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Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 306 total)
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  • in reply to: Kathy & Lew! (11 months Japanese Chin) #95362
    Kathy McClung
    Participant

    Hi Tracy!

    I’ve been working on his startline stay and adding “breaks” to it. I wanted him to be ready for the Decel game because he hasn’t done them in front of a jump yet. We gave it a try though! I think he did really well. He did get up a few times but I made it easier for a few reps after that. He was not sure what I wanted at the wing but he was getting more confident toawrds the end.

    I probably should not be placing the treats on the ground for the parallel path but it is so hard for him to find them in the grass. I saw a toy that was like a lotus ball but called “the pill” It looks like it has less velcro, I’m going to see if they have small ones and see if I can teach him to use it for thrown treats.

    I really wanted to do the Weirdness Gauntlet with Lew before class ended! We finally did it. I used something new but not too big – a paper towel holder. I put the girls in another room and Lew & I went outside & came back in and walked theough the house. He didn’t want to walk ahead of me. (He is used to following Bazinga everywhere, I think) so I walked ahead and then he came through the room with the object. I’m curious to hear what you think. YouTube would only let me save the video as a “short” I guess maybe if it is under 30 seconds they do that.

    Thanks so much!!!

    in reply to: Kathy & Lew! (11 months Japanese Chin) #95330
    Kathy McClung
    Participant

    Hi!

    Thanks for the great feedback! we’ll keep working these games. I have to remember the connection on the rocking horses. I am hoping the heatwave breaks so we can work outside & have more room.

    >You can also shake the threadle/serp hand a bit to give him more of a focal point, especially when he can see you between the uprights.>

    Thank you for this! Brilliant.

    >He seemed to think the mini jump bars were things to NOT be touched, so he looked like a rodeo dog there as he went over them LOL!! But he was bouncing the distances really well and did not seem as concerned about touching them by the end LOL! >

    I had not notived this so I went back & watched. He was every bouncy!

    We did another session of Happy Stays and I introduced him to “break” tonight! He liked that!
    No video – just an update πŸ™‚

    Here is what we worked on tonight. I wanted to do the volume dial with the leash and introduce the “break” before we try the lateral startline game.

    Volume Dial – with a leash

    Turn & Burn on a Wing!
    I was surpised he offered it but oh, so excited about it! I tried a toy but h was really on the treats, so I tossed him a treat after he chased the toy.

    Thanks so much!!!
    Hope you have a fun holiday weekend!
    Boooo to fireworks! Can’t they just make them silent & pretty?

    in reply to: Kathy & Lew! (11 months Japanese Chin) #95317
    Kathy McClung
    Participant

    Hi Tracy!

    >If he is sensitive to sitting on different surfaces like wet grass or pokey grass or dirt, you can also work a stay in a stand position: I add a stay verbal to the sit position (you might already be doing this, it was hard to hear). Then when he is standing, use the stay verbal and move away, then reward pretty quickly. It is surprisingly easy to get a stand stay and it can take out any of the β€˜ick’ about sitting on weird surfaces>

    Thanks for this note! I will work on the stand stay too. Bazinga has it but it developed by accident. When we are warming up outside the ring, she can sit between my legs, when we are very close to the ring and she is up in a few dogs, she can’t sit anymore. So I let her stand. Now that I am examining it, I don’t even ask her for the sit, I just say “middle, middle” to take her position and then say “wait”.

    >Yes, the spins were right (you asked if they were right on the video :)) Great job really emphasizing the connection.>
    Hahahaha! Thank you for answering my question!!! I am spin-phobic, I never think it feels right!

    >Do you have a cool coat for him (and for the Bostons?) It is a good thing to add to his routine at this stage.>

    Yes, he inherited Frankie’s because she hates wearing anything. I found her a cool blanket instead. You wet it like a cool coat & put it in their crate. She loves that. She can bunch it up & move it if she gets cold and usually just puts half her body on it. I wondered if a cool coat helps coated breeds but it seems like they do.

    We had the air conditioning cranking & Lew was wild tonight!

    We revisited the Strike a Pose Serps & Threadles since our last session didn’t have the best mechanics for treat delivery. I had an idea and dug out my little “click & treat” single treat dispenser from clip&go. You have to eload it each time, but it was worth it! It is the perfect size for Lew. and I can put sticky treats like hot dogs & steak in there! He was super excited about it. I think he was getting the hang of coming in & going out by the end. He needed me to pull out the target and then he remembered the game better.

    Strike a Pose – serps & threadles revisited

    We did the Rocking Horses inside & cold! I think the barrels were a bit further apart than they were in our outside session. He definitely likes this game.

    Rocking Horses with spins & racetrack

    We added the prop & the volume dial game to Happy Stays
    He did a good job working when he was amped up. I forgot to do breaks!! I haven’t really whipped that on him yet. We did get one rep where he stood after the sit, so I said “catch” and treated him before he could move.

    We also revisited the Minny Pinny to see how his right turns looked. He was amped up!
    I was laughing the whole time.

