[Khamsin Giedd]

Hi & happy new year!!

We had another busy week with family visiting, but have been getting some good training in.

I’ve been casually working on retrieves when we are playing at home, and got some of our good reps on video from last week. I was just sitting on the floor for this, so I think we’re starting to put pieces together.

We also had a chance to do some power patterns in the chaos of class set up last week. I thought it went pretty well!

Today we did some turn & burn 1st attempts, which were a little clumsy on my part, but I think he liked it. 😜

We also did some RCs on our sends to the prop. Not 100% sure I’m doing these right but…?

Backing up continues to be vexing, even with a destination. I ended up luring it with kind of a chute today, just so I could capture him backing up and not moving into a sit. I’ll keep playing with it in the next few days.

Thanks!!
Khamsin

[Khamsin Giedd]

Hi!!

More stuff today, with some help from Sarah.

We revisited turning on the plank. The dog walk plank was still a little narrow, so I switched to a wider one, and he was pretty solid. He loves to run across it, so my biggest challenge is catching him before he’s to the other side!

I also got a hamper to do some wrapping. We didn’t do turn & burn, but he had no trouble with the new hamper and with Sarah as a distraction!

We did some toy stuff with Sarah running as you recommended. This was great, especially because he’s a bit of a momma’s boy. 🤣 But he was a very good boy!

And lastly, we did some of the power patterns. Zero problems with this, my boy knows where his food comes from. We’ll take it on the road and add some more stuff tomorrow!

He gets to meet rats tomorrow at a barn hunt lesson, so this might be a great opportunity to practice!

Thanks!!
Khamsin

[Khamsin Giedd]

Hi!!

We had a few sessions today. First – he can do the bucket with me standing, no problem. I think he’ll like turn & burn, so we’ll start that next!

I’m not doing well with backing up. He just wants to sit. I think I should try something behind him that feels different for him to target with his back feet? Curious on your thoughts.

We also did some baby retrieves later on. He was a little tired at this point in the day, and in other attempts at this has been more willing to bring stuff to me. He doesn’t seem into the party of one thing (right now) but…?

We are going to a trial tomorrow so I will try some of the pattern game in the warmup area, away from the craziness to start.

Thanks!
Khamsin

[Khamsin Giedd]

Sigh. Holidays and all that jazz, I’m behind, yada yada yada. We are working on stuff, I just haven’t videoed everything, and we did take a few days for holidays. But, I’m off for the next several days, so hoping to get some quality videos!!

Anyhoo! I hope you had a great holiday! And here are some vids.

1st: I tried more sends with a little more space. Got a little greedy on some, but I swear I tried to remember to use the dog side leg when sending. He was a good boy. I was… mostly good. 😉

2nd: I forgot my bucket and my bowls, but I had a cone and a milk crate, so we improvised. I think he’s definitely starting to get the around the cone (or whatever) thing.

3rd: Didn’t have a tippy plank, so did a plank propped up a bit, which was new for him. I thought he did well on this one, but he didn’t want to turn around on it. I didn’t push that much though, figured I’d stick with his comfort level.

Last: We were outside working on Badger not hating him (sigh) and I decided to do a couple of toy races (with the most lame running on my part, but oh well). I thought his focus was pretty good, especially with the other dogs around and being outside!

Also – we’ve been doing a bunch of resilience walks in lots of different places. Most recently at my cabin, where he got to do a ton of sniffing and exploring and other stuff with some support from Mochi (who literally takes everything in stride) and some on his own. He’s still a bit wary of some stuff, but he recovers really nicely, so I like that a lot.

Thanks!!
Khamsin

• This reply was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by Khamsin Giedd.

[Khamsin Giedd]

Hi hi!

Thanks for all the info!

I tried the bucket game again with me sitting on a Klimb. And I swear I tried to shut up. I sped this up a little bit, because we had some sitting & thinking (which I think is adorable).

I also tried to do more of a send to the hat, but I’m not sure I did it right? He seemed a little unsure, so I rewarded at the hat more often than not? I think in the video you were rewarding after she left the thing?

Lastly, we did more plank stuff on the tippy Cato. It was interesting, he offers this all the time on his own, but when I wanted him to, he was acting like ‘eh.’ Not sure if it was a pressure thing or…? Interested in your thoughts on this! I don’t think he’s worried about it, but it was odd that he only seemed to want to get on certain ways.

