[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Here are the baby steps of the threadle wrap on the trash can. Not sure why I failed to mark with search half of the time – bad mom moment.

This is all we did today – it’s is above freezing, so I used my lunch break to take him outside to play.

Despite his size, he seems to like these wrap games.

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

I made the suggested adjustments to the 2 exercises. I have a hard time telling if that threadle is getting any better… He seems to like the backside one though – more moving 🙂

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Don’t let that sun in the window fool you – it’s below zero out there. And I’m in a week long work conference which is hard on the adolescent dog too. Got some training done on the lunch break
Did the same 2 games again. Started using my backside slice word – “back” and starting taking a couple of steps.

Then the threadle slice – trying to click at the correct time. Timing is hard as the space is so small. Today, I thought he had better turns on my left hand. We started on my right hand because that has been the side he struggled less on.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Thanks for that analysis and the reminder to JUST STOP. I went absolutely psycho.

Started the backside slice – baby level tonight.

Then decided to be brave and go back to the jump threadle. Judge seems to have forgiven me. Putting the MM right in the middle did the trick. Interesting – I did notice that on my left hand, he turned wider – I though he might go around the upright, so maybe he does turn a touch tighter or is more fluid on my right hand. Did 3 reps per side, he was great. Quit to make sure this is the set up you had in mind and then where to go from here. I tried really hard not to move!

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Revisited the threadle which was a disaster. This morning I started on my right hand. he had 4 good reps, so moved top my left hand and he absolutely cannot do it. I quit and decided to try again in the afternoon -tried to make it look different – had him on the other side of the room and still can’t do it. I did 2 on my right hand to try to help him and then went back to the left – no. Then he was getting sticky and stopping to stare at the MM. I feel like the MM is causing problems.

I don’t feel like he has a strong dominant side that I can really tell and he does not usually have so much trouble switching sides in exercises.

I can see I’m still shaking my hand too early – I need to pay better attention to that.

Also did a few wraps this morning with the clicker so he could end on a good note.

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Thanks for the videos!

We did the baby levels of perch work (he’s well versed in this). Both on and off the bowl. When off the bowl, he does have one side that is not quite as physically strong and he tends to try to sit. He was getting better, but we have not done a ton of this recently. He’s also really good at side stepping and staying with me and we have done a little start on backing up with me.

Baby level strike a pose for the jump threadle. He has worked with a MM before (not a ton, but it’s not novel which you can’t tell from the way he looked at it. lol). He was doing really well on one side then toward the end of the reps on the second side, he started skipping the jump and circling, so I think he was bored. Bad mom, too many reps.

Then the baby level 360 wrap with stanchion. He had done this before, so not new to him – showing you the baseline.

A little off topic – I used the superbowls for him (from MYOB) the other day in the parking lot of Cabela’s (a place we go to train other skills) and he did not even notice 2 guys who were talking about 7 parking spaces away from us (of course, he noticed them, he sees everything, but he was able to MYOB). And he had a terrific outing. Typical of the breed and his age, he’s hypervigilant. People don’t really bother him, but not watching them is not easy.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

We went back to the beginning threadle move with me using the opposite arm which is my cue.

Then I tried out some of the SSC with adding a slice – noise. For some reason my iPad could not access my own agility videos, so I search for agility videos – all end up quiet. I search for flyball videos and they had music over them. So I could not find any barking dogs (seriously). So it’s some random dog trial associated noise, but not what I wanted. Did some cookie recalls and then more of a pattern and working on eye contact. He was fine. I’m thinking of adding a dog on the table for his next slice. I can borrow Burst who will behave and be less exciting for him.

The serp has been sitting for a few days, so may try that tomorrow. And look at the new lesson.

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Winter is back – really cold out, so we’re back inside.

Worked the serp a little- trying to focus on me being at the exit wing. He did well on the slice tonight.

Then we worked on the remote reinforcement. He has worked on this before, but not super recently. His marker is “candy”. I am waiting for eye contact from him before we move away from the jar. Then we did a few steps of walking and graduate with a simple sit behavior.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

The one Cato did move- the tip was on the low setting – he loves to slam that thing – I could raise it. It will be a while before we can move all that outside!

I repeated the serp session today – I think I angled the jump correctly to make it a bit easier (I’m not good with spatial things – why I don’t course build). I just did a few reps of the slice. he only had the one mistake today.

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Happy New Year!

We tried out the S**%pile – I wasn’t sure of you wanted to see video (it’s the first 3 minutes of the video). Big dog needed a big pile. The only little lips in the video were him hacking up a treat, me dropping stuff and getting more treats.

I tried to start adding some motion to the serp – he had some questions on that at the beginning so I dialed it back to stationary and then tried to add a couple of slow steps.

It’s cold again, but at least no snow!

Thnaks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Yes, I cut the the start of the rocking horse out from yesterday. Today I moved the barrels out farther and he did better – he has one rep where he rips the toy out of my hand on the send. So then I folded it to make it a bit easier, then let it out again.

We also did the next step of the threadle wrap – a little motion. I use the opposite arm for Dellin’s threadle wrap, so planned to stay consistent with that.

Thanks,

Joan

[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

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