[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy!

It’s finally decent here. I got out tonight and worked on the backside proofing on the left side. I had the wings at an angle and put the bar down with one wing. She did great and I guess I did not hit record, so no video.
Then I revisited the serpentines because they really need work 🙂

First 2 reps were easy, so I adjusted the jump, then 4 reps there and I adjusted it again to pretty close to straight. That’s when she started to run by on some of the reps. At the end, she was starting to get it. Not sure if it was just too much motion – I felt like I was looking at her and connecting over the bar, but motion is hard!! I think we have made some progress – letting it sit for a while was good.

Sorry about the camera angle not being super wide – hopefully you can see enough. I was mostly throwing the toy since it was hard to see when it was just dead in the grass.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

I tried to get out between rain showers and it started to rain on us. lol

Thanks for the description of the classes. The teeter one sound like it would be appropriate for us at this age.

I wanted to make sure I got the set up broken down correctly for the backside proofing and that I’m walking in the correct place. She did much better – only got me once where she cut in front of the wing.

We tried the countermotion in the basement early this morning and it went much better, so I tried it outside. I’m still moving slowly, but changing my focal point helped a lot. Good grief, I was all over the place with toy throws – hit her in the head, knocked the bar down… Despite all of that, it went better than yesterday.

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi,

I left the blooper reel out on that lateral lead out – she was coming on the diagonal to the wing without taking the jump on that one side. I’ll have to get back out to see if it’s all sorted out.

Today I beat the rain by an hour and managed to do the Backside Games. I left some of the ugly in there for you to see – we have the BC outrun by the jump without taking it as well as taking the front side. I thought I had pretty hard connection with her, but it seemed like, at best, I could only walk the path ring to the wing. If I tried to move at all in the direction of the center of the bar, she took the front side.

She did ok on the counter motion, she got me once, but I felt like I had to go in slow motion. I could probably do this one again the basement right now since we aren’t really moving.

Question about Max Pup 3 – how much of the teeter process does it cover? Just the beginning steps? I was thinking about doing the independent study teeter class during the downtime (like there’s downtime with a puppy – haha). She’s going to be 18 months old has been exposed to the teeter when younger, had no problems, but it’s time to start doing some actual stuff and my window is small to try to get things done (if the weather ever improves). Can any of the beginning teeter games can be done inside?

Also wondering if there was any luck finding my “old” classes – was hoping to get access to the running dogwalk class that Didi took.

Tomorrow’s supposed to be a wash out, so fingers crossed it does not rain all of Sunday too.

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

It’s been another challenging weather week! UGH!! And it’s supposed to rain all weekend, so trying to get some quick training in. And yes, still wearing a down jacket in April 28th. Seriously.

Here’s the baby steps of the Lateral Lead Out. She did great on the first reps when she’s on my left. She really struggled initially on my right, so I had to dial it way back and only go about halfway to the wing or she would not take the jump. By the end of the session, she had worked through it and I was able to stand at the wing.

I hope to watch the class video and do a little more homework before the rain comes.

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Good morning,

In between rain showers, we got out for a few minutes yesterday.

On the grids above – she must have weight shifted – she did not break any of her starts – I am so far away that it’s impossible to hear anything. And its hard to see from the end of that one long grid! I try not to let any obvious vulturing go on at the start.

We have done several of the foundation bending grids, but probably jumped ahead too far. That spacing might not be right for her. And the ground was not perfectly flat either. I need to go back to the minny pinny too for the work on the directionals. The weather has been a huge impediment this term.

Threadles – The other day I was using the wing wrap verbal – too windy to hear me I think.

We tried the threadle again – still hard and there were errors. I rewarded everything that did not involve going into the wrong end of the tunnel. On the reps that went better, I did remember to keep moving. When we had too many incorrect reps in a row, I sat her at the exit to the wing to cut out that bit of motion. Work in progress – I feel like she does not know the word yet.

Hopefully we can get out a bit later today and try some other games.

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi,

Finally! a day that is not raining, snowing or blowing 30 MPH wind. Back to rain tomorrow apparently.