And lookit me not hoarding ALL of the videos. Baby steps.

Thanks!
Khamsin

[Khamsin Giedd]

Blergh. More video hoarding. I had another trip, some illness, and blah blah blah. Also, OMG, baby puppies are a ton of work. Anyhow, We’ve actually done a bunch of sessions of some of this baby stuff, I took the most recent videos to give you the best idea of where we are now. Also, I took time today to get organized and actually plan my training (what a concept!!) so should be better from here on out.

So, here’s a sampling!

GOAT stuff – continues to be a favorite activity. He loves to climb (and launch himself off stuff :|) but we did some wobble board & plank stuff this past week, wobble board (1st time) and plank. On the plank one, you can see how he’s getting great at shifting from food to toy! Which is awesome.

Here are some more toy races, where I tried to be a little more Jimmy speed appropriate.

He’s getting super good at his send to hat:

Working going around a bucket:

Less hoarding now, I promise!

Thanks!
Khamsin

[Khamsin Giedd]

Phew – I’ve been hoarding videos. Also, life is busy and puppies take a lot of energy. Especially when they eat EVERYTHING. So this might be a bit of a novel.

First – started sends to a thing. Super baby steps, and we’re using a hat because I couldn’t think of anything else. We’ve done this exactly twice. I feel like I might be helping too much, but he gets distracted by the possibility of food, and forgets about the hat. Sorry that these are both kinda long, I cut out when he was out searching for treats that I threw too far, but wanted you to see the sitting & thinking thing (he does this quite a bit).
Session 1: https://youtu.be/Xt23KtwY8YE
Session 2: https://youtu.be/1IUIZk2qsVA

Second – toy races. We started these over the weekend, and he’s a little meh on getting the toy when I’m running. I think as we do more, this will improve, but right now, we just played a lot.

Third – a variation on the blind cross thing, we just tossed a treat and then worked on playing with a toy because FOOD IS LIFE and we were in a new spot. He actually did pretty well with this!

Fourth – Goat stuff. I think my bigger problem is going to be keeping him off things. He has happily hopped up on anything within reach, and a few things that required a bit of a struggle. He’s been on the tippy Cato board happily and will just hop up on anything. Here he is with the cat donut, both on top and inside (:|). And yeah, he was playing with a rock. No judgment.

Fifth – a question for you on resilience walks. He has spooked and alarm barked at a person walking a dog across the street (after the dog made noise at us). This isn’t really a behavior I want to let him rehearse, so looking for some advice on that one? I didn’t have treats with me (duh) so I just got his attention and we went along our way (away from the person/dog).

OK – I think that’s it for now. Will work on doing a better job of spacing stuff out a bit more!

Thanks!
Khamsin

[Khamsin Giedd]

Hi! We’ve been doing lots of stuff, but I’ve been bad about videoing.

Thanks for the feedback on drive to toy – I totally forget how much of a baby he is!!

We tried the two bowl game and I actually got that one on video. I recorded the whole thing, but sped it up for playback, as it’s moderately boring. 🙂 He got the gist of it pretty dang fast (because FOOD!!).

And today we did some blind cross foundations. I think I need a little more space for this, because I couldn’t really move much, but it maybe wasn’t the worst way to start with a baby?

Also, I realized we’ve been doing tiny resilience walks around the neighborhood! I’ve just been taking him out on leash and doing little short exploration walks, letting him lead the way – he’s largely been great! A little bit of initial stranger danger, where he wants to back away, so I’ve been moving with him, and he typically gets over it once the person is closer.

Thanks and hope you’re recovering from the Open! Was so fun to watch!
Khamsin

[Khamsin Giedd]

We worked on the drive ahead and drive to handler exercises over the last couple of days. I missed video on the first round of drive to handler from yesterday, but here’s today’s:

For driving to toy, we’re struggling a bit with the toy release (my boy can really clamp his jaws shut!!). So I added some food, which allowed us to work on the switch from toy-food-toy because that’s been really hard too.

More to come tomorrow. Good luck and have so much fun at the Open!

Thanks,
Khamsin

[Khamsin Giedd]

Merry Christmas!! We finally got to do some training over this weekend. Was a good break from the in-laws. 😐

Anyhow, we did a few things over the last couple days.

