[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

[agilitywawa]

Hi,

Ha! I don’t think she has a reward marker for taking food from my hand because it’s never been much of a thing. She has a marker for thrown food (search) and on the floor/remote (dish). Some of the other dogs have the food markers for me bringing it to them or putting in on the ground. I guess it’s time for Dellin to get some additional markers now that food is more of a thing that looks like a reward.

Today we got back to the threadles. And at the end I tried putting in the beginnings of motion. Then we did a few serps at the end of the session. I had changed to the very highly prized frisbees then and found that I needed to back off a little on the difficulty. She previously had some trouble going back and forth in the same session with these 2 different concepts (threadle and serp), so I was happy with this.

Can’t believe we are entering the final week! We’ll be signing up for the next class -it has been lots of fun!

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

I thought she had pretty good value for the wing, so I tried to incorporate the food first then toy as reward. I felt like her response was kind of middle of the road – not as fast as when I used only the toy and not as slow as when I used only food. And I had to pause to make sure she swallowed the treat, so I felt like that kind of interrupted our rhythm.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi,
I forgot to add that I at the class I did use my verbals – left and right and check and I did have to walk the 5 obstacles saying my words!

I had a few minutes this morning and got out the wing for the baby steps of transferring value to the wing. I started with cookies and she was like OK, and her response was not that great. When I switched to the toy, she was like game on! She could be the poster dog for using the reward that your dog finds rewarding 🙂

I figured we’d be ok on the floor for that first step, but I won’t do any turn and burn on this floor. We’re still ok for threadles and serps here, so I can work on those.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi,

I’m leaning toward the sprinkler for the softer turns and keeping left and right for sharper turns. Some of this is because I have a hard time getting it all out on course. With Mari, “Check check” is for wraps to both sides, and I find I’m having trouble with Dellin remembering which is which, even when we are going around a trash can, so I figure it won’t get easier at speed 🙂 But this is still a work in progress, so I may change my mind. I have not yet introduced the sprinkler, so I guess my mind is not made up yet.

She had in person class last night (we do baby sequences – tunnel and a few 8″ jumps) and I could see her looking for her jumps and not looking at me – it was so exciting (the instructor commented on what a good job she did looking for the jumps). Anyway, to my previous point, I could barely remember what words to use on these tiny sequences! And she really has no understanding of the words yet. LOL And I was also having a proud mom moment looking at my puppy do things. She reminds me of Burst at that age, so there’s really no time to admire her while working.

Her whole at home training yesterday was meh – just an off day (then she was awesome at class). Not coming in season that I can see. This morning I went back to the serp and she was herself again, pouncing on the dead toy and even leaving early and bypassing the jump to steal the toy, so she just wasn’t feeling it yesterday (and I noticed that with the little bit of obedience we did yesterday too – just not that into it).

I need to do the threadle work separately – if I mix them in the same session, she thinks everything is a threadle. And yes, I use the cross arm for threadle so that should eventually help her.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi,

“It sounds like the sprinkler is more generic and the dogs path is somewhere halfway between a go and a left/right?”

I think that does sum it up. A pinwheel type arrangement or arcing turn (less than 90 degrees) would be an instance where Burst would get a sprinkler cue.

I tried to start the serpentine with a little motion today. I started with the MM and did not get too much excitement, so I switched to a toy and she still was not really feeling it. Not sure what was up with her but she very clearly did not feel like doing any training, so I cut it short when I could not get her into the right state of mind, even with some toy play. I have a couple of reps here, just to see if we’re on the right track.

I don’t know that the threadle is ready for motion yet – I have started to use a verbal, but there’s really no understanding of it yet.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi,

When I watched the Didi game video, I could see her slipping. I’d love the info on the turf rolls as an option. I can also rent some time in a bigger space relatively easily to do some of these games. It’s not realistic to think we’ll be outside again until April (if we have a good Spring).

Today I did the rocking horse with me trying to stay more in the middle and having the can and cone closer together.

We worked on the rear foot targeting on the contact mat too – have not done that in a while. I still have the mat on the Cato board. No video of that.

