[Kathy]

Hi Tracy,
X-rays are done. He was out of it for a day and then another day to get his GI tract settled. There were some irregularities in his sacrum but the radiologist doesn’t think that would cause him to limp. He does have arthritis in his right hock and there is some thickening suggesting an earlier traumatic event, possibly a break? This is a little vague since it was a voice mail. The vet is sending everything to the chiropractor and the PT person. It sounds like we can work with this, maybe? Anyway I am being careful with him and just running on the flat. I have the jumps at 6 inches and we are staying off the contacts. We are working on the starts and doing some jumps and tunnels to keep it interesting. We have an appointment with the chiropractor on Thursday. He seems comfortable and eager to work.

We rented the ring at the venue where we have done a lot of trialing and where both dogs (and me, too) have seemed to experience a lot of ring stress. I practiced the behind the back starts with Buccleigh. I was really pleased with his ability to focus. Should I be moving sooner? I am trying to make contact with him as soon as I can as he comes around. I can stay ahead of him if the course curves quickly but if it’s a straight run he beats me every time. I need to practice this without me holding treats. That will be the test of whether or not I really have his focus.
This is a compilation of our practice. We did this in three separate short sessions with breaks while I worked with Keltie.

We finished the last std course for package 2 with Keltie. We did the first run without stopping. She missed the downside contact on the dogwalk, took the wrong side of 9 and then had trouble at 12 and 13. She did get the weaves!!!
I took some time and walked the middle section of the course and then ran it again.
So on the second run we started at the dogwalk. We got the contact and 9, 10 and 11 with dog on right but I had trouble with 12 (threadle). We practiced that from 1:20 to 2:09 on the video and were finally successful. It felt awkward so I reviewed your tips and decided to try a blind after 9 so I could handle 10-13 with dog on left and push to the backside of 12. The first time we did that she went to the wrong hole of the tunnel. We got it the second time because I handled it better. We generally have trouble with threadle variations so I think the lessons this week will be very helpful.

[Kathy]

Hi Tracy,
This comment made me laugh. “At. :39 you did 2 blind crosses on the jumps before the tunnel. I don’t think you need those, you can just run up the line dog on right after the FC and push her to the tunnel.” So here’s what I was thinking after the first blind. “Oh *****, I wasn’t supposed to do that, did I really get the front in? now I’m on the wrong side. I’m not supposed to stop. Tracy said do not stop. Blind! Tunnel!” I didn’t stop! lol!
We had some ring time inside today so I worked on the layering with Keltie and I tried being more vocal “giving directions not love” I think she liked it. We were working on sequence 5 and I just realized we did the front side of 4 and were supposed to be doing the backside of 4. She had trouble with it so I did a quick little training on the jump and she started to get it. I think it would have been a little easier doing it the correct way. But, the question I have is, is it oK to go in a little past the tunnel while she is learning and work my way out or should I be making sure the threadle skill is stronger before I attempt the layering.

I did more starts today with Buccleigh. I made sure I had some space to get a round the wing and that helped. Unfortunately I didn’t think about the wing being in between Buccleigh and the camera so there wasn’t much to see on the video. X-rays tomorrow!

[Kathy]

Hi Tracy,
I think I am making some progress with mindfulness and being in the moment. The dogs spent the day hanging out and watching me build and walk courses interspersed with time learning to enjoy the kiddie pool. Buccleigh is better at this than Keltie who acts like putting her feet in water is like touching a hot stove unless super yummy treats are included.
Today we got up early before the heat and ran the week 3-4 standard course (Keltie). It went pretty well. We layered the dog walk since there is a large bush between it and the rest of the course. There was an opportunity to layer 9 between 16, 17 and 18 and 12, 13 and 14. I choose not to do this instead running close to the tunnel as we had discussed earlier to help maintain the pace. This seemed to work pretty well and she moved nicely through most of the course. She did slow down both times from 15-17 and I think it was probably due to the fact that the “cookie chair” was off course between jumps 15 and 21. I am going to move it the next time we try to test the theory. We didn’t re-run 1-7, because that went well except where I almost ran into the wing of 3. I did rewalk that without Keltie and then I ran 1-4 with Buccleigh later and I was much improved. On the second run I wanted to clean up 7-10 and get the weave entry. We did one practice of the weave entry before attempting the next run. This was better, but I need to continue training more independence. It is a hard turn into the weaves.
The first run I really got out of position after the front cross at 11 and I struggled with it on the next two runs. The last run I got it but it brought her to a standstill so maybe there is a better way to do this?
She also ran around jump 19 on the last run. I haven’t figured out why but I don’t think I had a good connection there. All in all, this felt like an improvement.

