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Got it! We’re now in a weekly group class with Lo (at least until the person who’s spot it really is comes back) so we’ll get to AK9 with a group every week. It’s a Masters class so we’re just doing short sequences of what everyone else is doing. Yesterday our part was pinwheel to a double to the teeter (Clip N Go) to a 2 jump serp. Did it 3 times ….full teeter. Rewarded the H___ out of each one. First was what I would call his “typical” teeter, just a little short of end. Second was about the same, 3rd (and last) he drove almost to the end……and I kept really running past it to handle the serp. I think I need to setup something to do after the teeters to make me remember to keep moving! There’s a couple of USDAA trials coming up (CATS in a couple of weeks) that I’m going to go to….outdoors, fully fenced so a “safe” environment for him. I’ll keep you posted. Also some UKIs on day before either some AKC or USDAAs in the next couple of months so those might just work out well too! We’ll continue our local “on the road” trips as well.
The other thing I finally figured out in “my head” while driving yesterday was that I need to think about my placement of reward for all the Elvators (regular ones and crazy ones) to be in the same place as with the Teeter Trainer when we were doing Mountain Climbers……just over the end of the board. I think that’ll help me stay lower where I’m rewarding so my hand doesn’t look like a stop sign ……I think if I can consistently change that it’ll both help him drive all the way to the end and will reinforce the focus “down”. I’m going to play with this later today….video later 🙂
This is our 2nd session since our last post. He nailed the session 2 days ago when we straightened up the set of 4 so we went with 2 straight sets of 6 this morning. I need to pay more attention to my speed …. we both like running fast 😝
We had a lesson with Lo today and I couldn’t resist showing her … 2 sets of 6 at AK9C and he nailed it!!!! PARTY!!!!!
A little more speed…..send to straight tunnel (just out of camera range), big loop over jump to the teeter. Also worked on my trying to keep the cookie hand from looking like a “stop sign”. We did a couple of regular elevator warmups before we did the crazy one – just didn’t include them in the video to save you some viewing time. I think you are right in that at this point in time it’s about experience to get him comfortable driving that last 6″ or so all the way to the end. Anything else you see that I ought to tweak in my mechanics at this point?
This is our second session of 6 + 4. The 6 are straight, the 4 are slightly angled. About 6’ between the two sets. Holy roller balls work great for this game!
We played with the Clip N Go Teeter today…. unfortunately no video but he was absolutely fine. Lo set up a sequence that was tunnel, tunnel, jump, tire, triple to teeter. He was SO happy because it was a run, run sequence. I don’t think he even recognized it was different…. 😊❤️😊
Played on home turf today…but changed up the picture….straight tunnel, both sides and tried to remember to use my words 🙂 He’s just a little hesitant to run all the way to the end of the board sometimes.
The problem with living where I do is that the closest trials to me are over 2 hours away and most are closer to 3 or more so hard to motivate myself for that long of a drive for a few minutes of training in the ring but guess I need to get on the road. We do have a lesson twice a month with Lo Baker at AK9C and they do have a Clip-N-Go teeter and I’m sure that Lo will be more than happy to have us play with teeters. The other thing we are working on is that Sly can get so worked up just getting from the car to the building at AK9 that quite literally his head explodes. We’ve been back trialing with Mags (mostly AKC cause until recently that’s all we had available, but USDAA this coming weekend – yeah!!!!) so I’ve been spending time just working with Sly to be able to walk relatively calmly around the parking area, hang out near the door where other dogs and handlers are going in and out of the building. Last trial (a few weeks ago) we were actually able to calmly do that so I’m close to making the leap to actually go in the door. Anyway….all that is the long way of saying I’m not sure we’re ready to actually try our skills in a trial setting with lots of other people and dogs but lesson/class with a couple of other dogs I think is good. I’ll keep you posted.
This is our 2nd session on grass at home. He was cranked tonight…..this is new favorite toy. 🙂 We definitely had to back up a bit in the first session a couple of days ago, started this session at the point where we finished the last one but ended up backing up just a little bit and then he had it. Looks like my toy throws are just a touch late in that he glances at me as I throw and not straight ahead on exit. I do think that he’s really starting to figure out the rhythm and footwork. 🙂
A short session on Friday on home turf
And then on the road on Saturday. I was able to duplicate the tunnel to teeter setup “at Home”. He worked hard with the distractions, lots of ball playing and lots of Happy Howie. Instead of ice cream we went for a woods run….which he thinks is awesome. And then we spent a 1/2 hour “picking ticks” 🤬
Think I’ll have a chance to go on the road tomorrow…… the same place as we did the first time, Max 200 teeter, same as mine but outside and near a road with lots of traffic (distractions!). He did really well there the last time we went. Suggestions for what we should do?
Ooops….I’ll put my dog trainer hat back on and take off my oh my gosh we’re going fast and we’re stuck in the vortex hat 🙂 Thanks!!!!
And I had to laugh….I was also wondering if he was slipping a little bit on the mats so I had actually just this past week “called in” my loaned out 2nd set of 2x2s so I could have a set here at home out in the yard. Brought them home today! We’ll play with them tomorrow….
Have a great weekend….hope you are doing something fun tomorrow!
Sly says faster is more fun 😊 Feels like he is still sorting out his footwork, especially collecting with the additional speed for entry. A couple more sessions like this to let him really solidify his rhythm?
Oh I was consistent, but I think I was rushing the drop…. 3, 2, 1, drop, Target Cue instead of 3, 2, 1, Target Cue, then drop. You’re right in that he clearly figured out the rhythm, even if it wasn’t the right order 🤪 good boy 😊❤️
Got it! Ball, tug, something all the way back to the tunnel….
One question, I’ve been sort of varying the warmup game before the 2 Warm up Regular Elevators. Sometimes we do Bang Game and sometimes we do some Mountain Climbers. Is that OK or should I make the whole session totally predictable at this point? Does that question make sense?
And I go back and forth on keeping the target cue in addition to the teeter cue. As you said… we’ll figure it out… whatever works for him. 😊
Oh Lord, I so messed up the countdown to the drop in these! Good thing he’s figured out whatever it is that I do so that he knows the drop is coming cuz it sure wasn’t 3, 2, 1 feet and then drop 🤪🤪😳🤪 I do plan to have a verbal teeter cue so started adding it here. Ultimately I’d really like to just have the teeter cue and drop the target cue (feet) I’m guessing that you’ve figured out that verbals are not my strong suit. This is really feeling like it’s coming together 😊❤️😊
Lots of things I like about this session too! This is our 2nd session with 6 poles, not quite all the way closed but very close. He definitely likes throwing the ball a LOT better than the MM and I think for the most part my throws were close to timely although I do see a slight glance towards me several times. He’s starting to really get a feel for his footwork too! I’m thinking our next session is same setup with entries from the other side and then get the 6 poles closed up all the way?