    Thanks for watching! We are going to try & catch up some this week. I actually have a 5 day weekend! πŸ™‚
    We really need to revisit the tunnel games. The last time we did them, he was not in to the manners minder but maybe the other treat dispenser will be more fun for him.

    in reply to: Kathy & Lew! (11 months Japanese Chin) #95212
    Kathy McClung
    Participant

    Hi Tracy!

    We’ll definitely do another session of the Minny Pinny and see how his right turns go!
    We’ve just been working some of the quiet stuff like the sit stays and find my face. We have a lot of catching up to do. We did a few short sessions this morning!

    Parallel Path
    We revisited the parallel path game and I tried to get some good lateral distance.
    I edited out the very long “finding of the treats” from each rep.

    Happy Stays
    We moved the happy stays from inside to outside. It was harder for him to sit outside but he warmed up to the idea as we went along. I need to start working on the Happy Stays challenge & adding the break cue but I wanted to do a session outside the house first.

    Find My Face
    This is his second session of Find My Face. The first one we did inside and this one is outside.

    Rocking Horses 2
    It was cool enough to try this outside. He was very excited to play at first πŸ™‚

    Thanks for your feedback!

    in reply to: Kathy & Lew! (11 months Japanese Chin) #94960
    Kathy McClung
    Participant

    Hi! I hope you had an amazing Birthday Weekend & are still celebrating!!!
    I really think they should be birthday-months.

    We did another session of the minny pinny. We added the dowels, the verbals and tried to eliminate the hand movement. You’ll see the harness holds – hahaha

    Thank you for the feedback.

    in reply to: Kathy & Lew! (11 months Japanese Chin) #94727
    Kathy McClung
    Participant

    Hi Tracy!

    The rugs have really allowed us to play inside which has been great with the heat of summer.

    >That might be the trickiest part (figuring out what to use as bars). Regular jump bars might be too thick for this game? So maybe weave poles if they are slimmer than the bars.>

    We did a short session of the Minny Pinny again and added verbals. I wasn’t sure what to use for bars. Did you mean to try & find something that isn’t very high for him to jump over or short so they fit in my tiny room?

    I have some dowels that I was using for cavaletti. They are a small diameter. Or I can take apart a jump & use 3 foot long pvc bars. I think it is 3/4 inch pvc so it’s not very “tall”

    We did our first session of the volume dial game! We need more tricks!

    Thanks so much!
    Have a fun weekend!

    in reply to: Kathy & Lew! (11 months Japanese Chin) #94642
    Kathy McClung
    Participant

    Hi!
    Thanks for the feedback. I’m looking forward to giving these another round & seeing what he does. ☺

    We did an indoor minny pinny to avoid the heat! I was pretty impressed with his sending. We just did the baby level. I started with treats and did some with a toy. It took him a minute to get excited about the toy and then he got really excited about it – but he wants his treat for his out – hahaha.

    in reply to: Kathy & Lew! (11 months Japanese Chin) #94608
    Kathy McClung
    Participant

    Hi Tracy!

    >But for the American-style threadle and AKC premier threadles, the off-hand is used more (the lines are very different and a lot less intuitive to the dog). And for those classic Premier threadles (where the jumps are set up like a serpentine and the dogs come through the gap), the off hand is very helpful and I also use foot rotation on those!>

    Thank you for the description – I get it now, it makes sense!

    Thanks for the help with my mechanics on the tight turns game. It was helpful to watch the reps you pointed out. We gave it another try. Lew was driving around the pole much better by the end. Not sure my mechanics got much better but he did in spite of me!

    We did the Backside Slice Foundation game! He did so good!!!!
    Towards the end, I stopped backing up & he was pausing before coming over the bar. I’ll keep moving next time.
    Funny story, I started with Bazinga and Frankie on this one for rainy day fun and watched your video so many times that I did their turns saying “back, back” instead of our “push” verbal. LOL I guess my body cues worked!

    Baby Chin does Threadle Wrap Barrel game!!! Eeeek!

    We did another round of the Shpile game and I wilded him up with a toy and he was much wilder jumping around the pile. I could see him working to control his body when it felt out of control. I messed up the video though πŸ™

    I want to revisit the baby tunnel games with him the last time we did it, he was not really driving to the tunnel. Maybe if the manners minder is more valuable to him now, it will help.

    Thank you! Hope you are having a great weekend!

    in reply to: Kathy & Lew! (11 months Japanese Chin) #94552
    Kathy McClung
    Participant

    Hi!

    We are slacking but got back to some games!

    We did the Shipile game & Lew thought it was awesome! I really thought he would be afraid of heights but I am learning that the saying that Chin are catlike is pretty literal and he really seems to like to climb up high.

    We tried the Tight Turns & Leading with the Head 360 game and it was very hard…for ME!
    I am having a hard time figuring out where I should be, where the pole is and where Lew should be. I couldn’t quite understand how to put the magic cookie hand turn away into the mix with my mechanics.

    We did the Strike a Pose Threadle Slices and I think he did really good. He needed more help moving towards the manners minder than he did moving towards my hand. Yay Lew!

