[Kathy McClung]

Yay!!!
We started on the flatwork. I video-ed from the front & then switched to the back so we can see the “dog’s view”. I managed to not use her release verbal until our last rep. Sheesh.
I guess I was using all my brainwaves on my body mechanics.
I can hear the thunder of horse hooves clamping behind me on some of the reps!!!

I’m so excited for this class!!!

[Kathy McClung]

Hi!

Thanks for the great ideas on enrichment for Lew in the crate. Now that he likes food, a licky mat may be perfect.

> I think he was doing it because the treat landed right on or near the prop, so he thought it was more of a stopped behavior. Easy adjustment: throw the treat further away past the prop, so he keeps moving over it.>
Thank you for this on the Get Out game! I’ll try that & add my motion next.

Also great tip for the treats inboth hands for the Backing Up game! I’ll try that.

We dove in to the Threadle Foundations game. He was very excited to play!
I feel like I finally really understand threadle wrap vs threadle slice from your video – thank you! I made everybody do this game. Maybe we can get all get fluent with these. Here is Lew!

Thanks for the feedback!
Also – I GOT A RUG! LOL! Indoor/Outdoor to the rescue!

• This reply was modified 1 week ago by Kathy McClung.

[Kathy McClung]

Hi!

Lew went on an agility road trip this weekend. He did so good. We were at the Georgia National Fairgrounds and he was so totally fine with the environment! He wanted to be out and exploring the whole time. He loves to walk around and just watch everything. He earned a new nickname – Lookie Lew. He was fine with dogs, the dirt, people moving around, the announcers & speakers. He likes having people talk to him. Everybody wants to pet him because he is so fluffy, that is the only thing he doesn’t lobe until he really knows someone. But I think that is a very acceptable boundary to have and one that I can provide for him.
He is fine in the crate whn he gets to share with Bazinga and he can’t hear me. He did really well on that. But he is a loud complainer if Bazinga is gone & so am I. We’ll work on that.
We did the parallel path game with the 2 jump stanchions and no bar there too. He worked like a champ!! I was impressed. I also got to do the resilience game on leash there and he liked that too.

We worked on a few things today.
Running Contacts Foundations – Mat
I found a bath mat that has a different feel from the yoga mats to use for the mat on this game. When you see it, let me know if you think it is an ok size for him. I started with him going through it instead of driving to it, I switched when I realized.

We did our first session of the Get Out game! When we switched sides, he was pausing right before the prop. I think he was waiting for the treat to hit the ground. I paused and waited until he touched the prop before rewarding. He was starting to go right to the mat towards the end of the session.

Backing up 2 – we did a short session

Thanks for the feedback!!

[Kathy McClung]

Hi!
Treat Hugger purchased & we are waiting for delivery! Thank you!

>He was HILARIOUS at the beginning of the running contact box session: stared at it, calculated… then threw himself into it. I almost snorted coffee out of my nose. Then it was game on, no questions.>
This made my day. Our goal is to have antics that get you to snort coffee! 😂 He is really surprising me at how intense he likes the games. I swear that he likes treats more if he is doing tricks for them!

It is rainy today so we gave the Alternate Rear Cross game a try inside tonight. He did really well with left turns but we had a lot of spins with right turns. He may have changed from being a rightie to a leftie. I do think that the mechanics of the right turns had a lot of issues. If I threw the treat too deep into the corner, I was behind him stuck at the cabinet and he was more likely to spin. If it took a while for him to find the treat, I wasn’t in motion either. So that may have played a role in the spins.
Alternate Rear Cross Game

I have a question about what to use for a mat on the Running Contacts Foundation game. As you can see, I decorate with yoga mats 🤣 I’m wondering if I need something more novel or different to use for the game since he sees these all the time. Any ideas?

Thanks for the feedback!

[Kathy McClung]

Hi!

>This was funny: at the very beginning then towards the end, there were 2 reps where he was not quite ready for the send forward but when you swooshed your arms back to line him up: he totally thought it was a backwards send hahahaha good boy!
>
This was so interesting! I never would have put that together! He did it once in this session too!
We tried it outside when it was cool out. We had more space for the barrels.
Rocking Horses Session 2 – outside

We tried the parallel path outside too. We had some technical difficulties becasue my stanchions are janky. I left it in the video. One fell and Lew didn’t even notice. I was suprised & relieved. Would it be acceptable to use a wingless jump that has a bar as a cross-brace between the 2 uprights that sits on the ground? I hope I’m explaining it right. It is basically a PVC “U” with feet. If that isn’t a good idea, I can make better stanchions.

