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Mini Seminar – Forced Fronts-RCs-Leadouts – 1/30/21
Set this up going the other direction. He was turning off the RC wrap jump early and it looks like he wasn’t fully turned and committed to that jump before I was trying to push on his line for the RC. The funky forced fronts and other variant lead outs went pretty well (better than they did last weekend when the 2nd jump had the bucket with the dripping water right by it!). I seem to have lost a bit of my smoking Go that he had in the seminar. I can see in the video that I’m not connected with him heading to the last jump, but I’m not sure why he decided to go the outside on one of them.Elevated Target with Toy – 1/30/21
I tried the mat with a toy on our driveway yesterday (since it was dry and clear) and got him running more but he started getting fixated on the toy and I and wasn’t offering to send out to the mat as well. Then I got your note so here’s an elevated target (a handy Dogopoly box) with one of his favorite slightly deflated balls (after I decided the tug toy wasn’t doing it for him even though I couldn’t get him off of that tug right before this in a handling game). I went back to a slightly larger target. Got him running more but I think he’s still too dependent on my motion. I also think I suck at watching the target when things start going faster. I was sure he hit all 4 at the 2nd try at 1:35 but looking in slow mo I think his inside hind foot was on the ground right next to the target. I think I will try starting closer next time, but still with the ball since he prefers to trot when I’m using treats.Tunnel Threadles & Tandems – 1/24/21
Aha – I realized I am switching the toy to the other hand unconsciously so that I can the hand without the toy to cue something. Will have to think about that more. I did try to make sure my feet didn’t turn towards the tunnel on the threadles until he was looking at the correct entrance.This one the audio didn’t go wonky, but somehow a different video aspect ratio got selected. Clearly the work of gremlins or sunspots.
I love being able to rent this space. The only bummer is that it’s only available on weekends so his handling training ends up on consecutive days. Although my driveway is clear right now so I might be able to do some of his RDW target training there during the week instead….or at least until it snows again on Saturday.
Serps & Stuff – 1/24/21
Did a short serp session last Sunday. Not sure why, be he actually crashed in to the standard on the 2nd serp jump on 1 rep. I don’t think I was pushing him back out or stepping in to him. Maybe he was daydreaming or something but Anyway, I put the bar on that one down to 6in and opened the angle up more and then just did the serp for a reward and we ended there.Oh -and the bucket is in the middle of the ring because the roof was leaking a bit. Luckily the owner’s partner was in the building doing some maintenance work so I was able to let him know and by then the leak had stopped – some kind of condensation problem with the blower unit and the flat roof with snow on it right above.
Back & Forth – 1/28/21
I tried this yesterday in the living room with tossing treats and he stayed in a trot to the mat but would accelerate out of it. Had a few errors which he then corrected on the next try.
Had the opportunity to do this in a bigger space with better footing tonight so used one of his favorite balls. He’s still thinking pretty hard on the approach.We have used a Pet Tutor in Tracy’s MaxPup class where he travels away from me across the target to the PT. Were you thinking of that for this game or would it be a MM on the same side of the target from where I send him from so that he heads out, hits the target and comes back for his food reward?
Zig Zag Grid – 1/24/21
Jumps at 6in. He went around the 2nd jump the first time so I closed the angle up more. I think I could have flattened the angle out more than I did later. He looked pretty confident bouncing.
Would a next step be flattening the angle more and then going to 8in? Or is this one that stays lower?
Contacts – Banana Line – 1/24/21
Tried this with the tug toy first and got some excitement but he had decided he had done enough for the tug already so after 1 rep we ran over to get Spider-ball instead. And it looks like I managed to chop myself out of the frame so we can’t see if I was actually moving in a straight line or not. whoops!Elevated Target – 1/25/21
Yes – I can see that the elevated target is clearer. I started with the larger target on my Cato board a few days earlier and then sized down a bit with my handy dandy soybean drink box. It’s maybe a bit higher than it needs to be but it was a good size to tuck the longer mat around so it didn’t shift.
Also started closer and added distance slower so I didn’t get the stall-outs. This also worked in a lovely session at the training space I can rent with just the mat and no elevated target, but unfortunately I accidentally deleted that video before I got it posted)He missed with his inside hind foot twice going to the right, but I like how he headed back to try again and very deliberately got all 4 feet on. At 1:45 the inside hind foot slipped off when he turned to head back. I didn’t reward that one and that really made him think a bit.
Serps & Stuff – 1/23/21
He’s been jumping 6in if it is in a sequence but he’s been doing 12 and 14 in set points. He’s also done some 12 in jumps in the adjustable grid. I left the serp jumps at 6in but I put the 3rd jump at 10in for the reps where we took it and turned (not the backside slices). He seemed a little surprised the first time.I was late on a left cue for the 180 turn so he quite happily powered down the serp line instead.
Got a frontside instead of a backslide slice after I changed directions, but I can see that he took what my shoulders were pointing to. Whoops! He got the backside the next time when the shoulders were oriented to the outside but then he questioned the 3rd time like – hey lady – are you sure you know what you’re doing?
I plan to do the zig zag exercise tomorrow. I felt like he’d done enough jumping today.
Tunnel Theadles & Tandems – 1/23/21
So I’m really bummed but the audio got out of sync with the video. I thought it was the Movavi Clips that I use to edit, but then realized it was the original video. So you may want to watch it muted since it’s kinda distracting. And I was so pleased with how I was getting the wrap and here-here threadle cue out before he got to the wing! Well -he always took the correct end of the tunnel so there’s my proof.When I did the blind after the tandem 360 he broke stride and trotted. I’m not sure if I was late and got in his way?
Shaping Target – 1/21/21
It’s been an unusually mild winter for MN. We got a bunch of snow in October and then it melted and I wad able to train in my yard until mid December. Now it’s a snowy frozen mess and it’s supposed to drop from 30 today to 0 tomorrow morning.This is the highlights from 3 separate sessions. I was experimenting with my setup.
Started out with 1x2ft yoga mat but I think it’s going to move around too much given our hardwood floors.
Then went to 2 yoga mat padded squares with the mat on top. Didn’t move as just the mat but not sure I like that it’s more than 1 piece.
Then dug out my mats from the basement and tried that. They can shift on the floor but the mat seems to stay put better.So in general I like how he is usually thinking about all his feet. The one thing I did get in each session was him stalling out and lying down/sitting focused on me. Seemed to happen when I started adding more distance. Waiting him out took a while (I left the longest one out in the interest of time). Finally I decided to move a bit closer and that seemed to unstick him.
Does the color of the mat matter? Or just a color that can be distinguished from the floor?
Crate – Mat Discrimination- 1/21/21
The crate is a stronger cue but he’s got an OK “mat” cue which means any kind of bed or mat (in fact in an earlier session I had to remove the beds to my right as he flipped around to one of those the first time I said mat. I gave him a cookie and then moved the beds.) I did have to put him on the side closest to the mat sometimes whereas he will cross over to the crate.I am working on “platz” for his new cato board so plan to do mat vs platz soon.
Serpentines – 1/16/21
I keep feeling like I’m closer to the jumps than I look when I watch the video, especially when he’s entering the serp from a tunnel.Leadouts – 1/16/21
Did these at 8in since he seemed to have an easy time of it at 6in the last time.Contacts Discrimination Foundation – 1/16/21
Great suggestion on using the Pet Tutor for the tunnel – Now he’s more balanced about picking the wrong obstacle!
And yes – I did do some Susan Garrett Crate Games when he was younger. Plus he regularly gets sent to his crate for meals so lots of value for the crate.