I am working on the behind the back start with Buccleigh. I haven’t been successful in getting him to stand in front of me. If I get him to focus he either drops into a sit or down. Do you think it is OK to start from a sit or down or should I work on a stand?. He seems to understand the hand signal as long as he is focused. I am trying to figure out when I should start moving and how. I noticed that he is very intent on moving with me in the direction of my feet so that he isn’t focusing on the jump. I am wondering if I should stand off center of the jump so I can just walk or run straight forward. I am going to look at your demo videos closely today to get some more tips.

Buccleigh seems well. He is very feisty and it took some patience on my part to get him to focus and not argue with me over the amount of time it was taking me to load the food toy. No limping that I can see. I have contacted the PT rehab person he saw after his accident in 2020. We saw her remotely because she was in Europe and it was hard to find people because of COVID. She is returning to the US and hopefully we can see her in August once we have the x-rays. Is that what you mean when you asked about a soft tissue person?

[Kathy]

Hi Tracy,
I don’t understand this:
“Opening – she got it but I think you can do the blind between 2-3 so she can chase your line there rather than stopping for the rear cross.”
I ran this with dog on left from 2-3 and then pushed to the backside and continued forward so she went around the opposite wing and onto the teeter now dog on right. Is the last part what you are calling a rear cross? I think it might be but I never thought of it that way.
If I do a blind between 2 and 3 then I need to turn towards 3 at just the right time to keep her from taking the front side of the jump. I think this is going to be hard to do.

I walked this and then tried it with Keltie and it was difficult. When I reviewed the videos, it looks like as soon as I turned my left shoulder towards her she turned into the jump and it was clear to her that she should take the front side. The last try worked but I felt like I was way past the jump and just standing waiting for her which isn’t a good strategy for maintaining speed.
I am interpreting your comments correctly? This seems like it is a threadle, is it? I am wondering if the pool noodle might be helpful here so I am cueing the line a little better.

Bucccleigh went to the vet this morning. He was favoring his right hind leg, the same one he injured in a fall almost 2 years ago. There is nothing obviously wrong, but we scheduled x-rays for next Tuesday morning. I am going to just work on the flat with him until then. He is his usual self, no limping and no obvious pain. He seems to enjoy working on the behind the back starts. He clearly loves cheese puffs.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by Kathy.

[Kathy]

Hi Tracy,
Good point about ending training before we are all exhausted and hot. This is a lesson for me and it is being reinforced in the head space course. I am really driven to do everything and get it perfect. It’s hard to back off a little and enjoy the small moments.
Buccleigh came up limping after his last run on Monday. It seems to have resolved after about two hours but I want to get it evaluated by my vet before we do anything too strenuous so for now we are just working on flat work, primarily behind the back starts and learning to enjoy the baby swimming pool.
A question on the behind the back start. We have reached the point where he will circle behind me and then go forward to a wing. Do you have any videos of how you set the dog up for a run? Should I have him sit facing me and then signal the start? Currently I don’t usually let him go until we start so I am not sure that he won’t take off as soon as I let him go. He has a pretty strong drive to look for the first obstacle so when I try to start this in front of a jump he really wants to go to the jump and it takes a lot to convince him that he should go behind me.

