[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

I may use “focus”, but I don’t use a word for Dellin and that seems to work too, so I may paly around with that. I did a few reps in the basement this morning with me holding the toy, waiting for him to focus and then throwing it (no video) – it went ok, except he was a bit sticky (probably because I was holding the toy) – he did not always break immediately upon being cued and having the toy thrown. I’ll get some video.

After 4″ of rain over the last few days (no joke), the sun is finally out, so if I can find a dry spot and the grass isn’t a foot tall, we get outside today!!

When does this class officially end? I was having trouble finding that date when I need to stop posting 🙂

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

It poured rain all day yesterday, so we tried the focus forward in the basement. He did well with the toy. When I tried to throw food, it was awkward. I also realize that I need a different word – “look look” is my threadle wrap cue. Argh! It was ok since he does not know the word in either context.

It looks like I’ll be inside again today, so I could work on this again.

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Gone all weekend at a trial, so just responding to your question about forward focus. We’ve done some baby steps of it with food or toy on the ground, but I have not really done it with a jump or equipment.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Took your advice to heart – I have to start cuing the threadle way before he completes the wrap. We re-did the tunnel threadle baby steps and it went better. We did the baby step of the lateral lead out on one side. As you can see (and hear) – we went from Summer back to Fall overnight.

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

OMG – funny – no wonder it was so easy!!

Tried it again this morning and it was a disaster when doing it the way it was intended. Can I move the wings away from the tunnel more? I don’t think he’s ready for this.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

I’m trying to do his exercises in the morning -we’re having abnormally warm weather for May (upper 80s). Today is the last warn day before rain and going back to 60ish. We did baby level tunnel threadle. He did pretty well with it. My word is “here” but drawn out “heeeeeere”. I also use the opposite arm.

I’d say Dellin’s tunnel threadle is still a bit of a work in progress when going full speed on a course and I’ve been using the sprinkler and then “here” for her. I’ve been thinking about using left/right for her and then here, but it does not usually fit my left/right situation and the sprinkler gives me the head turn. This set up was definitely the wrap cue though. Things to ponder…

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Re-did the zig zag on that hard side using a tug toy instead of a throwing toy. Had a couple of misses, but overall much more success.

Hoping to work on the tunnel threadle later today.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

We tried the next step of the zig zag, then I returned to the get out.

Zig Zag – totally nailed the first side. Then he could not figure out how to do even the first jump on the other side. I even went back to the first side to show him and that did nothing to help him when we switched sides.

The get out went better. I tried to keep moving forward instead of stopping at the spot where I was sending him out.

Thanks,
Joan

PS – tried again this morning with his disc as a reward and we had some success on that harder side.

• This reply was modified 4 months ago by agilitywawa.

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

We did the first step of mission transition – the decel to front cross. Sorry about the camera angle – I moved the wing out and then forgot to check if it was still in the frame.

He did better turning left. He was wider going to the right – it was likely me, but he was a bit distracted – adolescent boy…the struggle is real.

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

We did the Baby Steps of the Get out. I feel like if I want to add some more handler motion, I will need to spread things out more due to his size – what do you think?

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

We did the RC concept transfer again with the wings moved in to help on the RC. I overestimated on that first RC rep and had to move them in even more. Then he got it. For such a big dog, he’s giving me a pretty tight RC!

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

The weather missed us – it got dark for quite a while, sprinkled a little, then the sun came out. Glad we didn’t get anything, but they really missed the mark on that forecast.

Worked on the concept transfer – rear cross at lunch. I tired to move on to the advanced level and he was fine on the “go” to find the next wing, but not on the RC -so I stopped that before he flattened me. Maybe my wing was too far away for his experience level? In place of the advanced reps, we did a few baby level on the other side.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Feeling like I’m really behind on the lessons!

We tried the layering game today. Tunnel folded down, then open with the layer, then calling him to the tunnel.

Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be extra bad (thunder, hail, tornado bad), so unless lunch is clear, I won’t get out again tomorrow.

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

I made a cheat sheet on a post-it to take outside with me and then addressed all of my issues from last session.

On the ladder, I moved the jumps to 8″ locked in. I added more motion with dragging the toy.

When I went to the BC, I did a bunch on that first side – more for me to get the feeling of it – he had some nice turns when I was timely 🙂

Got my session done right before the rain came. Hoping tomorrow is clear.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Yesterday, the toy was stationary. Tonight I did the angled jumps for the ladder and had the toy moving. I hope I “built” that correctly – I am very spatially challenged. For anything more than a ladder, I usually have Terry build it.

Then we started the Diamond games. The tight BC and the racetrack. I only did the one wing on the BC and will add on next time. I’m trying to figure out what a tight turn looks like for him – it won’t look like Dellin’s.

I did not use directionals on the race track part – jumps like that would be a sprinkler and he has not been introduced to that yet. Counterclockwise was more difficult – I’m not sure if he’s looking at the toy on that first rep or what.

Thanks,

Joan

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