[dashalin]

I feel so lost. The vacation was so wonderful and awesome, but now it is back to work. I am trying to figure out where we left off and where to start up. I just took a bit of time to go through some of the many videos that I missed while I was gone. Today we had to mow the long grass so that we could get the agility equipment back out. Tomorrow after a few appointments (PT for my hand and arm, and obedience and agility for JJ) I will get started again on getting stuff done with JJ for class.

[dashalin]

We had a crazy weekend. JJ finished five Scentwork titles for UKC, Novice containers, Novice interiors, Novice exteriors, novice vehicles, and her overall novice title. And confirmation she won three out of four shows for best of breed, and finished her UKC championship. The bad thing is that I took her away all day Saturday and Sunday so by the time she got home, the mosquitoes are so bad we didn’t do agility outside.
We did work on agility this week, though, and I have some video for the smiley face game.
In the first video, you can see Jay’s affinity for her Cato board. I am still not sure she is solid on her verbal‘s for wraps. Unfortunately, we worked on reps with Jen Pinder and did this without verbals, so I believe we need more work on this.

In the second video https://youtu.be/Za2pGNizeSY?si=lSrAYz9QCy4CFIQD There were problems with the human remembering the direction so the verbal’s got a bit mixed up.

In the next video, I was noticing the hands for handling Jay. I really really like the idea of the magnet hand to collar so we discussed that and SANDIE tried to work on that with Jay one problem that she was having is that she is currently trying to get used to a new knee brace. She should’ve been wearing it, but had Needed to have some time with out it on during the day. The new brace doesn’t allow her to move super fluidly. That keeps her from being where she wants to be as she exits the tunnel. I noticed Jay’s ribs aren’t real tight so it looks like we need more work on that. I’m not sure how to best do that. https://youtu.be/E9XjzPZnLXwsi=y1mALjBupmisTUYF

The next two videos are about freestyle. The first video verbals are used, the second video not so much. https://youtu.be/nDUZ7_T7U_s?si=mwfiHUnHrpcZAtb9Yeah.

I think in the J was losing interest in the game so we quit for the session. Today while we were at the club, she got a chance to work on her weaves ( open Channels)and obstacle discrimination (jump vs tunnel). I did not have time to set up any of her games for this week. She loves to be at the club and on the floor. She’s doing a good job with her start line stays there.

[dashalin]

So we were able to play two games tonight. The first one was the setpoint game. I think it’s the third attempt where JJ did not jump towards the Center. That was the first time that SANDIE tried to drag the toy before releasing JJ. She tried that I one additional time, and it looked better, but I’m wondering if she wasn’t looking at the bar anymore rather just the toy being dragged which threw her off. I tried doing the last jump with a close-up so I could see where she was landing between bars. https://youtu.be/CxyzE6v3C94?si=eS-PfeWnVTGiYTrI

In the second video we worked on the wind in your hair game. JJ seem to have no difficulty going out to the jump after the wrap. Each time SANDIE still wanted to run with her. In the final clip I just had her stand in stationary well seeing if she would go on over the jump on her own. JJ did a really good job of this. It was funny to hear my commentary as they were working. I sound really flat. I think it’s because I was trying to analyze what was going on as JJ and Sandie were working through the activities. I realize that if I post directly from my phone, I can speak into the phone to type my responses. That seems to work well for now.

I had my first physical therapy session today. It was a bit brutal, but in the long run it will be well worth it. It’s frustrating that I messed up my arm right now. It makes training hard, and certainly will make traveling more challenging. In the meantime, I’m just gonna work hard to try to get my Arm and elbow and wrist and hand all working as well as I can. It drives me nuts to have to sit back and not be the one working my dog. I am lucky to have someone who is able and willing to help me on that at this time . By the way, my little teenage puppy is pushing limits on her start line, so we are working on that too. SANDIE hast to get used to helping her out with that.😁

[dashalin]

Pregame 1 wrap verbal https://youtu.be/gZxyzptOeoI?si=xHgt2v7eiNRBLf9R

I do not type fast or well right, but I will do my best until I get out of my cast and am allowed to use my hand again. The first video is of the wrap verbals.

If I posted them in order these next 4 videos are of the moving target activity in progression of without the jump no movement to movement after release to movement before release. Then the same progression with the bump jump. We had a few toy malfunctions, but otherwise this seemed to go well.

