[Caron]

Hi,

Here’s a couple videos of the jumping foundations with 3 jumps. First, I apologize for the obnoxious hound in the background of the first video. His FOMO was maxed out because my other girl is in standing heat. In the second video I put him in the house crate so you can’t hear him as much. Having them outside or inside are a distraction for Carmen and me. When I first started leaving the others in the house Carmen was actually more distracted and concerned because she’s so used to being near them. She would go to the back door and stand, so I went back to bringing them all out. But this evening was too much for me with his barking. She did better though and didn’t run off to the door.

We practiced this Sunday with a treat and train and she just didn’t have the drive so today I went back to the toy and moving it. I thought she did well with these but I need to work on stays and releases.

Thanks

[Caron]

Hello!

Thanks for all the help! Here’s some sends and serps work that we’ve done. I angled the jump a little bit and that does seem to help her, but occasionally she still goes straight today and I think I might try using the colored hand target to see if that helps a little more too.

We’ve started some of the other games, but I’m having issues with my Internet being slow or not even connecting so I’m not sure I’ll be able to get more video up today.

Thanks, Caron

[Caron]

Good Evening!

Thanks so much! That was a really fun session. She was full of energy after I got home from work. She does seem to really like it and to be understanding more that it’s something we do together.

I think I’ll sign up for the opposite arm class, it’s something I’ve always wanted to do better. Do you think I should do it with one of my adults though since Carmen’s still learning things? My boy is awesome but we struggle some with turns and deceleration at trials. In fact, after what you said about having them jump preferred in AKC to help with striding I think I’m going to try that with him to see if it helps.

This evening Carmen and I worked on the Sends and Serps from last week because I hadn’t done that yet. It went well but there were some times of her going straight to the treat and train so I did some having her come through the jump to my hand with a treat. We did 3 short sessions. I rotate through turns with my other two between her sessions.

After watching the videos I saw that for the entire first two sessions I was telling her to go left when she was going right and right when she was going left!! I must have somehow gotten it figured out when working with the other two before Carmen’s 3rd session. I was completely clueless about it all. I remember going over left and right in my head before we started but obviously it didn’t work. I feel bad because who knows how many other times of done this and I’m sure it’s confusing for her. So, I didn’t bother uploading the video and I’ll redo that and start on this weeks games.

Caron

[Caron]

Hi!

We did some more Find the Jump this evening. I tried to keep my arm back, make eye contact, and stay turned to help with connection. One time I didn’t as she came out of the tunnel and then she missed the jump. I was also trying to stay further away from the jump and run parallel to it rather than angling in. I still think maybe I threw the toy too late and then didn’t keep running after I threw it. I did short session before this one and at first she was running a lot with the toy so I ran away and when she came I gave her treats. So in this session she did better.

I have trouble cueing deceleration which is not good given the size of my dogs. I was thinking about doing your opposite arm course. Do you think it would help with deceleration cues? There’s other things I’d be interested in from the course too.

I see what you mean about maybe jumping 20 inches for AKC. I’m a little frustrated right now with a lot of the courses I’ve run in AKC. But UKI courses are pretty hard for me too.

Thanks!

[Caron]

Thanks so much! I really appreciate the info about how to stay connected and the times in the video to look at. I think I have trouble with that even with my older ones. I need to work on keep my hand back and shoulders pointed where she should go. I could really see how I turned and pulled her off the tunnel. I think I get too rushed and don’t stay connected.

Carmen had her 10 month birthday today. She’ll jump 24″, she’s about 26″ at her shoulders now. I’m not in a rush to have her jumping 24 and I’m totally fine with no jumps when she’s learning things. I’ve had her jump 12″ a couple times and that seemed fine. I just wasn’t sure how quickly to move them up for the set point, etc. Sometimes I think having a little jump gets them more excited.

