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Well we took advantage of the -35 degree temps today to stay inside and work on some decel work! We just did the baby dog level stuff for now until I figure out how to incorporate a wing for the tunnel (the only room I can practice in so I have to get creative lol.)
Bindi actually did better with this then I thought she would.
And this is way I love you and like to take a working spot even if I can’t get videos done every week!
I went back and watched the videos and you are right her coming out of the tunnel skidding was me not giving her the info she needed to turn coming out of the tunnel. Thank you for pointing out I need to keep my dog arm back. I think my brain with these sequences goes “girl you gotta move your a$$” so I take off running sometimes without keeping that connection arm.
I was using my left or further away arm on the forced front. In my mind I was doing it so my arm more naturally supported the backside of 3. I setup my single jump at home tonight and tried it using the closer dog arm and she read it beautifully!
Thanks for the awesome suggestions! More homework to work on this week!
Finally we are back! I was not able to get rental time in a month so had to just do one or two jump part of the exercise at home. Today we headed up and got some work done! Sooooo much fun!
Lead Outs and Big Lines 1
Bindi had fun with this one. We are still working on start lines so tossed several cookies to catch in between (which I edited out) but we are getting there. I am getting more confident with our blinds and so far she hasn’t taken my knees out yet.
Bindi will be 1 on 2/2 (they grow up too fast) and is just over 14” (praying she settles back) so I did have the bars at 8” to start. My other dog was in surgery yesterday and I completely forgot about trimming Bindi’s feet so she was sliding a bit out of the tunnel so dropped down to 6”.
Lead Outs and Big Lines 2
Again another fav of Bindi’s. She likes to run these big lines. Although my timing was a bit off in a couple spots I felt our overall connection was better and my arms did not fling as bad (I’m a work in progress.)
Forced Front
This we struggled with a bit. Bindi loves to lock on to lines and go. She is doing decently with backside circle wraps and such but I think my body motion and verbals help build that drive to go off the straight line path. She seemed to get it at first but as soon as I added the second jump she REALLY wanted to go straight over the jump and not to my hand. Then she got confused and bypassed the first jump lol. I could tell my stay bank was running dry too. We took a break, came back to it and I broke it back down for her and she got it but it is a skill I will need to work on. I am sure my body language needs improving too.
Bindi actually is high drive and wants to do anything in front of her which is super fun but am trying to balance a little more handler focus in there too. I just started adding a bypass cue (wit wit) verbal to encourage some value for coming in and working by my side too. She is super fun to work with though and is quite the little power house when she gets moving! ❤️ My little girl.
OMG that would be hilarious! For the next live seminar everyone can run with a 16oz bottle of water and the person with the most left at the end Wins lol! Although if it was a glass of wine I would be way more careful not to arm fling 🤣 I seriously may try that though. Well once we get plowed out since we are in the middle of a blizzard.
You are so right. I have always been awful about flinging my arms out and such and it looks like my old bad habits are creeping back in. Penguin/squirrel/T-Rex arms it is!
Well since it decided to get cold in MN I went up to a local training facility to shoot video. I got home and went to edit the video and realized that using the remote function on my Apple Watch wasn’t a great idea as it kept doing an extreme zoom while I was training. Whoops. There went those videos.
We had a break in the weather today so quickly went out and shot a few quick videos before putting the agility equipment for the winter (super sad moment.)
One Step Send
Bindi did fairly well with this provided I didn’t rotate my hips and feet too quickly causing her to cut in before committing to the jump (you will see this a couple times in our BC games.)
Send & Go & BC to the Tunnel
This actually went smoother the first time I did it. I think I was feeling a bit more “rushed” here so lost a bit of connection with the send piece a couple times. Bindi is a tunnel freak so I actually was pretty happy that she followed my cross and went into the opposite end of the tunnel.
