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Wk 1 – Decel/Turn – 11/12/23
I snuck in 1 more short session with Lift before I hit the road with Kaladin. Definitely a favorite Sheltie game with all the cheese treats so I added in some toy play to make sure we keep practicing switching back and forth.And on the hand touch – that is totally me having done some nose touch to hand work with her before where the treat was delivered in the hand some of the time. I’ll work on getting the hand further from my body and continuing to reward away from hand.
Games 1 – Send to Prop – 11/11/23
We did our pre-game send to prop in this family room, but the earlier video was the 1rst time I tried a toy with this game so clearly that rocked her world.2nd try yesterday in same room but with a toy and with a warmup up of driving to the toy went a bit better.
Wing Wrap – 11/11/23
This was also from yesterday where I felt like she was catching on more about looking for the other side when her toy went dead.
Pre Game Hand Touch – 11/11/23
We did 1 session with the post-in note pad in my hand the night before class started and she was a bit confused at first so I switched to just my hand and the lightbulb went on. This next session from last night, I warmed her up with my hand and then added the post-it pad and it went much better.
And clearly I need to figure out what to tighten on my new tripod so it stops rotating up towards the ceiling partway through!
Games 1 – Drive Ahead to Toy at Fusion – 11/10/23
I let her take her time sniffing things as we walked into the arena room. (If there are people/dogs there I typically carry her in, but we had it to ourselves). Then we did a short send to/release from her mat with a toy followed by this session. I’d say she really likes having more space to run and didn’t have issue with me running along pretty close to her.BC Foundations –
We did a short play break after the Drive to Toy and then swapped out for a smaller and easier to throw toy. And partway through this is where the wheels fell off the bus a bit and she went on walkabout. I realized that while I’d let her acclimate to the space outside the ring, I hadn’t done much this morning (beyond the mat game) in the ring. This was her 5th or 6th time at Fusion but only the 2nd time she was “training” in the ring. Previously she was just visiting or doing mat games and chasing tossed treats in the space outside the ring.
So I put the leash on her and let her sniff around and explore the ring for a few minutes. Then we revisited each game with much better results.
Goat Tricks – Plastic Lids
We’ve played with toys in almost all of the rooms in the house, but some toys have tended to stay in a spot (like roadkill raccoon in the kitchen). The fur and fleece fancier toys tend to be the ones that travel around more. Anyways she wasn’t tormenting the adults tonight (the sniffy walk on a nearby trail with Demi probably helped) but I decided we might as well slip another Goat Tricks session in. I was surprised that she was hesitant with the shallow plastic lid since she’s never shown any sign of being hesitant about clambering into or over surfaces before. She found the plastic box bottom with the higher walls much easier.
Lift – Games 1 – Drive Ahead to Toy – 11/9/23
This was our first session this morning and she thought it was a blast with the longer room. The first time I added a bit of speed she pulled up when she got to the toy and looked at me (it went off camera to your right). The next time she had no issues and even got a bit ahead of me.
And she’s a Sheltie -she thinks eating clumps of Kaladin’s fur is fun. The main problem wit crunchy treats for her is she takes a long time to chew even small pieces so I have mostly been using bits of cheese or those Bixbi pocket trainers (cut into 6 pieces).
Send to Prop – 11/9/23
Played around with this a bit with both food & toys at. It got a bit sloppy on the sends but I was happy with how I got her more excited with the ready dance.
Goat Tricks 1 – 11/9/23
I’ve done a bit of shaping her into boxes or containers but this was the first session for this basket (or anything slightly textured) and the first in the living room. “Roadkill raccoon” is a favorite of hers when playing in the kitchen but apparently less so tonight in the living room. She was being a nusiance trying to get Kaladin to play when he was done for the evening so I decided to do the shaping session to see if it settled her down after & it worked.
Wk 1- Decel/Turn – 11/8/23
Did this at lunch after she napped most of the morning.