Keltie is enjoying her time in the spotlight. Here is a video from this morning of the week 1,2 standard run course 1. It’s hot and this is in the morning with wet grass which is not her favorite but she did pretty well. After the first run, I wanted to see if we could get the push around 9 better and then maintain the speed through 10 and 11. I also did not handle the threadle very well at 14-15 so I wanted to do that better. She got her weave entry but then she skipped a pole or two. I elected to ignore that. This happens somewhat frequently and it is something we need to train.
For the second run, I decided to start at the tunnel 7, since the start was OK and I want to not stress the dog (my new #1 objective!).
I felt like the push to 9 was better but she still slowed down on that line. The threadle was much better and she got her weave entry but still skipped poles. I know I lost connection at the end so she missed the last jump. We had a little party and headed inside where she settled down to clean up her feet!
I think I need to explore the 9,10, 11 line and figure out why she is stopping there. And for weave training, it looks like she knows where to go in but she needs a little help with bending enough to get the second pole.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by Kathy.

[Kathy]

Hi Tracy,
We tried the standard course from week 1. I felt confident about my plan but I was using blinds between 2 and 3 and 3 and 4 and I couldn’t get ahead by starting with a send. The video does not follow the rules because I returned to the start several time to try to get the first couple of jumps. I did use the cookie reset which kept him focused and working with me. So 0-1:22 is just the first 5 obstacles and it never worked very well. Then we went on and reset a couple of times for 8 and 9. This is from 1:22-3:00. Run 2 starts at 3:00 and I tried for a startline stay which I got for about a nano second but I also used rear crosses instead of the blinds which got us through but with most of the bars down. The rest was OK. I was very happy with his weave entry and speed.
Yesterday afternoon, I bought my pool noodle. I was getting it out to try it and Buccleigh grabbed it and wanted to play with it. This is the first time he has spontaneously showed an interest in any “toy”.
So this morning I wanted to see if he would play with it on the field. The last section of the video shows a run with the noodle (3:42). He ran but I am thinking playing before the run was good but running with it was not too helpful. He did engage at the end of the run but not with the same enthusiasm. I think the heat was starting to get to him and he was more interested in food treats than playing. I did try the behind the back start which we have been practicing 5:33. I think that is going to work. He was willing to move through the first 6 obstacles pretty well. After that he was definitely finished which he indicated by skipping the teeter. I used low value food treats throughout the session since my experience has been that toys and high quality food don’t usually work together.
I would like to build the toy drive if he continues to be interested in the noodle and I would like to get the behind the back start. I think that would give me better handling options and decrease his frustration. Playing with the toy seemed a good way to keep him aroused but not frustrated. Do you think it might be a good idea to focus on Keltie with the complete long courses and build the startline and do the courses in pieces for Buccleigh? I was very happy that he came out to the field today excited and with enthusiasm. It is definitely hotter today and he still wanted to engage with me but in the shade and not too much running after we worked the course.
As an aside, last evening we were playing in the yard with some cheese puffs and I sat each dog one at a time on the Cato board in front of and between the jump and tunnel. I was standing behind the board and I just said either jump or tunnel and watched. Keltie was 100% right and Buccleigh only missed once. It was a fun game!

[Kathy]

Hi Tracy,
We worked on the verbal skills yesterday.
Buccleigh seemed to be frustrated in that he was running to the tunnel but then wouldn’t go in , instead turning and barking at me. I thought maybe it was hot and i was trying to do too much so I went our this morning and limited the session to just 10 tries. I tried to make him successful. It went pretty well until 5:38 when he headed to the tunnel and then turned and barked at me. He won’t come to me when he barks like this but I wanted to limit it so I threw a cookie on the ground and told him to get it.
The video is the entire session since you said it might be helpful to see everything on this type of session. The tunnel refusal with barking is at 5:38. He also did a little of this type of barking between 1:31 and 2:15.
Do you think I should throw cookies on the ground to get him to stop or is this rewarding the behavior. An alternative line of thinking is that I am doing something to elicit this behavior and if I could figure out what is is and stop it, then the problem would disappear. He has been doing this when we run courses at tunnels. I associate it with me rolling my shoulder as I look towards the tunnele and away from him (something I am trying to cure [think pool noodle])

