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Games 4 sequences at Fusion – 12/1/24
How on earth is it December already? Trained with Kristin & Khamsin this morning. Had some moments of brilliance and others that weren’t.Rep 1
The ring setup had been tweaked and the a-frame was no longer in the way in the back so we used a different tunnel and set up the games 4 sequences the direction as pictured and with a 15ft tunnel. My plan was to try part of sequence #1. I did a mix of pattern games & volume dial on my way to the first station. Then got rid of my jacket and extra treats. With the sequence far away from the gate, I decided to jog over there and apparently that was just too much for Ms Lift’s pop rocks. There’s a short break in the middle of the video where we went over to the 2nd station (where the NFC reward box will be), got a treat and came back out again. She was better after that and I experimented with picking her up and taking the leash off while she was in my arms. Not sure if that is something I want to do going forward, but I think I might try it again but give her time to shake it off after I put her down. Again had the issue with sending to the tunnel so ditched sequence 1 and just made something up on the fly. (I don’t think you can hear it but I muttered to myself to stop saying yay after she did go in the tunnel). On the plus side I did remember to point back to the tunnel on the exit so got the jump after it. This was the first time she has hesitated with the leash loop after training so clearly we still had some feelings to process.
Rep 2
This was after a snuffle mat and some hanging out on her cot behind the solid side ring barrier (but able to hear Reacher & Kristin – actually just Kristin since Reacher was a silent little good Schnauzer). We did our pattern games/volume dial over to the ring entrance and past Kristin & Reacher. Both Lift and Reacher thought that was too exciting so add going by dogs to the homework list since I’d rather not resort to carrying her alot at trials. Walked in briskly but kept her on leash and got a much better line up (I had treats in my pocket this time but saved them for the end of the sequence). Guessing the run by the jump after the tunnel was a bit about my inadvertent “yay” and bit about me moving laterally off the jump. Still had big feelings about jump-tunnel so I had her do spins for cheese and then we tried part of one of the 3rd sequences. No hesitation on the leash loop after the visit to station #2.
Rep 3
This was after a break in the car for 2nd breakfast. Offered her the tug toy outside of the ring by our cot and she was sort of interested but then backed off and looked like she was about to erupt in barking so I put it away and she settled back down again. Khamsin and Mochi obliged us by walking around outside the ring this time including about 10ft away as we were getting ready to go in. (Mochi is an awesome neutral dog who is completely uninterested in Lift so she was fine with this ). Got sticky on a release so I switched to having her spin right before the jump.
After another break, we also did a short (45sec?) rehearsal of going into the ring while Kristin was picking up numbers on the far side of the ring. Taking off the leash, doing a lead out on the flat past the reward box and releasing her where she promptly started to angle over to it. I called her and she came back, ran by it with me and then I gave her the Happy Hour cue. (only to find out that I had forgotten that I had moved the chair & dish to around the corner so we got the leash on and ran out). On the plus side, she completely ignored Kristin walking around on the other side of the ring.
I have her signed up for a drop in class on Tuesday as her last training session before she gets spayed on Wednesday. My plan is to work on the TSA game past the dogs that will be waiting for their turn in the aisle near the ring gates and some super simple 2-4 obstacle sequences so that I can focus on the line up & end of run stuff and some remote reinforcement work (maybe bringing my chair and the dish into the ring? It won’t be there for a trial but I’m guessing that it’s good to move it around and test whehter she can work around it until being cued to go to it).
