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Oh – I have an old yoga mat that turned into an a-frame mat…
But you did light colored but not yellow for the towels? (so a bit of contrast but not a lot)It’s high 80s here – feels like low 90s – very icky.
LOL! You crack me up.
I was just thinking about where to put the a frame when the DW is still out and whether I had enough outdoor season left. Of course it us in the upper 80s this week (no doubt because Kaladin is running USDAA outdoors this weekend d). I saw your VA temps were worse.For the a frame – I hadn’t thought of using a towel. I’ve used a cut up yoga mat before.
I’m sad that summer camp (and summer daylight!) is ending.
We had a lovely hiking vacay in the UP last week so I ran out of time to do more camp work.In regards to her recovery for the modified ending run after the implosion: I did help her recovery along by just holding her in my arms to help her settle while I sorted out how I wanted to modify the ending. She might not have done so well if I had left her on the ground. (and I didn’t have her cot outside with me)
I did figure out how to do a video overlay in my video editing program (Power Director) for the seminar. The spin before the wrap jump threw off my timing so I also lined it up based on when she took off for that wrap jump and it lines up way better than I had thought it would.
DW:
I’ll try taking the mat off the DW and see what she does. Once we moved from the mat on the ground to the propped up plank and then the low DW, we’ve had a jump (no bar) or tunnel as the obstacle she drives to after the DW. And she was doing so well with that until she started stopping on the mat.
And yes -my concern with a 4 on DW is that it is harder to get her to drive all the way to the end on something that doens’t tip faster when you do. Also, her teeter is really nice so I’m worried about messing that up if she starts stopping short on the DW.
I haven’t done much of anything with an a-frame yet (beyond having her run over a really low one a few times a while back). I was waiting to get the DW further along first. Do you think trying a low a-frame (with or without a mat) and the target obstacle after would be worth a shot just to see if that clicks better with her? I dont’ think she has any concerns with the narrow DW plank (I mean she’s kinda fearless), but maybe trying the wider a-frame would chanage the picture enough for her that it gets her out of the rut of stopping?Lift – Handling Challenge #1 & 2 – 8/21 & 8/24/26
It was great to see you in person! The seminars were so much fun! I haven’t had a chance to do the overlay for Lift’s run and my course running yet because I rolled right into prepping for secretarying the UKI trial the next weekend. However I did manage to try some handling challenges with Lift. (Kaladin ran at the trial so I haven’t done these with him)
Handling Chlg #1 – 8/21/26
She says easy peasy to get the jump layer out of the tunnel. I say it’s a bummer the days are getting noticeably shorter! I did the first 2 reps and went inside only to realize I had left off jumps 1 & 2 so we went back out for that.
Handling Chlg #2 – 8/24/26
Also tried the 2nd one this morning. It was going so well until the wheels came off when I closed my shoulders to her when trying to send to the last tunnel so she came in over the layer jump and was very indignant that I was in her way. Then I remembered (duh!) that I should just run somewhere if she was being an angry kangaroo so there was a lot of free styling but then it got back on track and she was even good about her leash at the end despite all the earlier boinging. Then we did the 2nd half (with a modified ending) and she was brilliant.
In other news, I am in the process of setting up an online consult with Dr Kathy Murphy. My vet is on-board with the process and may attend the consult if her schedule allows.
And I am leaning towards giving up on a RDW with Lift and just training a stop. I tried the Shape Up RDW Foundations in Sept 2024 but didnt’ get very far with it (too busy at the time, Lift was a bit immature for it then, and the style of the course didnt’ work for me). Then I signed up for Merit Jahne’s course as an auditing/self study last Fall. I’ve been working on it off and on for almost a year and it was going really well with the ground work and then the propped up DW plank. I set up my DW at the lowest height at the beginning of August and then Lift started offering stops on the mat. She has never ever been asked to run to and stop on a mat, but now she’s doing it regularly…or she’s breaking stride and trotting. And I’m coming to the realization that I just don’t like training a RDW enough to work through this with her. I love the problem solving for weaves and teeter training, but not the DW so it’s hard for me to prioritize training it (now I’m in my 2nd outdoor season of “and this spring/summer/fall, we’ll get that DW trained”. Of course I didnt’ really do much of any 2-o-2-o training with her earlier either. Min had trouble with 3 different contact behaviors (4 on for teeter, running a-frame and originally 2o2o DW before I switched to a sort of running/sort of lack of stop DW for her). I do still want a running a-frame for Lift since she’s just so small and a bit upright in her shoulders to stop on it. She has a lovely 4-on teeter and is too small (11lbs) for me to want to change that to a 2o2o. Should I try a 2o2o DW or something else like a 4 on DW? I was chatting with Kory Kaye at the trial last weekend and she asked why I wouldn’t try a 4 on DW if she has that for the teeter and has started offering it on the mat at the end of the DW. I hadn’t considered an option other than running or 2o2o for the DW before. What do you think?