[Kathy]

Hi Tracy,
I have to credit Kim with the pole idea. It’s a little awkward, but it works. I am a little worried about the possibility of impaling myself so I am going to try some modifications maybe with a pool noodle and a hands free model.
I am excited to try the games and start to work on the behind the back send so we will try those tomorrow.
Running the full courses has been really helpful and I get a lot out of the planning part so I am going to try to plan really well to use the dogs more efficiently.
Kathy

[Kathy]

Hi Tracy,
I wanted to run the Jumper2 once more to use the wrap you suggested on 13 and work on the tunnel threadle. I planned my schedule to get out early in the morning to beat the heat.Neither dog was very enthusiastic about the arly start. I am not sure why-maybe because the grass was really wet and a little long. Buccleigh was slow and very sassy. I wasn’t cuing the line very well and he let me know it. I chose to retire gracefully with an exit down the line of jumps to the cookies. So I made a video of Keltie. She wasn’t to happy about the grass either, but she is less critical. The first run I carried a pole to remind me where my chest was pointing. I know this was the problem I was having with Buccleigh. It really helped with Keltie so she ran pretty good lines and we were able to get the tunnel at 17. We did miss the last jump because I was juggling the pole. The second run, I left the pole and things were going well until I went the wrong way after 14.
Even though this wasn’t a great day I feel pretty good about our progress with the courses. I think the dogs need a day off so tomorrow I will build the standard course and walk it and then I will pick up again on Friday. I also mowed the grass which should help with the wet grass if we try for early morning again :-).

[Kathy]

Hi Tracy,
We went back to the Jumper 1 course for the second round while we waited for feedback on Jumper 2. I tried to send further from the jump which works but I think I need to practice moving more away from him. I think I am waiting until I see him take the jump before I move. On the first run, I was late for the blind and I couldn’t find him. He was very patient and just stood there until I did connect and then we continued. This was different!
I was still too far behind to blind after 13 and cue 14. We got the right end of 17 and he drove ahead of me nicely at the end.
On run 2 I wanted to try to shorten my path from 11-13 to try to get the blind. Still late on the blind at 6 and this time he didn’t wait and took the tunnel-like he should. I just kept going and sent him over 6 and we continued. Still couldn’t get 14 and then things fell apart. I did a reset at 15 and we continued with another good drive to the end.
That was two runs but I really wanted to see if we could do the slice at 14 so we started at 13 and we got it. He was running well but maybe not as fast as he would have been coming on the run from 12.
I feel that we have made progress with this.
Too hot and thunderstorms today but we will work on some of the week 2 skills and try to do round 2 jumper 2 tomorrow.

[Kathy]

Hi Tracy,
This is very encouraging feedback!
You are right about the heat. I knew that he is affected by it but I didn’t realize how long it takes to recover. And these courses are long. I thought there were challenging just because I am such a newbie so it’s good to hear they are “really” challenging.
Yesterday I decided we would start with a different course so we did jumper 2 and I did most of the work without the dogs, reviewing your hints and walking and planning and walking some more. Then, I did two runs with Keltie which were successful, but slow. I followed with 3 runs with Buccleigh. This procedure seems to work pretty well. I had trouble remembering the 15, 16, 17 segment and completely skipped it in the second run. I really wanted to try it so we did the third run and I am sure given your observations that on a hot day 3 runs is too much for Buccleigh, but he was running fast during the 15, 16, 17 part and it illustrated how hard it is to get him to threadle a tunnel. He seems to focus on the tunnel really early and it is very hard to change his mind. The confidence building part for me of all of these runs is that I was able to do the blinds before the tunnels. I have been avoiding these because I didn’t think I would have time to get ahead to do them. But I can, if I plan my route. Yay!!!
We will go back to Jumper 1 today. I’ll incorporate your comments and do a detailed plan and limit the dogs participation to 2 runs. It is cooler today but still sunny which makes Buccleigh hot.
I wasn’t aware of all the praise I do but it makes sense that there isn’t that much time and it would be better used by cuing and since Buccleigh does like to run I am sure he would appreciate knowing where to go.

