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Bang it on Teeter – 3/29/21
We’ve been working separately with his scratchy target thingee (with and without the travel plank) to get multiple scratches. Then I started putting it back together on the teeter with a small tip. I think it’s gotten better but I’m still seeing his head turn some times before I can get a treat in or at least his eyes flicking to me on the video. I had an earlier session where he came off the board with me when I added some motion, but he did better about staying put when I moved a bit in this one.Uphill – Mountain Climber – 3/29/21
Tip reduced to 5in (I finally measured it) and we did a few sessions over the last few days of 1 hit wonders for his raw food at meal time – mostly me going with him or leading out. And then here’s tonight’s video where he is showing more speed up the plank and his head is staying down to look for the reward even on the send!
Do you think it’s better to give him a day or two off on uphill to do some downhill and end position stuff just to let this sink in more before I try this again to confirm it wasn’t a fluke before adding an inch to the tip?I do think he does a lot better when we have more room and I can run more and be more lateral. But the teeter is staying in the basement a while longer since it is a pain in the butt to get out of there. It as 70 today, but heading to 40 again tomorrow.
Actually I’m running in to the same thing with his RDW where the best way to get his fluffy little butt out of a trot is my motion. Of course then there’s the problem of him launching at my motion, but hey! it’s supposed to be challenging right?
Weight Shift – 3/23/21
Tried a higher target and further out. Still not seeing the weight shift, but he is looking more confident about the wobbly plank.
But loving the Teach It – way easier than mixing and matching chairs, milk crates, duct tape and wooden spoons that fall off.
Uphill & Downhill Teeters – 3/26/21
up to about 8in of tip for both directions.Downhill –
He is faster/more confident if I am moving with or ahead of him, but he is still driving to the end if I send. Should I be looking for any more speed before I add more tip or is trotting without hesitation what I am looking for to progress?Uphill:
It’s hard to see at this camera angle, but I don’t think he’s doing much of a weight shift back, but it’s also not dropping very far.2×2 Tunnel Discrimination – 3/27/21
This was 2 sessions that had a short break between them mashed together in the same video. Still having trouble getting him in to the tunnel (guess I should enjoy it while it lasts!) Started at 1&7 but then got to straight poles.2x2s – 2nd set – 3/25/21
This was from yesterday over lunch (so of course since I did this we ended up doing weaves in class that night)
We had a session with 2 sets of poles from earlier in the week where he failed twice with the 12&6 poles in the first set even with an easy entry. I moved them back to 1&7 in that session and ended there. So I started with 1&7 this time and then moved to straight. The 2nd set is still about 4ft from the first. I didnt’ want to move them to normal distance until he had better success with the straight entries.
I cropped out us doing tricks in the middle while I waited for the very noisy Amazon Prime truck to stop across the street and then back up… (can we say loud beeping???) So I was impressed that he was able to weave again after that.And I might have missed part of step 6. Was I supposed to start angling the 2nd set while the first set was still at 1&7? Whoops! He did the 2nd set at 3&9 but at the “regular” distance from the first set at 1&7. Do I push that distance out again when I start angling the 2nd set or leave it in closer but keep the first set at 1&7 instead of straight?
Channels – 6 poles – Distractions – 3/25/21
Biggest distraction for him was doing this in a different place, his group class which he hasn’t been in for very many weeks. So other people in or around the ring and sometimes quietly waiting dogs outside the ring.Picked up speed nicely through the poles with the angled entries, but the RCs were too much for him so I went back to an easier entry to end before his brains completely fell out of his head. I think the first attempted RC would have worked if I had just tossed the frizzer sooner as he was just getting to pole 3 when he turned and looked back. Instead I was worrying about completing the cross (no idea why). I do like how he stayed focused forward well with the frisbie toss and didn;t pop out whe I was getting ready to toss the frizzer.
We have done those games with asking for a simple behavior when moving food/toys are around, but it was a little while ago so I picked them up again. So far we’ve made improvements on a hand touch while I’m holding and slowly moving his raw food dish in my other hand. I get a solid hand touch without hesitation but then he looks over at the food as his head comes up. I can get repeat touches but not without the eye flick between.
