[Kathy McClung]

Good morning! The universe needs way more puppy footage…just sayin’…😁

Thank you for the detailed & great answer on the Threadle Wrap & Tandem Turn – that really helped solidify it in my head. I have a hard time with body movements and really need to move through them & get them in my head and that helped a lot!

We did another session of the Zig Zag game with 4 ft bars instead of 5ft. I may try the weave poles next but she did good on this session.

We tried the first 2 lead out games – baby levels. We had some trouble with bypassing jumps. I’m pretty sure it is because I am not reconnecting fast enough and she needs more connection. What do you think? I was pretty excited she was getting the Blinds on the takeoff & landing side though!!!

Lead Outs and Big Lines 1: Sequence 1 & 2

Lead Outs and Big Lines 2:

Thanks so much!!!

[Kathy McClung]

Twisty!!!! It has noodle vibes! PT! PeeeeeTeeeee!
I love him already!❤️
I am still giggling at Elektra being the Angry Hummingbird!

Teeter behavior:
Maybe I should teach her to do a scratchboard while I’m at it so she has that skill too? I’ve seen some videos on how to train it. Then transfer the target to the teeter before I fade it out with the scratchboard?

Thank you for the advice about the plank & Hot Sauce’s video! I can finally use the contact mat I bought a few weeks ago and try that ☺ Boingzina needs some lessons.

Apologies ahead of time…I have a question about tandem turns & the verbals:
>> So adding more lateral distance and rewards from your hands can help set them up. We can also call her before she gets into the tunnel, and add the threadle wrap verbal which will help discriminate!

Tandem turns, lap turns, threadle wraps, backside wraps (and even the tunnel threadles since I never really was successful training it before). I am super excited about these moves, but they are new to me and I have never used them on an actual course. I’m trying to figure out how to think about them so that when I am walking a course, I can see where/if they would be appropriate or the best move. So my specific question is – does the tandem turn move morph into Threadle Wraps? Or will the Tandem Turn be it’s own move (where we both turn together & go in the new direction together) and the Threadle Wrap will also be it’s own move where she comes in to me & takes the jump from the other side, wraps the wing and I keep going & she completes the wrap & follows me? But they are related like the Tandem turn is the basis for the Threadle wrap? I’m sorry if I am overthinking it!
My bigger question is what is the best way (other than putting it to use) to figure out when these moves are best? Is there a general “guideline” for each one? Like Rear Cross = when the dog is ahead and you need to make & turn & change sides? Thank you for the help!

We took a break from the Wingin’ It games today and did the Zig Zag game & the teeter side approach.

Zig Zag Game:
I may need to make it smaller. Would I need a shorter bar?

Teeter approach from the side:

Thanks for watching!

[Kathy McClung]

>>Good morning from lovely Florida!!
Yay!!! Where in Florida are you? We are in the Panhandle in Carrabelle (south of Tallahassee)
Huge Puppy Congrats!!! THEY ARE SO CUUUUUUUTE!!!!! I can not wait to hear his/her name! You are a naming goddess!!!

>>I almost snorted coffee out my nose on the first rep of the first video hen she smacked the crate with typical Bazinga emphasis LOL!!

Hahahahaha! She needs a warning label!
Thank you for the great feedback!

Teeter Games
>>The other thing I like to do with a 4on and small dogs is to teach them to dig at the target. That gives them something fun to do while waiting the decades it takes for the board to drop, and it keeps their weight back. Does she like to dig at all?
I haven’t worked on that with her but I can try it. I actually think she may not have that much drop time on the teeter if she gets to the end. She is 13 pounds. She probably should be 12 but her vet likes this weight while she is still weaning off her meds. I think she’s a little “chonky” lol. How much does Elektra weigh?

>>You can use the target at the top of the mountain climber game and see how she feels about being that high off the ground and getting into position – that is probably what will happen when she is doing the full teeter!

We did the Mountain Climber again and I rewarded for her touching the target & crouching or laying down. She started to get the hang of it on the high teeter.

We did a session of wingin it – turn aways: lap turns & tandem turns.

We worked on the Serpentines again. I was even able to straighten the jumps a bit. I’ve got to do it from the other side now.