Games 4 – Jpg Popouts – 8/13/26
Lift – Popout #6
Gave her more space on the start and got the correct side of the jump.
Kaladin – Popouts 4 & 6
He seems to be fine after whatever stung him earlier this week. I started him at 8in and then went to 12in for the 2nd one. I wasn’t expecting this but I actually think the backside push to BC worked better at the start than running into a threadle slice.Threw in a bonus layering bit at the end because I was curious if he would switch away that far out of the tunnel.
I like the new phone but can’t wait to get the case cover. It’s kinda slippery without one and it keeps thinking I am trying to touch the edges when I’m just trying to hold it since the screen goes right to the edges.
See you on Saturday!Lift – Games 4 – Jpg Popout 5- 8/12/26
Substitute taught a class at Fusion on Monday night. The original plan was to bring both dogs so I could train them after the class, but it ended up being just Lift because Kaladin got stung by something (we think) over lunch. 1 minute he’s trotting back to me with his frizzer in his mouth and then he screams bloody murder, jumps in the air, drops the frizzer and is on 3 legs. Couldn’t find any sign of a sting, puncture, swollen spot, or anything bothering his foot but guessing a bee. Good news -he’s not allergic. Vet said benadryl & metacam. He napped most of the rest of the day, was walking normally after dinner and seemed perfectly sound the next morning so we stopped the meds. We played some frizzer today and he was happy as a clam. We’ll try a short sequence tomorrow but I think we’re good to go for this weekend. (phew!). Meanwhile, Lift was pretty brilliant at Fusion with no one else there. Nailed 1 out of 1 sets of 12 weaves (with the bases that don’t have feet every other pole which is still a bit of a challenge for her). Brilliant teeters too.
So here’s popout #5 with her from this evening. (kinda hot & muggy again here – ugh!) Haven’t had a chance to work on the jump up then leash stuff without obstacles so did leash then jump up here.
New Samsung Galaxy S26 acquired and both phone lines moved to a better and cheaper Verizon plan (not sure how often you can say those two adjectives together in regards to a subscription but there you go). Other than not having my cool new custom designed case in time, the new phone is ready to go for this weekend’s seminar! Delegated fiber options to Dean – I think I’d just toss a coin at this point…or maybe ask Demi her opinion. (blink once for T-Mobile and yawn for Quantum…)
Games 4 – Jpg Popouts – 8/8/26
Yes – Here I am purposely walking at times/places to reduce the chance that Lift has any bad encounters (Dogs or bikes) that put her over threshold and then Killer Papillon pops out of a garage on a street that I have never encountered dogs on before. But this morning, we had a nice trek through the park where she handled hikers with hiking poles going by quite nicely (a bit of pattern games and tricks sufficed).
Lift -Jpg Popout 1
Redid Popout #1 to clean up some things and practice more remote reinforcement. The backside slice to BC does work well to get her to backside of 4. And the spin on 8 tightened that up but then the wheels fell off after so we free-styled to the leash.
Lift – Jpg Popout 3 with strange dude in a hat
Took a short break and talked Dean into being a casually over-eager bar-setter. Turns out the dude in the hat off to the side (lower right corner) was fascinating at the beginning, but she was able to process him walking by mid-way and did great at the end. I keep forgetting to use the opposite arm for the backside pushes. Bit of Lift critique on my poor handling for 12-13 (apparently I can’t process whether or not Dean is going to walk by!). She’s on a class hiatus this summer, but I’ll be sure to keep working on this when we head back.