He had fun but it was hard for him to find the treats in the grass so I edited the waiting out. I tried showing him the lotus ball but he did not like having to work for his treat! DIVA!
I can just carpet my yard with astro-turf, right?
We got a little bit of lateral distance going towards the end.
Parallel Path Concept Transfer

We tried the RC Foundation game “Driving to” with the box. He offered pretty quickly but I did play it with Bazinga & Frankie first because they were very sad that they never get to have any fun. This is the intro to the word “break’ for him too.

Thanks so much! I feel like we are getting back on track.

[Kathy McClung]

Hi! Thank you for the feedback!
I decided to do 2 new games that I thought would be fun to try. I think he did well.
INDOORS! We stayed in the A/C.

We did Week 5’s Parallel Path concept transfer. We were a little cramped inside but we had enough room for me to get a little bit lateral. I used a jump panel board like I did when bazinga was doing MaxPup but it may be too wide for him because he was jumping. I found a smaller 1.5 inch wide piece of wooden moulding that I can use instead for the next session. He was really excited to play! He had a little trouble when he was on my left and I tried to be a little more lateral but when I came back in, he was getting it again.

We did the Rocking Horses! He was so into it! He was very happy with food as a treat. I did some reps with Bazinga while he watched before his turn. Hahaha

Thanks for watching!

[Kathy McClung]

Hi!
>You can do a quick experiment: in the lovely air conditioning, do a short session of turn and burn with a toy, one or two reps on each side. Get him excited then use a leg step/arm point to indicate the barrel, and let’s see what he does.
>

Air conditioning for the win!
We finally did a session of Turn & Burn in the house and he was WILD!
He was really quick to offer going around the barrel and had a blast. We played a lot of tug in between reps and he was really into it. I didn’t use any food while we had the toy out.
Then we swicthed to food in my hands and it was clearly less fun than the toy. I really loved what I saw with the toy! Should I do a session of the handling combos inside next?
Here are videos ☺

Toy reps

Food reps

We did a session of Stays after the Turn & Burn. He was letting me get some movement but I think I need to say catch before I throw the treat.

I know I have a lot of catching up to do but I want to be sure I have the building blocks in place before I move on to the newer weeks games. I feel like I need to do more of week 4. What do you think?

Thanks so much!

[Kathy McClung]

We are back! I got knocked off my routine and fell behind!
We refreshed some of the week 3 prop stuff and the turn and turn to get back into the swing of things.

I tried out a few new lightweight harnesses and hopefully we have one that works for agility practice. I even found a better one for his walks. So win!

We tried the Handling Combos again. I did a session with the toy & lost him after just a few reps again. I tried a second session with just tossing a treat on treat pouch as a target and it seemed to keep his attention for longer. That is the video I included so you can see it. I think I should try another session and actually put the food on the plate before I line him up with a lineup cookie to include the self control part of the game. What do you think?

I feel like when I use the toy with turn & burn it is the movement of the toy that pulls him around the barrel but when I use food, he seems to understand that going around the barrel gets him the treat. If that makes any sense. It is just what I’m picking up from him. Maybe I lured him with the toy in the beginning and now he is waiting for that? I’m not sure. But it seems like when we changed from me holding the toy to me placing the toy and asking him to go around the barrel, he is not that motivated to go around the barrel.

We also did another baby level session of Lap turns and Tandem Turns. I added the prop to the lap turns and we had a lightbulb moment (mine) where I actually moved correctly and he got it. I think you’ll hear it when that rep happens – haha

Lap Turms

Tandem Turns

Thanks for watching!

• This reply was modified 4 weeks, 1 day ago by Kathy McClung.

[Kathy McClung]

Good morning!
Thanks for the feedback on the Handling combos. I’ll revisit them on Monday & hopefully can do it at a less distracting time of day. I’ll be at a trial this weekend so Lew has the weekend off to be a BFF with my hubby. Bazinga & Frankie get to have some fun!

We tried the right hand turns to the tunnel. He was very amped about the MM and cheated a few times ☺
I switched from his harness to his tiny made-for-a-kitten collar and it was hard to hold him without pulling his fur. It seems like he likes to pull against the harness but not the collar. I’ll switch back. I definitely did too many reps in 1 direction last session, he really wanted to go that way. I added the tunnel threadle verbal on some of those reps.

We did another Stay session. I tried to move but he was quick to move with me. He is Barky Impatient!!! LOL I want to try not to reinforce that (right?) He gets that “Sits get Clicks” but we still need some duration & movement.

