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Thanks so much! Yes, it was very funny! I wasn’t sure if I was on track to the jump and thought I could peek while he was wrapping the wing and even though I saw him exit the wing wrap and thought I was connected, he said that was not ok. He definitely reads eyeballs!
I was also impressed with his backside wrap turns! Will definitely do more throwing reward behind next time.
Today we tried the rear cross concept transfer game.
Hello!
We worked on some more rear crosses and backside circles which seemed to go very well. I only noticed afterwards that the wing was a bit far over on the one side.
Hello,
Aelfraed was excited and happy for his training today.
He had been able to have more outdoor time earlier and it didn’t seem like he needed to run extra before training but we did start with the diamond game so that he could run straight away.
We also tried a couple more rear crosses and backside circles.
Aelfraed is very funny with his treat ball. He can open it himself now. However, the last few times we have trained, he consistently opens it himself if he felt the activity/repetition was easy and consistently looks to me to open it for him if he had to concentrate hard or found the thing he had just done more challenging.
We also tried the serp / tunnel game again. Did not even try the stays today. Decided to take a break on that. I haven’t tried a platform yet, but will. He does enjoy being on a platform but I haven’t really worked at him being on it while I’m a distance away so will need to build that up. He was enjoying the cookie toss start, although it definitely made it more challenging to be in the correct position.
Thanks so much! The poor decision part (mine), I did just mean that I felt I should have let him start with the running games as he was definitely happier with those and he might have been more receptive to the stationary start game later. He definitely would have liked a cookie toss start. In fact, I think he was showing me that a few times as I tossed a cookie just to get him to move close to the starting point and then asked him to come and set up after he found the cookie, but instead, he ignored me and ran straight to the equipment. I currently always use a lure if I’m having him set up in a particular spot. He is definitely not at the point of doing it independently. Yesterday he sometimes ignored the lure, either starting to follow it and then running off (straight to the equipment) or delaying and deciding whether he would follow or not. I guess I wasn’t letting him actively nibble at it while following so maybe he would like that better. Neither his avoidance of luring or sitting are completely new, but he certainly seemed to be having an extreme day yesterday. He won’t lure if he doesn’t think the activity is a good idea. He generally is good with sitting now but it took him a while to get onto the sit and he preferred either stand or down previously. I think I got myself a little stuck as well since he was good with the waiting the previous day. I needed to remind myself what I frequently tell others, every day is different with adolescents.
I think he is definitely feeling frustrated with the reduction in outdoor running time. He loves the snow but the snow is so deep now he can’t get through unbroken snow and relies on following tracks made by people or other dogs and can’t necessarily run as fast as he’d like. Also, even he doesn’t like the extreme cold days (nobody likes that).
Happy to report he seems much more emotionally level today so far even though we are still in extreme cold and he couldn’t stay out long. Perhaps he also didn’t have good sleep the previous night as you suggested.
Will see how he’s feeling next time we train. We’re also going to be getting some warmer temperatures this week so that will be nice.Thanks so much!
It’s funny that for months Aelfraed has said he’s a lefty but just in the last 2 weeks he has suddenly switched and said that right is easier. I haven’t figured out if he prefers one direction over the other in different circumstances or if he has made a total switch.Today Aelfraed was having an overall mad day. He was mad that I didn’t get him out of his crate swiftly enough in the morning, then mad that it was way too cold outside and he couldn’t stay out as long as he would have liked, then really really mad that he got left in the car when we arrived at the training facility while both Sól and Lennan worked before he got his first turn. He continued to be mad later and was more annoyed than he has been recently about waiting subsequent turns. He was also even mad in his car crate when we left the training facility (not normal).
Considering his anger, I made a poor choice of first game as I decided to do the serp proofing game on the opposite side. He was very annoyed about the sitting still part of this game today and although he had good reps here, there was a lot of sassing the mama (removed from video) about coming back to set up again. Some of the reps start from a down and not exactly the positioning I was going for as he absolutely refused to sit and huffed himself down instead. Probably should have just moved on from this one sooner but he wanted to do the equipment so I thought he’d get happier about the game (I was wrong).
Aelfraed was happy to do the jump grid and didn’t mind the holding start today (I was very sure he wasn’t going to do any more stays for me).
Rear crosses went better. He was unsure of the backside circle at first but willing to try. This was the first time he has actually done that on the jump as it has only been the barrel previously.
Aelfraed really liked this one since he could run!
Hello!
Today we tried out the wind in your hair game with rear crosses.
We also worked on the serp proofing game on one side only. We will need to work the other side next time.
Hello!
We tried some more of the send n serp game, trying to send farther to get more ahead.
We also tried the zig zag again. It is definitely faster and trickier with the wings closer together!
Hello,
Thanks so much! I actually think he likes the activity more than the reward at this point. He wants the reward as part of the activity, but not just because.
