[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Haha – they all were forced FC or throw back. Somehow I thought using my threadle word, somehow turned it into a threadle. LOL. I think I tend toward the FC most with the dogs that have rock solid start lines (Mari) or throwback if I need a tight turn.

Did a bit of the threadle with Dellin today. It felt really uncomfortable for me for whatever reason. Maybe because I was not moving.

We made the big move of entering 1 speedstakes run each day at a UKI trial over Labor Day weekend at 16s to do NFC and play around.

I have been working on the teeter with Nancy at my private lessons – I need to catch up on the homework and see if we can get on track there. Dellin is making good progress, but she definitely has opinions, so we’ve been respecting that and working with her. I keep every session to 4 reps and that seems to be working for her. Would you be open to seeing a bit of teeter video?

Here’s the lead out threadle:

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Last week was nuts – thunderstorms almost every evening, a lawn treatment, grass that grew like a foot after all the rain, blah, blah, blah.

Happy to be back at it on a gorgeous afternoon.

I did a couple of the lead out FC/threadle exercises. I did 2 different sequences from the homework sheet. Left it all on one video.

We’ve also been working on grids and her confidence is growing. We’re no at 18″ for jumps that have height. For the sequences, I have the bars at 16″.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Tried out the lead out using the threadle word (in). Started on one jump, then went to 2 jumps and did the threadle, throwback and LOP to end. I realized I was using a lot of arm at the start and tried to dial that back and rely more on the verbal. Now that I think about it, my feet are pointing the wrong way for a threadle (which is why all of them felt like throwbacks – because they are). I knew something was off when I was doing it (and I just figured it out). OOPS. so there are a lot of reps of the same thing but sometimes I used the threadle verbal and sometimes I did not. Well that was silly. Sorry about that.

I was minding the start line and making sure to pause. She was a little twitchy at the start when I’d move my arm, so a good reminder for both of us to pause. I always pause with Mari, so not sure why I feel rushed with Dellin.

Looks like we have good weather staying for the next week, so I hope to get back to the homework. I’m a bit behind.

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

The hot weather broke and it’s gorgeous so trying to DO ALL THE THINGS! This should be a good week to get some homework done.

We started the lead out to the backside with throwback, FC and the lead out push. I did put a leash on the ground to help me, but things still look a bit late on my end. The mechanics for the throwback were hard since I did not want to show her the “cookie hand” with toy, so I had to switch hands to make the toss going the correct way.

Am I standing too close to the jump? It felt a bit awkward. Dellin was brilliant at reading which side of the jump to take. Even when my set up on the second side was causing her to zig zag a little.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi,

Trying to improve on yesterday, but hit some snags. The BC – maybe I was too early – she was skipping jump 2 consistently. I was trying to keep the WINGS DOWN, but may not have succeeded! May need to duct tape my arms down. LOL. Reminds me of training my first service dog and we were all in wheelchairs at class, but still using too much unconscious body language with some cues. The instructor tied me into the chair so I could not move my upper body – certainly gave me a new perspective on how it was for the recipient of the dog.

The throwback “now with less throw” worked well, unfortunately it’s impossible to see my right hand (so maybe that means it’s in the right place 🙂

The FC was fine – tried to focus on doing it earlier.

She was dropping a lot of bars this morning – they were at 16. yesterday at 14.

Enjoyed zoom class last night – I swear my other dogs never learned those skills this young. Excited to get to that after the weekend (going to a trial). Will also add the tunnel into the sequence like the Wednesday zoom – that looked like a ton of fun.

Have a great weekend!

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Like everyone- it has been hot (not as hot as a lot of you) so have not done as much. I watched class last night which looked super fun, but did not play along. And we’ve been working on weaves (inside) and some grids too – long list, short outdoor season. We have 2 huge grids in the yard, but I was able to squeeze in lesson 1 from week 7 – lead outs variations. It was a gorgeous cool morning.

We did the BC, throwback and FC. I did not drag a tunnel out like the set up last night, but at some point I will.

Dellin seems to be one of those dogs that finds her own set up spot and I don’t mess with it too much since it feels like something that could cause her to melt, so she’s happy, she seems to pick a good distance and she does not move on the start line, so I call it good.

I threw the toy a couple of times and after that it was placed on the ground after jump 3 (except for the throwback).