We had some grids in the yard, so I took advantage of that. Set point (14″), what was supposed to be variable distance grid, but I left the final jump 15′ from the grid, bar at 14″ (6′ between regulator jumps), and a circle grid (jumps at 10″). I know the circle is hard for them – this is the first time she has seen it, so we had some mistakes, but I did not want to do more than 4 reps.

With the exception of the circle, I’m like a mile away dragging a toy on a leash.

Set Point:

Grid:

Circle grid:

Then I tried to do the Smiley Face Threadle Game. Yikes. Motion kills. And she was probably a little fatigued, so I had to dial it way down – she kept going in the tunnel in front of her. I left in some of the mistakes for you to see since I must be doing something wrong (it looks like I am not moving on the incorrect ones) or maybe we need to be at a no motion step – after the first couple of incorrect reps, I just sat her at the exit of the wing and worked from there. If I send her around the wing, she does not slow down because I am walking.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi,

Got back out again today. I tried to clean up the transitions and stay outside the wing and really slow down earlier. She did much better turning to her right. The left turns looked like they were set up ok, but then she was going really wide (for her). Maybe I was going too deep to the wing? That side felt more awkward for me too.

Then I did the other side of the Get Out Baby Steps. She had some difficulty at the start and I found I could not move much or she’d run by the jump. Then she started to catch on and I could move (although I was moving at a slow walk).

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi,

Agility U tote bags!! Brilliant!

Yay! I need some time to work on these games more before session 3. Maybe it will stop snowing by June.

When it’s 40 and the wind is down to 15 mph, you rush outside to do some homework. Don’t let the chirping birds fool you, it was f*&^%ing cold out.

Transitions first. I may have been turning the wrong way, but she made some tight turns… I am the worst with one jump.

Then a little get out on one side. I actually put a leash down as a line and it perfectly aligned with the upright on the wing, so you can’t see it at all. I’m off to buy a lottery ticket…

More rain/snow in the forecast. May be able to get out early tomorrow for some more games before it starts.

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Even funnier than me doing that planned RC at class – one of my “classmates” was like – where did you learn THAT?? Oh you know, on a tote bag in the basement.

Question on that Lap Turn game – should I be using the backside wrap word with Dellin? With Mari, I use her threadle word, but I’d be facing the jump and also using the arm away from her, so it looks different than this set up with my back to the jump. I don’t think Mari and I have done it this way.
Or, when done as a threadle, is it a different skill (kind of) and I should have both?

Other question – this is week 6 – where do we go from here?

Hoping to get outside if the wind would die down. It might get to 40 tomorrow (vomit emoji).

Thanks!

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

No outdoor work due to bad weather, but a success to report from class. We did our first rear cross in a mini sequence! On purpose. LOL. And we did the first 2 jumps of a serpentine (I adjusted the second angle to make it easier since that’s where we are, but still did it in a class environment). Cool to see her remember her things “on the road” 🙂

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Thanks for the obsession on the jump grids! Yes I can see that those mats are not the best for what I want and she’s got too much speed.

I wanted to try the RC Concept Transfer from Week 5 today since I’m in rear cross thinking mode. And today it was 57 and sunny. Let just say by Friday it will a high of 35 and stuff may fall from the sky for the next couple of days – #winterthatwon’tend.

It was definitely hard on me adding the tunnel – the timing was harder with more speed, but we had fun and I need to get accustomed to her. I did the baby step and next step with the wing going in both directions.

On an unrelated topic – I took several Agility U classes 2 or 3 years ago and they don’t show up in my library (at least I can’t find them) – is there someone who could help me with that?

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi,

Thanks – yes bad me yesterday – I’m sure I needed more space at 16. And to be farther away dragging that toy.

We had a beautiful day today (at least it happened on a Saturday!) so I revisited the set point with slightly different set up. 5.5′ between jumps bar starts at 14. The last 3 reps were at 16 and I’m far away on all of them dragging the toy. No double taps and she looked pretty organized. These things are hard to actually see – I have to watch the videos a lot.

The zig zag from yesterday is not a zig zag like the one you showed us. It’s from the Salo book and called a zig zag, but it’s really a straight line for the dog. I think it must refer to the shape the jumps take. Anyway, I did do some back chaining – did not start at 5. It’s definitely one I will revisit though – I did see the ticking at jump 3. I’m still learning with her where I need to set her up (literally) for success. I was way out with the toy, moving on all the reps.