After Friday’s mini group training, I got ambitious and actually registered her with UKI and started thinking that maybe I should enter her in a class or two in the Jan 11-12 Fusion trial just to test getting in and out of the ring. She will be cleared for sprints & tricks by then but barely any jumping (4 in a row at 8in is the guideline). I can put her in 4s or 8 at either the very beginning or end of the class to minimize the chaos of getting to and from the ring. She turns 18 mo later in December so I can put her in Jumping which will ensure I won’t get greedy since we haven’t trained weaves yet. Then after this morning, I’m questioning that idea as I think she’s going to need a lot more practice on how to navigate getting to the ring past the normal trial chaos. And while it’s 6 weeks-ish out, I won’t have a bunch of opportunities to work on that given her spay and what is available for classes due to the holidays. My opportunities are maybe a fusion training session on Dec 29 (tbd on the holiday booking) a 3 day USDAA trial at On the Run (I am planning on letting her tag along on Fri & Sun so she gets Sat at home to chill), a drop-in class at Fusion on Jan 7 and a ring time rental on Jan 10 (not sure if Khamsin or Kristin would be able to join me though since they’re gainfully employed and all unlike me). On the plus side, I can control a bunch of variables at Fusion trials that I secretary since she will be in a crate under my desk at the front corner of the ring (when not crated in the car – depends on the weather) and has a small private warm up space in that corner that is blocked off from general traffic. Then she has a short walk to the ring entrance. I also usually put my happy hour station for Kaladin back at that desk so it’s also close to a ring exit. And I have a mid Jan, mid Feb and mid April Fusion UKI trial with an early Feb MAC USDAA at On the Run in the middle. So my grand plans were to try going in and out in mid Jan, maybe 1 run at OTR in early Feb if it went well at Fusion in Jan (not sure – she is less familiar with OTR), a bit more at Fusion in mid-Feb, and then maybe actually a mini sequence or two with the reward box for mid April. I know that is looking pretty far out, but I was thinking that the sequence of trials was convenient which made me start thinking about starting her off in mid January and then seeing how it went.
And separate topic – since I keep blurting out “yays!” mid course, should I figure out a way to train around that? It might just be easier than my trying not to say it. Wondering if I should try something like – cueing a trick – saying yay! – cueing another and then rewarding with tossed cheese. Also looking for things I can do in the early parts of the post spay recondition plan that don’t involve extended sprinting or jumping. (working on remote reinforcement with tricks on the flat and going by the station before cueing it is also on the list)
Fusion 11/29/24
Rep 1 – power patterns and part of sequence 2
Added Kristin and Reacher/Ronin to the Lift & Jimothy show and we set up the Games 4 sequence as a mirror image to avoid moving the teeter. The sequence is a but adjuster since the 20ft tunnel was available. Did patterns games on the way in and on the way to the ring entrance with some volume dial mixed in. (Ronin provided some nice distraction with his barking) Purposely didn’t give her too much time to settle inside because I wanted to test how she did as we were early in the class and didn’t have much time to warm up after the potty break outside. I also set up the 2nd station where our NFC food reward box goes for Fusion trials. Got a jump up when I closed my shoulders after the tunnel and she went between the pole and the jump near the end but pretty happy with our first “NFC test” where I left the treats outside the ring.
Rep 2-
Had a short decompression break with the snuffle mat and chewing on the bully stick while Reacher ran. Then did a bit more. I had treats in my pocket for this one but empty hands when we started. Need to remember to cue my “happy hour” before we are almost already there.
Rep 3
This was after a break outside in the car for 2nd breakfast in a toppl (and shortening one of the leg straps on her coat!) Made it easier by bringing the treats into the ring for the volume dial game. Did more pattern games in the ring since it was hard when Khamsin and Mochi walked by the front of the ring. Then she held her start line like a champ as the boarding dogs erupted in the next room. Unfortunately I tuned that cacophony out and didn’t realize she needed a reward sooner so had to take a short break after the leaping lizard eruption at the tunnel. We came back to try the threadle slice out of the tunnel and then decided we had better quit and have a party outside the ring.
She’s getting a sniffy walk later today with Demi and tomorrow off.
Friendsgiving was fun but we don’t get a lot of leftovers so we solved that by ordering the Blue Apron Thanksgiving feast which we are cooking for ourselves later this afternoon.
Remote Reinforcement – 11/27/24
Happy Thanksgiving! So happy we are going to Friendsgiving so I don’t need to host or drive further than 30min to get there.