We did another session of Tunnel Threadles and Tandem Turns. She was doing great the with figure 8s but once I changed to the soft turns (left and right) we had trouble. She was coming to the inside of the wing. I was trying to stay connected but we struggled. What is interesting is that we took a short break after that session and did a session of the Wingin’ It Tight Blinds to Wraps and she had no problem getting the wing for the blinds – with no verbals. I must be doing something weird to throw her off with the turns? Here are both videos:
Tunnel Threadles and Tandem Turns:

Wingin’ It Tight Blinds to Wraps:

Contacts Foundations: Plank Confidence
I haven’t had her on the plank in a while, and when we left off you suggested raising it a tiny bit to see if it helps her keep her feet on the board. This session went a little off the rails when I tried to add the curved lines. I borrowed a second Manners Minder and maybe it was too stimulating to have two going at once!

Thank you so much!!!!

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

[Kathy McClung]

Hi Tracy!
I saved these until you were back online so there are a few!

We did 2 more sessions of the tunnel discrimination with a different crate. It has A LOT of value. I tried to keep them easy & short. I put a harness on her and I think that added some “stuff” for her too (not bad, just new) I think the 3rd session showed some improvement. I changed the way I was saying “crate” to be more like my “jump” verbal and less loud & fast like my tunnel verbal.
Session 2: added a harness here to help line her up

Session 3:

Wingin’ It: Tunnel Threadles & Tandem turns
I have a question about the collection cue you mentioned. We haven’t trained a collection cue yet. How would I introduce that? Is it something like “whoa” or “easy” for the verbal with a decel body language?
I did the session and used my wrap verbals and tunnel threadle verbal “kiss,kss”.
When we got to the figure 8s, I kept front crossing and getting on the wrong side for the threadle. I hope I didn’t mess her up too much. I stopped when I realized that I was messing up and worked through it without her. My brain. It is special!

We did another session of the bang it game on the teeter! I think she did a lot better getting into the down position.
>>I am guessing the angle of the board made it harder for her to get fully into the down? That is something we can watch as we add more and more of the teeter skills. If the crouch is a more comfy and balanced position then she can do the crouch instead of a down. The crouch also looked more comfy on the 2nd video, where she was hopping on the side.

I think I am fine with just the crouch/play bow and not the chin touch since the teeter will have some kick-back when it is in motion. But I am guessing that we try to keep as much of the down position as we can and let her fade it as needed as she gets used to the motion once that is introduced?

Concept Transfer: Lead Outs
We did 2 sessions of these over 2 days. The middle one (stationary) was hard for her. I’m glad you showed how you broke it down for CB – that helped! I did “catches” between each position change but edited a lot of that out and allllll my walking into position for the lead outs, so you did not have to suffer though that!
Session 1: Moving Blinds & Stationary FC/throwback

Session 2: Continuation of Stationary FC/throwback and Lead out push. On the lead out push, I had to really support jump 3.

Thanks for watching all these!!!!

[Kathy McClung]

Hi Tracy!
We did some last night and this morning so we have a few (ok, a lot of) videos for you!
Thank you for the feedback on the discrimination game! I will keep the next one short and I have a friendlier crate too. I was worried about her paws as well.

We added the tunnel to the Serps and kept the jumps angled.

We added the tunnel to the Threadle Wraps!

We tried the Bang Game on the teeter! The target was not sticking because of too much dew on the teeter. We had a lot more butt-up-in-the-air but I tried to reward when she dropped the booty. She seemed a little less confident than indoors but she still seemed to be having fun.

We also started to try getting on from the side, but I was having trouble figuring out how to get her to the approach correctly and we lost her down & chin rest. I decided to stop and figure out how to do it better. Here is a super short example of what it looked like.

She was ready to run tonight so we tried to do the Straight Lines with Rear Crosses to see if I could improve my cues. I think we made some progress but I feel like we have a ways to go before I feel confident about our rear crosses. We took a break in the middle of this session so I didn’t wear her out.
I am losing her at the second jump and she is cutting behind me. I must be losing connection or turning my back too much?

Thanks for all your help!

[Kathy McClung]

Hi Tracy!
Kisses to CB!!! I hope he is feeling better. <3

We did a session of the Lazy Contacts game with the target in place and 1 rep. She loved it!