Have a good weekend!!!!

• This reply was modified 1 month, 2 weeks ago by Kathy McClung.

[Kathy McClung]

Sorry about the video mixup – here is the Handling Combos video:

Thanks!

[Kathy McClung]

Hi!

Thank you for the great advice on the lap turns with the prop. I can see it now that you explained it. I’ll try it again. ☺

We did “action stuff” today!

We did the tunnel again and added the harness-hold & tunnel verbal. He kept rocketing away from me to get the tunnel!

We did another SSC with Handling Combos – baby level. I tried placing the toy and he did do better. I just don’t feel the connection & him offering to go around the barrel yet. Do you think I need to back up & reinforce the turn & burn?

I tried making him soft treats that will work in the MM and that won’t be crumbly for throwing. They are a hit! I googled around & found a recipe – here it is. Tuna Fudge lol (gross)
1 cup of drained tuna (2 cans)
1 egg
1 cup of tapioca flour (or 1/2 cup of tapioca flour & 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour)
puree tuna & egg in a food processor until smooth, add in the flour.
It should be like cookie dough.
Press into a pancake (about 1/2 inch think) in a baking sheet covered with parchment paper
Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes
I experimented and feel like the 50-50 flour mixture baked up better. The all tapioca flour ones are gooey.

Thanks so much!!!

• This reply was modified 1 month, 2 weeks ago by Kathy McClung.
• This reply was modified 1 month, 2 weeks ago by Kathy McClung.

[Kathy McClung]

Hi!

>The toy was very enticing when you threw it so you can add in placing it down then rewarding with treats for walking away from it without you holding him. That will be a good challenge! >

Thank you! I’ll try this next for the Handling Combos.

We tried the Stays – just the baby ones with the clicker. I started cueing the sit & clicking and then giving the “catch” verbal and then for some I tried to wait for him to offer the sit. Once we got going, I felt like he was having fun.

We refreshed the lap turns & then did the tandem turns. I also tried adding the prop for the lap turns. He was really wanting to go to the prop and then towards the end he wasn’t hitting it. I may need to improve my mechanics or add more room between me & the prop?

Tamdem Turns

Lap Turns with prop

We did another backing up session to a mat and he did really well!

[Kathy McClung]

Hi! I’m excited to try the tunnel again.

We did some short sessions of a few games.

We did the baby level of SSC handling Combos. This session was with a toy. He was into it but then got hot (I think) so we ended the session. I tried a very short session using cheese on a target (not shown) but I think he was more in to the toy.

Strike a Pose
Here is our first session. I used food first & then a toy. Ummm, I think my Madonna is broken!! I am contorted! I don’t think this looks like the body language I want to show him. But he did great driving to the target! Yay!

Turn aways
We started with lap turns!

Thanks for watching!

[Kathy McClung]

Hi!
Thanks for the great feedback on the turn & burn game!
We are going to dive in to the games this week.
I tried the tunnel. I mixed some smelly hamburger bits into the kibble in the manners minder and he could tell for sure. He did not run really fast to the MM but he did go to it and eat the boring treats. He has run through tunnels with someone standing at the end with a target & treats and he ran really fast but I know this game is about shaping, so I let him figure it out so that he was offering to go through the tunnel. I moved the MM through the tunnel a little at a time we started right at the entrance, went a little further back, then the center and then the end. He was getting the game but not really enthusiastic, so I tried a new toy. I think he liked that much better!
Here is our video.
I included the very beginning & him figuring it out. Then clips of the MM at the end and finally with the toy.

[Kathy McClung]

Hi!
Thank you for the cookie info!!! I’m going to try them!
We have some catching up to do!
I wanted to give him another session of turn & burn before we tried the new game because I felt like we didn’t really have a good “send” to the barrel. I didn’t want to use lineup cookies & take away from the excitement of the toy (which would give us a better approach) but I think this went pretty well.

I introduced him to the Manners Minder to get him ready for the tunnel game. He is starting to be interested in it. He doesn’t love the only treats that he likes that work in the machine, so I’ve been following him to it & tossing in some cheese bits to sweeten the deal.

I took your advice one the 1 rep + a huge hamburger treat on the wobble board and I let him watch Frankie & Bazinga do it first. He was so amped up. After his rep, he ran back on it & slammed it & looked at me like “bring me my treat, woman!” hahaha

Side question, can I do some private lessons with Bazinga for weaves? She is pulling out at weave 10 and I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong or can do better to support her through it.

Thanks for the feedback!

• This reply was modified 1 month, 3 weeks ago by Kathy McClung.

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