Lift pratically exploded when Kaladin and I got home on Tuesday night. Dean did a really good job with her (even doing her conditioning exercises and neutralizing pattern games!) but Demi barely plays with her so it’s good we weren’t gone any longer. (Wish me luck next week after she gets spayed and I might need to sit on her to keep her from boinging!)we moved the RR outside and near a jump. I ping ponged it as it seemed hard for her to move away from the treat with the addition of the jump.
Power Patterns -11/28/24
I missed getting to this one before we trekked down to Florida. Forgot about putting the leash back on on the first rep so we did it again. And yes – it is snowing…on top of the oak tree leaves because the oak tree is always late to drop leaves and our leaf guy is MIA. I used small pieces (because she is small and doesn’t need to get a tummyache) of the St Rocco’s treats which are apparently very yummy and take a while to chew. She got to demolish a collagen chew after this. I have Fusion booked tomorrow and Sunday (sharing with Khamsin and maybe also Kristin) and then she gets spayed next Wed.hmmm – in order to cue a different position stay, I should probably train a stand stay first! LOL- OK – will add to the list of things I can do with her post-spay.
Definitely a brilliant training plan! And so efficient too!
I totally took the last tunnel in the first rep for granted and she was quick to tell me about it. And in my mind I was saying right for the turn out of the tunnel way in advance of her going into it but it was clearly as she was entering and too late so the wide turn. I felt like I was going too deep to the jump before the wrap but that she needed it to not 0ull off.
At home when I inhaled on the leadout her ears pointed forward more and I could see her tense her muscles. At Fusion I didn’t notice the muscle change from the front but can see it from the side in the video.
If she is having trouble lining up in a sit due to arousal (or whatever), I have been either asking for a motion trick and/or tossing the treat to have her chase it. Is that a good approach if she gets sticky? I am trying to not have a treat in my hand when I ask for the sits but I’ve also done a fair amount of using the treat to get her into a position (like for the ang game).
And I’m assuming it is not an issue that I do sometimes do the tip toeing to lead out and then reward the sit by throwing the toy back?
As in the cartoon mashup doesn’t always precede a release forward but can be a release out of the sit to catch the toy.We just drove by Fiery Gizzard Trail in eastern TN. Such a cool name. Might have to stop sometime to check it out.
Games 3 – Drive ahead sequences – 11/16/24
Khamsin and I shared a ring rental on Saturday morning. We were too lazy to move the tunnels so tweaked the drive ahead course to be 2 jumps to another tunnel. (that toppl really can travel far when you chuck it on mats!) The bark on cue seems to work better for her than a jump up (a newer trick on cue).
Engaged “Chill”
Took the opportunity to try for some engaged chill after Lift’s sequence work while Jimothy was working so that she had some arousal to chill from. She wasn’t keen on being on the chair (probably would have been fine with a canvas chair or a bigger one). I did speed up the pattern game again when she started to notice Jimothy running (the first part of the video was Khamsin setting bars so the sounds weren’t so exciting). She also hung out a bit standing on my lap before deciding she was done. (she will hang out sitting or standing in my lap a lot longer at home but it’s less exciting there)
Releases Part 1
This was after Lift had a break (and 2nd breakfast) in the car while I did a few jump grids with Kaladin and let him play with his frizzer. First lead out is the inhale. (I had more a of a reaction from her when I did this at home). She held all her stays, but had to tell me about what she thought about lining up. I did edit out 20sec of her getting the treat out of the lotus ball off camera after the last rep. (and yes – that is Khamsin and I talking about the US Open and how any weather that doesn’t involve a hurrican is a good thing)
Oh- that re-conditioning plan was from our chiro/rehab vet, Dr Julia Tomlinson. My regular vet is amazing but pretty sure she will say to keep Lift quiet for 2 weeks and then follow directions from Dr Julia.
Dean sent me a picture of Lift sacked out on the living room floor after he took her for a walk with Demi and then a video later of her pulling Nemo & Dorie toys out of her Finding Nemo snuffly coral reef toy. So sounds like day 1 without Kaladin and I went well. See you in Jacksonville on Tuesday.