He really likes the minny pinny for whatever reason. He liked it in the last course and he still likes it now. We were not working on it today but it was still set up and he offered to show me that he knew how to do it as we walked past to our other activity. I’m not certain he will find it motivating to have mixed in reps of just chasing the reward for being held instead of doing the minny pinny but we can give it a try and see what happens. He will be sure to be clear on his opinion either way.Today we tried the find the jump game. He said it was a little hard at first but then he took a break for about 10 minutes (where he was clearly thinking about it) and we tried again and he said he had it all figured out by then.
We also tried the zig zag. This one was trickier for me as I tried to figure out my motion. He seemed to find it quite easy although he was definitely concentrating hard (the silence was intense, lol). We did this one also as 2 short sessions with a break in between. After the second session he said he had figured it out and was enjoying it. He disagreed with my “all done” information and went and lay down beside one of the wings and stared at me.
We gave the send n serp a little try, but not too much today.
Hello!
Aelfraed worked on the minny pinny. He was good about his collar held today. However, he did not appreciate it being held for too long. I did try holding him longer when first attempting the turn away from me and he just stared daggers into my eyes, incredibly offended I was continuing to hold him and refusing to look anywhere else.
Thanks so much!
Haha, I have to work a little extra hard in the big coat but it was very cold and I was motivated to stay warm. Aelfraed does not mind the cold, especially when running. He’s going to be sad when the snow goes. He currently rarely drinks water as he prefers to eat snow. When we’re at home he will ignore the water bowl and ask to go outside when he’s thirsty.We were not yet able to adjust our previous setup to include another tunnel but we did try some tunnel distance here and he seemed to think that was great.
Thanks so much!
He has actually never really liked being held, but previously when it was part of a game he liked he would happily participate, even voluntarily going back to line up again to start the next rep. He has definitely moved into a new adolescent phase as of about 2 weeks ago. He’s a little bit spooky right now, a little bit hormonal, a little bit dramatic, and extra sensitive. He has also returned to being more sensitive about me holding his collar again which he had previously improved on. He’s also off his food a bit and more fussy on his treats again, which has so far happened every time his body has entered a new stage of physical development. He just turned 10 months, so seems on track.Today we tried the tunnel turn sequences again. He was happy to progress to the longer sequences this time.
Hello!
That is very good to know about the turns. I did notice he wasn’t super tight, but really just thought he’s still learning the cues. He definitely looks like he can keep speed around the curves this way though!
So funny and accurate about him stomping his foot! He certainly was mad at that moment. Good reminder to keep going.Yesterday, we tried out the pill bug game. On Friday he had made a huge game out of stealing my mitten from the car and running away with it. It was hilariously naughty and he thought it was great. I decided to see if he thought an old mitten on a string was a good toy and he was quite excited about it for a bit.
This second session (after he had a break while it was Sól’s turn), I tried a different toy. He does usually like this toy when outside but lost interest quickly and I think perhaps because he was rather offended by the holding start. After the 3 reps at the beginning, he absolutely refused to go back to be held again and started to take himself around the circle instead. At that point he also didn’t want the toy any more and didn’t want the mitten back. So, we did cookie tosses instead.
It definitely feels like the stay is precarious right now. He wants to do it but it’s very hard for him and I can tell he can’t do it for long. This is a session we did today. He was enjoying the mitten inside which was great and also said it was very hard to see the mitten move away from him. I think we will try some more practice before going to the set point again.
Today we also did some more smiley face with it spread out more. He actually was excited about his toy! This was the first time he has trained for the toy in the dirt since he turned off it a while back. I stopped the toy session while he was still excited about it to avoid getting to the point that he would give up on it.
We also tried another session of wrap proofing.
Hello!
Here is our first session of introducing tunnel turn verbals.
We also worked on the moving target with just 1 jump instead of the set point to make it easier and he seems to be getting the concept!
Thanks so much!
He definitely seems to have decided he likes to announce his joy while running! This has been happening consistently with any type of sequencing. I do notice his bark is different if he is barking at me compared to just barking while running. I also was very surprised to notice when I played back the video of his smiley face game that he had been barking the whole time! At the time we were doing it, I noticed a few barks on the wraps but definitely didn’t pay attention to the fact that he was barking the whole time, so I felt like that was also an indication that the barking was not communicating a problem.We worked on the wrap proofing game. I had expected him to choose the tunnel more often, but turns out he’s loving his wraps and actually had more questions about the tunnel.
Thanks so much!
Aelfraed is approximately 15 inches tall now.
We need to work on our moving target some more as he is not thrilled by it. I don’t have a video right now but will do that soon. He loves to chase his treat ball and even recently started opening it himself to get the treat. However, the ball on a line he was not sure about and mostly wanted to look up at me instead of down at the ball. He also thought staying while his treat ball was put on the ground was exceptionally hard, so that may have impacted his desire to chase it fully when we eventually got to the part of releasing him.We worked on the wind in your hair game again.
He thinks the smiley face game is very fun.