Experimenting with her jumping into my arms since she has been getting good about that in contexts outside of agility and I’d like her to be comfortable with it after a run as an option to get to our treats quickly incase it’s very busy outside the ring. She wants to to drive to the leash first before jumping up (not on video but I tried a tunnel – jump and asking her to jump up before the leash and she thought I had grown a 3rd head or something).Kaladin did Jpg Popout #3 with me running closer in – got a bit more extension…I think – unfortunately I either didnt’ start the video or my older phone succumbed to gremlins. I know the 12-13 spot with the BC to wrap went much better when I was out of his path to 13. I need to get a new phone (old one mostly works except for not having enough space and being out of support as of a few months ago), but it’s stressing me out to compare phone plans & trade in offers even though I already know I want a newer Samsung Galaxy. And we are debating getting Fiber to replace overpriced Xfinity/comcast. It’s just too much thinking about technology outside of my job!
Kaladin- Games 4 – Jpg Popout 2&3 – 8/7/26
Redid options 1 & 3 for Jpg popout 2. Option 3 (wrap then slice) ended up the fastest even when I tighted up the line 2 to 3. Then did popout 3 with 2 options for 12-14 and interestingly the BC to an inside wrap was a bit faster for him.
I clipped one of Lift’s nails a bit too short last night so I didnt’ want her running sequences and turning today. She worked on some recalls and leash on/off stuff while Kaladin was barking his head off in the side yard (for about 90sec before dinner)
For Lift-
If she’s focused on her job (running the course or going to her leash), she ignores bar setters moving around. The specific situation I wanted to recreate was the over-eager barsetter sprinting past her a few feet away at the end of the run. It happened in her 2nd SS Challenge run at our Classic. She ran last and there was a long distance from the last jump to the leash so we were running for about 30ft with her jacked up from the run and were almost to the leash when the bar setter popped out of their chair in front of us and maybe 5ft off our line and sprinted past us to go set jumps to the next height. Lift did a 180 and started to chase them. They slowed to a walk as I called her and she spun back and ran to me. Unfortunately the person video-ing had stopped the video right before this happened so I can’t review it to see how quickly she spun back to me.And for her “Kal slice” she was already feisty from the walk before I left in the car because we encountered a killer Papillon on the walk that charged out of a garage door as we were going past. Luckily it was on a leash because it would have been hard for me to scoop up Lift, spin Kaladin out of the way and drop-kick the screaming thing all at the same time. I managed the first 2 as I was hustling to the other side of the street to get further away. Then needed to carry Lift around the corner before she settled down enough for me to put her down without her telling the neighborhood about the whole debacle.
Games 4 – Jpg Popouts – 8/5/26
Enjoying the better weather (upper 60s this morning!)Lift -Jpg Popout 1
I left the lotus ball & high value treats on the deck so I could practice leashing up and then running to them. But I did have lower value treats in the pocket and ended up using them as we worked through the opening. I think trying to run into a BC/threadle slice 3-4 was just a bad plan for her since her theadle slice is weaker and I couldn’t get far enough across the bar to make the backside of 5 not be a big push on my part. Very happy with getting the BC to wrap right 8-9 though (no kangaroo!)
Kaladin – Jpg Popout 1 & 2
Jpg #1 – BC/Threadle slice worked better for him but it’s a tried & true move for us. I still had to push a bit to get the backside of 5 after it but I felt like he stayed in extension longer than when I handled from the landing side of 4 and used his name to take his eyes off the tunnel. Kaladin also nicely demonstrated coming into the jump when I giraffed it on the way to the tunnel and sending to the tunnel when my arm was lower. What a helpful Floof!Jpg #2 – Had fun trying different options for the opening. When I paced them out, the slicey lines were only about 3ft longer than the circle wraps and for Kaladin they typically need to be 6 or more feet longer before they are slower than the circle wraps. Of course slicing 3 opens up the off-course tunnel even if the line is nice to 4. Option 1 (2 slices) was the slowest but my double blind was late and he added yardage zig-zagging. He was heading to the off course tunnel on option 3 (wrap to slice) but I think that would have been the fastest. Option 2 (slice to wrap) also went well. Option 4 (2 wraps) had the shortest line but he slowed way down with 2 circle wraps in a row.