Games 3 -Sequence 1 & tested RC – 11/14/24
Decided I wanted to try this again in the yard before I take it down for when I’m gone. Lowered jumps to 6in to see what that did for her jumping and threw the creamcheese toppl. No issues with the rear cross, but I kept it easy by not doing the straight line first and leaving the tunnel out. Made a bigger deal about the backside cue and got it this time. It’s out of the camera but on the last rep the toppl bounced off the fence so she pulled up and stared at it until I moved it for her. (silly girl). After she finished part of the cream cheese she politely trotted next to me as I carried it across the yard to get her leash and stuck her head through the loop to get the toppl again. No jumping up on the way in and we did a snuffle back in the house.
After dinner we did some tricks with her “slightly squashed skunk” toy and she gave me really snappy responses when I asked for a sit and led out so I did an inhale while looking back at her and her ears snapped forward and she released faster. Tried a 2nd one when I did 2 tip toe steps and she thought that was great fun too. Then Kaladin (who was lounging on the couch) decided to join in and she dropped the skunk and started jumping on him instead. I think she may fall into the camp of liking the cartoon mashup. We’ll see.
I am laughing at your spot-on response that boinging at meal prep is annoying to household life. (how did you guess that was a likely scenario?) Actually she was fine for quite a while and then Demi started getting more excited (the dog is a complete sloth unless it is meal time) and Lift started chasing Demi around the dining table which is next to the counter where I prep meals and then boinging. We’ve experiemented with different approaches but lately the best one has been me trapping Demi between my legs so she doesn’t run around and bark and letting Lift circle the table if she needs to blow of steam, but pausing operations if she barks or boings. As long as she’s not running on empty for other reasons, I typically only need to pause once or twice and then she either stands and watches me or trots around the table without yapping. Side benefit is that Kaladin has gotten a lot better about meal prep and keeps offering sits if I need to pause for Lift to settle a bit.
Test results came back and the ACTH Stim test was normal so the unlikely possibility of Addisons is ruled out. Thyroid was also normal (and on the higher end).
She’s going to get a whole lot of latent learning soon since I’m gone for 10 days for the Open and then she gets spayed a week after I get back. I got a detailed reconditioning program from our rehab vet which takes her into the end of January. Luckily she’s allowed to do some playing with toys (if no vigorous tugging) a lot sooner than that and she gets to start sprint work (aka – working on the cartoon mashup releases) at the beginning of January about 4 weeks post op.
Games 3 – Seq 1 – 11/12/24
Lots of decompression activities on Sunday & Monday. Was going to give her another day off but then noticed the forecast was crappy for Wednesday and she’s going to have extended decompression time soon while Kaladin and I are at the Open so I set up the Drive ahead sequence in the morning and then we did our sniffy walk and a nap before trying it. (before I set it up, I went outside with her and a creamcheese toppl & dish to see if she would drive ahead to the toppl in the dish. I thought it would be more obvious sitting in the grass in a dish than just on its own, but she thought it was a weird alien and kept circling around it. Driving to a dish with treats in it was easy peasy as was chasing a thrown toppl.)
So I decided I’d put cheese in her dish and use it as a target beyond the last jump but have the toppl ready to go and off to the side (i stashed it in a bush) just in case I needed to throw something. She thought charging ahead to the dish was great (although her jumping form suffers over the last jump even though the dish was at least 20ft beyond it – I was starting to run out of yard!). I didn’t drop enough treats for a better snuffle in the grass when I was done and she started jumping up at me as we were walking back into the house while on leash (side note – she will just jump up on regular walks too and not always because of over-arousal – sometimes it’s because we stopped (like to pick up poop) and she thought it took too long, but other times there is nothing going on and we’re just walking down an empty trail and she’ll start boinging. It’s like she just gets bored with staying on the ground!)
