[Kyla McNeill]

Thanks so much!
Sorry about your ice storm. I’m glad we didn’t get an ice storm here. It does look like winter is here to stay now though. We got quite a bit of snow a few days ago and temperatures are staying very chilly! More snow coming next week too. Aelfraed is loving the snow but it does mean an end to specific training games outside. We did play with some retrieving in the snow yesterday which he thought was very fun.

We tried some minny pinny with jump bars locked in as I didn’t have any smaller bump items available. It seemed to go well and he was very excited about this toy which was great!

I think the rocking horses with tunnel games may have helped increase the fun for him on barrels. We played some rocking horses with two barrels again and he was really driving ahead to the barrels.

We also worked on some backside slices.

[Kyla McNeill]

Hello! We worked on some rocking horses tunnels again with more running to the barrels.

Also serps and threadles with pre-placed cookie on the dish. He didn’t realize the cookie was there on the first rep but focused on going to it great after that. Not too sure why I didn’t pre-place the cookie on the first side of serp.

[Kyla McNeill]

Thanks so much for the retrieve suggestions. We will try that.

Here is Aelfraed’s minny pinny with increased angle to start and treat ball at the end.

Here is our first attempt at rocking horse tunnels.

[Kyla McNeill]

Thanks so much!

For the minny pinny and grabbing a toy, we did start out with a toy in that last session but at this point he is still giving up on the toy quickly in the arena environment and sometimes won’t take the toy at all. Would it also be appropriate to have him chase the treat ball when he catches up to me? He is really liking the treat ball now.

When I throw toys for him when working outside, his preference is definitely to keep and run away with the toy for a bit. Normally he takes it while I praise and clap, he runs around and chews it for a few seconds, then will lie down with it somewhere and is totally fine at that point with me taking hold of the toy, but he definitely does not offer to bring it and if I call him he just leaves the toy where it is for me to collect. I’m totally OK with this system for right now but would eventually like him to bring the toy back with him as he does sometimes run quite far off the working area. When we do the retrieve separately from other work, he consistently understands to bring the toy when I present a second toy, just does not always choose to actually switch toys, he might keep tugging on the first. Is this fine to keep practicing with the second toy even though he’s not actually switching to it? I guess it seems to help him understand we’re still playing. The cookie trade doesn’t work great. If I wait until he’s to me, he’ll probably do a fly by before he’s noticed I’m offering him a cookie, and if I offer the cookie when hes further away, he will drop the toy prematurely.

[Kyla McNeill]

Hello!
Thanks so much for the last feedback. On the last minny pinny, yes I was saying the verbals even on the repetitions I wasn’t holding him but it is hard in that building sometimes for the camera to pick up voice it seems. We worked some pinny pinny again yesterday and he seemed quite ok with the brief collar hold plus cookie to start.

For retrieve, we cannot try it in the tunnel situation at the moment as you suggested as he is still very on and off with the toys in the arena environment. He will sometimes accept the toys, sometimes not, usually will go off the toy more quickly, and definitely is not ready to try tossed toys in the dirt. Since we had a nice day, I did try the threadle wrap with 2 barrels outside and tried to incorporate the retrieve. He was happy about the barrel activity and less happy about the retrieve portion. First rep he did bring the toy but was hesitant at letting me take hold of it to play. 2nd rep is edited out after he grabbed the toy because I let him keep it for a little at first and he ran out of view of camera so you couldn’t see him anyway. I did try to invite him to chase me after he’d done his run away with it and he had no interest. 3rd rep he seemed like he was bringing it but did a fly by. 4th rep I brought out a second toy as he was on his way. Last rep he was not interested in trying to bring it.

We worked on some serps and threadles.

Restrained recalls with running around him. He was very excited. Auntie had to hold on tight, lol!

Over the weekend, we got together with friends and played pattern games.

[Kyla McNeill]

Hello!
We did some more minny pinny. He said the toy was not an appropriate reward for this activity, at least not today. Is the hold to start critical? He seemed to jump and twist around when I was holding his collar.

He was very good at find my face outside.

Even though the last couple of times we did reverse retrieve, he wanted to keep playing with the toy that had been tossed rather than switching, he does seem to have trouble bringing the toy back when the second toy isn’t there to help. Patting the ground with my hand helped sometimes but not always.

[Kyla McNeill]

Thanks so much! Ah yes, I see the blocked connection.

Aelfraed just thinks this Minny Pinny game is great! He’s so cute! He also thinks his human is a bit slow on the restart at times. I especially enjoyed when he reversed in order to tell me it was time to go the other direction. We hadn’t even tried that direction yet, he just knew!

We worked on some backside wraps with the treat ball on a line. The coordination was a little awkward at first but it got better and he seemed to enjoy the game.

He’s really understanding the threadle wrap when turning to the left, even when my cue was very late on the first rep. The right is still harder for him.

[Kyla McNeill]

Hello!
Aelfraed had a first try at the Minny Pinny today and he said he was totally happy with that!

We had some great success with tug while working on rocking horses barrels. He was jumping at me rather a lot on transitions though. I’m not sure if he was expecting the toy?

