail in one and put his cape on for the other one at the Cup last weekend. He also has a tendency to make the judge think too hard on the a-frame (or obviously misses it). He’s better at the 5ft 3in frame which making me think about moving him down to 12 select later this year. TBD on what he jumps at the Open but I definitely want him at 12 select for next year’s Invitational.
Focus Forward Jump -6/19/25
Snuck in a session this morning before it got hot. Dean is worried about cutting the grass too short so instead I almost lose Lift in it and it’s really wet in the mornings. I gave up on my not so water-proof boots and just wore sandals this morning.
Lift
No toy stealing this time! Sloppy release on my part for the first rep so we did it again to clean it up.Kaladin
Apparently I haven;t done enough “dead toy on the ground as reward” work for him. He got back on track when I threw it and the lower hand does seem to help him.
Taking a pause on Camp stuff until next week. Monica Bush is here this weekend and Kaladin is in a session on Sat AM and Lift on Sun PM. Unfortunately last weekend’s lovely weather has deteriorated into forecasts for highs in the low 90s… (and yes – seminar is outdoors at Animal Inn but I think parts of it can move inside) Or maybe the metereologists are wrong and the rain and drop into the mid 70s will happen earlier than Monday.
Working on getting Lift scheduled for an extra massage before her next regular one in a few weeks. Therapist thinks her lumbral-sacro area might have tightened up again after getting released during the massage.
Earlier this week I was really close to giving up on the RDW and training a stop for both dogs because after several mat sessions on the flat (over the last few months) and then switching to a low plank, both dogs suddenly decided the squish mat was lava. Then wondered if it could be physical or that a plank on a 12in table was too big a step. So did a session earlier this week with the plank on an 8in table and both dogs did much better. Still not sure I have it in me to keep going much longer with the RDW, except that I’m pretty sure neither one is going to like stopping.
Fwd Focus Jump – 6/17/25
Kaladin
He had some struggles here. Took a while (and me moving forward) to get him to flik his eyes at the jump the 1rst rep but then he was faster the 2nd time when I was in a similar position. I was surprised that he did better releasing with his dig dig (wrap left) cue than the generic break. I’ve done more releasing with break than a directional/obstacle cue but the time I used break he had the most confusion. I also had a bad throw around 1:15 where he finally moved forward to the jump and wrapped and my throw sent the frizzer over his head.
Lift
She’s better at this than Kaladin. She’s also getting sassier (aka barky and boingy) at the beginning of sessions but settles down to work quickly. I’ll have to try the placed reward on landing side in a future session when I don’t line her up facing the toy on a line that bypasses the jump.
I have not seen any issues when she is moving jt the flat and the cavaletti work has actually improved her trotting and decreased her tendency to pace at slower speeds. She had her 4dx last Fall. She is on Nexgard and I haven’t found any ticks on her but they can be hard to find with black furry dogs. She had a chiro maintenance visit on 6/4 and needed some adjustments but was generally in good shape. She was also pretty even then and at last week’s massage but I’ll check back with her massage therapist to see if she can get in before her next regular one.
Hi Tracy –
I’ve been saving this one up until Camp started and hope you don’t mind giving feedback on an adjustable jump Grid with Lift. Since the end of her max pup support group, I did 2 set point sessions to see how she looks jumping 10 and 12in. (she measures into Champ 12 for USDAA, but I’m not in any rush to move her out of Perf 8, maybe ever) She looked pretty good so I moved to the adjustable grid with 8in and higher heights.1rst one – I was experimenting with easy distances but moving the jump up to 10in and 12in -She added a stride and popped awkwardly over the 12in jump in the 2 reps I did so I put her back to 8in for 1 rep and ended it. (video failure on this one)
2nd one was on 6/5 about a week later (first 2 reps in the video below)- I noticed she was drifting way to the right as she exited the bounces and went to the stride part. She never ran around the jump but she almost goes outside the line of the standard before correcting her course back to the jump. An 8 or 9 ft distance for the stride has typically been fine for her but I thought maybe the earlier grid with the 12in jump freaked her out and she was trying to get more space to add a stride. I filmed this one almost straight on so the drift was more noticeable.
