[cchick]

Hi Tracy –

I don’t have video of our first session, but here’s day 2 & 3. She didn’t have any trouble finding the jump, never missed it! I think she had a good time.

Cindy

[cchick]

Verbals! I forgot the verbals! LOL. Not sure I have time for the verbals, but then, that’s something I need to work on.

I tend not to have the audio going when I listen to the runs, because Georgie goes out of her mind when she hears herself bark. I have to have the earbuds in.

Thanks for pointing out her little grunt, I didn’t catch that. She’s hilarious.

I’ll try these exercises with the tunnel, I shouldn’t obsess on one exercise, but there’s so much going on with this one!

Thanks very much.

Cindy

[cchick]

Follow-up on the Dimmond. Still late on the blinds, but I”m trying.

On another topic, I have my new tunnel bags filled and ready to go, so will be working on some of the tunnel exercises shortly!

Cindy

[cchick]

Thanks! I look forward to trying your suggestions, will do so later today.

Cindy

[cchick]

Thanks, Tracy! Oh yeah, rep 2, pushed her right off the line! Anyway, we’re making progress. It feels so weird to be working with a baby dog, I have to do things I’m just not used to having to think about. But if I get it right, Georgie gets it right.

The Diamond was fun, took some work to get to this point. I even had some problems at the beginning with the circle, and thought to myself……need connection, and it improved right away. So I’m learning. 🙂

Cindy

[cchick]

Moving this to the proper thread. I don’t seem to be able to delete the original one. Sorry for the error.

Hi Tracy –

I’ve still struggled a bit with the rears, then re—read your advice, and I think we’re getting it. Point to the nose, point to the nose! Funny that the backside warps were easier than the rears crosses!

Cindy

[cchick]

I thought it might be connection-related. I find it hard to keep the connection while I’m managing a toy and trying to move on the line. Going back to the manners minder makes sense. This little girl isn’t going to cut me any slack on this connection business. New mantra, Must point fingers to nose, must point fingers to nose.

Thanks very much!

Cindy

[cchick]

Well, I really got stuck on rear crosses. I have so much video, I’m going to delete it all except for yesterdays, a selection of which is below.

Issues? If I say left/right, she often turns on a dime BEFORE the jump. She also tends to spin. I have worked with the manners minder, but switched to a toy yesterday. I may go back to the manners minder again.

ON a different topic, her vulture stay has progressed from a “mama beats me’ look to a “bad-ass border collie” look, so I’m good with it now. LOL. Sadly, you can’t really see that in the video.

Cindy

• This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by cchick. Reason: Spelling error

[cchick]

Tracy –

Wow, 4 is much harder than 3. But still fun. My terv got it going one way, but not the other. Aren’t there with Georgie yet.This should be a great exercise for speeding up my handling.

Also good for practicing startlines. Georgie stuck her stay well, and at a sit, looked happy and intense, her head slightly down, and nobody watching would think I beat her. I think the longer lead out helps with that. (For the record, I never so much as reprimanded her for breaking the start line, but that head down crouch, well….) Oh, oh, and I was so proud of her, she was at the start, twitched, obviously started to break, and corrected herself. Big reward. So down/sit her choice! She’s doing so much better.

It was a good morning, even though we weren’t totally successful, just wanted to share!

Cindy

[cchick]

That was fun with 3 wings. Just need to speed up my cues. Maybe we’ll try 4….

Cindy

[cchick]

Exactly. That’s exactly what I want, I want to look back and have that moment of connection and release. We just need to do it the border collie way, though from what I’ve seen, the BC way involves usually involves a lot of scootching and some drama, but I suspect she’ll certainly be watching me! We’ll see how it goes. Much better trainers than I struggle with start-lines, especially with BCs.

Cindy

[cchick]

Good, I’d like Georgie to do what’s natural for her, just wanted to make sure there wasn’t a downside I wasn’t thinking of. Thanks.

Cindy

[cchick]

oh, and sorry for the bad editing job on the video, I’ve been trying to streamline the process and not obsess over it too much, looked like I added the same clip twice….should have obsessed a little bit more!

Cindy

[cchick]

Thanks, Tracy! Glad I’m on the right track. I have put away the jump and just have the barrel out in the yard so I can practice sending her every once in a while. Sending is going to be a very, very important skill because I’m certainly not going to be able to keep up with her. If I toss a toy towards the barrel, should I aim for the start of the turn in the beginning?

I’ll go back to those exercises from the last session, appreciate you sending those links. Looks like I missed some important stuff. I blame Christmas. 🙂

One question that keeps coming up during practice. If I leave her on a sit stay, and she downs, should I just accept the fact that she’d rather have a start line down and work with that instead? I’ve been re-setting her in a sit, but then she does that vulture thing, and she seems happier in a down…. I’ve been tossing her cookies to get her head up a bit, but I believe you said not to worry about a vulture sit. I would just like her to look a little happer. 🙂 I’m used to looking back at the start line at my beautiful Terv….connecting and releasing. Georgie’s beautiful, too, of course, but not so much when she’s crouchy. But sure, sure, it’s not all about looks

Thanks again.

Cindy

[cchick]

Hi Tracy –

Thanks! I’ve probably worked on this a little TOO much. I’m still getting some jumping up at the beginning, but am trying the connection/eye contact, and less arm, though it doesn’t always help. When she stood and looked ast me, I tried just holding my ground to let her figure it out. I’m fairly sure that I was often using too much arm, trying to support her for the send, and you’re right, I don’t think it really works that way. I’m also trying to bring down my verbal cues a bit. Again, easy to get louder and louder, and saying the cue louder is definitely not helpful.

I also think I was rotating my shoulders too soon, that is shockingly difficult to fix, but I’m trying to stay facing the wall.

I did decide to shift to a barrel, and that seemed to help some. I’m going to continue working on sends separately, with a toy as reward and see if we can smooth things out.

But time to move on. This was a frustrating exercise, I should have moved on sooner.

Question, I must have missed the exercise on introducing backsides, and can’t seem to find it, maybe it was in the first session?

Would move on to tunnels, but clean run is completely out of tunnel bags, it appears there is a tunnel bag shortage. I’d prefer not to continue without more tunnel bags, I’ll keep looking.

Thanks very much.

Cindy

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