Wraps and Fluffy BCs
Watching the video I should have spread the pinwheel out more. I think I could have rotated earlier on the front crosses too. When we first started this Bindi really did not want to wrap to the outside on the blind wrap. I don’t think she liked the concept of wrapping away from everything. She did much better with it here but I made sure I really had connection with her before really excelling forward. I also realized I forgot to give my wrap queue at first so adding that I think gave her some clarity.Wingin’ It Double Crosses
To be honest I have never been brave enough to try this before! My other girl Reba tends to run at my speed so if I sped up she speeds too and if I push it to get ahead she does weird jumping things so I am rusty on my blinds in general. My timing needs improvement and Bindi’s little sideways leap at one point is evident of that (a funny moment for you.)I found one side harder then the other (handler side preference I guess lol.) By the last couple reps though it felt smoother. I am a work in progress lol!
Well between a snow storm (what?) and a broken tooth leading to a complicated extraction (me and not Bindi thank goodness) Bindi and I have been out for action for the last week but we are back!
We worked on the Get Out game today and I think she did quite well. She is finally understanding the work away from the food to get the food concept so didn’t seem to have any issues with the go out. I had to wear a mask to protect my mouth from the cold so verbals are a bit harder to hear here but I was sayinng them lol. I really tried to watch my arm and connection with her (which was even harder with the mask and her being shorter) but no barking! Little sassy didn’t tell me off once.
Worked on the Diamond with blinds with Bindi. Yup that was mentally hard lol. I think I needed more of a break than her.
So I found we did one direction smoother than the other. Part of it may have had to do with the toy/food though. I started with a food ball and the Velcro died and kibble went everywhere (I edited that part as we spent several minutes hunting kibble down in the grass lol.) after that I switched and used her food container but I think she was so focused on it that I found her commitment was not as good. I put the container away and went to treats on hand for the last couple and she did better.
Bindi made it very clear she is going to let me know when my handling sucks so I think she is going to force me to become a better handler (or go deaf lol.)
Today we started our rear crosses and worked on Beginning our Diamond game.
Bindi was quite sassy today (gotta love teenagers) but loved this exercise.It was fun to see her kick it in.
I also did two sessions of rear crosses. The first session she looked fantastic and then I realized that I was tossing the ball out before she turned so she was actually being lured a bit. I wasn’t sure if that was okay so the evening session I delayed tossing the ball until I saw a change in direction (head turn or body.) the evening session she would land and then turn a stride or two out. The morning session she turned over the jump so was prettier but wasn’t sure if it was the right way to teach this. Watching the video I think I need to set the wing out further so she has more room to charge ahead and hence can better read my body.
Oh and I have comfy but fun leggings on so enjoy lol!
Bindi and I took advantage of the gorgeous weather to work two games today.
Here is the Zig Zag for Slice Jjmp
foundations game. She picked right up on this one and even held her stays.Here is the Find the Jump! Game. Looking at video I realized the last couple reps where I started getting more distance I should have been running more of converging parallel line to support her more but she seemed to find the jump anyways good girlie!
Yes coming up with verbals has been difficult for my brain lol. My other girl I just used check but it was always a directional that meant wrap into me. It worked well at first but it ended up slowing her down and now she tends to run with me instead of out at full speed . Bad me but I learned. I started a with Ri(rye) and Le for right and left but my other sheltie is named Reba and she is called Re for short so similar to Le. Your right though check and Choo may be too close sounding. I will have to think more this weekend.
Anyways here is Bindi’s verbal wrap proofing. She really likes her tunnel so was happy she actually wrapped on this lol.
Here is her smiley face game. I had a camera malfunction so missed the first couple reps with just the wraps and tunnel. All I can say is man I am glad I got this on video because my handling is RUSTY. I was arm flinging like crazy. Bad, bad Dawn. She deserves a bette handler lol. Good Bindi though.
I think you are exactly right. I will come back to the exercise again in a couple days and try it at 42”. I was actually surprised she adjusted her body as well as she did at both the distances and super duper happy that the “catch” game is giving us a start line even with a major distraction (food trust me food is huge for her) present!
Today we worked on Wind in your Hair. Yup she loved this one! Ironically it’s super windy here today and I realized it was a bit harder to here some of my wrap cues on video but I am using a “check” sound for wrap right and a “Choo” sound for wrap left and of course “Go!” I used a tossed lotus ball after the jump.
