[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

It has been stupid cold (-7 windchill yesterday with gale force winds), but supposed to be 40 on the weekend, so I hope to be able to use the yard for the games that need room.

Question on the starting tunnel exercises – I will work on the verbal (tunnel) – Judge has been through a tunnel before, so i don’t need to shape it from zero, but i haven’t really done much with the verbal. I got one of those 4’ tunnels for training, so I’m hoping that is ok so I can work in the basement on the tunnel exercises?

I read the material on verbals. I’m going to I use the same ones that Dellin has:

Check – left wrap
Dig – right wrap
Back – backside slice
Nana- backside wrap
In in – jump threadle
Look look – threadle wrap
Here (heeeeere) – tunnel threadle
Sprinkler sound for soft turns
Left/right – sharper turns
Swing – for rear cross (not using it with Judge yet) – I’ve really found this to be helpful for Dellin

I think that’s it. Lol. Maybe I forgot one.

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

I tied out the moving pattern game, with leash, in the basement first to make sure we’re doing it correctly before taking it on the road (plus it’s super cold and I had a ton of work meetings). I’ve got some plans for him this week in other places where we can try this out too.

Something’s weird with YouTube- it won’t save the video with it’s title, erases it and just puts the date in its place.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

We got a dusting of snow- just enough to make working outside not a great idea. Hoping it melts- it may be above freezing this week.

So we worked on the pattern game inside instead.

Tuesday is my in person agility class with Nancy, so I can’t sit in on the live class session.

Judge did some nice backing up on the plank tonight as part of his puppy fitness routine, but I had shut the camera off already. He’s up to 1/2 the plank (6 feet) with a may to target on the plank.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

We repeated these games. I could not find anything to put on the ground to mark when to go, but I need to find something. He’s pretty comfortable with me leaving when he’s about halfway, but when I tried to leave earlier, I got a mistake.

I liked varying what I was doing with the prop – it made the RC much easier.

I need to get to the other game with the BC pivot. I have not shown any baby retrieve work – he has a full retrieve. I have done A LOT of toy work with him to make sure we have good skills and communication around toys.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Space will likely become a challenge for us at home. Right now, no real snow (the dusting from Thanksgiving day), but it is cold AF. At least the sun was out. We managed to get out there to start Turn & Burn and then some more with the prop games with more space – I had to take the gloves off to throw the treats and it was brutal! The things we do for puppies.

Thnaks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

We did a little more of the proper games -parallel with me varying my position. Then more rear cross ones. He did great on the first side, then when I changed sides, he really struggled – he had quite a few reps of turning the wrong way. Should I not work on both sides during the same session?

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Happy Thanksgiving! or, National Day of Washing Dishes.

I will try the above suggestions on toy races. Today we had like a snow globe or Hallmark movie type day, which is great until you remember it won’t be 70 degrees tomorrow. So we’ll see how the ground is. It should be ok for a bit.

On the video: backing up and the prop games. I have always used a prop for backing up. This method was what worked for him – it was a hard skill for him to learn. I started with a Cato and now I am at the point where I vary the target and he’s good. I’ve started using the word back, but I know that he does not know it. If there’s no target, he struggles.

Then we did the first prop games. I was having a hard time timing my leave with his send and go. Then the RC were just a hilarious blooper reel.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,
Welcome home!

A couple of things from the weekend. We did 4 toy races. 3 with him on my right and 1 on my left. Interesting that he head checks each time on the right, but doesn’t do it in my left. And I mixed the left side rep in between.

Then some trash can wraps with no motion from me.

We did a bunch of other stuff too. I did the arousal exercise with the plank – tug, do the plank, etc. and forgot to turn the camera on. Doh!🙄 I thought he did pretty well with it.

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Judge is pretty level headed and not as bitey as some Mals – so he loves tug and toys and biting “stuff”, but thankfully he does not bite me when he’s frustrated or not getting his way. He’s pretty cuddly (with us).
I find him a bit less serious than the girls. Dellin was (and is) so serious, even as a puppy and she’s so sensitive.

I took the trash can outside for a few wraps. I have already started using his verbals some. “Dig dig” is right wrap. “Check check” is left wrap.

Then I did the next step of toy race – some counter motion. I don’t know what kind of cross I was doing, but it’s not a front cross! I am horrible with these kinds of exercises when there’s no jump – I’m always turning the wrong way!!

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Yes, he’s my first Mal – I am really enjoying him – he’s super fun to train. And I haven’t had a boy in quite a while. So nice to have a dog that likes both food and toys, unlike Dellin who spit out every type of food as a puppy.

I will be using the same verbals for him that I use with Dellin – since I can finally remember and get them out while running.

