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Hi! Sorry for the pause. I had planned to be out at the end of last week for a mini vacay, but I went in for a mammogram right before that and they saw something on my imaging that they wanted to biopsy, so I had to deal with that as soon as I was back (results already in and benign!) and still recovering, and now I have also come down with a terrible cold! Keeper just got back today from a week with Grandpa, and we picked back up with a rocker board refresher. I thought about trying to get to the field to practice more of the timing and looking forward games, but then remembered I’m actually losing my voice (bad for timing!), and running might still be a bit weird for my biopsy recovery, so I opted to jump ahead to the Motion Override game instead.
From the last set of feedback, you had asked if he had any barking at the people/equipment in the other ring. On this occasion, he did bark a little as we were coming from the parking lot into the ring on leash and passing by some dogs waiting their turns for the class that was going on (including a littermate), but once we were in our ring he didn’t seem too concerned. I did leash him up when I was moving the wings/jumps so he wouldn’t run off when we weren’t actively working, so that might have helped a bit. I thought he did well when we were working, especially as some of the waiting dogs were waiting between our ring and the other ring.
Here’s a wobble board update from before vacay:
And here’s the rocker board from today:
So far, I still have everything really propped up with pillows, blankets and towels so there’s only a little movement and no sound. My mom is here at the moment, and I rewatched the love the slam video this morning and was reminded about working on the slam away from the object with a helper making the noise. I was thinking of working a bit on this tomorrow.
And here’s the Motion Override game. I’m not sure how much my hoarseness might have been throwing him off, but I was pretty happy with how this progressed!
One more Wingin’ It, trying for more distance on the wings. Keeper was battling some distraction with people moving things around on the main field. He did leave to bark at them a couple of times when we were stopped between reps. Normally I wouldn’t think that people on the other field would be that distracting to him without their dogs, but I thought maybe the sounds of the contacts moving around could have been a trigger.
And here’s a rocker board game with the basketball reward. I think I missed a major opportunity to reward him when he stepped on the end that would normally be tilted upward, as I can see on the video that it did move a bit when he stepped on that end. I think I was turned away and didn’t see it. We followed this session up with a big play with the basketball out in the yard.
Hi! Happy Halloween!
> What was the giant ball you were holding? Does he obsess on that ball? He sure seemed to love it when you threw it at the end – so maybe it is the great toy that only comes out when you work on the wobble board? >
This is a deflated basketball that Keeper got obsessed with that someone left behind a while back at a local park. I think the way he plays with it is kind of like a herding ball. He definitely gets really excited about it, and I was also thinking it could be the key to the wobble board. I will also scheme on some excellent treats. Juli mentioned that Keeper’s sister Phire also needed some extra encouragement on the wobble board and did well with reddi whip.
Today we worked a bit more on Plank Confidence with bending and turning around. I had him on a leash since we were at the park, so he was getting a little tangled up, but this wall seemed like a good sturdy plank alternative for some height and length.
And the Wingin’ It game:
He’s hasn’t been super confident on the wobble board. When we did it while auditing MaxPup 1, he was able to do it – and we’ve worked on it a bit at other times with CGC, etc – but I’m not sure he was ever completely enthusiastic about it. I was able to borrow a wobble board and a rocker board to work with at home, so will start that work today or tomorrow. Baby steps, though, I think.
In the meantime, here’s the Advanced Level of The Lazy Game Part 1:
And Parts 2 & 3:
And Plank Confidence on the Cato at the field. Trying for angled entries.
On the bright side, there is this piece of a dog walk detached at the field, so hopefully that will be something we can use for this game. On the not so bright side, Keeper got scared of it as soon as he stepped on it for the first time for some reason, even though it was flat on the ground – I guess it tipped just a little and startled him. I tried some other things to try to get him to interact, but he never really turned the corner. I left in a bit more of this video so you can see some of the stuff I was trying, but now thinking maybe I should have just left it for the day.
Went home and practiced the S-pile game from MP1 with some pillows on the floor, and that went well. Also repeated the Cato board with no problem. May need to find another way to work up to the dog walk board.
> Was it mainly when you were rewarding after jump 2? >
Yes. Maybe that’s it. Looking back, the reward is probably too close to jump 3.
> For home training: Do you have 2 Cato planks that you can put end to end, to create a longer plank? >
Unfortunately, I just have the one.
And here we go! Tried the Lazy Game Baby Level, and was having a little trouble getting him to take the last jump in both directions, but he seemed a bit more stuck on the winged jump maybe? I tried starting with that jump a few times to be sure he would complete the three to maybe help his understanding of the game a bit more, and that seemed to work. By the last two reps we were able to do two jumps before reward.
Followed up with the Plank Confidence game, which I thought went pretty well. We used an XL Cato board since that’s what we have at home, but I think is wider than standard contacts. Hopefully there’s something more standard we can use at the field the next time we go.
Thanks, Tracy! We probably won’t get any more video in since it’s VERY rainy here today. But we appreciate all your feedback and look forward to continuing in MaxPup 3!
Speak soon,
Julia & KeeperBackside Challenges were hard. I think we sort of figured it out, but will definitely need to work on this one some more:
And here’s The Accordion with all jumps 6 ft apart to start, moving them at 6 ft increments, and third bar set at 10 in:
Here’s a first attempt at Lateral Lead Outs:
It felt like it was going well, so we tried some of the Advanced stuff a little later on as well:
Here’s another try at the Get Out with a leash marking a line on the ground:
And a little more work on the Turn Aways:
Here’s the Accordion with 5.5 ft between jumps at first set up and moving the third jump at 6 ft increments:
And another try at Mission: Transition with more space:
Here are a few games from the past couple of days. I’ve been having trouble uploading to youtube, but think I got around it.
Here are the Zig Zags with shorter bars:
A first try at Mission: Transition. I’ll try to get a better camera angle next time, and I think I need to work this in a larger space – I didn’t realize how much we’d opened up the space between the wing and jump since the last time I’d worked back here, and I need to give Keeper more room to land on the other side of the jump, especially during the “Go” reps.
Another try at Layering Foundations, and I think you were spot on about me pulling him off the line when I was having to go too far in to get him around the wing and then stepped back. He does go into the tunnel once here, but I think the class distraction has a lot to do with that one.
