[Julie Heller]

Fusion class – 10/17/24

Was able to drop into a different class (same instructor) this morning and got video of both of her sessions. This time she ran 5th out of 6 dogs so we got to practice coming into the building while another dog was in the ring and settling on her cot to wait for a short time. (I did do the back & forth & up & down games in the entry way (between the 2 sets of doors) so that she didnt’ step into the actual ring room until she had settled down a bit. We also managed a short tug session before her first turn while we were waiting (behind the solid half-wall barrier from the ring)

1rst session –
Had her in a great arousal state as we stepped into the ring (while others were bar setting), but she got a bit jumpy because I was carrying my tripod across the ring and that is clearly a sign that fun things are about to happen. But the pattern games and then some volume dial got her back and she had a lovely session. I’m not sure if it will stay as a bark or change into a bark & jump but when I do the creature hands at her, she barks – that didnt’ take long. LOL!

2nd session
Got smarter and set up the tripod just outside the ring ahead of time so I could turn it on before I asked her to enter the ring. (of course I then ended up going out of camera a bit, but hey – baby steps!). The next class was coming in during this turn and someone had 2 tiny screaming things (Russian Toys?) Anyways I am very impressed that I didnt’ jump when they let loose and instead tossed a treat for her. She was even able to keep working when they let loose again. (vs when I was playing the video back to watch it later in the day and both Kaladin & Lift jumped up from their naps and started a barking frenzy when they heard the banshees). It’s off camera but I had left some cheese in a closed container on the ground off to the side so that’s what we’re heading to when I gave her the “happy hour” cue at the end instead of treating her right after the leash when back on. (HH cue is a bit rusty but she perked right up when she realized we were headed back to the cheese). She got her snuffle mat after each session and then we headed back outside to sniff around.

Should I keep dropping into classes like this and build up to longer sequences vs several very short ones?

I’ve usually been course-building at least a half day in advance so that I don’t ask her to run something right away even if she was crated during the build. I have a fur covered lotus ball on a bungee that she thinks is cool, but we’re working on her getting food out of it. She can get food out without help even if it is partially closed, but she’s pretty slow & deliberate about it so it won’t be a quick reward for us yet.

In other news, I’ve had success 3x when playing tug with her inside (and not in the context of doing agility) where I get her to tug, release and bark and then back on the tug. It feels like a big accomplishment since she couldn’t tug when barking and jumping around. It’s only a single bark so not quite the same thing, but she was able to bark and then tug.

[Julie Heller]

LOL! Here I am trying to be good about clean training loops & marker cues and you come along with these games – such a bad influence!

I’ve been focused on trying to moderate her arousal when the pop rocks go off and now I’m thinking about whether I need to let her ramp up more and then see if she can keep her brains and still function.

This morning I took her and Kaladin for their walk and typically when we come back they have the pre-breakfast zoomies. No video but right after that I called Lift into the kitchen and used our handy dandy xpen to block the other two out of there. Did the back & forth & up & down game and she snapped right into focusing on me. Granted we have done a lot of trick training in the kitchen in the morning but I was pretty impressed. She had a snappy response to the easy tricks (flip/turn – spins left & right) and thought pivoting around my leg was easy. We also brushed up on our leg weaving and then I tossed a treat for her to end the session and there were no pop rock moments. Her leg weaving isn’t as strong as the spins which she can do on and off leash in a variety of places. The leash always gets in the way with leg weaving so I use it less when out & about.

