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Crazy Elevator Game Part 3 – 4/28/21
OK I practiced sans dog and then Min decided to run up the board so I caught it for her. No Shelties or Nemos were harmed in the making of this video even though I almost dropped the board once and I see his hind foot went off for an instant the first time. I definitely think you are right about those medium sized dogs being concentrated. It sure felt like more than 20lbs I was catching. I think I should start my countdown sooner when he’s on the end. He was looking off to the side a bit as if he was wondering how we has going to get down. But he was pretty confident about going up so I decided to add in sending around his fox barrel. (all my wings are in the back now because I did a Fig 8 grid with him last week and it took 11 jumps)And yes – lots of distractions, especially in the front yard. The video before this had the across the street neighbor’s pandemic puppy barking (they leave it in the backyard and it barks when it can see us in my front yard). Also another dog leaving a house down the road and walking down the street.
And he does get stalky with stationary rewards (he can do it with a dish too sometimes). I had it out on the ground as a distraction in the basement but I think it’s outlived its usefulness in that capacity.
2x2s for striding with jump – 4/27/21
Yeehah! Got the slightly harder left side entries even with me doing a bit of a fling on the jump first. I think I’m going to try a tunnel later in the week.I;ve also noticed my audio may be a bit off at times in the videos. Or it’s just repeating my “whoohoos” between my reps. Whatever – sunspots! I think I got the extra audio bits cropped out but if it seems like my cue isn’t lining up well, it might be me or it might be the phone.
Elevator Game & Downhill to End Position – 4/27/29
Yesterday (first day outside), he did pretty well with the elevator game and downhill to his target. I also reduced the tip for the new environment. This morning (racing against the incoming rain), I had a brain fart and raised the board more and added my motion at the same time. Not surprisingly it was too much so he didn’t hold his end position. Then he also told me the increased tip going down was a bit too much. (however he wasn’t too concerned as he did offer a bang game behind my back when I thought I had him on my right hand to come around the board) I tried again over lunch with much better results. Didn’t mix the moving and elevator going up and he did much better. I am seeing that if he’s not busy chasing Nemo, he does notice the teeter noise when it hits the ground behind him.
I feel like he needs more sessions with theses to raise the board higher in elevator game and to get the board more parallel in the downhill. Then the uphill/downhill merge and then maybe the Crazy Elevator.
But I’ve got Moderna #2 tomorrow early afternoon so who knows what we’ll be doing for a few days after that.Thanks!
And the neighbors already thought I was crazy but last summer of “TUNNEL – TUNNEL – TUNNEL – YAY!” in the back yard really cemented it.Good thing Nemo has a small leak and can partially deflate or we’d have a nemo ball squirting out from my armpit as I’m catching a board and dropping treats! I stand by my earlier comment in Elevator game #1 that I really need a 3rd arm!
Oh yay! I didn’t miss adding the teeter cue sooner than Crazy Elevator part 4.
For Crazy Elevator part 3&4, does it matter which hand you catch the board with or just use whichever you are more comfortable with so you don’t drop it. In the earlier stages of Elevator game, I’ve been using my outside arm so the inside is feeding. With the crazy variation it looks like you are catching with the inside arm and coming around with the outside to feed. It occured to me that using the inside arm to catch is probably better so that in the future there is no confusion on your outside arm starting to come up if you do a FC very close to the end of the board.
Julie
Hi Tracy,
2 questions on the crazy elevator game
1) Is it catch board and then feed as you lower it a bit before your countdown? Or is it catch/feed at about the same time so that they might get some food as the board is dropping before you catch it?
2) I think I missed when we added the “teeter” cue. I do plan to have a teeter plus a end position (bang it) cue.thx
Julie
Uphill with angled entries – 4/26/21
Teeter made it ouside! Now you no longer have to see the toilet in the background and our cluttered basement! I can get the teeter/tunnel thing in the front yard (maybe on the diagonal, but it will fit). I have to pick up a set of my tunnel bags from the small indoor rental space but I’m down there on Wednesday night.
We hadn’t done the mountain climber for several weeks so I dialed back the tip at first, but he rocked it. It sure is easier to turn him around and get him off the board when you aren’t tripping over laundry and the water heater. Since he was doing so well, I went ahead and did a bit of the angled entries and will add more angle to my send next (by the way – love the batman pants!). And I left in the blooper when I was sure he was right with me as I was adjusting the Teach it and then suddenly he was facing me on the board looking for his magic peanut butter. What a goof!We also did an elevator game, bang it and some downhill to the target with a 10in tip (a bit less than in the basement) and Nemo as a reward after the cookie on the target but someone forgot to hit the red button to record…
Elevator Game & Downhill to End Position- 4/25/21
Up to a 13in tip and I think he’s getting faster even on the sends! I was going to start doing the bang game with fading the target once the teeter goes outside and I can use some grass. The teeter was supposed to go out today but I got caught up doing last minute prep for the “New to UKI” Zoom seminar I was presenting for MAC and then it started raining/snowing. But I see 70s in the future forecast….
