[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Yesterday on those serps, I think he was bored when he slowed down on the second side. My bad for doing too many.

You wrote:
A question about your wrap verbals: when you are on course with Dellin, for example, do you say each
word only twice, like ‘dig dig’, to cue the wrap on a jump? Or multiple times (dig dig dig dig dig
etc) for the wrap on a jump? If it is only twice, carry on 🙂 If it is more than twice, start
adding that here to rehearse you saying them more and him hearing them more.

With Dellin on course, I think I say them more than twice, 3 or 4 times on those tight wraps. So I tried to remember to say it more with Judge today.

On the rocking horse, I initially had the barrels farther apart, but he struggled at the start because of the toy in my hand and he would not send from the hand with the toy in it. The session then became more about ignoring the toy and he improved by the end. I stated with the udder tug folded in half and was able to unfold it by the end. I did notice that the ground is soft on top and it was damp out (and weird foggy), so the footing did not look so good, so I did not do too many of these.

We also worked on the get out – cleaning up my mechanics – trying to keep walking a straight line and throwing the treat with the proper hand.

Then we did the baby level of the threadle wrap game. He already knows how to turn in a circle, so I showed you a couple of those and then moved to the 180.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

It rained all day yesterday and now my snow is basically gone! So we worked outside while we could. I don’t think we’ve seen the sun in about 3 weeks.

Back to the rocking horse and then serp with toy on the ground (starting with his more difficult side from yesterday).

I had to switch the toy from hand to hand on the rocking horse – it’s such a big toy that he could not ignore it in his face. A work in progress, if it was a smaller toy, it would have been ok.

It’s supposed to be “warm” (40 ish) for the next few days, so I may get to work on some other games outside. YAY!

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Finally got back to our games.

Get out – much better with the bag basically on the wall. He’s kind of doing a drive by on it and then looking back to me – I was not sure what to change.

Also did the serps with a dish on the ground (he has the marker “dish” – I probably should have been saying it earlier!). He did great on one side and then had some issues on the second side. He’s not target the post it anymore, but he seems to know where he’s going, so after the first rep where I wasn’t sure what to do, I just went with it.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

I agree with you above that he did not seem frustrated to me either when he went behind, but he does like to circle.

TS: You need a racing whippet. There are currently 2 in my house, so the baby Maligator gets about 20 minutes a day of racing one of them. That is all he needs LOL!! Then he is happy to chill out. I will send you a racing whippet to borrow til Judge is through adolescence LOL!!!!

I’m sure no one would notice. “Who’s the skinny one?” Esther? You might want to feed her more.” That’s much more efficient than me trying to tire him out. This is not good Whippet weather though – 7″ of snow last night, so say goodbye to the grass until April or May.

I was trying to stay in the middle of the rocking horse and did catch myself right up on one barrel. I was not using my verbals – wasn’t sure if we were supposed to for this exercise.

Tonight we did sad indoor things. Baby steps of get out on the prop. I assume I should add the words. I think my issue would be if we had to bypass the prop – he’s so drawn to it- as soon as the bag hits the floor he’s on it. And my arm was not even up and he’s going to it.

Baby level of the strike a pose serpentines with the jump -no issues, no cutting behind me.

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

I’m not sure what that circling was about. He does not have any type of cue that looks like this or mean to go behind me. But he does like to make circles as a thing. Usually it happens when he is confused and needs to just move (frustration circle). I have done this exercise with a jump and he totally understood what to do, so I’m not going to sweat it too much. I was more curious if I was doing something that caused it. I will go back to it when the yard is not a training option and use a back stop so he can’t go behind me.

That session yesterday was 15 min, including set up, play time between reps, etc. Today we did 12 minutes. He had 45 minute off leash walk today at lunch, chewed on a beef cheek for 2.5 hrs. until this training session, trained and now he is thinking about dozing off, but it’s probably too close to dinner time. So, yeah… I need to retire to entertain my dog. Thanks for the tips on extra exercise and chewing while girls are in season. Makes sense.

Today, we did some more backwards sends with me moving away.

We started the rocking horse. I moved it along given the impending snow – barrels are more than 6′ apart – he is already bigger than all of the adult female Mals that I know (and a couple of males), so we needed some room. I also added a couple of turn and burns at the end.

And a real life win – I called him off a rabbit in the yard that he was starting to chase!

I really hope I can be outside tomorrow, but the snow looks pretty certain and starting overnight. Week 6 looked like there were some basement appropriate activities we can do until I can find a place to rent with more space.

Thanks!

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

“For indoor training, you can ue wingless uprights to give yourself more room to add lateral distance. And if the jump bump here was 4 feet, you can use a 3 foot long weave pole as the ‘bar’ (tape it to the floor) to add more room for lateral distance too.”

Haha – I was thinking that too. We brought the DW and AF in yesterday and my wingless jump got put outside, so I will bring it back in.

