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Hello!
Today we tried sequence 3. I wasn’t sure if he would understand the rear cross but he did!
We didn’t do a lead out on this one as he does not currently understand the lead out serp. I need to work more on that separately.
Here are some tricks that Aelfraed currently works on.
Thank-you!
I definitely did think the end line was weird, lol. Totally makes more sense with 14 as a backside. Oops!
I actually did think having him on my right for the dogwalk was going to be better for his contact, but not sure now! I also was not confident in being able to get that part of the sequence with me on the other side of the dogwalk, especially 9. Pretty sure he would go straight into the farther tunnel and then if I called him, he would come through the closer tunnel. Finding jumps amid other obstacles is not his strong point. Will see if I can try it though. Today we have rain so will see if we can try another day.Hello!
Tried the week 2 agility 1 course with Lennan. First time through I didn’t cue the second tunnel in time.
He had a good dogwalk the first time but very naughty the second time.
Hello!
We tried sequence 1 again with a front cross which definitely seemed easier. I wanted to try the blind again with increased exit connection too.
We also tried sequence 2. I don’t think I was up far enough to show him the direction for 3 on the first side. He was real mad about that! The other side with blind worked better.
Thank-you for the NFC info. That is good to know that I can run him at any height.
Worked on the blind with Aelfraed again. I was trying to stay further away from 2 but then was in his way on the landing?
Tried the double whammy with Lennan.
Hello!
I was trying to think about Lennan after the trial and I do think he could have been generally fatigued on the second day. He was not showing any signs of specific soreness but perhaps had some overall physical and/or mental fatigue. The trial was indoors on dirt, which he is normally good with, but he had not run on dirt in the past 3 months. This was also the first trial back up to 24 inch jumps since returning from rehab. It had been 3 months since jumping 24 in a trial although he had done it in training beforehand. Additionally, it does seem that he finds indoor trial environments more stimulating than outdoor.
I was considering some NFC for Aelfraed for the purpose of having fun in the trial environment. I was hoping he would measure into 12 inch for regular trials but he is just slightly over. So, even if I enter him select he would need to jump 12. I am unsure if I can enter him in a height other than what he measures for if I plan to only run NFC. I may not be able to try before September anyway though and he may be fine with 12 inch by then. He has been jumping 10 inch the last few weeks and seems good with that.
We did have smoke arrive in our area Tuesday afternoon and it was quite heavy yesterday and today as well as being very hot so we didn’t spend much time outside. Tonight the smoke had cleared out quite a lot and the temperature was a bit cooler. Aelfraed got to do a little run in the agility field.
We worked on some bits from pop out #3 of agility week 2.
He has been becoming more willing again to work with the toy in the agility ring. Usually he will do a toy for a bit right at the beginning of a session. Tonight he was perfectly happy to keep going with the toy but still seemed to want to look at me when I wanted him to go ahead with the toy out there, so switched for some treats at the end and, despite a brief annoyance that we didn’t have a croissant today, that got him going ahead for the last jump.
Thanks so much for the last feedback. I didn’t get another chance to try that course with Lennan but I see how the two blind crosses were wide and that finishing the course with him on the right would have made sense. I definitely could have got into position for that while he was weaving.
Lennan ran in a UKI trial this past weekend. We had an excellent day on Saturday. Some errors in our first run (my fault) but really good runs overall, managed a Q in gamble and agility and 3rd place in Master Series jumping (no Q due to 1 dropped bar that was a result of a timing error on a cue from me).
Sunday he unfortunately lost his brain and was not responsive to any cues that weren’t going straight (which were a lot). I got him back for his 3rd run but then I made a cue error on 1 jump so we had a refusal but otherwise a good run. His 4th/last run of the day again was not good. He actually broke his startline which he never does! It was a backwards lead out which is not his favourite but I still didn’t expect him to break.The good news is that all his dogwalks over both days were absolutely perfect with 2 rear feet in the contact zone!
He took today off to have a rest day. We might train tomorrow but it is supposed to be roasting hot so will see if that’s possible.
Aelfraed has been trying some more pop outs. This one was actually from Friday. Pop outs 3 and 4 from week 1 jumping, although I realized later I got a couple of jumps on the wrong side. So, pop out 3, I put 2 on the opposite side and pop out 4, I put 10 on the opposite side from where it should have been. Also, in pop out 4, I would have preferred to push to a backside for 4 but that side of the jump was right at the fence so tried a threadle wrap but did not execute it well.
Today we tried pop outs 1 and 2 from Week 2 Agility.