Drop in class at Fusion – 10/15/24

Previously we shared a ring rental with Khamsin & Jimothy twice and both youngsters did well even when some of the boarding dogs in the next room erupt in barking fits. This was Lift’s first actual class. I picked a full ring class and it turned out the other 5 dogs all jumped 16in so Lift got to go first at 8in. We got to start our engagment games (walking back & forth and then some up & down) as the rest of the class was walking and then rolled into the Volume Dial once the ring cleared. (before this we did the back&forth and up&down pattern games as we were coming into the building and after we hung out ringside with her on her cot before leaving right before the really noisy Aussie ran)

‌

I was thinking about the Monday chat and behaviors that help dogs self-soothe from big feelings in regards to Lift’s bouncy barky fits. Her original pop rocks moments (outside of actual agility training) were bouncing & barking at my side as I walked her dish into the kitchen after letting her out of her crate from a meal. Ignoring it didn’t work and I didnt’ want her jumping up so much on the hardwood floors. She’d just bounce next to and off of me the whole way down the hall so I ended up transporting her with her nose glued to my hand & treat and then transitioned into asking for a sit and recalling her to my side a few times. She’s much better about that now. Another situation where she can boing & bark is when I’m moving around the yard to course build or do some yard work. Sometimes I’ll station her on the cot but I also like to let the dogs wander around the yard with me as opposed to keeping them in the house (where Lift will boing at the deck door unless she is crated). Video is from this morning (before we went to the class). Asking for some tricks keeps her mostly earth-bound at first until about 2min when I go get the tunnel. Thoughts on other ways to approach it when her pop rocks go off?

Oh – and you may get a lot of videos from us at least until the Open. I’m currently enjoying an unexpected 2-week vacation otherwise known as being laid off. Then severence kicks in so I think I’m going to take a bit of time to enjoy the lovely fall weather, catch up on the million & one things I am behind on in my over-commmitted life, and focus on training my dogs before I sort out what I want to do to fund my agility habit.

[Julie Heller]

Volume Dial – 10/14/24

I recorded this before the Monday chat. I did crop off the rest of the session which was her first RDW foundation session after moving from the 4 to the 2in mat. (which went quite well even with being in the small training space).
Spinning left/right is probably her favorite/easiest motion trick. Circling around my leg as I pivot was surprisingly sticky so I’ll need to brush that up as a trick. The loud noise was Dean flushing the toilet upstairs. I did a super easy chase the treat get it after that since it seemed to surprise her.

[Julie Heller]

Thanks for the indepth feedback (as always!) and the pictures.

She did get a cookie for resetting the broken stay at Fusion. (I think I also asked her for a spin as a trick so it was after that but then we went right into the sit again) I figured it was more important to keep her happy lining up.

And I clearly need another cot or two since right now it’s moving between my car, the family room downstairs (doing some RDW foundation work for the Shape UP class we just started and I’m parking the other bi-black on there and rotating them – figured it couldn’t hurt to let Kaladin earn cookies too), and the living room by the deck door to the back yard because I don’t want it getting rained on.

She actually did have decompression time after she played with the toy inside, but I hadn’t processed that bcause her waiting inside (instead of “helping me set the course”) amped her up, she was starting from a high level again. (duh!) Poor Lift is definitely doing a lot of eye-rolling at her clueless hooman.

She just turned 15 months yesterday. I feel like she’s a more normal adolescent than Kaladin and Min ever were and I’m just laughing at the thought that she is “old enough” to enter UKI SS. I deliberately called out how ludicrous that is (for her) on my FB post in an effort to cut down on well meaning folks asking me when she’s going to start trialing. The answer is sometime in 2025…hopefully! And some of it may have to do with who I think is more likely to get a 12.75in measurement on her since she is hovering right around that 8in cutoff. At least I have several options to choose from at Fusion where she is quite comfortable. (and I hired all those judges)

I’ll circle back to all the tandem turn stuff I skipped when I got behind. I figured it was better to keep her on the less twisty stuff as I tried to pack in a bunch before this class officially wrapped up.

[Julie Heller]

And here are the videos from Fusion on Saturday (squeaking in under the wire for the end of MaxPup 3)

Serpentines – 9/21/24
Circled back to the serpentines and was able to close the angle more. Ran by a few but I just tossed the cheese and tried it again and we had no leaping Lifty moments. I had her stationed on a cot (sadly out of camera angle so you can’t see me make eye contact with her and pause and then release) which also seemed to help so I need to be better about schlepping it around and setting it up. Jumps are at 6in here.