After that she goit a snuffle and I experimented it a bit with what she might like for engaged chill (jury is out but one possibility is that she likes to volunteer to pop into my lap as I am crouched down and just sits there on my thighs as I scritch her chest. This settles her but is obviously not the most comfortable chilling position for me!). Then I realized I had left the toppl outside in the bush and decided we should do a one and done with me throwing it. So a few hours later we went back out. This time I remembered to take the leash off first and see what she did (stayed engaged yay!) instead of unhooking it was she was distracted. I got the front of the jump out of the tunnel instead of the back and am pretty sure I started rotating in too soon (hard to tell at a distance), but kept going and found out she will also happily drive ahead when I chuck a toppl ahead of her. I let her decompress by finishing the cream cheese and also tested her leash loop behavior with the toppl on the ground (also pretty good). This time she came in trotting nicely at my side with no boings even though I was also carrying the tripod in my other hand so thinking the extra decompression after did help.
Nothing much going on today (she had her vet visit to check for stuff – no results yet) and we’re heading out for massages. She’s been napping since she got home from the vet.
So how long does this “teenage/my brain parts don’t talk/things are super hard for me” stage last again?
Since the following applies (summarizing here more for myself!):
– Tug & agility is super hard – tug-1 rep of something easy – tug – stop (and decompress)
– Food & agility is hard but not as hard as tug rewards – volume dial (with barking & movement to amp her up) – up to 3 reps – stop (and decompress) – If I lose her behind me, try to keep going since it was no doubt caused by me disconneting. Lotus tug (with food) is between the two so maybe one or 2 reps with that?
– The more that we can do with getting her arousal up, doing a thing (or two/three) and then decompressing down again without any leaping lizard episodes, the better and eventually this will help build her resilience (and when her brains do finally start talking to each other again, that framework will be in place to do more stuff eventually)
– Lots more neutral pattern games/ general decompression (bully stick chewing, shredding cardboad, sniffy walks where nothing exciting happens (like dogs lunging at her or bikes flying by out of nowhere), napping, playing with Kaladin (usually), and snuffle mats/treat scatters all work for her)
– She needs at least day off between hard thingsI have these questions:
1) Does it make sense to do very many in-person classes at this point? Or do I keep adding them in (maybe every other week?) but plan on using treat rewards for a while until I can get more consistent good results with a toy at home?
2) Where do things like her RDW foundations (going nowhere very fast and soon to be slower since I have a week before I leave for the Open and then we’ll probably have snow when I get back) or short teeter sessions fit in? Is that more like a harder agility sequence so should alternate with those?
3) Does it make sense to substitute in a jump grid session (dragging the lotus tug) instead of a short sequence session?
4) Thoughts on whether I should try 1 rep with a toy and then do a treat scatter and switch to another rep with food? (after getting success with 1 rep with toy & quit)
5) Does it make any sense to consider an NFC run before I have a more solid toy (not lotus tug) reward behavior in place? Sure I could probably have her ready to do the food reward box sooner, but not sure I want to do that and then try to introduce the toy in the ring after that. Kaladin is a dog that can switch back and forth more easily and I did do food reward box NFC with him when did some teeter bang it games but he transistioned pretty smoothly to NFC with frizzer since he loves his frizzer so much.
6) Can I use pattern games to help get her back if she’s lost her puppy marbles? (example – we finished a walk with my sister and her 2 dogs and were going down the driveway back to the house. Her 2 dogs started a rambunctious play session while still on leash to work of steam (from behaving themselves as joggers & cars went by) in the front yard. Lift really wanted to join in. I kept moving her further away and when she finally glanced sort of at me, I tossed a treat and moved into a pattern game. Her latency sucked at first even with moving further away, but then she got into it and eventually I was able to walk her past the playing dogs at a distance and got some good responses to trick cues)In answer to your question, that was her first wrap a tree in NY session. I have done a bit of wrapping around my oak tree at home but we haven’t done it lately.
She was such a trooper around my young nephews too. Made the 6yr old’s day when she agreed to sit on his lap next to me (with cheese as a reward).