I originally thought the ladder/tunnel was going to be great because there would be no dead toy doing the circuit, then the next thing I knew, we were doing parts of it and the toy was way too close… and there was no way to throw it/ drag it.

Got back to the WIYH Rear Crosses today. I started with turning left since we seems to normally start with the right and then have questions with the left. We still had more questions with left. I don’t feel as comfortable on that side, so I may be compounding the issue. She did quite well going to the right.

Last, we went back to revisit the wing to the serp jump. I just did one side since she had done a lot of work already. It was getting better, but the angle is still pretty easy. I started throwing the toy and then in the last few reps, I had it on the ground (duh).

We crammed a lot in – I’ll be at a trial tomorrow, so many not have as much time and it felt great to get outside. I never knew 52 could feel so good. And the cold wet crap is coming back this week so I will probably try to get put tomorrow if we are done early.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

We did some grids today. We need to avoid the bending ones on this floor, so doing one sthat are mostly straight.

Set point – with toy dragging. I took a pass on doing the second jump too. First 2 reps are at 14″, then we go to 16″.

We did a traditional zig zag grid. I was happy that she read the line right away (Didi really struggled with this grid). However, until I played the video on the TV, I did not see the double taps. I had set her up closer and got reminded that she should be half the distance… I was dragging the toy however. She broke on the second to last rep so then she had a holder on the last rep (which was overkill). Is this why I normally train alone? LOL

Then we did a ladder to tunnel with jump – such a fun one with so many options. It’s funny – on the first ladder where we stop before the tunnel it was so obvious that she pulled up to get the toy (and I now see a double tap)- which I pointed out and said the dragging toy helps that business. I had a couple of issues with her skipping part to got to the toy, and I decided I can do dog training at home – we are trying to train 3 dogs in an hour and building everything takes time, so I had Terry put the toy out. On the second to last rep where she come out of the tunnel and skips the jump – she had gotten hung up in the tunnel or something odd happened as she was in there longer than usual.

Next couple of days look dry, so hopefully I have enough dry yard available to get back out.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi,

Just checking in – we have had a steady diet of rain-snow-snow-rain-snow-rain – you get the idea basically the entire week and her class was cancelled last night (not weather!), so, yeah… Friday-Sunday look dry at least but I’ll need to see if there’s any part of the grass that’s dry enough to use without destroying it.
Doing more grids on Friday afternoon – I will make some adjustments and see how it goes.

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi,

Today was decent so I got back out right away – lots of rain in the forecast this week 🙁 And Sunday mornings are for herding.

The whole rear cross business from yesterday felt really weird when I was doing it – I can see it now from your comments and the video where my position was off and the line was off.

We tried again – she did really well turning to her right – I was happy with the improvements both of us made from yesterday. And she was less judgey 🙂 Left had more questions, probably something I was doing. Her head seemed to be looking right the whole time she was running – not sure if she had an eye on the toy, or what. They are a skill I’d like to be better at – I find this game one of the best ways I’ve seen to teach it – fun game for both of us. I may get the older dogs out for a refresher using this set up!

Then we revisited the serp/tunnel discrimination. The pause to let her focus really helped both of us.

The grids from yesterday – the toy was always stationary. I did start to describe you process to him (“Tracy says”…). So I think when we go back next Friday for our grid session, I will bust out the moving toy. Baby steps. I guess I’ve never had a dog who likes toys as much as Dellin does, so the pounce has not been much of an issue. Mari has done a ton of grids and seminars with Susan and it’s never been an issue.

The whole set point set up was not working for her at all. I know she was crooked and I try to set her up straight. I try not to do too much fussing with her position because she is unbelievably sensitive (does not show up so much in agility training, but I have to be super careful when doing any type of obedience training). I’m going to need to keep refining her set up (both her literal position and the equipment!) – maybe get rid of the spider and go back to the jump in your lectures.

Same with the set up distance – I’m trying to put her the halfway distance ala Salo, but it’s possible she needs something a little different. Lots to learn about her. On those reps you liked, the toy was about a mile away. LOL

Thanks,
Joan

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