How much space do I need to run with the teeter for the next set of games? Wondering if the front yard will work since I’ve got weaves, jump grids, and my RDW plank rotating in the back!2x2s for Striding with jump- 4/25/21
First session – jump before weaves. Kept the jump at 8in so he would add some speed but not get in to trouble in my small backyard. Offside weaves are stronger with my motion, but he sorted out the 10:30pm ish entrance after I straightened it out, then sent him ahead. Was able to add some more motion after that.2nd session later in the day
Added a jump after the poles too (I’m running out of space to do this with easier entries!) I think the missed entry on the offside was partly due to him taking off in a disorganized manner over the jump. I didn’t put him far enough back (because I was running out of space against the snow fencing) and he took off without taking a stride. The next time we did that entry, I managed to tuck him a bit futher back under the tree. He took a stride before the jump and made the entry.Both sessions are with the same-ish weave setup with the first set almost straight and the 2nd slightly more open & offset. I feel like he’s a pretty happy bouncer, but that I should do another session with the easy entries and more motion. I need to dig a tunnel out of my basement too so maybe I’ll play around with that instead of of the jumps. (it will be easier to fit in the yard if nothing else!)
Elevator Game with Motion & Downhill to End Position – 4/23/21
No crimes of passion this time with the raw food. Up to an 11in tip. We’re back in the 40s with snow forecasted on Sunday so teeter is staying in the basement a bit longer. It’s quite a PITA to get it up the basement stairs so I’m torn between liking it in the basement so I can train when the weather is crappy vs getting it out so he can chase his Nemo after the teeter.We did get a few downhill reps in on the loud clunky teeter in class the day before. Less tip since it’s so clunky. He was a bit faster with my motion than sending, but he was confident about trotting down to his target without me.
And more importantly, he was much more comfortable in class overall. I got there early so he had time to acclimate and he was able to do goofy tricks on leash heading to the obstacle and off leash right before we did something. Next thing to work on is someone standing behind him (about 15ft away) when he’s on a startline. That made his head explode and he started slow until I had a BC which got him chasing me. Much faster starts on a different jump with no one behind him.2x2s for Striding- 4/23/21
I think I am seeing less patter and more bounce. He ran by the offside entry again when I had more motion. Maybe I closed the poles too much, but if they are more open I wasn’t seeing as good striding. I think I will need to open them more for me to add more of my motion back in.
OK – think I got it but a few questions:
1) should I be using the real cue when we’re experimenting with how to get the bounce or just leave it for narrow channels until we get the bounce more reliably on the 2x2s
2) any issue with trying to get the striding in another environment or better to get it at home and then take it on the road?
3) Both sets of 2x2s open a tiny bit or just the 2nd set? A few weeks ago he was doing great with me running when the first was straight and the 2nd was around 1&7 but nearly straight is a lot harder.And I did notice the lack of eye-rolling on the wing wraps. I think it also helps that we’ve been in the 40s & 50s all week so it’s kinda brisk out. Plus running for Nemo is always a favorite pastime…
2×2 – 2 sets straight- 4/21/21
We worked the 2x2s down to a 1ft gap between the bases. Had to open up the 2nd set a bit when sending off my left and with me moving. I did less movement the next time and he still popped the 2nd set so I opened them up again. Should I have just opened up the angle the first time he popped the 2nd set?I plan to try the Find Em game with more open channels on Friday or Saturday and then go back to either the 2x2s or more closed channels for the session after that.
Downhill to End Position – 4/19/21
Raw food in the Toppl and me cueing the wrong word led to a crime of passion. And then he started offering the Bang Game and going up and back on the plank. It was a very exciting morning. We’re working on increasing the gap to the floor so that that board starts to become more parallel to the ground. This was a 7in gap and using the smaller lid target.
I’ve never had a dog do this before so it took me by surprise at first. But then again, he’s the first one raised during a pandemic. I think all my other Shelties worked through approaching or ignoring other people when they were much younger. If he had less confidence he probably wouldn’t approach at all. It’s 99% the imbetween moments or just meeting people out and about when not working. There was one instance several weeks ago where he released from a jump, took it and ran straight to the instructor to circle around and jump on her. We worked through that with lots of rewards of not looking or glancing quickly and back at me (the look at that game) and he can go by her now. Every other time it’s been a imbetween moment.
Oh good idea about the treat hugger. I have one but hadn’t figured out how to incorporate it into my training.
