[kagunther13]

I really like your suggestion here of getting comfortable with a sequence before trying blinds. I am going to try and remember to do that.

Today we worked the teeter again and incorporated your suggestions from the last session. Added the table and some speed. She seemed to like the speed (LOL) and still seemed confident.

For the bang game, I did make sure to use the target plate. I feel like the teeter was a little too high so I helped her a bit here and there.

[kagunther13]

This is a little bit random. But I wanted to share because I tried a blind cross and I liked it! 😳🤣. I did this little sequence with a bunch of rears. And then realized that it really would be better with either a front or a blind. So I tried both and the blind actually felt sort of normal! Wow. I do think it helped that she had already patterned the sequence a little bit. So I trusted her to read the lines. But I see now your point that as we get more comfortable with each other that blinds really might be possible.

[kagunther13]

Thanks for your kind words.

Today we did our once a week exposure to the teeter. I started with a refresher with the wing. Then moved to stacked chairs to get more movement. She does “hesitate” slightly in the middle but I think she is learning to shift her weight there. I don’t really see fear but would like your thoughts.

At the end of the session while I was putting things away, she went and did the whole teeter by herself. By the time I saw her, I had to cross my fingers and let it happen. She seemed unfazed by it and happily took cookies while in the 2o2o position! I will have to pay a lot more attention as now she definitely sees it as an obstacle that pays and has value.

Sorry the video is long.

Kristy

[kagunther13]

Honestly, I said “wow” over and over again yesterday. Her focus was so good. I really didn’t expect it. She is a very social dog and loves saying “hi” to everyone. But once we were in the ring, she was totally focused on me.

I am also very aware of how much we still have to learn. So much.

Kristy

[kagunther13]

Thanks for your thoughts on the jump heights. I had bumped them up to 10 inches in those last couple of videos. Will take is slowly from here.

I have done a variety of jump grids with previous dogs. Will have to dig out the formats and remind myself how to set them up.

Today one of the local clubs had a fun day. It was such a great opportunity to take some of our training on the road. I was so happy with how confident Ellie was in this environment. She held her stay (even on a super long lead out) and was driving out to tunnels and jumps like a big girl. It was fun to see some of the foundations coming together. Still SO much to learn. But she had an absolute blast today without losing her focus.

Video quality isn’t great from the tripod.

[kagunther13]

I do need to try with the other arm. I think I did once or twice and she didn’t read it well. But maybe my shoulder wasn’t turned enough.

My previous 2 border collies have also been relatively fast. So my default behavior is a rear cross. I can do fronts and maybe a blind in a small set up where I can lead out and be in the right place. But I can’t do them on a real course at speed. Yet. Maybe someday.

So speaking of speed. I had hoped this girl might be “less” fast. Way back when I first started in agility (25 years ago), I had a little BC mix rescue girl who was “slow.” But she would Q almost every run. Those were the good old days. And perhaps one reason why my handling needs help now.

But back to Ellie – I assume she will be “slower” when I raise the bars some. And I am now wondering when I should start doing some sequence work at a higher jump heights. I am a little worried that she is going to have bar issues because she likes to get low and go fast. I know I would not want to work skills at higher jump heights yet. But maybe a jump grid here and there? Curious to know your thoughts on this.

Kristy

[kagunther13]

Thanks for the feedback. I was going to try and work on the BC with this exercise. But I just have a complete mental block. And physically it doesn’t feel normal and I feel like I am too old and stiff to do them.

But I did want to try something other than a rear. I think I ended up sort of doing a front cross?

I also went back and set up the serpentine exercise again. It was really bothering me that we had not been able to do the “hard” exercise. This time she actually did really well with one side and we totally struggled on the other side (when I had her on my right side). I think that is our weak side in general.

I think we did better this time partially because of different spacing and partially because even in just a few weeks she is maturing. Maybe? I tried with each rep to get a little further down the line so that she wouldn’t think it was rear.