Teeter Bang Game – 9/21/24

First time on a teeter somewhere else (Fusion). Is a Clip & Go like my newer one. I had planned to do mountain climber but forgot my extra tape & target since the tip it one doesn’t work with the rubber padding on the teeter edge. Had big feelings about being lured into position on my left even though I wasn’t trying to touch her collar and just doing a little tap on her chest to get some excitement since restraint wasn’t going to work. She seems happy with the small drop and the noise. Should I work up to the teeter being a bit further off the ground?

Lead outs – 9/21/24

Got the cot station in the camera angle but managed to miss her sitting on the start line for some of this (whoops!). However I did way better establishing connection and pausing before releasing. This was the last thing we did at Fusion (after a break where Kaladin got to play).

Did not get it on video, but as I was packing up, she was eyeing the toy in the bag so I offered it to her and she decided she could play with a toy there and even do a jump and some tunnels with me throwing it as a reward (go figure!) So apparently her brains were still in good shape and nicely settled after her training sessions.

[Julie Heller]

Decel – 9/22/24

Good call out on rushing the release on the leadouts. (and I just cleaned that up with Kaladin too. You’d think I could remember!). I tested that at Fusion yesterday morning and need to get those videos posted but she totally thought the arm raise was maybe her release cue.

Anyways – cleaner here so a work in progress. I skipped having her start at the tunnel exit since she had big feelings about breaking a game down that much a few weeks ago. She had one turn where she didn’t really jump in extension but hadn’t collected enough to power out of the turn so bulged wide. The send without the verbal cue also confused her after the 1rst try so I swapped back to standing at the wing.

She’s working for cheese here. Right before this session she was totally in a play with toys mood inside so we did some tricks for a toy and it went well with her tugging like a fiend. Then I left all the dogs inside to set this up (mainly moving the tunnel) which she had big feelings about. So when I went back in to get her (and pop Kaladin in a crate with a bully stick), she was channeling her inner kangaroo. She was able to push her head through her leash loop without any issues but started jumping up at me as we were walking outside. So too aroused to play with a toy. I did a few spin tricks and then having her sit and release to chase me for cheese and that got her brains back in her head so that she could do this session quite nicely. She was able to do a jump and a couple of tunnels at Fusion yesterday for a toy, but at the end of her 2nd session – too leapy to pay attention to a toy while equipment was out at the beginning. It’s interesting how her “play with toys” optimal state is narrower than her “I can do agility with food” optimal state.

[Julie Heller]

Lead outs – 9/19/24

Piling on with another post as I try to catch up a bit before MP 3 ends.

Did a morning & afternoon session so I could work both directions. It was warm & muggy for both of them. Leaping Lizard is back in certain situations so I made a point of doing more with the cookie transport between reps in the 2nd session. (That solved the issue of her jumping up at me in the walk from letting her out of her crate after breakfast and into the kitchen to put the dish in the sink. I did that for a bit and then segued into a sit and recall and now she can follow me along the hall and into the kitchen for a treat (and without being a jack in the box along the way)

[Julie Heller]

Tunnel Threadles – 9/18/24

Tried this again with more motion going into the wing. Using the creamcheese toppl so I can throw a reward. She’s doing well inside with tugging & doing tricks for more tugging, but I haven’t been able to transfer that to being outside or when agility equipment is out.

Yes! Kaladin was the 16in Overall Festival winner (2nd year) -3rd in Masters Series (double clean) and 2nd in Biathlon. Some really nice stuff (including threadle wraps! best one was in Masters Jumping which I posted earlier tonight.)
Had an odd moment in the first SS Challenge where he went around a jump out of the tunnel. Scott thought it was his fault that he looked at him out of the tunnel, but I know I wasn’t connected with Kaladin since I didn’t see him duck around the jump but heard the crowd. I was way ahead but looking at this video angle the BC was late. Was he maybe thinking I wanted so weird backside of that jump because I switched to my right arm late?