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

A few reps from yesterday and today. Yesterday I was able to leave the toy on the ground. This morning it made her head explode. The 3 from yesterday I had the jumps pretty much in the normal position. Today I did the little sequence and I had to dial it way back and angle the jumps. By the last rep, I had straightened them a tiny bit.

I know I need to work through the toy on the ground (she used to be able to ignore it, but lately she has been scoping for it – like tunnel to the toy with no attempt at any of the in between). Which is also making jump grids difficult.

At her class last night, I was the only one there, so we did a little serp work in a different place and in a short sequence and she was amazing – showed her a little angle for a couple of reps, then she was fine with the jumps straight.

We also did a little of the tunnel exit game last night – go from tunnel to another tunnel straight ahead and then a couple with turns out of the tunnel. If I had know I’d be the only one there, I would have brought my tripod!

I’m going to let the serps sit for a bit now and work on the tunnel game.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

I did the next couple of things in the homework (not all in one session!).

A couple of sends to the 2 jumps and then the first sequence on both sides. I started with the jumps pretty angled and after a couple of correct reps straightened them a bit.

Thanks for telling me about that toy – she will happily chase the HR, so I used that instead.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Good morning!

It’s gorgeous out so I did a quick serpentine exercise before leaving for our herding lesson 🙂

I have actually been working on the serps recently (and in a lesson with Nancy) since they have been a hard skill for her. We are making progress – I am now able to have the second jump in the “normal” position.

Here are the first 2 steps in the homework. Sorry she gets cut off on the start of some of them.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

We went back out to try to clean some of this up.

Just one rep of “go” to toy on the ground. It’s muggy out – rain is on the way which the sad brown grass desperately needs. Of course it has to be Saturday afternoon after like a month with no rain…

I could see on the previous video (after you pointed it out) that my position on the RC and backside were the same, so I tried to focus on that and I think we did better.

Also did a few FC in between the RC and backside to break those up.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Did our first reps of Straight line 4 ways. In her class and grids with height, she is now jumping 16 quite confidently. I did the exercises at 12″.

I started the “go” with the tunnel since I though she’d be ok. Looks like I need to throw the toy sooner (rep 2 head turn).

Then we worked through the other 3 variations.

FC – she had some issues with the bars – I left them for you to see since I’m not sure what I was doing differently that caused the bar to drop.

RC – that went surprisingly well! So I just did the couple of reps on the video and moved on since I’m trying to work while it’s still cool.

Backside. Had quite a bit of trouble. I led out so I could walk. I see in the reps where she got the backside, I’m really “over-helping”. She seems to know the word in a vacuum but once there’s motion, it’s too much to process(?)

“You might even consider some NFC Speedstakes in the late summer or fall? Let’s take a road trip so our baby dogs can play with no one watching hahaha!”

Haha is right! It would have to be in super secret, like my yard!! Maybe a year from now…

Joan

• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by agilitywawa. Reason: forgot video

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Here we are with the tunnel.

Now that I have the tunnel out, hoping to work on the straight line games. And I have a weekend with almost no plans (so exciting) to get some homework done.

She did so well at her class last night! She’s really understanding her lefts and rights, even coming out of tunnels. And we got some really good sends to jumps too.

Thanks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Here’s step 2 – toy in my hand. She has a much easier time on my right, wrapping left. There I felt like she was not looking for the toy. On my left she was not as strong/independent (yet!). Short early AM session -we’re having 2 stupid hot days, then maybe I can drag some equipment out.

I was able to add more motion than yesterday.

Thnaks,
Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy,

Last week was nuts – work and I was trial secretary on the weekend, so not so much got done. Trying to pick up where I left off with the backside wrap commitment – I think I did a better job getting out of her way. And she was much tighter around the wing. I don’t know if I was really testing the commitment as much though, but this skill is hard for her…

Thanks,

Joan

[agilitywawa]

Hi Tracy!

I did not get back to that set up to try again- storming yesterday and then got really hot after the rain. And now all the equipment is off the grass for some kind of treatment…

I could start the backside circle wrap commitment game though. This is hard for her (she had trouble at
the seminar when you were here too). Just the first steps with me walking and throwing the toy behind me. That went pretty well, but I’m not trying to leave too soon (yet).

Thanks,
Joan

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