[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Thanks! For the Minny Pinny, I changed the reward placement as you noted above and went back to the jump bumps. We did a few more reps to the left as that has seemed more difficult for her the last couple of days. It seemed like she slowed herself down and was thinking about her feet a little more.

Then back to the serp work. I did a few reps on the flat – with no jump (that were outside the camera frame). Then the stationary ones or me taking a couple of steps and then I modified the exercise by angling that jump.
Going left around the wing seemed more difficult for her to get the jump after – she went around it the first time, but it’s always possible it had something to do with how I had the jump facing (I’m really spatially challenged).

I can see that this will be a long term project for us! I’d blame the breeder, but I’m pretty sure he’ll be in the same boat but with a longer striding dog! LOL 🙂

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy!

Winter is back, lol, but the sun was out, so we got back out there.

Minny Pinny part 2 – kept her in the center of the bar area as you said and no mistakes! This is the whole session with the tugging edited out. I did have cookies too for resets instead of taking her collar.

Then we tried the serpentines – epic fail. Too much motion kills (reminded me of her mom at this age). I show you the first few failed reps, then I dialed the difficulty way back- put her at the exit of the wing and picked up the toy in case it was contributing to the problem. Wing is about 5 feet from the jump.

The we went back to the zig zag. Wings are 6 feet apart. She had some trouble with the side closer to the camera (the push first), so I made it easier for her. By trouble, I mean running straight to me…
The side farther from the camera was much easier for her. So we’ll revisit this. If she has trouble should I be moving the wings farther apart instead of trying to help her with my position?

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi,

After 2 days of rain/rain-snow, we got back outside. Not exactly in a t-shirt, but we can’t be too picky here as today is the “good” day at 43.

I see what you are saying about the double tap on her set point. I suppose using the spider avoids that. We’ll try 5.5 on spacing, bar at 12 at and setting her closer.

We tried out the Minny Pinny directionals baby level. She had a little bit of trouble when she was on the inside, but not too bad – I left a couple of those oopsies in the video. Today she was turning much better to the right. I had to make some adjustments on the left to make her line easier initially (and she looks mortified by being led by her collar – stop touching me!).

Then we did the zig zag. I just did a couple of reps with 2 wings and went to 3. She saw this 2 wing set up last summer after we were talking about the grid for Mari and Burst at your seminar. It was amazing how she remembered what to do after that brief exposure.

Her triumph in baby sequence class last night – she remembered her backside wrap word when we have not practiced that in ages and did it in a short sequence. And I learned that her serp still needs to be at a walk or the motion really gets her. I see we have some games this week to progress that skill.

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Today I messed around with the set point and dragging the toy. First reps were 5.5′ spacing and a 16″ bar – I did not like the way the jumping looked. I came back out a couple of hours later and went back to 5′ spacing – first close up rep was at 16″ and I did not like it. Lowered the bar to 12″ and zoomed put so you could see the toy – jumping looked quite a bit better. I have not tried opening it up to 6 feet – maybe I’m going in the wrong direction lol. For your reference, Dellin is pretty much the same size as Burst, so around 19-19.5 – have not measured her in ages.

5.5’/16″:

5’/12″

Yesterday we started on the tunnel go and tunnel turns – baby level. After going straight, those first left turns were tough! We ended with some racetrack type stuff – big fun! says Dellin.

After 3 glorious 60 degree days, we are supposed to get rain and go back to the 40s, so I tried to make the most of what passed for Spring here. We may not get back outside for more games until later this week.

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi,
When I watch yesterday’s videos again I can see that slowing down on the set point and needing more space. I’ll set it up outside and use the moving toy. We have another couple of good days forecasted.