Today we started Find the Jump. She loves chasing the toy I throw as she comes out of the tunnel. She wasn’t as zippy doing the wrap to the tunnel. The video is of her first round with the jump about 10′ out. Later we did a session were I moved the jump out 12 or 13′ and put the bar at 8 or 10″ and that went well too, but I didn’t get video of that. After watching the video I think maybe I was talking to much rather than just letting her find the jump.

During our training she does get distracted sometimes and wanders off towards my noisy others ones. Today my friend came over to train with her dogs too so that added a little more challenge. I kept things short and made things easier. I’m happy that she will work with others around and comes back to me. It’s harder when we’re training with her puppy friends around though.

[Caron]

We started the minny pinny left/right proofing today. I was happy she got some of the ones where she was starting from my inside. They were tough though, so that will be where we pick up from next time. I’m trying to do better and keeping the sessions short and not when I know she’ll be tired.

[Caron]

Good Morning!

Here’s some practice we did with the Smiley Face. I spread it out a bit more. Before this I worked on restraining her and have her drive to the tunnel. I was really happy to see that when I’m still holding her but saying tunnel she was pulling to leave for the tunnel.

She’s been doing more of the jumping up as she runs with me, so I’ll need to work on that. During the week we did some of the tunnel exits. That’s a challenge, especially going straight out to the wing. My phone died while videoing so didn’t get that. But I think I need to work on connecting with her and then getting her to drive to the wing. She was doing a bit of the jumping up too.

For the Set Point do I continue raising the bars if she’s doing well?

I didn’t get video, but I did something like the Pill Bug just around wings though because it was late and I didn’t want to move my tunnels. That went well and I’m thinking I should do more of that to get her used to running will me and not jumping up.

Thanks!

• This reply was modified 1 week, 6 days ago by Caron.
• This reply was modified 1 week, 6 days ago by Caron.

[Caron]

Great, thank you! A lot of snow melted today and it should be gone in a few days.

I set up the tunnel exits today and played a little with that. We weren’t that smooth but I’m glad we got started. I kept the whole video so you’ll see the good, bad, and ugly. She wasn’t super excited to go, but it could have been partly because earlier we had done the set point and she had raced around in the yard with my others, and she’d never done this sequence before. But I’m feeling like I need to work on her starting enthusiasm, or maybe it will come as she gets more experience.

[Caron]

Thanks! I see what you mean about her head being high because of the toy. I do have a long toy that drags on the ground. I was using it before I did the video, but for some reason I switched. I think I was going to throw the short one, but then I didn’t, Ugh. I’m glad you think she looks good overall. I haven’t done a lot of this type of jump training with my other puppies, usually spaced the jumps further apart, so I wasn’t sure about it.

Monica is here and I’ve done a lot of training with her in the past and hope to continue. My friend and I did two puppy lessons with her in the fall but then with her schedule it didn’t work out to do others. She takes teaching breaks, like now, and then does most of her teaching earlier in the day when I’m at work. But I’m hoping we’ll be able to do some training with her in spring, etc. I’ve also gone to Phoenix and other places for seminars when I can.

I was able to do some of the simple things like you mentioned with Carmen when we were at my friend’s, so that was good. And after that I took her to a large busy used book store and walked her around. She was definitely curious about everything but seemed comfortable and was also happy to take treats, do some sits, downs, nose touches, and turns, and of course say Hi to people. There were some small stuffed animals there and she played a little with those.

*After I wrote this we went out and did the set point with the long toy so thought I’d add it here. She’s a little distracted because my other two were in the house singing the song of their people. Also, I think I need to say stay less. Oh, and we got a few inches of snow yesterday afternoon.

Thanks!
Caron

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 5 days ago by Caron.
• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 5 days ago by Caron.

[Caron]

Hi! Thanks for all your feed back on the Smiley Face. Here’s some practice we did this morning with the Set Point. I have the jumps at 6 inches here because I thought a little height would get her to put more power in. She’s almost 10 months so I think some height should be okay, but tell me if you think I shouldn’t.