3rd session was this morning (6/16 – remainder of video) – I am still seeing a bit of a drift to the right but she is not adding a stride. Doesn’t seem to matter which side I’m on and if I am in motion or stationary when I release her. I kept her at 8 and 10in and thought her jumping form was better but still think the right drift is weird. I have not seen it on set points or in general coursework. Wondering if it could be vision related? (although I don’t see it when she is running straight lines in a course) or if she is still getting over me asking for a 12 in jump in the grid a month ago. Other potential factor is that her regular monthly massage was last Wed and she did have more tight spots on both sides of her lats and behind her shoulders (perhaps from weave sessions even though they’ve been short and max 2x/week?). Massage therapist worked those out and then she lazed around with Dean & Demi while I was at the Cup so this morning was her first grid (or any training) since last week’s massage.
And here’s another set point from this morning (the first batch of storms went north of us)
Moving the toy improved things a lot even when I forgot about the leash to let it drag on the ground without me bending over (good thing I’m short!) And she was a rockstar with her stays!I think the 3.75ft distance is better at the lower heights, but not sure about at 12in. 12in is relatively new for her so it could just be that. You can’t see it from the camera angle, but at the 3.75ft distance for 10 & 12in, she was striding to the right a bit in the set point area as if she didn’t think she had enough room to go straight. I didnt’ see that drift to the right at 4ft.
And the chase games don’t work so well when you use Lift’s favorite frizzer for Kaladin and he drops it a few feet away and you don’t pick it up. Released her as I threw a different frizzer and she pounced on her favorite and had a grand party of one. LOL
Will try a set point again tomorrow assuming the storms that are forecasted don’t come early. It’s been close to 90 here the last few days so I’m all for a storm to cool things off! I think she might be indignant if Dean helped her stay so we’ll see how it goes with me moving first and then releasing. You can see in the sprinting how she lifts her head as she is closing in on the toy so I think that is probably the issue here.
Did the alternating chase games with them this morning. (and discovered I own 7 soft but edged frizzers that roll- 1 is twice the size of Lift’s head so we worked with the other 6). Rolled for Kaladin twice and he actually brought them almost all the way back. Then swapped and rolled for her and she charged after it and ran back with it and spit it out a few feet away. Color me shocked! Did one more and she ran back with it but mouthed it a lot before spitting it out so we called it quits and let her run around with Kaladin (frizzer in her mouth).
This was after I did a 2×2 session where she did her very first (and a few more) reps of 4 straight poles together!!!! Will post video on my FB page later tonight (have a Classic swag bag stuffing party with committee this evening). The interesting thing is that she was bonkers and jumping and spinning at the start and the first time I sent her to the poles which she normally isn’t even when I do this after we come back from our walk. I had to do some back and forth to get her brains back in her head and then we did a few reps with the poles slightly separated and I put them together and she nailed it.
Set Point – 5/12/25
Video starts with the 3.75ft distance and then goes to 4ft distance. Sat her up closer. She’s jumping with her head up and not striding into the middle of the set point distance which often seems to be her tendency with set points vs other grids where she gets more motion moving into them. Used the lotus fur tug for all of them. She might be putting her head up because I move, but earlier experience is that she powers in less if I’m completely stationary or she’s going to a PT or a dish. I might try my make-shift spider set point (with poles slanting off the jump into the V) to see what she does with that. We did a few last Fall.
Will have to try the alternating chase games with Kaladin. He’ll be a good sport as long as he gets to chase some too. Of course he may not return super fast either but I’m sure the dogs will have fun.
Sure hope I do see you in August. Pinged Dawn who now says she’s working on the schedule in early June and asked my opinion again on whether I had session preferences. She seems to be leaning towards full day sessions… I told her I didn’t think Lift had enough brains for a full day seminar and maybe the young dog sessions could be half days.
See you in the chat on Thursday.