• This reply was modified 7 months, 1 week ago by Julie Heller.
• This reply was modified 7 months, 1 week ago by Julie Heller.

[Julie Heller]

Lift got a bit of a training break since I left her home with Dean and Demi while Kaladin and I rocked the Midwest Festival. Still recovering from 1040 runs over 3 days, but did manage to train the scruffy monkey today

Teeter- Angled Entries- 9/17/24
Started with her on the left – easy peasy. On the right also fine until I started adding the boards back in.

And this was from last week before the Festival madness
Layering – 9/10/24

Going the other direction

[Julie Heller]

Angled Teeter Entries – 9/9/24

Switched back to the older teeter since it’s easier to use the real Teach it target. We hadn’t done mountain climber in a while and apparently that was a bit much with the teeter switch and the angled entry. Removing the broad jump boards and then putting them back made her happier.

Tunnel Threadles

Also havent’ done tunnel threadles in quite a while and I don’t think they did them much back in Max Pup 2 so I didnt’ try to add more of my movement. She did better on my right side

[Julie Heller]

Layering – 9/8/24

She had a few things to say about starting in general, but didn’t get any pop rock moments when I asked her to wrap so maybe….fingers crossed. Stepped in to help the first 2 times and then she caught on. I was so pleased with her coming in over the jump when cued and didnt’ realize until I watched the video that I was using the wrong cue so she was probably coming in because Left sounded like Lift. Will have to try it the other direction and see how that goes.

I was so happy with how Kaladin ran at the Canadian Open. Super focused and really comfortable in the rings even after such a long road trip. The courses were a lot of fun and he handled them well. Either he;s getting faster or he had better footing on the dirt than I did, because he kept getting to places faster than I expected. Resulted in our E in Biathlon Agility (although the first and last thirds of the super long course were spot-on). Threadle wraps are getting there, but had to resort to his name in SS Chlg and also spun around too quickly on one in Biathlon Jumping so pulled him inside the jump after he was heading to it (although yay for being far enough away that he could do that I guess). I set up that opening at home and tried it 3 ways to compare timing. Will have to post to my FB page when I get a chance. He was 4th (out of 39?) in SS Challenge. Would have been 3rd except the Canadians do SS as time plus faults and a super fast BC dropped a bar but still won overall. I think he had maybe 1 extra stride on a turn so I’m not sure he could have run it much better. I had serious FOMO about scratching Jan’s Masters Agility course on Sunday but it was getting warm inside the barn and we were both tired so I pulled him from that and Gamblers to save our legs for National Finals.

[Julie Heller]

Yes-No-Go Tunnel – 9/7/24

Got unpacked from the Canadian roadtrip (mostly) and the Midwest Festival prep under control (mostly) so finally had time to train my own dogs. I’ve lost track where I am in the games, but this one looked like fun and didn’t seem to have any pre-requisites that we skipped (side note -Dean thinks that Yes Tunnel – No Tunnel – Go Tunnel! would make a great children’s book title)

Pretty sure this is the first time I asked Lift for a backside tunnel entry so pretty happy she got it on the 2nd try (and was very proud of herself running around it the first time). Also really proud of us for not having a single pop-rock moment with all this wing wrapping.

Also did an adjustable grid yesterday (9/6) with the creamcheese toppl. I like how she is adjusting her stride up and down, but she seems to be jumping with her head up more than I’d like – unless that is because she’s busy tracking the moving toppl?

