[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

The snow from Sunday melted so I got out this afternoon before more snow came tonight for some more wind in my hair – I’m trying to throw the toy earlier. I wasn’t going to haul out a tunnel and all the bags with the snow coming, so I’ll have to try smiley face after this snow melts (hoping this is the end of it).

Then we went inside and tried the wrap verbal/discrimination with the short training tunnel and wing. A total disaster. Could not keep him out of the tunnel. I need A LOT more space than I have inside.

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Yeah for my big space 🙂 The second jump was locked at 6″. He saw his conditioning person this week and he said I could safely do up to 10″ at his age, so next time I do set point, I’ll do 8″ and then move to 10″ after that. We also are thinking he may be a 20″ dog, so we’ll see what the wicket says, when I can get one to use.

I beat the rain today and started Wind in My Hair. I did the baby level – walking, then jogging. My toys throws felt awkward – like it would have been better if the toy was on the ground. And I don’t know why I keep saying his wrap cue for soooo long after he has taken the jump. Yikes when I saw that on the video.

Our weather is going bad – rain turning to ice to snow, so I may lose the yard for a couple of days. Hopefully it misses you in Chicago (glad I’m not needing to travel tomorrow back to MN). I hate this time of year – it was 70 on Friday- SO CLOSE to Spring. Then back to winter gear.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,
I went right to 6’ spacing. Did 2 per side with stationary toy, then 2 per side with moving toy. And I overdid it on the space after the jump lol. Spatial relations is not my strong point.

We’re expecting rain this weekend, so wanted to get this in in case I get washed out.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Here are some set points. We did a little of this last Fall before winter set in, so it’s not brand new to him. The space is 5’.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

I don’t know how tall he is. I’d think over 22. I keep meaning to measure him!

Yesterday we did the pregame adding the jump bump. I wasn’t sure where to set him up – jump grid distance or regular jump distance, so I was a bit all over.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Back to the serp exits with better connection and starting to add a bit more motion. He decided after a couple of reps that he’d rather have a food reward, so I switched. We had played a lot of tug before the session (just us playing). Ignore that one where I tossed the toy with the wrong hand (lol).

I will look into setting up some kind of rocking horse. I do have a 3′ training tunnel if that is something I could use.

Thanks!
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

We did a few of the advanced level of the countermotion serp exits – he did well with those.

Not enough space to do the rocking horse tunnel games. Boo…

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

I was not sure when exactly this session ends, or when the last day to post video is. We will be signing up for the next session and hopefully we’ll have an early Spring.

I re-did the serp exit trying to leave earlier. Then we were finally able to work the threadle and serp in the same session with a little motion- it has taken us a long time to get to this point! I was pleased with how he did. My camera cut out before we were finished on the second side (and mayhem ensued when Terry got home and everyone upstairs lost their minds), but he was about the same as the first side.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Was at agility the last couple of days, so no video.

Finally got into the newest lesson.

We did the start of the countermotion for the serp exit. He can probably handle more motion than I was giving, but we didn’t want to skip steps. Should I have used his wrap cue there?

Also did the start line and baby steps of lateral lead out.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

I went back to the threadle – working on getting the MM back to a position where I can mix up the serps and threadles. I was happy with how he did. I was able to vary his position a little and get the MM back close to the serp line. Maybe next time I can add some motion to the threadle (?)

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

I started him in the easier position and gradually moved him back out toward the slice. I was able to walk slowly while doing it.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Just worked the serp with a little motion – trying to smooth things out. He had some trouble – in looking at the video, I can see my connection was not the best. When he had the trouble, I did a couple of stationary reps to remind him.

Work had been crazy, so have not had time to look at the newest lesson yet.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Yesterday was in the 40s and I was excited to get outside with the barrels, but it ended up being too slippery (and he was destroying the turf). I switched to the Minny Pinny and that was still not great footing, so I just did a few reps, but cleaned up the mechanics of having him end in the correct position for the left/right turn. It snowed overnight, so back to the basement…

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

You wrote:
Ideally, after getting and bringing the toy, he gets a very fun tug session that is 2 or 3 times longer than the rep itself. If you were doing a short tug or not tug/trade for treat, the interest in getting the dead toy might be reduced in favor of sticking near the treats.

We do a lot of tugging – that’s why I cut it out of the video!

I missed out on all of the good weather – stupid work – it was almost 50 on Wednesday and in the 40s a lot of the week. The snow melted. I had plans for today until we had gale force wind and a dusting of snow. ARGH.

I did a little motion on the serp and then revisited the stationary jump threadle inside instead.

Yesterday he went to a baby skills seminar at OTR for a couple of hours and got to be in the big ring (a first). He did great -could play with toys and eat food and do the skills. I did a little bit of CU type games when he came into the building (by the back door) and some of his ready to work protocol. I was very proud of him 🙂

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

You wrote:
The Minny Pinny looks good! He is slipping a bit on the mats – do you have snow on the ground outside? It will be better footwork if he can do this on grass (or maybe bring it to OTR for the turf?)

Right now there is still snow on the ground (not a lot) and it’s going to be freakishly warm here this week (40s), so it may melt and I may have space t go back outside. Renting time anywhere is tough. The puppy room at OTR might be a possibility.

You wrote:
At the beginning, it definitely looked harder for him to line up with the toy present! Slightly slower response, and his position was more angled (to watch the toy, perhaps :)) You can use food to help with that for a couple of reps, then we can fade the food again so it is delivered sometimes but not part of the cue.

Yes, he has historically had a very difficult time lining up when there is a toy in the vicinity – that was a know thing for me. At the end of the video, I decided to see if we had made any progress (this has been sitting for a while). And he did some terrific lineups with the throw toy out ahead of him. Now I’m having trouble with him going on his dead toy marker. Ha!

In this session we did find your face. I did not think it would be too much of a problem for him given his personality – he’s too much sometimes with controlling his emotions (MOMMY!!!!). At the start, I felt like he was targeting my hands, so I put the cheese in my mouth. He really likes cheese.

Then we did the baby level of the spins – as much as we could in our space.

At the end are a few of the lineups.

Thanks,
Joan

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