Worked on restrained recalls (which he already thinks are super fun) to introduce dragging cookie ball. He really seemed to enjoy that. There was a distraction of someone else he knows entering the building and he was keen to investigate. He did return initially but said it was too hard to return to the game so we played some pattern game and he was ok with getting his cookies out of the dirt.

[Kyla McNeill]

Hello!
We worked on some reverse retrieve outside. There were a couple more reps before these that were also really good but the tripod had blown over so missed those.

Also stays outside.

We worked on some more barrel wraps, adding backside cue. Also unintentional distraction of friend screaming nearby which he didn’t seem bothered about at all.

Here is his tunnel slice. Auntie was sitting in a chair (and recording this). I think he was running out looking towards her more on the one side (he went a little wider when I called him compared to the other side). Also, at one point when we were closer he was interested but didn’t leave so I told him he could go visit.

[Kyla McNeill]

Thank-you!

Today we tried some remote reinforcement.

Also some stays.

And he says he’s really good at find my face!

Our snow has gone away for now. It all washed away in the rain while we were gone during the day. We came home and Aelfraed was so excited to go out into the yard, got out the door, and looked around with utter disappointment. His little face was so sad! I’m ok with the snow being gone for now but I was a little sad for him.

[Kyla McNeill]

Sounds good! Thanks so much!

Today we worked on head turns on the barrel with motion.

Also reverse retrieve but only 1 toy was correct apparently.

[Kyla McNeill]

Hello!
Winter has arrived early and Aelfraed is totally in love with the snow! It seems he is aspiring to be a sled dog, lol. He stays outside for 2+ hours at a time and still has to be convinced to come in!

We got a treat ball. I showed it to him at home first and he was quite into it. Brought it to the arena yesterday and although he didn’t fully chase it every time, he was quite keen and his energy/excitement was up. We worked more backside slices and threadle wraps to work on the treat ball introduction.

He has such a funny little personality and a lot of opinions! I was going to do some tunnels and have him chase the treat ball on the exit but he saw that auntie was watching and went over and stared at her, asking her to come help him. So, he chased auntie with the treat ball instead and he thought that was very fun. Apparently we’ll need to work on some tunnels with no auntie present as it seems she is now built into the tunnel game, lol!

He is fine with tugging outside the building and he did actually tug with me a tiny bit in the arena but outside of the agility area (which is also still sand) yesterday so that was good!
At the moment, he doesn’t have any clear favourite toys that he is wild about and that would override the dirt. It did occur to me that Lennan could show him so I took them in together yesterday. Lennan had a very dirty tug toy and Aelfraed was grabbing on it and tugging hard with Lennan for a minute or so. Lennan is wild about the disc and Aelfraed will often grab the disc when Lennan has it at home in the yard so also tried that in the arena. Aelfraed was very excited about chasing and biting his brother and not at all interested in the disc but he wasn’t caring that the sand was flying around or that he was biting sand on his brother’s fur, so that seemed good.

On Sunday we went to a craft market (with Aelfraed’s puppy friend Sól) and it was quite busy and crowded. Aelfraed was very happy when we arrived and was super excited to greet people who wanted to see him (and tried to stick his head in their bags, lol), but also was fine with just walking past people/through crowds. At one point he was suddenly in a hurry to get somewhere and directed me to the one booth selling dog treats! He was very clear when he was done and had no more interest in people. He pointedly looked away from people who tried to talk to him and refused to acknowledge their existence. We found a booth selling little cups of handmade ice cream. Aelfraed already figured out what it was when it was in my hand and we had to walk across to the other side of the building to the area we could sit and he stared at me the entire way. The ice cream revived him and he decided to greet a few more people who came up but once we were done sitting, he said this is the way to the exit!

• This reply was modified 6 months ago by Kyla McNeill.

[Kyla McNeill]

Sounds good, thanks so much!
Makes sense about the connection with the barrel.
There is no non-dirt area in the building. I believe he will tug in the parking lot as he’s done this before but will test it next week.

Today we tried backside slices.

Also threadle wraps with the barrel.

Making progress on backing up.

Tried some raised foot targeting. He seemed to be thinking about pivoting to start with.

[Kyla McNeill]

Hello!
Worked on some more barrel wraps. He had a little trouble to start with.

Second session of Perch. He seems to be starting to figure out his back feet.

Tunnel threadle session, but also learned he is still not accepting toys in the dirt environment. He really seemed interested in the toy as we were getting ready to start but then refused it immediately. I also tried to play with him after he refused the toy from the auntie. Tried to offer toy halfway through. Tried a different toy. He didn’t even pretend to be interested later on. You can’t really see most of the time in the video but we switched to having him chase (and then eat) a cookie in the auntie’s hand.
This was the first time adding the threadle cue (pull). Apparently he figured out the cue quickly because first rep of double tunnel on the second side I accidentally said tunnel for the threadle instead of pull and he told me off!

[Kyla McNeill]

Thanks so much!
Here is some more serpentine.

First threadles.

Head turn, trying to reward first turn.

[Author]

Posts