[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

I will revisit the rear cross work. It was hot already this morning, so I thought I’d do something easier for him that might be more fun and less thinking. We did baby and advanced level of looking ahead (on one side).

He was checked out yesterday – nothing physically wrong with him. I’m going to start doing more jump grids to teach him how to use his rear better. And we are going to start working at some height – he actually looked better doing a set point at 20″ than at a lower height.

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

We started on the concept transfer rear cross today. I had 2 short sessions – am and pm. I seem to do better with my timing with him on my right. It’s so easy to see on the video when I’m late. We did the first set up this morning – tunnel to jump and then added on this evening.

His word for a RC is “swing”. I use it with Dellin and I find it really helps – she can do the RC if I am way behind her (imagine THAT – being way behind…lol)

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,
We went out early and it was already warm. I tried doing this work first (instead of the RDW). Not much change in the result. I was trying to remember to keep my arms low.

Going counterclockwise, he is now consistently going around the pinwheel jump on the far side. Maybe it’s too tight? I can move the set up – I was lazy – don’t want to have to move all the tunnel bags across the yard, but I was running out of room there. The grass is a bit wet, so I also saw him slipping some which probably did not help.

The good news is much cooler weather is coming after today.

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

I have noticed the bad jumping (and at 12″!) – he gets in too close and not using his rear. He’s seeing our conditioning person next week – I can show him the video and see if he has some ideas. Now that Judge is older, we may be able to do some more things. Judge has not had any massage work done yet, but I do have one message person who comes to the house and he likes her a lot – that’s a possibility.

I don’t do many agility reps of anything with him at any one session and yesterday was not hot (and we go out early am). He’d chase the frisbee until he keeled over regardless of heat, so I think it’s more of a motivation issue and he does not like too much repetition.

Today is quite hot, so he did 5 dog walks this morning and we did not go back to this set up to do anything else today.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

We started the BC exercise this morning. I’m still having issues getting my words out at the correct time.. Just a couple of reps on each side this session.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

I spread everything out another 5 feet and re-tried the wrap exercise.

“Question: on this pinwheel, would you use the sprinkler on all of the jumps including the one before the tunnel? You were using it on all the jumps for most of the reps (except the wrap jumps) so I was not sure if that is what you intended or not. There was a whole lot of sprinkling going on LOL!”

Yes, generally I would sprinkle twice, although in this set up it might not be necessary. I’ve done a bit of AKC with Dellin and usually they have those pinwheels but there’s also a straight ahead jump (after jump 2) that you don’t take, so when I sprinkle, she knows she’s not going straight (and she rolls her eyes at me – ugh, pinwheel). When we do AKC it often sound like my hose sprang a leak…

I don’t need it going to the tunnel or coming out.

We also started the back chain for the BC exercise – the wrap away and going back. I was running out of dog, so we didn’t get to the BC part yet.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Here’s the start of the Timing and Connection and a few wraps. The sprinkler is for the soft turn -pinwheel type turns. He doesn’t really know it, but I’m using it (I’m pretty sure that’s how Dellin learned it – on the job). Dig is right wrap, check is left wrap.

I think my set up is a bit more spread out than the diagram, but I felt like it’s about as small as I’d want to go with him.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Here’s some more Winging It. I moved the wings further from the tunnel and tried to stay back closer to the tunnel on the sends. And used my words 🙂 The “go” was not the right word on the that one rep where I tried the 2 wings!

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

We did a bit of the Winging It game with a toy and it went much better. I went out early and it was already hot, so it was a short session – all of it on the video. We started pretty easy. Thankfully I have that bit of shade in the morning.

Happy 4th!

Thanks!

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Yeah, this game is not really his jam. I went out early this morning – he does not like heat, despite being from a hot climate. I moved the jumps apart and he was sniffing the ground and looking for wildlife, then he’d humor me and go do a jump. He does not struggle going out to the second jump. The food is not that rewarding for him and he’s on a very limited diet right now (we’re finally on a diet that has eliminated the chronic GI problems he was having). I’d like to try again with a toy – that might go better. Or I might switch to the second game with the tunnel.

The week after you were here, I had a chance to take him to a seminar and he really wowed me with what he was able to do. I had never really done any sequencing and he was taking jumps like a pro. So I know he can do this lazy game, but I need to find something to motivate him more.

On the DW, he’s till trying to figure everything out. The mat is half on the plank and half on the ground right now. It took a lot for work to get him to break out of trotting, so we’re kind of more focused on keeping that enthusiasm up and having him run. I do really short sessions – like 4 reps. He has a lot of value for his mat, so he rarely misses it, but as you saw, the way he hits it is not yet consistent. I believe he will ultimately hit with rear feet, but we aren’t picking on that part yet.

This is the second session of the contact class and the first session was all on the flat or a board. He has learned how to jump on and off the plank at various heights (with the plank on a table, spanning 2 tables, and then the low DW). We’ve also worked various approaches to the board – both on the flat and with the board, starting with proper to help him line up to load.

We just started on the low DW doing the whole thing. Stopping him and doing just the down plank wasn’t working for him because I’d lose all my speed, so he was allowed to do the whole low DW, which is helping him. As you know, it’s quite a journey…

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Here’s the Baby Level of the Lazy Game.

Judge is in a RDW class on line, so he has done a lot of foundation work on the flat and a plank. He’s now on a low dogwalk. I won’t go back and show you his plank acrobatics. If you’re curious, here’s his session from two days ago. I have worked a lot at getting him to break out of a trot and really run. He does better on the full DW than just a plank – he needs a long runway to get going. He’s still figuring things out, but I’m happy with how he’s doing.

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Hope your drive out to MN was uneventful. Looks like the weekend is going to be pretty nice.

We did the accordion this afternoon. My spacing is 6′ when the jumps are equidistant. He had trouble with the first 3 foot increment (9 foot gap) and did better at 12 feet. This is the first time he has seen this. Bars were at 6″ and I was dragging the toy slowly since we determined that seems to keep his head down.

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Ashley Deacon had such fun courses. I was worried that they’d be too hard for Dellin, but she rocked it. No Es, some dumb handling errors by me that caused refusals. You probably saw maps – in Biathlon Agility on Sunday (with the tunnels under the DW), her only fault was a missed DW contact – she’s not used to loading at lower speed (from a threadle wrap) and her striding got messed up. I may still be high from that run.

The way you explained the exercise with Judge – too open = threadle was very helpful for me! Isn’t he smart 🙂

We did the other side today and I kept that in mind. I was able to move off that wing after a couple of reps and get to the center of the bar. The exit part in isolation is ok. As countermotion – hard.

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Got back to the baby level backside slice. Started with the exit. Tried to get further across the bar than yesterday which was hard for him. Ended up practically at the wing to help him, then gradually moved back closer to the middle and tried a little bit of moving toward the exit. There are some epically bad toy throws in this one 🙂

The UKI thing had fun courses – Dellin did really well, which was exciting- aside from one USDAA Regional last year, she has not really done any bigger events. We’re excited to see you in a couple of weeks at OTR!

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

We were at a 3 day UKI thing over the weekend, so just now getting back to Judge’s homework. We started the baby level of the backside challenges game and then it started raining, so my session was quite short (all reps on the video). Will try again tomorrow! I angled the jump to give him more help since he has not done any backside stuff in a while and does not know the cues.

Thanks,
Joan

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