Channels – 12 poles – 3/24/21
Took advantage of my nearby training facility having lots of 2x2s to set up 12 poles in channels. I like how he accelerates once he gets in the channels. 1 oopsie on a RC on entry. I’m saving the crazier counter motion stuff for when I’m using 6 poles at homeQuestion on the serp exit challenge – Do you want the dot to exit and serp with you or do you just run across the end of the poles ahead of them while they continue to the MM/PT?
Weight Shift – 3/22/21
OK- played around with how to position the plank, bosu and teach it and am not really seeing a weight shift even when he got going. I don’t own a doughnut. I’m wondering if the bosu is just too low? I do have 2 versa discs I could stack on top of the bosu but it might be too wobbly thenDownhill Teeter games 2 – 3/21 & 3/22/21
Did a bit of tip for his downhill games on Sunday and then his new Teach It arrived this afternoon! (actually it got delivered by the guy around the corner at the same house number on 13th lane. We live on 13-1/2 St. That’s apparently very confusing for UPS…and the USPS)
So we did a 1-hit wonder with more drop tonight.2×2 – adding 2nd set – 3/22/21
OK – Good thing he’s not really weaving yet with the 2nd set at 3&9. Since I cleary can’t count and keep track of the number of reps!
Started the 2nd set further away and then move a bit closer and eventually got them to “real spacing” but with the angles.I like how this breaks down adding the 2nd set more. I think that’s what stalled us out when we tried it earlier a la Susan Garrett – when you add the 2nd set at more of an angle, it was too big of a jump for him.
I’m getting confused – does the dog start or end at 12 o clock? Whatever it is, I’ll work on the tricky off side entry with him as you mentioned by getting close and dropping the reward in right at the pole exit.
Channels – 3/21/21
Here’s channels using a frizzer as reward (technically a Flying squirrel since he started eating my frizzer the day before). He popped out a few times in the last set when on my right. Not sure if it is related to me about to toss the toy. I was trying to throw sooner so that he doesn’t start to turn his head on exit, but also ended up rewarding a pop-out as I was throwing as his shoulder was passing #3 and then he popped out.
Weather is supposed to be rainy mid week so not sure how much weaving we’ll get done.2x2s – straight – 3/21/21
Warm up on 1-7 and then went to straight. I was heading in to straighten them out and he thought I was sending so his first straight poles were inadvertent. Yay puppy!He does better keeping his rewards straight than I do. As witnessed by throwing the ball instead of hitting the remote on the last rep and by accidentally triggering the PT on the 3 o clock entry he missed. The offside more angled entry with me moving seems to be his weakest area now.
2×2 – Tunnel Discrimination – 3/20/21
Whoohoo! He rocked this one. Just need to balance a bit more with the tunnel since he didnt’ think he should do that in the offside ones and then managed to run through the weaves to get to it. We went with it.
I took a break between the 2 directions & brought Min out and she ended up in the tunnel on the offside entries at 3 o clock. (In her defense, she hasn’t seen 2x2s in a while but she has also been known to end up in a tunnel instead of the weaves at oh say…the US Open)Near side –
Off side –
Target & Soft Turns – 3/18/21
I was able to rent ring time on Wednesday and get him running on a flat regulation size DW plank. He some nice sepated back feet hits like the first rep. Then he did some where he would hit with a back foot or two but be bouncing up in to the air and not hit with front feet. (2nd & 3rd reps). I rewarded the first one because I thought both back feet hit but then he started getting bouncier (3rd rep) and missing with his back foot so not sure I should have rewarded the first bouncy one.
Then today I put the target out in the front yard (newly melted but not quite ready to lay a plank down on it) and took Tracy’s suggestion from the weave pole class to pair the PT and his ball using the ball as the reward to recall to me. I think this approach has promise for him as he was really running and mostly hitting the target even as I started moving the PT for turns off the target.Is it helpful to do the target without the plank to keep working on his turns in addition to the turns off the plank? I also have to circle back and do some of the back and forth with obstacles but with the flat target instead of the inverted one. It looks like I shouldn’t try propping the plank up until I can get him doing up to 90 deg turns off the plank with a high rate of success (we’ve really only done up to about 45deg off center). I’m going to skip the collection turns for now, but should I try the wing after the flat plank?