First – zig zags, and I paid super close attention to her starting spot. Was pretty consistent, though I did screw up on one rep. Sigh. BUT!! Definitely made a difference.

Today, we did some organizers and it was way better than last time. I tried to look in the right places and we stuck with food vs. toys.

We also tried the backside zig-zags today. I think she did pretty well, though she does tend to tick the bar when it’s on her left, which is interesting.

I’m interested in your thoughts on this. I should have one or two more sessions in the arena before class is over.

Thanks and hope your holiday is great!!

Khamsin

[Khamsin Giedd]

Hi hi!

Thanks again for the extension, even though I can only work stuff on weekends, it’s super helpful!

So we did some zig zags with higher bars (12”). Generally pretty good!

The next day we did some organizers. I remembered my Cato board, so these went a little better. I tried not to praise for the sit, but she’s getting into the slow-Mo sit thing again. I’m also having trouble with the FC (vs the post turn), but I think it’s because I was starting out facing her. She pretty much refused to work for food, so we had a little extra hype with the toy. :/

Looking forward to your thoughts!!

Thanks,
Khamsin

[Khamsin Giedd]

Hello!!

We did a bit of training this weekend, and also had a couple runs at a trial (AKC).

I did some more zig zags, tried to add more motion. She did really well! I accidentally started at 8”, but moved to 10” and she didn’t have any issues with the moving toy:

And then, after a break, I tried some organizers. I don’t think this was the best idea, I think she was a little tired. Started at 12”, and went up to 14”, with mixed results. Also tried some front crosses. Overall, it was… OK? But it took me too long to see she was tired, so that’s why we stopped after only a few reps to the right.

We also had a gorgeous open JWW run this weekend with one bar. I’m pretty sure it’s because I disconnected before she took jump 2, so she thought we were gonna race? I was trying hard to be on time & smooth, but I don’t think I managed it. I’d love your take on it if you’re willing to watch!

Thanks!
Khamsin

[Khamsin Giedd]

Hi hi!

We did some stuff this weekend. Had some time indoors on Sat, so I worked the zig zags. She did great on the 3 jumps, I ended up opening the angles a little bit after 2 reps (1 each direction). Since it had been a week, I started easy, but I think she did great! I kept the toy stationary for these.

After a break, we did some moving toy on just one angled jump, to see if she could keep the bar up with the motion. She did it, but it was harder. There are 2 reps that didn’t get recorded because I don’t know why (smh) where she ticked the bar pretty hard. I just reset her and did it again (it was right after I changed the angle so she was starting on the other side). The one rep you see on video was great.

Lastly, today we did some outdoor stuff, because a bunch of snow melted!! Just the sits on the platform with the jump – she actually did these great, especially considering we hadn’t touched them in almost 2 weeks!! I raised the bar 2” because I thought it was going really well at 10”.

Should be able to do a little more tomorrow, and then we’re expecting more snow, so back to weekends indoors.

Thanks! And huge thanks for extending thru Dec!!

Khamsin

[Khamsin Giedd]

Hello hello!

I am back – vacation was amazing, but I came home to snow in the yard, so no more outdoor work for the near future. 🙁 I have access to an arena on the weekends, so I can do stuff there, but I know class is ending soon. Any chance you’d be willing to continue this on a private (and paid, of course) basis – like once a week video or something? I know you have lots going on, so I get it if that doesn’t work. I think this is a big help for both Mochi & me – we actually managed an Open JWW Q on Saturday! So awesome!

In the meantime, should I continue to work on occasional platform sits & indoor stuff as exercise/maintenance activity a couple of times/week? I’m assuming it doesn’t hurt to revisit that stuff, as long as I’m not overdoing it?

Thanks!!
Khamsin

[Khamsin Giedd]

Hi hi!

Congrats on some great runs at the Open (I’ve been stalking livestream – I really wanna go to that next year!!).

We had a little time and decent-ish weather so I did a few zig-zags under the lights. We went back to the stationary toy for most reps and a little bit of moving toy for the last couple. But back to stationary for some success at the end!!

This will be the last post for a week. But we’ll get back to it as I swear I’m seeing improvements in class already!!

Thanks,
Khamsin

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