From Lift’s Weaving with Kaladin cheering her on –
I was really happy with the leashing/remote reinforcement when I asked her for that closer to Kaladin! I need to keep practicing that and want to set up the situation of a bar setter moving quickly past us as we head to the leash when her arousal is high from just running (like when the bar setter is sitting at the ring edge near the leash bucket and jumps up to go set for the next height. Lift has a good chance of being last in a height given 8in tends to be a smaller class).
And yes, I remember thinking that her head was coming up as she was finishing the weaves towards Kaladin the last time and wondering if she’d work through it and stay in or not.
I think the post walk training (esp if she’s in the car for a bit while I setup or run Kaladin) is working well to simulate a higher arousal. I’m trying to be a good neighbor and not bring out a barky kangaroo any earlier in the morning. My next-door neighbors are great but no one wants to hear barking at 6:30AM. And we have new neighboars kitty korner behind us with 2 very vocal corgis who seem to be outside unattended a lot so I’m trying to be really good about not adding to that chaos. Lift’s bark sounds different to me but I dont’ want the next door neighbors to have reason to mix up her barking with those obnoxious corgis. On the plus side, both dogs have been good about not barking back at the corgis as long as we are doing something together (training or playing).Lift – weaves with a Kal Slice – 8/4/26
Upped the distraction level this morning and had Dean release Kaladin into the side yard off-leash so we had a noisy pressure slice. Plus mixed in some remote reinforcement. Lift was pretty hyped up from the beginning (pre-Kaladin) because I had left her in the car after coming back from our morning walk so I could set up the tripod. I cropped out her eating out of the lotus ball after the first set of 12 poles, but left the rest in so you could see how she was handling the transitions and waiting for Kaladin to be let into the side yard. The shrub gets in the way of your view, but she was pretty good about lining up when we head towards the house. She popped out of the poles the first time she was weaving towards Kaladin, but I think part of that was me starting to move into a FC which I need to proof more in general. Switched to going straight ahead in the weaves the last time and she was awesome about wrapping the jump while running straight at Kaladin and then running to her leash. Kaladin got to play frizzer after this as his reward and he had his class tonight.Games 4 – Corners & Pressure Slices – 7/31 & 8/1/26
Tried the Corners thingee again last night (it had rained all day and only in the mid 70s!) with more connection out of the tunnel with mixed results. I think I’m getting the wrap to the left (blue jump at top) instead of right because he was looking at me out of the tunnel and then the connection kicked in and he turned back out to the jump while switching leads so then turned left. My opposite arm was (I think) too high on the backside pushes when I was trying for more distance on those so he spun in the other direction like it was a switch. The last time I kept the opposite arm lower he got the backside slice (pink jump).
While watching the video, I realized I should have been telling him Go as he went to the tunnel (duh!). I think I was thinking that a wrap was coming up so Go wasn’t called for but he clearly wanted more direction on what to do out of the tunnel and needed a go since it was a send to a wrap.
So this morning, I tried it with a Go and he had less questions. Also enlisted Dean & Lift to be our pressure slice starting with rep #2. I plan to go back to the weaves using jumps/tunnels as distractions, but decided I should use the 4 corners set up to test his start line and ability to do some easy mini sequences with Ms Lift cheering him on. (on leash to make sure she didn’t push the xpen out of the way and turn the whole thing into brace. There was a short delay of game between 2 & 3 because Dean forgot his hat and treats (even after I had said he should grab a hat because he would be in the sun. It’s a good thing I put the harness on Lift for him ahead of time!) The are standing behind the tree most of the time but also moving a bit. And lining up on the jump closer to them was very hard. He sat quickly but his head was swiveled over looking at her the whole time.