Then we went back to the head turn around the upright since there’s no speed involved. When we last left off, you had me trying to fade the big hand motion leading her around.

I had a question that I keep forgetting to ask you pertaining to the minny pinny and left/right cues. If I’m understanding the way you are using “left” and “right” in this context, it’s the way Terry uses the sprinkler cue with Burst – for a soft-ish turn (in either direction), generally only over jumps (not sure if he uses it in other contexts), so she knows there’s a soft turn staying on the same lead (and not going straight). Left and right cues are for more “dramatic” or sharper turns.
I had been thinking about using a sprinkler cue with Dellin and still teaching/using left and right for the harder turns (I use directionals with Mari and CiCi – more on rear crosses, turns off contacts into a tunnel and turns coming out of tunnels).
I like the way the minny pinny teaches the directions. I guess my question is what do you use for sharper turns and then what are your thoughts on the above. I like the sprinkler since it’s two less words to remember 🙂

Thanks!
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Here’s “The Didi” – first some reminder reps, then bums, then bumps with words. I’m trying to not move and she seems fine. I have been going to an in person foundation class with her just to get her out working in other places. Last night she did a tunnel to a baby pinwheel like a pro – our first sequence. Fun to see the basement skills translate into a larger space. She thought it was super fun.

And my next attempt at the rocking horse spin. Good grief, there were still outtakes 🙂 I feel like you can almost see the smoke coming out of my head from thinking so hard about it.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi,
I re-watched the video and I had sound, so not sure what happened. And I was so proud that I was using my words!
We did a little of the minny pinny (or maybe I’ll start calling it “The Didi” :)) this morning with a toy – totally different dog – much more enthusiastic. We did the steps as you outlined above. I’ll try another short session later and get some video.

I went back to my outtakes from last night on the rocking horse spin. Let me know if these are correct. If so, I guess it seemed too easy, so I had to put in an extra move. lol

Thanks,
Joan

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

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,
Yesterday I did the backside slice and started adding the verbal to it. We also revisited the threadle and I used the other arm and she was fine (as predicted, lol). No video as it was first thing in the morning.

I really don’t have anywhere else where I can do the reverse retrieve – we have no little carpet – the hallway has a runner and it is aptly named since it is on the move quite a bit 🙂 I’ll have to wait until I can work in a bigger space.

I tried out the 2 new games tonight. I thought maybe we’d need Didi as a prop for the minny pinny – like here chase the min pin around the pinwheel!
We did the baby steps- started with wings touching each other, then moved the one out about 6 inches and then moved it out more. I left me in there moving it so you’d know when it moved since it’s hard to tell from the camera angle. I started off a little awkward in the treat delivery but it got better (it may still be incorrect). Then I figured that was enough for one session and did not add the bumps yet.

Then we moved on to the rocking horse with the spin. I was able to get about 10-12 feet between the garbage can and the cone. It took me a while to sort out the mechanics on that one! But I think I finally got it. Some of the problem got resolved when I finally figured out which hand the toy needed to be in to deliver the reward after the blind. This is a move I do all the time with Mari, but when it’s on a cone, I just cannot seem to sort it out. Hopefully I got a few that were correct. I cut quite a few out the video, lol. And if you tell me I’m doing it wrong, it won’t surprise me either!!

We started with a couple of front cross warm ups and then moved into it. I don’t really have enough space to add much of a turn and burn to this.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi,
Ha! Grudgement is the perfect word for her reaction.

We did some backsides, threadle and reverse retrieves tonight.

Backside – I put down a leash on the floor to keep myself honest about my position. I even left in the end of a couple of reps where she BROUGHT ME THE TOY TO MY HAND 🙂

Threadles – trying to make sure she was not leaving when my arm started to move. She did really well – grudgement period is over.

Question – I do use the other arm for my threadles with Mari and CiCi and I’d liek to do that with Dellin, so how do I transition?