The flight home was hard for her. She had puppy Xanax before both flights and was very calm/napping the whole time on the way out. Started out that way on the way back, but had a bit of a puppy panic attack when the engines revved for takeoff (it was especially noisy and vibrated alot). I had my hand down by the mesh of her bag (luckily) and it must have been very slightly unzipped because suddenly she burst out of there and was in my lap. I had to hold her for about 10minutes (with her panting heavily) before I could settle her enough to get her back in the bag before the flight attendants noticed she was illegally in my lap. After that she settled down and was a model canine citizen the entire rest of the time and then came out of the bag calmly at the baggage claim looking like nothing had ever caused her to panic. So needless to say we took it easy today with a sniffy walk, chasing Kaladin around the yard, a neutral pattern game session followed by a snuffle mat, and a short toy session with tricks when she came up to me with a toy.Tug games in NY – 11/9/24
More decompression yesterday and today with shredding cardboard and chewing. Also some neutral pattern games followed by a snuffle. Did another RR with her breakfast this morning in the front entry way. Didn’t video but she had better responses to cues and walked by it with me. She is also looking at me expectantly to cue a trick or Happy Hour. Then did a walk (took the 3rd time but she figured out that she can walk politely with my sister’s Sheltie & Collie without trying to play with the collie half the time….apparently we haven’t practiced walking with dogs other than Kaladin and Demi much).Video is an experiment with her tug toy after a nap. I wanted to see if she could tug and then segue to wrapping a tree as pseudo-agility. Answer today seems to be good for 2 reps with the tug and then needed a decompression.
Remote Reinforcement- 11/7/24
MaxPup – NY edition – complete with my parents trying to move a bunch of toys right by us in preparation for my nephews showing up. Lift was a champ on the flight (with the help of a bit of Xanax since she was a little bit anxious on her last flight) and walking with me in Flushing where we stopped to get Singaporean takeout. (the Xanax was mostly worn off but probably helped with that too since she is not used to walking in cities much less NYC). Lots of decompression (napping, shredding, bully stick chewing, some sniffy walks, snuffles….) yesterday after the flight and today. Earlier in the day she was enthusiastic about tugging with me and bringing back her squashed skunk toy so I decided to up the ante with the remote reinforcement and used her raw meat meal. On the first rep she turns the wrong way on the cue but the 2nd rep she had a snappy response to the trick (even after she gave it a glance when we walked by it to get back in the camera angle). I did a neutral pattern game later in the day followed by her snuffle mat.
1 Jump at CSZ – 11/3/24
Gave her a break on the Find Face game and experimented with amping up her arousal with an active trick right before asking for the jump. Did not get sticky on lead outs (even with me using the obstacle name) and had faster, happier line ups. CSZ has 3 separate warm -up jump areas so I grabbed the one furthest from the ring near the end of a class when the remaining dogs were mostly clustered by the ring. I did step in when she noticed the 2 poodles (one a puppy at the end of the leash) going by with a handler who was busy talking to someone else. We did do a pattern game/volume dial by the podiums earlier in the morning followed by a snuffle mat and then bully stick.
Our snow did melt when we were gone but it’s also supposed to be raining off and on the next 2 days and then I’m flying (with Lift) to NY to visit my family from wed-Sat. So we’ll take the pattern games/volume dial etc on the road.
In other news, Kaladin decided that Camille Cargol was OK in his book after he had to roll his eyes at her for a bit when she worked on the tightness in his neck.
Remote Reinforcement- 11/2/24
RR at CSZ off in the corner of the warm-up area but with traffic going back and forth. Did regular pattern games to warm up and made sure to empty the treats out of my pockets before walking away from the main reward the first time. This was her 3rd? time out and about – just did easy pattern games and a bit of volume dial followed by bully stick chewing and snuffle mats the first two so she could settle in.
Kaladin gives 4 paws up for Petr Pupik’s courses (as in he’s sacked out now after having fun running 4 of them today – levels 2 & 3) A2 clean but he slowed down to question 2 threadle wraps. Other 3 had an off course due to handling but he did amazing layering and was really flying.
Remote Reinforcement – 10/31/24
This was yesterday’s Halloween edition where I inadvertently dressed to match my dog. We had done this before earlier in MaxPup but not recently. She remembered it so I added in a small trick before heading back to the treat. Is it important that I give her the treat when we get back to it as opposed to her grabbing it? She’s waiting so I just picked it off the footrest and gave it to her. After the snuffle mat she decided she did want to play with her tug toy so we went a bit longer and mixed up the leash on and off while playing.