Nothing bums me out more than the Thursday forecast – “plowable snow”, so that motivated me to get a move on at lunch and get outside. When you’re moving, it’s not that cold.

Sorry in advance for the long video – I’m just trying to make use of the daylight and space before Thursday. I always do something with Judge at lunchtime, so today we did more strike a pose, parallel path with jump and more space, and then the rotated sends on the barrel.

I did some basic nose touches to his post-it to warm up and he was fine. He really had trouble though on one side – just circling me which was weird.

He did well on the stuff outside. I know this is a long session for an 8 month old – I could never have worked Dellin like this, but Judge is so into it and needs a lot of activity – mental and physical and that parallel path really let him move. Mal, gotta love it. And then we played fetch. So I can have peace to get back to work in the afternoon.

I had a question unrelated to the material, but maybe more of an adolescent question. Dellin just came in season. Judge is the one who figured it out first. Dellin was in season when Judge first came home at 8 weeks old, so he has experienced it, although so young. He has also had classmates in season and did not pay any attention or work differently. No contact with them, but in the same room (back room at OTR).

After that first night on Saturday, where he was a bit pesty, putting his nose where it does not belong, he has not bothered Dellin (not that she’d let him – she is not his biggest fan. He luvs her). When Dellin, Burst and Doppler were all intact, Doppler never did any of the stuff you hear about (horror stories of screaming and carrying on), so I never worried too much about it. I don’t know how Judge will start to act in the next week or 2, but am wondering if there are any strategies you would employ with your adolescent males specifically aimed at living nicely with your “sister” when she’s in season.

We are planning to sign up for MYOB too!

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Thanks for your patience and feedback while I work through the lap turn! Tonight it finally felt better and Judge was doing a good job hitting the prop.

We also did the next step of parallel path with the jump – marking early.

I did introduce him to the a frame box as well. Not on the video.

Good to know about Kirsten O’Neill – I will check out what she offers for RDW as I’ve seen her Mals do theirs and it’s impressive. Dellin learned hers with Justine Patterson.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

I was at a trial all weekend, but Judge was pretty clear that he needed some work, so we did a bunch of things when I got home. Got the prop out for the RC on the flat (lap turn felt better, tandem turn felt awkward), then we did some parallel path from week 5 with the jump, then some tunnel threadles.

For contact training, with Dellin I used a box for the a frame and mat for the RDW. I think I will do the same with Judge since I am happy with how they both worked. I will try to introduce him to the box in the next few days.

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,
OMG! So sorry- when there’s no jump, I cant visualize anything and I think I’m at an age where I need to look at the lecture 100 times or I can’t remember anything either!
I’ve never actually done a lap turn on course.

Here’s the redo- it felt quite a bit better. 😂

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,
Between work and the weather, it has been a challenging week! I had a few minutes before leaving for a trial to try out the next step with the lap turns. The first 2 reps, the cookie was in my hand that was guiding him, so that threw everything off. By the end of the session, he seemed to be getting the idea.

Saving the tandem turn for later.

Thanks!
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,
It’s below zero today, so I won’t be outside! Good day to work on the those rear crosses. It’s supposed to warm up. Hoping that doesn’t mean the snow will come.
I edited out those bad reps originally, but have dropped them into the video below.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Maybe on the strike a pose I should only have one cookie in my hand – those were big-ish treats. He usually works ok with food distraction, but that might have been too much. Toys are harder for him and we keep plugging away at that.

Our lunch training today was the 2 RC on the flat – baby level.

Then outside to add the toy to the BC, decel, pivot. The first couple of reps he went right to the toy – not following the BC, but he improved with each rep. Toy distraction is hard and that’s the lunchtime play chase toy, so while he did play chase (and he got some tosses, tug and chase between reps), I changed up the picture on him.

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

3 things on the video:

Tunnel with him in the threadle position – still using “tunnel” cue. He’s finding it pretty well.

Strike a pose – this is our second session of it. I’m trying really hard not to move the target to him. I’ve done this before with just my hand – which may have been easier for him.

Second attempt at the combo – blind, then decel. I’m trying to decel earlier, not sure if I accomplished that or not.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Great day here for working outside – 45 degrees!

Finally got to the blind cross, decel game – baby level. And then I started adding the cue “tunnel” to the tunnel. I was going to use the Manners Minder but we had done such a good job of hiding our D batteries, that I had to use a toy instead – which he prefers anyway. After I was done, we found the batteries. lol.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Right! I Knew I forgot something. I do use “go” or “go on” for straight lines where I’m left in the dust. Or go ____ (tunnel or whatever) to send. I use “jump” for extension jumping.

Dellin does not have a “get out”, I may have trained it (since she took this class), but I have not used it. I might use left and right for her in those situations (trying to think what I do…but coffee hasn’t kicked in yet).

Yay on my 4’ tunnel – I was so excited when it went on sale at Clean Run a few months ago. Good winter tool for my small space. Dellin could use more work on her tunnel threadle too.

Thanks,
Joan

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