    I have a question about the progression of this one. When we start alternating Threadles & Serps, if I am doing a cookie toos to start, do I just say nothing for the Serp since I’m not asking him to “break” from a stay?

    Also, you know that I’m going to be one of those people that asks about the alternate off-hand position. When would you need that vs the other hand?

    Thanks for the help!!

    in reply to: Kathy & Bazinga #94372
    Kathy McClung
    Participant

    Hi Tracy!

    If I am getting too far ahead, that actually makes me feel better because I am so worried about getting ahead of her at a trial because she is so fast. I know distance & commitment are going to be my friend. I think these distances are a little closer than they would be in a trial so I hope her commitment will be there in that environment. These exercises are great practice!

    >but you can also start the blind when you see the blur exit the tunnel, so it is a little earlier to show her the new connection.>πŸ€£πŸ˜‚πŸ€£ “look for the blur”

    We tried again. I flipped the course to try & make it new to her again. I tried to stay moving and see her commitment better so I could be early.

    • This reply was modified 3 months, 2 weeks ago by Kathy McClung.
    in reply to: Kathy & Bazinga #94168
    Kathy McClung
    Participant

    We tried the advanced 2 jump games!!!
    I see her having to swerve to get around me, am I too far over the mouseline?
    Or do I need more room between the 2 jumps? I think I can spread it out a little more.
    I broke the games up into a morning & evening session. I think she got hot in the evening because she was pulling off the tunnel and the jump after the tunnel so we rested and then did the last rep that you see on the video.
    Morning session

    evening session

    Thanks so much!

    in reply to: Kathy & Lew! (11 months Japanese Chin) #94167
    Kathy McClung
    Participant

    Good morning!
    We did another session of the Strike a Pose Serp game. I think he was more confident this session.
    He had a few hiccups where he wanted to come around the jump on the hardest position, but he thought it through.
    I added an empty bowl and got him used to it instead of taking a treat from my hand. I made the mistake of just giving him a treat in the bowl for no reason & then he bowl visited for one rep but he got it back together after that.

    He was doing his extra credit mat work last night & had fun! We have catching up in here to do though!
    Thank you!

    in reply to: Kathy & Lew! (11 months Japanese Chin) #94024
    Kathy McClung
    Participant

    Lew is back in the game & he was MAD that he wasn’t getting to play games! LOL

    We are still working on week 6 & 7 but we have been working on the startline stays and reinforcement game here & there.

    This is our second Get Out session. I had trouble getting him to come to me on the contrast reps!

    This is our second Strike a Pose (Serps) session

    Thank you!

    in reply to: Kathy & Bazinga #94022
    Kathy McClung
    Participant

    Hi Tracy!
    We tried the 2 jump game. I broke it up into 2 clips. The first one the jumps are aligned and the second one, I moved the 2nd jump out twice. I’m not sure I moved it out far enough. It was interesting. Things were going smoothly & it made me question if I was doing it right…but I think we are actually getting it!!! Eeeeek!
    How do you think the timing is looking? I feel like I am either waiting to see her commit to the first jump & then I’m behind for the BC (we dropped a few bars) or I am blinding too soon, but she’s just being really good about repeating the pattern.
    I’m excited to try the sequences when we are ready! is 40x40ish enough room for those?

    Straight jumps

    Offset jumps

    Thank you!

    • This reply was modified 3 months, 3 weeks ago by Kathy McClung.
    in reply to: Kathy & Bazinga #93826
    Kathy McClung
    Participant

    Good morning! I bet you suspected that there would be a tunnel in today’s video 🀣 There is!

    >Interestingly, the backside verbal helped connect you better. When she was not going to the wrap wing, you were a little disconnected and pointing forward while she was still behind you (:24 and :35 for example). But then when you went to the backside verbal, your connection also got much clearer: >

    Thank you for this feedback. So it was really my body language that was working not the verbal. I had a lightbulb moment that, if I am seeing what I want in my head, while I say the verbal, my body actually does what it is supposed to. Like “believe in your verbal”.

    We went back to week 1 & did the Tunnel game. I was late. a lot. Bazinga gave me lots of grace!
    It is hard to tell (because of my lateness) but we started with the blind cross on the flat & then tried to do the blind before she got into the tunnel. I was so slow to react when I saw her headed to the tunnel! I think I actually got a few in before she was in the tunnel. Then I tried the front cross before she went in the tunnel. It really felt like a “cheaty” front cross, so I’m not sure I did it right?
    Bazinga was very happy to zip through some tunnels tonight though, so she was happy either way πŸ™‚

    Earlier we did a session of the 1 jump game & we worked up to moving the wings. Then I flipped the course but when I watched the video, I realized she was still going from my right to left. (face-palm)
    In the first half, I see that I was early a few times. I need to remember to stay connected to her until she finishes the wing. I guess I’m rushing.

    Thanks so much!
    It is supposed to rain all day today (tuesday) I’m hoping for a break in the weather so we can play.

Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 306 total)