Oooh – I have to email Casey soon about seminar topics. I will be sure to ask for a young/novice dog handling session. Each session will be a half day so I could do that with Lift on Friday, leave her at home to chill out on Saturday and then try some NFC on Sunday.
Cups/Classics/Festivals can have NFC toy runs but no food box.
Yes! Claudette was under her coat and right on the withers. Tari originally measured at 14.5in and into the 16in USDAA class. I didn’t care since 14in wasn’t a USDAA jump height cut off at the time. Then they changed the cutoff (back when they had 14 & 18in jump heights) so I got her re-measured when she was 7 or 8 when she had dropped down in her pasterns a bit. I got her really skinny and lifted up her top coat and trimmed the under coat over her withers (so she didn’t even look funny since my trim job was disguised). I also got tips from Bonnie Griep on flyball measuring and trained a really solid stand. Then I ran her all day in 90 degree weather at 12 performance and then brought her into the building to get her measured. Told her to stand, lifted up the top coat over the withers to show the judge and then stepped out of the way – 14in exactly and by 2 CMJs! That 2in made all the difference as she finally got her ADCH jumping Ch 14 instead of 16.
Yeah – Min had absolutely no typical hypo thyroid signs. Her coat and weight were fine. Really the only thing was being slightly more mellow than normal (hard to measure until you look at it in hindsight) until it finally caught up with her and she just stopped on course.
I love trialing at CSZ. Such nice turf and so much space for crating. (Plus I started out running at TCOTC where they have massive I beams every 20 or 30 ft in the ring so 6 poles at CSZ is easy peasy) And good hiking on the way when you don’t have to work on a Friday!
10/30/24
This was from yesterday. I’d originally planned to take yesterday off and try the sequence today, but the weather didn’t comply (80 earlier this week and 3 in of slushy snow in time for the trick or treaters tonight. Since she had a class on Tuesday, I let all the dogs shred a cardboard egg carton and paper towel roll plus chew on bully sticks after I set the course. Then we did the sequences and did more bully stick chewing after. We’re heading off to Canine Sports Zone tomorrow for the MIAC ISC trial. Hopefully stuff will be melted and not too sloppy when I get back.
Pulled her off jump 4 in the first rep but kept going and made sure to show lots of connection for the end so she was happy about the BC after the tunnel.
Ended after the 2nd rep and even got some tugging with the lotus tug after I’d put her leash on.
I think we had chatted about this before, but Min was slighly hypo-thyroid and had low B12 levels that was diagnosed when she was 7 I think. She had normal bloodwork in April but in mid September she stopped on course at a trial and just stood there. I was panicking that something was seriously wrong or that she had a tick borne disease, but got her into the vet the next day and after we got her on a low dose of the thyroid meds and the cobalamin injections, she was back to normal in a few weeks and in time for the Open. In retrospect she was showing lower energy levels over the summer but it was subtle because she was always pretty lazy in class and super mellow at home. I emailed the vet today to ask if we should check Lift’s thyroid too when we do the Addison’s test. Her potasssium came back as normal in her recent CBC but on the low end of the scale.
In her class from Tuesday, some people were doing the Agility League so the timers were out. When it beeped I remember thinking that it was a good experience for her to hear it. I’ll see about rounding up some ring crew the next time we go back.
Freezing at the start – I do think it’s a “can’t process right now” moment. She did it at end of MP 3 and I just gave her several weeks off anything agilty and then it went away. I also am not consistent about whether I release her with ‘break” or the obstacle cue and ‘break” is stronger for her. So I think if she’s busy processing, she’s more likely to stay put when I use “jump” instead of break. I’ll add more rewards for moving forward too to balance out all the catch rewards for staying put.