Since I only have one hand available, collar grabs are to a minimum along with tugging and treat dispensing, JJ’s other owner is going to have to work her at times. I go for my first PT session tomorrow before the live class. The elbow is not encased in my latest cast, but I am not allowed to do anything with my hand or arm yet.

Let me know what you think of the videos.

[dashalin]

Is it still OK to join the live class if I’m going to miss some of the sessions due to travel and also our nationals?

[dashalin]

At a trial this weekend as head course builder so limited time to play with JJ. Her grandma Bee had two great runs on Friday with a QQ and two good runs on Sunday, but no love there for Q’s. She is older now so she only runs two days in a weekend. We played a few games today at the club between classes.

The first video is of start line routines and later al lead outs. https://youtu.be/_DD2xDBzuAw. I think this went well, but I forgot to get JJ pumped up for teh first time, then we worked on adding that to the picture.

The next videos were from Rocking horse part 3. https://youtu.be/QyEvX11oR-k Then we changed directions. https://youtu.be/0n2m09TQ1Iw And finally changed sides of the tunnel and added turn and burn. Let me know what you think.

In the last videos we worked on simple decel https://youtu.be/OdOUsqV_3PU And then switched sides. https://youtu.be/Rz451RexoiE It is late so I am not doing my evaluation of them firs. I will just wait to hear back from you. Thanks!

[dashalin]

You definitely may share

[dashalin]

Not sure if you saw this, but JJ was pretty proud tonight, although she does not officially graduate until the class is over…

[dashalin]

Thanks again for the input. All of the info is helpful. I did talk to the head of the CGC testing at the club and they are going to rethink using a metal folding chair (way to scary for young puppies). I hope that I can at least make that a change for future candidates.

I was not sure what I would work on at the club so I did not remember the bump jumps for the minny pinny, but will add that in for sure.

With the turn and burn on a wing, I now have gotten through your feedback so I can work on these things with JJ.

We have had so much fun in this class and without any puppy agility classes available close by this has been sooooo wonderful. I can’t thank you enough and also Kirstie Dean for letting me know about your class.

We might be inside tonight because of the potential for bad weather coming through at the time of the class. I guess we will just play that by ear.

[dashalin]

After watching your videos again I think that I understand what you meant about the wing wrap turn and burn. I had unfortunately done another clip of this at the club before I read your response here. See if I did any better on it for this session…https://youtu.be/0T6RTBu4lAI

We also did more on the restrained recall before I read your response, but I think that most of the time I went further before having JJ released. I think that I need to be keeping a better connection with JJ on this activity though. My actual goal here was to expose her to both human distractions during the activity and also the distraction of her Mom screaming in the background because she cant play (she is currently on the injured list). https://youtu.be/jQm19Sb9Wzs

One thing that I tried without great success the other day was some tunnel work. Imparticular the Tunnel Threadle: Verbal Cue and Double Whammy. I realized the other day that JJ really needed some review on the tunnel threadle. so there are three progressive videos here starting with review of the threadle tunnel and moving next to the double whammy and finally working with the slight opposite curve to the tunnel for the same game. I think that the distance out from the tunnel before moving back to me for the threadle send was because of tossing out cookies on the single tunnel entry review work. https://youtu.be/XEc1BNB7qX8. https://youtu.be/9rynzJglqbE. and https://youtu.be/lKFmVa2cQ3I

We also revisited the Left/Right Minny Pinny this time with three wings instead of barrels so let me know what you thought. https://youtu.be/gdhhnEKLDRg

We are looking forward to class tomorrow night. Is there any further information about a follow up class yet?

[dashalin]

More play today. We worked on a few different things. The first one was to move the Wing work with turn and burn to the grass. The difficulty was that we did this late in the afternoon and the insects were starting to come out, but the surface was good. We did this both with a cookie reward and a toy reward. Let me know what you think of these. I agree that i need to be leaving earlier , but only had time for a quick run through each of these ways. https://youtu.be/NUSGr9l7UwE and https://youtu.be/9f7ZLZoVhhU

We also did the restrained recalls now that we had more space and a better surface to run on. I tried to be fancy once and almost got knocked over when I tried to change hands too late. The big back yard gives JJ lots of room to run wild once she gets her tug reward. I have to remember to run away from JJ to get her to do the recall to me. No additional distractions here other than the big back yard. LOL. https://youtu.be/lSaDwtSPZoM