We tried out the wrap discrimination today and it went much better. She got me twice – once not going into the tunnel and once going in when I asked for a wrap, but overall she did a good job. This one was a lot of thinking, so we did not do anything else (she had been for a hike earlier in the day, so I think she had a pretty good Saturday :))

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Today we did some set points and ladder grids – old school with the spider. Set point started at 16 and then up to 18 and we were messing around with adding a jump after.
Dellin’s brother had stolen her toy several times, which made her stay a bit challenging, so I had an assistant stay with her and give her a cookie on the ladder (started at 6′ spacing then Terry changed it to 5′ after 2 or 3 reps).
I’m pretty sure she does not like that spider on the set point, so I don’t know how much I will be using it – I think for her, it’s a lot of pressure.

We have enough room in the yard!!! (everything behind the camera is snow). Best day ever 🙂 So we did The Wind. 2 refresher reps on each side with me walk/jogging, then 3 with me staying back and waiting for her to clear the wing and go by me and then 3 of me sending her and leaving while she’s wrapping. I had a toy at the end, but it’s out of the frame. When I look at the video, I’m not sure if my distances were all that varied in terms of the wait vs. the send, but I did try to leave early while she was starting to wrap the wing on the sending reps… Or it could be a case of “I was doing it in my head”.

Distance from wing to jump is 25 feet, jump at 12″.

The weekend weather looks glorious for here, so hope to play some more games.

Thanks,
Joan

• This reply was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by agilitywawa.

[agilitywawa]

Good morning,

She has been doing 8″ at class, but I think it’s probably time to start moving it up a little – the space is a square, but quite small and the matting is Comfort King, but not the same as at OTR (more like Fusion if you have been there) and I do see her slip sometimes.

I’ll make some adjustments to the set point. I believe she has seen a set point at 12 and 16 – it’s the one thing I have space for. lol. She’s 16 months now, so probably safe to start adding some height.

The wind in your hair – I will add some height to the jump and try out the variations which sound fun and I’ll really be able to get some good info from those.

The smiley face – I froze like a bunny and could not get my words out half the time, so that’s why you don’t hear them! You are correct – I was not sure how the racetrack part would go (it was her first time doing that one I think) so I did get too close. I will stop that as I’m not going to be escorting this dog to every obstacle unless I get motorized shoes.

It has warmed up and things are starting to melt – in a few days I may have a space close to the house where we can do something which is SO exciting.

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

We got our training time today in the bigger space so we did all the things!

The set point – much longer lead out, slow movement of toy and it looks like the pounce is gone. There was only one questionable rep and I was a lot closer to her on that one. Bar was locked at 8″, so probably at 6″ in reality. The 2 jumps are 5 feet apart.

The we did some wind in my hair. When I watched the video I saw that I got all messed up on the second side, which is typical for me – I have a difficult time with spatial things 🙂 She did not seem to care. She was doing fine with me walking, so I started to jog a little. I did the first couple of reps with some toys that were too bouncy, so I had a few trial and error reps that did nto make the video.

Then the Smiley Face – whoa, she thought that was the BEST THING EVER.

At the end, I tried the wrap discriminations and she was getting tired and I could not get her to stay out of the tunnel, even when I moved the wing farther away and tried more motion away from the tunnel, but she had done a lot of work by that point and our rental time was up. I may need to start with something less attractive than a tunnel (?) or a lot more space.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,
Yes, she does have a tendancy to be a bit pouncy – we saw that when doing the puppy bump grids too.

I did a quick set point with the moving toy – let me know if you think it’s less pouncy.

I will get back to the wind in your hair tomorrow in the bigger space. Dellin and I are going to audit a young dog herding seminar today.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi,
We did the baby set point – that’s about all I have room for at this point. 5 feet between the jumps. Dellin has previously done the baby grids with bumps, so she is familiar with what to do. Sorry that the toy on the ground got cut out of the picture for the most part.