A young dog winter camp would be awesome. The January Fusion trial is 5.5 weeks after her spay so I was thinking that might be overly ambitious even for tricks & tunnels (and maybe a 4s jump or two). But there’s a mid-Feb Fusion trial that I’ve booked Casey Keller to judge and then there’s another one at Fusion mid-April, plus On the Run USDAA & UKI trials in March. I’m also toying with the idea of NFC Speedstakes at MAC’s Classic on Memorial Day weekend (it’s at On the Run and there will not be a food reward box since it’s a classic so that will depend on how she’s doing with toys in public) Claudette graciously did a practice measurement with Lift last weekend in the middle of the day after she had settled in and got her at exactly 12.75in. Lift was pretty relaxed about the whole thing but I do need to train the stand better so that she stays relaxed when I back away a step and don’t crowd her. I am sure no one will get her at 12.6in for WAO, but I am going to try really hard to get the 12.75in to jump 8in regular. (she sailed over a 16in jump that had been left up for Kaladin a few weeks ago but there’s absolutely no way she needs to jump even 12in if I can help it. Plus – there’s all those crazy fast mini poodles at 12in!)
And yes – a traditional spay. At least it’s a one-time nuisance as opposed to the recurring heat cycles.
And LOL- deranged & debuting Jitterbug…I think I’ll delay on the Master Class for now…since I do need to focus on finding a job after the Open and all!
Oh – and one question on the teeter. We’ve been taking it slow with the bang it game. She is happy to jump on when the board is up to almost a foot off the ground and she almost always sticks her landing (every now and then she overshoots and ends up off the other side if I got her ramped up a lot). She has her front feet near the end, but she’s not that into scratching her scratch band. (she is stronger scratching at things held at an angle in front of her than on the ground too even though we’ve worked a fair amount had presenting it flat). How much should I try to get her scratching at the band sooner vs just rewarding her faster for landing close to the end (sometimes front feet on the band and other times just behind it)?
Class – Tues 10/29/24
First session:
I didn’t have as much time as I wanted to settle her in since I thought I was going 2nd and ended up going first. I think that contributed to her saying no to her orange fur tug at the beginning. I’m trying to mix up when I take her leash off (during volume dial, after/before etc) I do like how she stays facing me to see what is next when I do take the leash off. First rep I have a great camera angle for my right arm going up for the layer and her starting to pull in and then I realized it was up there and brought it down & back and she turned back onto the line for her jump. (yay us!) 2nd rep – turns out the person subbing for my friend can’t throw – way overshot her line so she missed the lotus tug and I had to run over and help her find it – but I think it was a surprise at least. She is hanging onto the lotus fur tug on our way out.
Between sessions we did a snuffle mat and then a bit of chewing on a bully stick and also went outside to wander around and sniff. I think that worked since I felt like she was more focused in the 2nd session even though I probably should have cut the first one off sooner (sub teacher also forgot to give me a 3min warning and clearly my own internal clock isn’t so good when I am focused on Lift)
2nd session:
She got to practice walking in on the left side entrance while Dawn & Yahtzee were playing & then leaving on the right side. (I did walking pattern games to make sure this was easier for her). She did her own built-in decompression between reps by getting the treat out of the lotus tug. (I did crop out some of this starting at 2:27 when we were off camera on the left). Then the instructor blocks the view of me rewarding her lead out with a “catch” for the thrown back cheese. OK – there was an extraneous“yay!” in there when she did the backside wrap on the pink & yellow jump in the foreground when I should have just been cueing the jump & tunnel.What is in the works for the youngsters when Max Pup 4 ends? Lift will not be doing any kind of NFC debut this year partly because I don’t think she’ll be ready and also because I want her to debut on her “home turf” at Fusion and the next trials there are mid Jan, mid Feb, and April. Also because she’s getting spayed in early December so we’ll have a built in break for a few weeks there. But I’d love to get your feedback on her eventual NFC debut so am wondering what kind of class she could be in for early 2025. Chaia pointed out that Master Class to me which looks cool, but I was wondering if there would be something else that might be more appropriate for Ms Lifty.
But the master class stuff does look cool (even though I can get myself into trouble when it’s a bit less structured and has a year to get feedback!). Are the working spots filling up fast?