We started the Beginning Contacts Discriminations. I needed to get my mechanics of holding her worked out. We have not been working on that. I want to teach her to stand between my legs to help me get her aligned without having to move her with my hands. I’ll start on that. I think it may be good for our startline routine too. Especially since I can’t seem to figure out how to teach a pivot to get her to line up to my side.

We did a session of the serpentine concept transfer baby level yesterday and forgot to hit record. She did really well because I did better with my position from the wings, body language and also with better exit line connection. We did another session this morning and I think the lesson stuck. She did a great job (I think) even with distractions like clouds of smoke from my neighbor’s fire and a service repair person standing in the driveway while Frankie barks at them. I ended the session because there were too many distractions to be fair to her, but she did a few reps during the chaos!

Thank you for watching!!!

[Kathy McClung]

Hi Tracy!
Thank you SO MUCH for the Serp advice (for both pups!) I’ll watch my position so I’m in the sweet spot & not too close or too far for my next session with Bazinga. I can also see how subtle my upper body cue is. I will work on that form!

I only have questions this morning. Bazinga had a check-up today. She is doing well, one small setback of a tiny ulcer in her GI but they think she’ll be healed in a week or so. Today I have to actually, for-real-real, go into the office. The horror. So no homework this morning.

I am going to obsess a bit about tunnels to see if I am rear crossing tunnels when I shouldn’t be. Can I come back with questions if I start driving myself crazy?

Lazy Contacts Question
>>So you can take it a step further: reward in position one time, then release so she gets a cookie off to the side and has to jump back on and into position to re-start the targeting (rather than scooting back up the board then back down it LOL!)

She is so funny doing this game! She is having fun with it!
Question: Do I put the target down & reward in position & throw the reset cookie and leave the target in place and repeat? I just wasn’t sure if I needed to add the target each time after she gets on the board.

Thanks so much & have fun & good luck this weekend!!!! I hope CB is ok!!!

[Kathy McClung]

Hi Tracy!
Thanks for all the great feedback & thanks for answering my many questions!

Tunnel Entries & Exits:
>> At :34 proved she is understanding the GO verbal because you did a RC (which is a turn cue) but said GO so she went straight. Wow!

I’m glad you mentioned this, is this something I should not do with a tunnel? Rear cross the tunnel if the next obstacle is straight ahead? I try to never use a RC on jumps if there isn’t a clear turn to the next obstacle. I rear cross tunnels often & I’m trying to think…do I do it it mostly when the tunnel is curved in a different direction? Is that ok even if the jump after the tunnel is straight ahead?

>>What does Frankie’s serp usually look like?
Thank you for the advice on this. Here is a clip of our most recent 3 jump serp. It was at NAC in Premier Standard, so I was on my best behavior here <grin> I feel like, now that I’ve examined it, it is my beginning “swoop” on jump 1 of the sequence that cues Frankie it is going to be a serp line. Then my position on jump 2 pulls her in. She is pretty independent on going out for jump 3. I can see my body language is different from what I am trying to do with Bazinga. My shoulder is perpendicular to jump 2. I may need to get her used to the new picture. I do think the new picture may giver her better information once she learns it. Although she’s really good on serps even though I do not look the best. Maybe the new move can improve our lines.

Here is what Miss Bazinga worked on today!

We did another session of the Serpentines. I tried to stay closer to the jumps (angled jumps) and I tried to go slower too. We had different results on the “misses” but it seemed like she was drivng out to the 2nd jump better. What do you think?

I wanted to get one more session of the Lazy game for contacts before we try the next Teeter game. You can see what happens when the board comes out! 😆

We have been doing short baby sessions of the motion override game since it was very hard for her. We are making progress!

Thank you for all your help!!!!

[Kathy McClung]

Thank you for the feedback!!!
OMG! That tunnel game was LIFE this morning!!! Bazinga was so excited to let loose!!!

We did a session at breakfast and then one after dinner just because they are such good girls &they thought it was so fun! I only submitted the first session. Second session was similar.

We did the 1 jump & 2 jump Serpentine concept transfer too. I angled the 2nd jump to start & moved it 2x until it was straight. She got the turn aways but she was tracking the toy.