[kagunther13]

You are exactly right about me being extremely late on my blinds. I just honestly don’t think I will ever be able to do them. Even if I had a slow dog.

I did try again here and while she did sort of read the blind, my timing and position were still bad.

So we moved on to the next exercise. 😀

I was really impressed with her on this set up. Of course we are at the stage where one day she is brilliant and the next day she is less than brilliant. LOL.

I did think about trying the blind on the landing side of 3 and just couldn’t do it.

And in on rep, I was going to try and get a blind in after 7 and failed miserably.

I thought she handled 5 well both with the front and with the rear.

This was fun!

[kagunther13]

Thanks for the feedback. I am seeing her push more on her start line stays. So I’m going to have to start reinforcing those more.

I’m still so far behind on most of these exercises and on her foundation work in general. 😒.

I worked a little on teeter last weekend. Didn’t get to working on angled entries because it got too hot and I ran out of dog. But I am happy with her confidence this far with very limited exposure. I do wonder what my next step would be if the teeter doesn’t lower.

Tonight we also worked on one of this weeks games. I struggled with the set up in my space. And I wonder if my placement of the jump by the tunnel made my blinds harder. Or if it is just because I can’t do blinds. But we really struggled there. I also don’t know what a throwback is and made something up. 🤣

[kagunther13]

I’m still working on serpentines and we are still struggling a bit. I’m so inconsistent with my arms. And bad habits are hard to break or unlearn. But I’m going to keep trying.

Today we took a break and worked on the lead out exercises. I am not good with blinds or fronts. So this work is more for me than it is for her! She seems to be doing well with her start line stays. I do randomly reward them but she actually seems annoyed by that. In this session I did try throwing the toy back to her but she didn’t seem to understand that either.

I also did a rear cross because that is my default behavior. LOL.

[kagunther13]

What you are saying about deceleration makes total sense. But I guess I felt like I needed to get ahead because I’m assuming on a real course, I would want to leave her and get ahead to the next obstacle. But I guess I have to be patient and not take off until she has committed to the jump? Or would there be a time when she is confident enough that we could do this with speed and she would understand to do the wrap?

Today we worked on serpentines. We have already done some foundation with this just with 3 jumps. So I was anxious to see how she handled this concept with the tunnel. Overall she did well. At .58 there is an example of her focusing on the frisbee. It didn’t help that I was flinging it in her face. LOL. I will start mixing in tugs as rewards that I can hide better than the frisbee.

[kagunther13]

I was happy with her confidence. I also let her watch and listen as my other dog did the full teeter so she could hear it bang. She definitely noticed the bang but it didn’t scare her. We will see how things progress.

I made some more attempts at threadle wraps yesterday and today. Still struggling a bit. I did have an epiphany today after watching some of the video. She gets pretty distracted when she sees the frisbee. I can put it down my pants but then the reward is delayed. I tried using a tug but she isn’t nearly as excited about the tug. But this something I will need to work on.

This video is all from yesterday. Today, on the few reps where we were successful, her wraps were a little tighter. Yesterday, she was going WAY wide.

[kagunther13]

That makes a lot of sense. We will try this again later today hopefully.

This morning we worked on the teeter. I don’t have one so this work is very sporadic. This was the second time we tried mountain climber. So her first rep was pretty tentative. But she got more confident after that.

I then intended to switch to working on just the bottom with some movement. But she had other ideas. And since the movement didn’t terrify her, I decided to go with it.

[kagunther13]

Well, I’m not sure her response to my arm cue is very reliable yet. We tried threadle wraps and it didn’t go as well.

We were okay with the baby part. But once I added the tunnel and some speed, it fell apart. She did one with the tunnel but we could not replicate it. And I’m not sure what I was doing wrong or if her baby brain can’t process things at speed yet.

[kagunther13]

Thanks for the feedback. We added the tunnel today. Too hot for many reps but she did well on the little bit we did. And I know the goal here isn’t to do too much in one session.

Please ignore the bucket – there was a huge ant bed there! When is summer going to be over??!!!

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