Lift had some great experiences at the Canadian Open and got reunited with her brother, Zeplin. She played with toys with me outside the arena buildings, got fairly good at walking through the buildings and past the rings while being a good canine citizen, did some recalls and simple tricks in the warm up area (leash dragging since gamblers was running on the other side of the building) did not get kicked out of the crating area for being too noisy (actually she was pretty good thanks to Dean hanging out by her a lot of the time when I was gone), and survived the 26hr drive out and back without getting sick (thanks to some Cerenia that I got the day before since she decided the week before that she hadn’t really outgrown her puppy car-sickness)

I just signed her up for the Shape Up RDW Foundations course. It conveniently starts on 9/19 right after the Festival and hopefully we’ll have mild weather for a while so that I can keep working outside until the Open.

[Julie Heller]

Videos from Thursday, but was a bit too busy to post them sooner. (nothing like picking up a Yakima car carrier the night before you leave down in Northfield from Kathryn Ananda-Owens and then finding out it’s too narrow to fit Kaladin’s bigger wire crate the next morning. Luckily a friend who lives in BC has room in her car to fit one so Kaladin will get to stretch out at the Open and have better airflow incase it’s a bit warm in the dirt arena, but hoping it’s nice and cool in there)

AU Camp Live – Tunnel Exits – 8/22/24
Latent learning at work. Tried it again the next morning. Moved the jump before the tunnel a bit over to give me more space to start and then decel. Didn’t add her name but she nailed it. Also did some refamiliarization of “dish” (food in bowl). Realized the maroon one straight ahead might look similar to the green grass.

Teeter Bang Game – 8/22/24

Little more drop & bang and used the cookie target to get her into position. I’m going to bring her little scratch pad with us to Canada so that we can do more work just targeting and scratching the pad when it is flat on a surface.

I was so proud of Lift and how well she did at a new place and on dirt for the first time. She was very thoughtful at first but then got comfortable and kicked it into another gear. Loretta had a straight serpentine set up so I asked her to soften the angles a little bit and Lift nailed it. I rewarded her with cheese from my hand for the seminar, but Loretta had me sprint away after the last tunnel in the sequence so that she had to chase me across the ring to get her treat. We also discovered that she wants me to switch up the treats at a seminar. (Shelly Wegman’s Happy Howie’s lamb to the rescue for the 3rd session).

[Julie Heller]

Teeter Bang Game – 8/21/24

Circled back to the bang game earlier this afternoon with a bit more bang and starting more at the edge. I did add about an inch more bang in the middle. She’s more concerned about me taking her collar than the bang or movement at this point. Having her push into my hand with her collar cue and then not using any pressure to move her around my leg seemed to work the best. Forgot my tape for the target but I put the grip tape on both sides so it does sort of hold position on the rubberized texture.

AU Camp Live – 8/21/24

Decided to try Lift on some of the easier parts of the Live sequences since I had it set up already. Great on the Go…so great that she got some amazing unplanned layering when she kept going as I was trying to turn her left. LOL. Apparently she needs a more dramatic move on my part to cue the turn. And here I was worried I’d pull her off the tunnel!

In other news. Lift actually tugged a fur tug in the backyard with equipment out earlier this afternoon. She was pretty energetic so I asked her to do the straight tunnl & tossed the tug. When I asked for a go from the utunnel to the jump she chased and grabbed the toy and then ran off to try to ingest her prize. So clearly the fur tug has to stay on a leash. I also am not getting any better at aniticpating when she is in the mood for toys.

[Julie Heller]

Serpentine Sequences – 8/20/24
This went pretty well aside for working through some “not sure I can line up” moments. I thought she was over jumping some on the 2nd jump (set at 6in) but maybe she is just sorting out the angled jumps

Cream cheese toppl on a leash for the win.
We have a Friday afternoon seminar with Loretta Mueller and I’m wondering how messy it will get if I try that for my toss able reward when we’ll be in a barn. I should probably bring the Pet Tutor too incase Lift decides she doesn’t like cream cheese with dirt sprinkles.

[Author]

Posts