I did the same session with Frankie who loves serps and she ran past the jumps, which I think means my “usual” serp body cues are different for her. How do you evolve your mechanics when you have multiple dogs that may have different nuances? Do you just remember which dog needs different things on course or do you keep training the newer mechanics with all of them?

Thanks so much!

[Kathy McClung]

Thank you for the laser-beam-accurate feedback!!!
We did a bunch today, so I’m sorry if I am overloading you with videos!

Lazy Game: Contacts
>>That was so kind of her to encourage you to give her the treat! LOL!!! And if that is how she offers the down… cool! We will take it AND give her the treats
Hahaha! I know! I’m a sucka to look at it that way, but I know that is what she is doing. 🤣

Rear Crosses:
>>What was happening was you were running the straight line parallel to her line until she was committed to a takeoff spot, then cutting into the RC line – that was too late for her to change the striding to turn away, so she didn’t read the RC. It is possible that you were waiting for her to get past you or get closer to the jump before showing it? But by then, her decision has been made.

Thank you for the feedback on the rear crosses! Yes, that is exactly what I am doing! I totally thought I was doing the right thing – that I had to cut later so she saw the pressure change, so I was never going to figure that out! Thank you for the description of what I should be doing. I’ll try that!

Threadle Wraps:
>>I like ‘round round’ – it describes the behavior and I think it sounds different from any of your other cues. And it brings up a cool 80s song in my head (you spin me right round baby right round hahahahahahah)
I was thinking of that song too!!! Ha! Have you seen this?

We did another session of the Wingin it – tight blinds to crosses. I added the front cross on the first video and added the spin on the second video. We had some trouble in the beginning and she was going wide and not reading the blind cross. I realized that I was not keeping my eyes on her and was breaking connection, so I tried really hard to keep my eyes on her. When I did it felt like we did better. I also really tried to keep control of my arms. Probably more work needed on that.

I will say this…there is more video footage of me trying to figure out how to correctly do the spin by myself than footage of Bazinga actually playing the game! 🤣 I do not know why that is so hard for me. When I actually get it, it feels so simple, but until I get it…it is calculus!

Tight Blind to Front Cross

Tight blinds to Spin

We did our first session of the Threadle Wraps. I do like the new verbal🙂 it makes me not feel so serious about the move.

We did another session of the Lazy Game: Contact with our new board. I hope this one will be ok for these sessions. Can I still do the “Love the slam” game while we are doing this one? We only did one session of that game, so I’m not sure if we need more of that game.

Thanks again!

[Kathy McClung]

>>She definitely loves her plank game and her target!!! Is the down position something you have worked on in the plank context, or is she offering it because she read on Facebook that the down is a good position for small dogs on teeters? LOL!!

She must have read it on Facebook! 😂 I think she wanted to offer her backup behavior to encourage me to give her the treat but she had no room to move & offered the down instead. I made a longer board today. It isn’t flush against the ground there is a little step up but I’ll try it and see how it works.
We practiced a few things today. I think I was just off. Yesterday’s session felt great and today, it just didn’t seem to click. I tried a few different things because I wanted to take advantage of the weekend and catch up. Maybe I should have taken a rest day. The Tandem turns improved a bit, I thought. I paid attention to moving past the jump and looking at my hands. We tried the Straight Lines with Rear Crosses again and whiffed out with no success. I had her do some Go! Go! Straight lines to keep her successful but edited them out. Thanks for any advice & help on these!

Straight Lines – Rear Crosses

Wingin It: Tunnel to a 3-jump ladder
We did a session on the opposite side from session 1. We did them from a stay at the tunnel so I didn’t tire her out too much. I wanted to see how we did from the other side.

Wingin it: Tight Blinds to Wraps 2 Ways
Baby level session. We just did the blinds. I didn’t like our timing, so I ended the session there.
Maybe I’ll have some latent learning overnight! Ha!

Tandem Turns – session 2 from both sides:

Thanks so much for watching!!!
Now I need to pick my Threadle Wrap verbal. I’m thinking maybe “round, round” (short for around). I think my brain will “see” that and help me communicate it.
Also, I saw this term and never considered this before – what is a Weave Threadle?😮

[Kathy McClung]

>>Please post a photo of her with her ribbons (they gave our ribbons, right??)
Yes! I will take a Frankie photo! <3

>>Yes! Was that after the dog walk? I remember seeing it somewhere but I didn’t get to watch much of it. I bet some of the handlers handled it as a threadle wrap, because that would be very effective there too!