She is coming with me to the Open so I’m packing in some extra sessions before I leave on Sunday since she’ll have a MaxPup break from then until the next Live SessionAnd yes, I tossed small pieces of cheese for both of her BC games earlier today. I have more length in the upstairs hallway into the bedroom but it’s narrower and I have to sidestep a dresser so was worried I’d run into it while BC-ing. I also have a longer living room but it is wood floors with an area rug so footing isn’t quite as good. If I am throwing the toy after the blind is it being thrown with the arm that is across my body to indicate the blind?
Hadn’t planned on it but we also got a nice resilience walk in tonight through all the random stuff in our massage therapist’s back yard. (Chicken coop, grills, random wood planks, a mower, flapping tarps in the wind etc) Jumped when the tarp she had been sniffing suddenly flapped right next to her in a wind gust but then headed right back to check it out more. (No video – it was pretty dark)
Wk 1- BC Foundations – 11/8/23
This is a 2-part video. Did it this morning before she had breakfast (when I train a lot of the time) and she was kinda sticky about chasing me after getting her treat. We’ve done the toss treat/chase me type game before and I thought this was a bit unusual, but she was coming into the correct side. (i had Dean running a timer for me upstairs – I need to figure out my “dumb watch” timer.
Then I did a lunch session for decel/turn and she was her usual perky self so I tried this again with a warmup of just treat – chase me/no BC and got what I had been expecting in the morning. I have Fusion rented for Friday morning so plan to use part of the time to try this with Lift in a much bigger space but without grass to hide the tossed treat
Games 1 – Wing Wrap w/2 toys – 11/8/23
Was curious to see what she would do with 2 toys instead of the food last night. Also forgot I should have started with her going to the right first but she caught on.
Looking forward to it. I’ll see what I can get done before I leave for the Open on Sunday. Lift is not coming with me so she’ll get a break from Max Pup for a bit. She is doing a few days as a farm stay with Skye Priesz to give Dean and Demi a break since her favorite interactive toy is coming with me.
Live Session 3 – 8/19/23
Air quality got better so snuck in the sequences from the live session #3 this morning when it was still in the 70s instead of the 90s.
1rst sequence – I left #9 off since I figured we were working on a go from the tunnel to the jump which would have had him landing underneath my a-frame2nd sequence – Not sure why he was trying so hard to get the back of 3 when I was telling him right which means take the front side of the jump & turn. The only thing I could think of later is that the jump was reflected off the house windows straight ahead of it so maybe that confused him at first?
3rd sequence – thought I’d get a tighter turn out of #6 tunnel by saying his name quietly as he was heading in….and he turned right out of the entrance! I let him go through without saying anything the next time and he shot out nicely to get a good wrap on 7.
They didn’t cancel Dean’s outdoor concert (with the orchestra tucked in a bandshell that has a closed glass back (can we say let’s bake the brass section?) He’s borrowing with my Cool-on-track towel!
Live Session 4 -Seq 3 – 8/17/23
We snuck in the last live sequence this morning before the air quality index started climbing.
I felt like he was wide on the backside circle wrap but watching the video I’m not sure if it would have been better for him to collect a bit more before taking off so that he landed more towards the tunnel.
And LOL – run slower! I was thinking I needed to do that in the yard since the parallel path is so important for him. I think I get spoiled since he’s so responsive so he’ll still turn even if the cue is a bit late, but he does like to chase me and he also goes faster when he knows where he’s going so I should get better at that.
Live Session 4 – 8/15/23
Tried part of Live #4 yesterday when it was cooler. Did the warmup in the morning and discovered apparently I can turn too early when sending to a tunnel. I thought he was looking at the tunnel but he turned off it when I did. I think if I had him driving ahead more it would have been easier for me to peel off when I wanted to so that I didn’t get trapped behind the jump.Did sequences 1 & 2 over lunch since it was still cool (sadly only for that one day) Not sure if I like the spins for Sequence 2 or not when the verbal and shoulder turn also worked. And apparently I did need a bit of a threadle cue near the end of sequence 2 since he decided to throw in an extra backside.
