[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

[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, 7 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

[Author]

Posts