You are so right! It WAS a Threadle Wrap and now I totally understand the difference between the threadle wrap & the backside wrap! LOL
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VG9oIGehds9x94SQTJsr27RLdYtDCSN6/view?usp=drive_link

Wingin It The Ladder:
>>so you can move right behind her like you did but without as much speed – and throw a reward behind you to the landing spot to help reward her for continuing the wrap even with you moving forward like that.
Thanks for the feedback on the circle wraps. We did another session of the Ladder with 2 jumps session and did the blind crosses too. I added some reps where I just dropped the lotus ball at the exit side of the wing & kept moving. I kep my “back, back” duck call!!! Hopefully I’ll only need to use it once per course IRL! LOL

Tandem Turns:

We started the baby level of Tandem Turns. Going to her left was harder. I’m not sure if it was because of my physical cues or if it was just hard for her. I also think I started with too much distance. I’ll start closer on the next session

Lazy Game with contacts:
I introduced a cardboard target like the one you described yesterday and we did a few sessions so that she had some value for it. She loves targets! We did a session of the Lazy Game with contacts. I think this board may be too short to work for this game. I had no room to place the target. It was pretty funny. I’ll need to find something better for inside. I can use our plank outside.

Thanks for watching!!!

[Kathy McClung]

Hi Tracy!
OMG – Frankie was amazing at NAC!!! SHe had 3 clean runs & ran so happy! I was over the moon!!! Thank you! I feel like all our work on connection is working! <3 And also working on our mental game & our routine outside the ring.

I had to laugh when today’s game was the Wingin’ It – ladder with 2 jumps with backside wraps! That was the make-it-or-break-it move in the challengers round on jump #16! It was death-defying to watch!

Here is Bazinga giving it a go! Also. Seriously. Warning. I think I can’t use “back, back” as my verbal. I am so annoying!! I can’t use “dig” even though I like it because I used to use that as a turn towards me for Frankie. But I need something that I can say without sounding like Fran Drescher screaming “duck!”
Any ideas? maybe “around”? Again, I apologize for this video! Hahahaha!

Question on the Lazy Contacts game. For a 4 on dog, is it better to have them touch the target with their paws – like a mat touch? Or is it ok if they touch it with their nose? Bazinga was paw touching her dustbin but I think if I use the round target I have been using on the teeter, she will put her nose on it because I have been putting food on it and sending her to it. I’m not sure which target I should use.

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

[Kathy McClung]

Hi Tracy!
Thanks for the feedback. The RCs are people-hard for me. When it happens, I can feel it but it is hard for me to put all the pieces together to make it happen nicely. I’ll try these again. You descriptions are helping – I think I just need to keep moving towards the center of the jump & be better at recognizing her commitment point.

For the Threadle Wraps and the Backside wraps. I think I need to choose verbals.
I’m using “push” for backsides now, so maybe “back” for the wraps? What do you use for your threadle wraps?

We did another session of Wingin’ It Countermotion & Commitment. We started where we left off and tried the 4 wings and the racetracks.

We did Wingin’ It: Tunnel To A Wing too! That was fun. SPINS!

Me & Frankie are going to NAC!!! 🙂 Today I’ll do more with Bazinga and then see what we can do in the hotel room the rest of the week.

[Kathy McClung]

Hi!!!
Yay! Thanks for the super positive feedback! ☺ That made my week & it is only Monday!
The MM hand bop was too funny! She is such a stinker!!!

We are working on the Motion Override a tiny bit each day. I realized after your feedback that I always give a hand cue when I ask her to sit so I’m working on just the verbal with no hand cue and no motion and then I’ll add a tiny bit of motion in when I think she is getting the verbal alone.

We did the beginning of the Concept Transfer: Straight Lines 4 ways. We did better on the Rear Crosses from the sit stay which I think was an improvement over our last RC session. When we added speed, I think my body language changed and we were not successful. I needed a pretty good lead out to get the backside with some speed. Looking forward to your feedback ☺

Thanks!!!

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