I have a hard time getting to sit 6 inches from the bar. It might be because I think when she sits she usually rocks back instead of tucking under. I notice her front feet don’t hit in the middle of the jumps, but she’s still not taking an extra step before jumping the second jump. I’m wondering if her first jump is shorter because of being close to the bar. Do you think I need to adjust the spacing of the jumps or set her farther back since she’s big? I didn’t try that today because I kept it short since we were also going to a friend’s to practice.

Practicing at the friend’s was tough because she wanted to run off and play with her puppy friends, so we’ll keep trying that. I live in a small town, Flagstaff, AZ, and unfortunately we usually don’t have regular classes we can go to and get practice working around other dogs.

Sorry there’s so much down time in the video. Hopefully you can forward through that. I’m learning how to clip those out now.

[Caron]

Hi Tracy,

This afternoon we had fun with the Smiley Face. I think this is the largest exercise she’s ever done as far as combining different turns and obstacles, so I thought she did well. I’m trying to use the verbals for wraps which is new for me so a little awkward. I was saying them for turns that weren’t wraps on accident. When she turns but doesn’t wrap I should be saying left or right, right? Do you think I should move the barrels further from the tunnel?

Caron

[Caron]

Thanks! Today we worked Feel the Wind, baby level, and Set Point.

Feel the Wind went well. I kept it mostly at baby level. She was a little distracted and slow, and my coordination was off. This is a clip of a better session. Me speeding up and throwing the toy definitely helps her speed up.

I had some trouble with Set Point. First, she seemed uncomfortable sitting close to the jump. It took many tries to get her to sit, I cut most of it out. Then she was very slow and didn’t want to drive to me and mostly stepped over the bars. The video shows this. I tried a few times but stopped because I didn’t want to stress her. She might have been tired too because we had done the other work before and she had eaten not too long before. I’m wondering if I should go ahead and add motion since I know that will motivate her? I do want to work with her on driving from a stay though. Maybe with no jumps, then through wings with no bars, and then with the bars?

I’m so happy to hear you say you think chasing and letting them run with the toy is part of the reward for the hounds! In the past I’ve run into people who didn’t understand that. But then I always went home and let them do it anyway! LOL! I have a flirt pole that I use, and I’ll also put a heavier ball in a grocery bag and tie it close to the ball so I can throw it and it looks like a lure. 🙂

[Caron]

Thanks so much! We worked on it some yesterday evening and I was able to get more distance and not use as much physical cues. I did a few reps of holding her back but in front of the wing with me behind it and having her go to the tunnel and that helped smooth it out. I did do some throwing the toy at the end of the tunnel and she loves it. That’s something that I’ve used in training all my greyhounds. It’s always so motivating and relaxing for the sighthounds and I’s so glad that you understand that.

We’ve been working the set point too. But I needed to go back and work her happy stay and release some.

I have a 3 day weekend with nice weather so I’m excited to get lots of sessions of all the games in and will video.

Caron

[Caron]

Here’s Carmen’s first video. It’s the wrap proofing. I just started with that one since it was in my mind from the live class. I’ll try to improve the video quality as we continue but I just wanted to get started.

This was our first day of doing this, but before this video I did practice with it some. I stayed closer to her going to the tunnel. She doesn’t quite have tunnel commitment down yet. And, I think I was putting the toy down pretty close to the wing. I was surprised that she was able to do the discrimination though.

• This reply was modified 4 weeks, 1 day ago by Caron.

[Caron]

Great, thanks! I’m going to do a working spot for MaxPup 2. Carmen’s doing well with the games. One thing I know we need to work on is the resilience pattern game when we’re on the road. I’ve taken her to some stores and she’s so interested in everything and I think a bit unsure of things that she doesn’t want treats. After a while she might take some. I have gotten her to play some and tug in stores though and she loves to meet people. I think I’m going to bring one of my older dogs with us to some stores to help her feel comfortable, etc. She’s been to a few agility trials. She’s more comfortable there, but still very interested in checking everything out and not so interested in treats. So, I just let her explore, etc., as she needs. But she will play/tug, loves to great people and pups (when appropriate), and gets excited watching agility.

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