We played with discrimination foundation work, and this was really interesting. The last thing that JJ had worked on the other day was the crate work. She really wanted to get in that crate and heck with the tunnel. So we practiced tunnel again and then went back to discrimination. Argh. No love on this activity on trial #1. https://youtu.be/PFwOIZPbuMQ. I then got out the MM and used that at the end of the tunnel. Then the tunnel became #1 or at least the MM did. I did not include video 2 where she kept choosing the tunnel because of the placement of the MM. In Video #3 https://youtu.be/R6hCfXXvJJc. we begin to get a bit of success. We had lots of time between the three attempts at this today. I tried putting JJ right in front of the two choices and that did not matter much. I plan to revisit this a number of times over the next week or so to strengthen the understanding of this activity and to work in to more distance from the obstacles with correct choices made.

We also worked on Tunnel Threadle: Verbal Cue and Double Whammy, and in one direction this went well, but I need to break this back down to the simplest work on the threadle tunnel work for the other direction. If there is time I will work some more on that at the club. We took 3 weeks off from going to the club which is about an hour drive away. I had to focus on my folks during that time. Classes start up again tomorrow so I will be there at least once a week for the next session.

[dashalin]

Ok we also did concept transfer turn and burn on a wing. JJ did not seem to care that it was a wing rather than a barrel. This was our first time using a wing, so i was not unhappy with the results. https://youtu.be/NNKc1HXAksw. We did this back up on the deck because the mosquitos are bad this time of night on the lawn surface.
By the way, should I just wait for this as an offering from JJ, and then just use the hand and short step to the wing, or should I use the right and left cues here?

[dashalin]

We are trying to at least have a go at most of the additional games before class on Wednesday. This evening we went out and tried the reverse retrieval game. Let me know what you think. We had a few zoomie sessions with the big back yard available, but for the most part i thought it went pretty well. https://youtu.be/ksOXwDFtXbg

[dashalin]

I agree about the toy. I usually wear a jacket with pockets when training inside where it is cooler so that i have a place for tug toys and treats, but in the heat of the summer I just can’t do that (too hot). I have used a waist band before, but am wearing a back brace right now so i so not have access to my waist band when playing these games with JJ. I tried to tuck it in the waist band of the back brace, but that did not work too well. I will keep searching for a better solution for the toy. At least I got it out of my hand. LOL.

This morning we revisited a couple of games and I was pleased with our progress. The first one was the backside slice revisited. https://youtu.be/BuKaG524HZY. This is going better with her time to mentally process it. We had not done this in more than a week and she was doing well. Definitely better on the first side than the second, as I could get further towards the middle of the jump bump when telling her to go around the barrel.

The second was bending left and right Minny Pinny. https://youtu.be/HBQstU2osWk. Again I was pleased at how much she seemed to remember. Both sides seemed to go smoothly. I could not run out on this doing it on the deck, but she seemed confident in what she was doing.

The third video is additional work on her stay. When she had errors it was my body language telling her to move. I need to get her so that she only does this on verbal cue for this practice still. I am not sure how to do the “catch” without her seeing my movement which she wants to use as her release. I did decide that the verbal needed to come first followed by tossing the treat. https://youtu.be/Wgs3r7RUzrk.

In the 4th video here I went back later in the day to try the R/L Minny Pinny again with the bump jumps. I wasn’t sure about the angle of the jumps. I started on a slight angle (less than the 45’s) https://youtu.be/exU0CZsZXhw, then went to full 45 degree angles. https://youtu.be/ihLdpafL0Oc, and the last short clip I started out further to see if she could turn right and left with less help. https://youtu.be/PbhJYeNm5dk

I was pleased with her apparent remembrance of the left and right cues, but am wondering if I should have made the angles even a bit smaller than I did in the first clip. I also noticed that near the end of this session she began to just look to my hands for cookies. I should probably substitute the toy for some of the reps to avoid this problem.

Glad for input.
H & J

[dashalin]

Just had a few minutes to play today. We took the barrels out in the back yard after the early day rain let up. It was nice to have some more space. I was not organized in my approach to these different practices, and I realized when looking at the clips that I need to work on my verbal cues rather than using J’s name, but I did feel a great deal of success with using toy to treat for a reward. https://youtu.be/XCtlPXrLCck and https://youtu.be/ehiV1ZG7Fn4
Your helpful hints are always a great help thanks so much.

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