“Reverse retrieve – while she was technically correct, she literally made me snort with her passionate (not!) trot to you during the retrieve portion LOL!!!”
She usually saves this kind of move for right after I tell someone that she is mental for toys 🙂

We adapted the game with more tossing the toys as she was coming back. The HR were proving difficult for me to pick up quickly so I switched to the udder tugs.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Well, it has taken several days to get Dellin back doing the threadle – she took A LOT of offense at my stepping on her (memo to self – don’t do that again). I had to move the jump to a different part of the room for several days, change out the jump for a wing, go back to the prop for the nose touch to get her to come to the back of the jump, yada yada, yada. I used mostly toys and yesterday I was able to use the MM again and she ate the food. But we are back now – I was able to put the jump back in the original spot where there’s more room to video, lose the hand target, and I started using a word. I used look, look, look with Mari and CiCi but I find it kind of hard to say, so I opted for “In” – hopefully I can remember!
Sorry that the toy is off camera on that first side. It’s hard to get everything in with the space.

Then I did a little bit of reverse retrieve – it’s hard in the small space to really run away, but so it goes. Used HR then udder tugs. Side note – she has been doing some retrieve to hand with those little green HR that she loves so much which is good for her (with me sitting on the floor still).

From my previous homework on the backside where you said:

Try to start further away from the barrel, as close to the camper as possible – it looks like you are starting with her and then bending your line a little to commit her to the backside by moving towards it then away. So if she is further back and even in a stay, yo can be ahead and moving when she start moving, so you can be very straight. That will allow you to start to work your way over to positions 2 and 3, which I think she is ready for (these were position 1 mainly).

Is position 2, like the middle of the bump? and position 3 where the second wing would be if it was a jump?

Thnaks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi,

I misunderstood where to stand on the threadle work! So I went back to it tonight. After one rep, I accidentally stepped on Dellin’s paw (not hard) and she a very dramatic reaction. After which she would not leave her stay to come to me. I moved the jump to another part of the room and had to start tossing treats back and froth just to get her moving through the jump. I used some toys too and let her chase them. Hopefully she won’t hold the grudge for too long or I may have to try the threadle in a different place.

As you can see in the video, she is physically fine and we did the backside exercise with no problems. I was trying to move parallel to the bump – I just don’t have much room. The treats were also bouncing some, so they may not have ended up in right place all the time, but she really likes these, so I was trying to keep her happy.

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Thanks for the feedback. I revisited the games with the tweaks – hopefully I’m on the right track now.

Pivot with jump bump:

Backsides with me throwing the treats (very bouncy treats):

Head turn – trying to fade the big hand motion – not sure if I’m doing this correctly:

Lastly, the threadle. This did not go as well as the first session. First, she had little interest in the MM, she’d run to it, pick up some kibble, drop it on the floor and then ignore it or maybe eat one after playing with it. I left her last rep with MM in where she gets “stuck” (staring at the thing she does not actually want – lol). So after that rep on the video, I moved to the toy. She was more excited, but I had more errors. She was good in “position 1”, but as I tried to move her closer to the middle of the jump or position 2, she was taking the front side of the jump. When that happened, I’d move back toward position 1 to get success and then try to move back to position 2. I left a couple of those in the video so you could see and let me know if I’m doing something to cause that. I don’t think we had any successful reps at position 2 today. I stopped after doing the one side since I though we had been at it long enough.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,
I tried out the new games. I have to tell you, I did literally LOL watching the video of Export. With his back to the camera, the black patches on top of his head and the mohawk, my first reaction was, is she training a goat to pivot?? Then I realized who it was 🙂

Here’s some baseline pivot stuff for us – going both ways. I don’t know if this is too “obediency” for what you want.

Then we tried the backside slice game. You may be witnessing the very first successful use of the MM! She used to run up to it, sniff the treats and walk off, so she has made huge strides since class started.
She definitely turns wider going to her right – maybe the MM was not placed correctly? Although I am starting to suspect she is a lefty, so this is just her more difficult side.

Then we tried the threadle game. I was surprised how quickly she figured that out.

Last, the head turn game. My mechanics were a little clunky and she did not want to follow the hand all the way around the cone at first, so there may be fewer reps going that first direction. But then she started to figure it out.

Thanks,
Joan

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