Lift – 7/31
Moved the pink/yellow jump in to 15ft from tunnel (was 18ft) It is apparently really hard for me to not do a big send with my inside arm for the tunnel to jump wrap. I’m guessing that caused the madz moment when the inside arm forward closed my shoulder to her. In that situation should I still reward her for the wrap (that had the kangaroo before it) or keep going to 1 more obstacle like the tunnel and reward after that instead?She had to do her Pressure slice with at least 2 of them – first the arousal from watching Kaladin & I run and then having Kaladin watching her. Definitely got more arousal at the the start lines which replicates her behavior at a trial or seminar better. But she stayed engaged and did sit without too much backtalk and also held her stays. Super impressed that she offered her head for the harness at the end since I had grabbed her agility slip lead but then forgot it inside. (and she really prefers the slip lead to the harness even when I hold the harness out with the chest strap on top so the harness part is hanging down and not going over her head)
Games 4 – Corners – 7/30/26
We had 2 days where it was quite nice and then it got up into the upper 80s again. I was actually thinking Lift needed to do 12poles more often but it’s just been so hot this summer so I’ve stuck to using 6 more.Kaladin
Really liked his sending out to the wrap jump on these. First threadle wrap was decent but then wasn’t connecting with him soon enough when we tried it back the other direction.
Lift
Started out with great sending to the wraps and apparently she’ll let me get one of those when I’m not very well connected as she exits the tunnel but not a 2nd time.
I need to try these again with sending more to the wrap and getting my feet pointed correctly for the threadle wraps.
Kaladin & Lift – Novel-Exciting with Weaves – 7/26/28
NE item was an open bag of really stinky Mighty Wolf Duck treats. This was from Sunday mid-morning when it was already in the low 80s.
Lift – really impressed with her weaves. I did see her sneak a peak over at the treat bag at about 0:25. So the first rep was funny, I realized after she took off to the 2nd jump that I had released her with “jump” instead of break and Jump does mean take the jump and keep going on your line…which she did!
Kaladin – Did much better than when he went to check out the Highland cows a few weeks ago. LOL
I think I’ve always thought of spins as being helpful in places when there is another obstacle option if they go wide like when you want to wrap a jump and bring the dog through a gap between it and another jump. Will keep them in mind thinking about the feet pointing though.
Games 3 – Jpg Popouts with tunnel – 7/24/26
This was from yesterday (our last “not in the 90s” day for a while so I did a morning & evening session)Kaladin #4&5 AM
I thought I had zoomed out enough but managed to crop out Kaladin on both startlines.
Popout #4 –
An unusual bar down for him on the wrap back to the tunnel. Was I too dramatic for him? I can see him collect and add a stride so that he was taking #2 at an angle turning to the right.
I’m not sure I had those top 2 jumps set right – that was a pretty hard call for the threadle slice.
Popout #5 – Late cueing the 2nd tunnel so he went a bit wide, but it did line him up nicely for the tunnel curving back to the right. Then I totally almost forgot the last jump.
Kaladin – PM – #4 & 6
Tried #4 with a bunch of BCs – kinda felt like I’d given myself a chiro adjustment doing it but he liked it and it did make the threadle slice easier.
Then did #6 – I was so pleased with his threadle wrap I didn’t support the jump after it . Whoops.
Lift – popout #4 in AM
Decided the threadle slice wasnt’ going to happen so had her take it the other way the 2nd time. Took a short break at 1:16 and then came back for another try – this time remembering that I wanted to practice her end of run leash cue more…and it was out of the video, but she ran to it and then stuck her head through the loop so that part went well.
Lift- popout #5 in PM
Happy with how she is doing finding blind tunnel entries (Not something we’ve worked much on). Less happy with how I was incapable of connecting with her out of the tunnel at the end twice! At least her leash up behavior was good even after that hiccup right before it.
Games 3 – Jpg Popouts – 7/21/26
Did these on Tuesday which was our first cool day after I don’t know how many days in the 90s. Was only in the mid 70s! We skipped our walk in the morning to train instead.Kaladin
Redid the Jpg #1 with the spin for the closing and it did tighten up the line. I don’t usually think about spins for him but it did make it clear not to drift to the back of 9.
I got a bit confused about what you were suggesting for the opening of Popout #2…
Lift
Jpg popout 3 in the morning was a bit of a comedy of errors but we pushed through.
Tried the spin for her too at the end of popout 1 and that worked nicely to tighten up her line (after she considered going up the deck steps and then decided not to)
The weather was still so nice in the evening that we circled back to break down the weave entry a bit and this time the push to the spin came together really well