We tried to do the baby step of Wind in Your Hair and I really don’t have room for it – she was turning to look for the toy – so just a couple of reps so you can see. If I can modify by placing the toy out, instead of throwing it, I can do that. I have rented some space on Monday so we can do the games properly.
I did leave in the brilliant return of the toy to hand for more tugging! This piece has taken some time to get.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hilarious video! Is it wrong to look forward to the daily “10 Homes We Think You Will Love” e-mail? 🙂

Hopefully I can get back to a little rental time in the next couple of weeks to do a little more on this before the next session starts.

In her class, doing very short sequences, I was able to practice the sprinkler, a tunnel threadle and a dig dig (right wrap). And while the sprinkler and tunnel threadle are newer so that I don’t know how much she is reacting to the word, the dig dig she really seemed to know. There was an offset 180 and at first I said “right” (which she does not know) and she did not collect and blasted straight ahead. Terry is in class and he said it’s a check (he uses same work both ways), so when I told her dig dig, she immediately knew to turn tight and she even got the next jump of the 180. Proud mom moment.

Even in a short sequence, I have no time for the big arm swish on the tunnel threadle, so I think that will die off fast! I’m not sure where my feet were pointing (likely toward the correct entrance), but she did do the threadle correctly. I will try to remember the feet for next time. Baby steps for both of us!

This puppy room is quite small (it’s not at OTR), so she can have a lot of success with the smaller distances – it’s a nice transition from the basement and back room at OTR. When Dellin tagged along to one of my lessons with Nancy (mostly to do some teeter games), we tried a couple of short sequences and the bigger space was hard – I had to run and then she was like RUUUUUUUUNNN!!!

Thought you too would like to hear some real world success from puppy class!

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

We rented some space today – so much fun to have some room. I think we need to move 🙂 And Zillow is my other hobby now.

Sorry for the video dump, but we did a little bit of a lot of things. I did plan and review what I wanted to work on before we went, but I may have forgotten how to reward some of the things in the moment (throw the toy vs. toy in hand).

First the tunnel threadle and the game from a couple of weeks ago. Did a couple of reps of just the threadle then went into the game – send to tunnel, then threadle into same end.

Then back to “the Didi” – with bars. I decided that for this type of soft arc, I will use the sprinkler. I’m going to use Left and Right for sharper turns.

Then some value for the wing revisited with added turn and burn. I tried to work on leaving earlier as we progressed.

Then we ended with some decel and some lateral lead out.

Dellin has not done done much formal jump work – puppy bump grids and 8″ jumps – so I locked them in at 8″ for the last game, which was fine. I’m hoping to organize a jump grid class or seminar in the near future so she and her brother can start some work. I have volunteered someone in the house (who is not me) to teach that 🙂

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

I’m sitting here laughing at my inability to visualize the exercise – if there are not 2 wings and I’m not running, I have a serious inability to do these exercises! I think that’s why I get all messed up in the rocking horse games.

I redid this to get the front side of the jump. I may have been a little off in where I was standing, but she did the front of the jump 🙂

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi!

I tried the decel again with some adjustments – it looked better. We did lots of play in between reps to keep her energy up. I have also taught a new toy marker this week ‘ “toss” that means I am throwing it to her and she catches it. Avoids some of the awkward bouncing around of the toys in the small space, so I sue both chase and toss and then we do some tugging. I thinks she’s happy with this arrangement and she is bring the ball type toys back to me 🙂

Here’s the decel:

Then we did the start of the lateral lead out which she had no problem with. I’m kind of out of space, so if I should add more distance, I’ll need to go elsewhere. I thinking about renting some space on Tuesday before my masters class to get back to some of the rocking horse games and tunnel games.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

I will watch that threadle arm!

Here the beginning of the Decel exercise. I realized after I watched the video that my position was causing a wide turn, but she did seem to pick up on the concept of the decel. I post this just in case there are any other mechanics I can clean up before I go back for another session. I did all of the positions – straight, the turn and throw the toy at her at the start (which was new to her, so probably took her by surprise).

Thanks,
Joan

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