Going to try seq 3 tomorrow morning since we’re supposed to be under an air quality alert later on Thursday along with getting warmer temps. Poor Dean has an outdoor concert on Saturday even when it’s supposed to be 90 at 7:30pm!
RYG 5 – 8/13/23
Scrunched the course down a bit to take the oak tree out of play. He seems to do better on the switch out of the tunnel when I go almost to the tunnel exit.
I like the spin on 7 in sequence 2.RYG 5 -8/2/23
I tried each sequence on Tuesday morning before taking Kaladin in for his dental. (Yay for working for a frizzer since he couldn’t eat). I thought I would circle back later in the week but it turned out he had a badly abscessed tooth (way back on the top left- the one you can’t see and can barely reach to brush even if you have small fingers like me). So no frizzer or other toys or Agility for at least a week. Poor guy. Apparently it had probably been slowly getting worse for weeks or even months and he was showing no signs. I am interested to see if he adds another gear when we go back to agility.Seq 1 – oak tree made this one harder and I lost him behind it while watching my footing around an exposed root and then was late on the threadle wrap. Next try was better
Seq 2 – I think he would have sent out better on the switch if the oak wasn’t blocking the view of the jump
Seq 3 – redid the end so I could send more and hustle up the line better. He liked chasing me and the dig dig left wrap RC was really tight.
RYG4 – Sequence 3 – 7/21/23
This may be it for a while. We’re getting new windows next Mon & Tues (Shelties have spots with friends and I’ll be working from the downtown office. Plus we have to move everything that is near a window), heading to upper 90s next Wed- Fri and I’m entered in a UKI trial (outdoors) next weekend. So glad it went well!
Tried seq 1 & 2 again with your excellent feedback. Got the layer in 2 by not going so far across the bar at 3 in Seq 2. Got some counter motion at the backside in Seq 1 so a tighter path.
And nailed #3 the first time (ok so I tested the threadle slice after the layer first) I like how the threadle wrap at 10 let me leave earlier than a BC to a FC wrap turn so I had plenty of time to work the turn on the jump out of the tunnel.
RYG4 – Sequence 1&2 – 7/18/23
OK -other than Kaladin trying to help a bit in the walk through, sequence 1 ran well this morning. The jump layering after the RC worked much better than I thought it would.
Seq 2. Dropped #2 so I tried it again and then I think I got too far ahead and ran out of room so he got the tunnel instead of the jump layer.
Geoff Nieder was the judge and also designed the premier and other regular AKC classes. Daniel Walz was the ISC designer.
That A3 was wonky for us at the opening – I need to work more on driving out to the weaves, but in his defense my RC between the tunnels did confuse him. I knew it would and was hustling to keep driving the line but I think running up the outside of the 2nd tunnel and then RC-ing as he entered the weaves would have helped him out. (since I wasn’t getting the BC in between the 2 tunnels! Dog after dog were getting the wrong tunnel, not #3 but one under the a-frame off to the left, or coming in for the DW since the handlers were hustling up for the BC. And 2 even got the a-frame way off to the side)
I am hoping to scrape together enough PTO for EOTT. It’s a bit tricky with the proximity to US Open and Thanksgiving but I actually reserved a hotel room (at Kory Kaye’s suggestion) back in May when I realized he had gotten almost all of the requirements in that ISC only trial we did in WI. I mean, I don’t think we’re going to get picked (being realistic with where his ground speed is at for us now), but I think it will be a blast and that we can make a credible showing for ourselves and look like we belong there. He’ll be 4 then and it does seem like this world team thing keeps going to younger dogs so it feels like this is the right year to go for it. We also plan to try out for WAO at 16in at the Open. I mean – why not? A $40 donation to the team and then some fun to see where we end up.
Julie