I still have a bit of time left to take the wraps outside to get off those mats, but it has gotten a lot colder this week. Hopefully the snow stays away for a while.

I will try the pile of stuff with my helper!

Here’s the plank and toy races. The only thing he has not been able to do on the plank is back up (I may need to put a target on there to help him). He can back up onto it without an additional target, so maybe I could build off of that.

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

“I think his quick inspection of the object was mainly because you were tossing the treat right at it. That might have caused him to think you wanted him to expose or offer behavior on the object. Since we are going for ‘ignore it completely’ you can have the stimulus off to the side and toss the cookie past.”

My bad – I misunderstood and thought we were supposed to toss the cookie relatively close to the object.

We did the shaping #2 with the inflatable donut. When I’m standing close to it, he thinks he’s supposed to pivot! When I took a step away, then he hopped onto it. Typical of the breed, he has no issues with things that move or make loud noises. He loves to bang the tippy Cato board. he can also get onto 4 pods – front feet were shaped and back feet were lured (to cut down frustration for him).

Then we wrapped a large trash can.

Then some toy switching skills. He has very good toy skills – his very first class right after he came home was for toy skills. He switches toys easily. These 2 toys are roughly equivalent in value, the green one may be a bit higher – it’s more of an outdoor toy and he wanted to go out and run around but the weather was horrible (welcome to late November).

I have also taken a class with him just on markers. I found it lowered his frustration quite a bit.
His food markers (some I use more than others):
“Yes” – move toward me to get the food
“search” – one thrown cookie
“floor” – one cookie put on the ground
“snack” – one cookie delivered to him – he does not move
“dish” – one cookie in a dish, he is sent to the dish
“scatter” – a bunch of cookies put on the ground
“catch” – one cookie thrown to him

His toy markers:
“strike” – he moves in and grabs it
“chase” – I’m throwing it far
“toss” – I’m throwing it close for him to catch
“get it” – dead toy on the ground

Have fun at the US Open – too late in the year for us to get there and back in the RV without hitting bad weather.

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

I did the first step of the stealth game yesterday and today. I tried 3 objects yesterday and all of them ended up just off the camera! He behaved the same way he did today. If he checked them out at all, he came right to me when I said his name. Today I have 2 different objects – the basement is definitely the place to be for novel neutral objects. He give a cursory sniff and heads right back to me. I was delaying giving him the toy so he had time to swallow the cookie toss. Otherwise he was coming back and hacking or spitting out the cookie.

Then we did a re-do of the blind cross foundation – I did not realize that the toy should be much more visible to him and not just a reward. Thanks for clarifying. I felt like I was giving him enough space – then I watched the video! Clearly, I have not had a large dog in a number of years and I need to starting paying attention as he continues to grow.

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

A beautiful day here, so we had the space to do the driving ahead/focus forward. We’ve done this type of exercise before, but usually I just say “get it”. I started saying “go go”, and I think that’s why he looked at me (whaaa??). And I have not been running as much toward the object with him – I’ve been running away from the object. So I changed up the game on him.

We also did the blind cross foundation. Camera angle not the best – I manage to block him part of the time but he does end up on the correct side.

Going to try the first stealth game later. He’s a dog who sees everything (no surprise), so it will be interesting to see what he says about the game.

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Giving him some more room helped him to turn the correct way. I will say that when he chases toys outside that almost 100% of the time, he turns left after picking up the toy – even if it would be easier to turn right. We will address that with our conditioning person. He circles cones, etc. equally well – does not seem to have a strong preference that I can see.

We did a few forward send with the toy – he got a bit sloppy as his arousal went up so I need to figure out the correct balance of cookies to toy. Then we did some side sends and rea sends for cookies. He did fine with both.

I re-did the decel exercise and circle – trying to make sure he kept his rear in.

Darkness prevented us going out for the driving ahead- so tomorrow!

Question on the cone work. We have worked through all of the baby steps, starting the same way – with bowls. He is now at the point where he does multi wraps of cones, wings, trash cans (I don’t use cones anymore because he’s so big). He can can that with distractions- me holding food out in my hands. I’m at the point where I’m starting to name the wraps. Should I wait a couple of lessons to do anything or do you want to see any of this now?

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

I got a bigger prop for him since he’s already pretty big (“we’re gonna need a bigger boat!”). On the video, we did Prop Game 1 – forward send and then we did the start of the Decel and Turn (dizzy time).

He has done quite a bit of the driving ahead for the toy, including with my motion, so I won’t go all the way back to the very first baby steps. Which means I need to go outside to give him enough room – will do that later today. Full disclosure – he has been working through another online program, so this is not his first class. But I like how everyone has different skills and approaches and I know this class has a lot of things I can do in a small space as winter approaches here (sad face).

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