Aelfraed was also very good hanging out at the trial. This trial was held indoors (in a horse arena) but we had outdoor space for crating/hanging out. He chilled in his x-pen the majority of the time and had a few opinions at first about people coming to get their dogs and leaving again without him but didn’t have much to say about it by day 2. I took him inside a couple of times to walk around and watch which he handled well for short periods. Last time I had him at an indoor trial (3 months ago), he couldn’t handle going inside without shrieking. There was also a horse show going on at the location so lots of horses about. Aelfraed was intrigued but not bothered. I’m pretty sure he thought he could be friends with the horses.
A few people have asked me recently when I will start trialing him. I don’t have an answer for that right now but it made me realize that technically he could trial in speedstakes now! That just seems crazy. We have a lot of training and growing up still to do.
Hello!
Lennan worked on agility course 2 from week 1.
I thought layering the first part of the course seemed like a good idea but he seemed very unsure of where he was going with a hesitation at the start and a very wide turn at 3.
Aelfraed tried some jumping pop outs with a tunnel replacing the weave poles.
The first one was tricky, especially the backside. I think I might not have reconnected soon enough? He is also really not familiar with a backside blind though so (in a different session) we worked on it separately.
Aelfraed also tried the 10 (or more because I lost count, lol) game with a stay. The sit might have been a poor choice on my part as it is still not necessarily his favourite, although he has been doing it much better recently. I didn’t intend for the second tunnel to be part of the game but he said he thought it was a fun idea so then added it in. Since the sit was difficult, I probably should have rewarded him quicker when he was able to sit. I also could try the game with a “wait” instead. This means to him to hold his spot but he can choose his body position. When we do this, he regularly chooses stand and sometimes down but rarely sit.
Hello!
Thanks so much for the last feedback. I tried the spin for Lennan on jump 5 and I’m unsure if I’m doing it correctly. He seems to understand where he is going but is still launching quite far.
Jump 17 seemed to work well.Working on the dogwalk with Lennan is quite tricky right now. He unfortunately seems to have a pain memory from his injury last year and most significantly to the dogwalk that we have access to train on regularly. He has been tending to do better on dogwalks in different places but not to the extent that it is reliable, especially with more difficult exits. We got lucky at Regionals that every dogwalk went straight to a tunnel which is his best exit. So far it seems to be going ok to work on the dogwalk quite minimally and effort gets rewarded. So, even though one foot in is definitely not the beautiful dogwalk I know he is capable of, it is better than soaring off mid-plank with no effort to drop rear legs down on the contact.
I tried the opposite arm for Aelfraed and he responded to that, although I think I should have raised it sooner.
We tried pop out 3 again and also 4. I realized I shouldn’t have rotated so much for the threadle wrap the first time so tried that part again with less rotation but then missed committing him to the backside at the end.
Lennan got to try out agility course 1. I would have liked him to not launch so far on the jump before the frame but otherwise he was doing well. I accidentally gave him the wrong cue on the jump before the dogwalk so he was a very good boy. His dogwalk contacts have been less than stellar and I suspect would be non-existent right now on an angled exit which is why I had a reward dish for him.
Aelfraed tried some agility pop outs with a tunnel in place of frame. We did also progress to pop out #3 but unfortunately the camera did not start so don’t have video of that one. He did really well working on it though. We didn’t quite get that one altogether but almost.
Today I tried Aelfraed’s first treat ball again. The velcro is very worn down now and actually worked perfectly for him to grab his croissant out of it. Ball went off camera the first couple of times but he was very happy to chase it and collect his reward himself. He only still thought I should do it for him if the ball was close to me, lol, but I still let him do it himself.
He seems to have the one direction figured out in this game but was unsure of the other direction.
Thank-you!
Aelfraed only enjoys pasta that is freshly boiled/warm either plain or with butter. I did try to pack pasta as his reward previously and he said that cold pasta was absolutely unacceptable. He is also very offended about cheese or meat contaminating his carbs so stuffed pasta is a no go. In the last month he has refused cheese and pepperoni offered off pizza but been excited about the pizza crust, refused a bit of hamburger but wanted the plain bun (as long as it was a bit that hadn’t touched the burger), refused bagel that had cream cheese on it but was very excited about bagel that hadn’t been touched by cheese.
I’m sure he would be fine with me tossing chunks of bagel (the croissant is a little crumbly) directly on the ground as he’s happy to find tossed treats off the ground. He was briefly interested in a treat hugger but then lost interest. I could try it again since we’ve taken a break on it for a bit now.Sounds good, thank-you! I meant to tell you last week, Aelfraed had his first “pre-hab” appointment with our rehab vet. She said he was absolutely perfect and also has good muscle condition for a young guy.