Thanks!

[Kathy]

Hi Tracy,
Here is a video of Buccleigh doing Jumper course 1. I ran keltie on the course first and it was challenging but we were able to work through it. The tough parts were jump 4, I needed to cue that strongly to get her to go out and get the jump since it wasn’t quite on the path., then jump 7, but I was able to get ahead of her and do a front cross which worked very well, then jumps 12,13,and 14. we got the back side of 12, then dog on right at 13, then a blind and cued the backside of the left side of 14 so she wrapped the left standard and then into the tunnel. It didn’t feel great but it worked.
That was the plan for Buccleigh. Wow, Buccleigh is much faster than Keltie and and things quickly fell apart. I was behind by jump 4 so I couldn’t push him out to take 4. No chance for a front cross at 7. We got the backside (I was really late but he responded in an amazing way) but couldn’t get in for the backside at 14.
before the next run I tried a couple of different starts to see if I could get ahead and planned to try a rear at 7 followed by a tunnel cue. Still not great. I do think that we were able to improve the start. He was hot so we went in for a short cool off and a drink. During that time I thought about using my verbal out to get jump 4. When we came out he was much slower and less feisty so the challenges were different. We didn’t work very long but I think the “out” was successful and I need to remember it. The rest, I don’t know, so before doing any more I thought we should get some help.
I just got started on the head space course and some observations: My perception of how we did was much worse than the videos look. I wonder if I should look at the video before I decide what to change for the next run. I think he was hot and tired for the last set of runs but he was excited to go outside for them so I wonder if my perceptions of the “terrible run” might be leaking out a bit and affecting him.

[Kathy]

Hi Tracy,
I have the course built and I am practicing walking but the dogs both went to the chiropractor today and they shouldn’t run until tomorrow. So I am waiting but in the meantime I have a question after watching the Live camp last night. You worked on some individual parts of the course to make sure the dogs had the skill before running the entire course. Can we do that with these courses before we do the first run for the video? There is a place in these courses that is similar to the sequences from last night where you did a flick into the tunnel. I am not sure my dogs have that skill so can I test that before we run the whole course or would you rather see the video of the entire course before we go back and fix things? It sounds like this might be OK since you are suggesting we try the dog walk before we run the course.
I have been working on continuing to move even if I make a mistake and that has worked very well at keeping both dogs moving. Generally if I make a mistake and Buccleigh knows it he reacts by barking and then once he has completed yelling at me we can continue. The “stress” stopping is different. He starts out moving and then gets slower and then he stops usually in front of a jump. There is a strong correlation between stopping and a judge moving towards him. If I keep moving he just stands and watches me, sometimes he sniffs the bar or yawns. I can often get him to go again if there is a tunnel or a contact nearby that I can cue and then after he starts up he continues moving very fast especially since we often are working on a path that leads towards the exit. Things seem to go better if I interact with him before the run by letting him watch the dogs that are running and moving further away if he gets too excited and just telling him how much fun it’s going to be. On my part I can do this a lot better if I have a plan and run it like he is going to run and try not to doubt that he won’t run. So- the “Head Space” course you suggested sounds like it will probably help a lot.
Hoping to have some videos tomorrow.
Kathy

[Kathy]

Hi Tracy,
I understand what you are saying about running small dogs. It is tricky finding the right balance because she does like to chase me but I need to plan to not get too far ahead so that I have to stop or slow down. You are right that this means I have to run the long way a lot. Fortunately I do like to run-it’s one of the best parts of the game for me. I will work on this and think about it when I walk the courses. I think learning more about this as I go through this course will be an excellent goal.
Buccleigh is still having his moments when he isn’t feisty and stops. I took Bobbie’s course and that has helped so that we did have some fast and feisty runs at our last trial and he has been doing well in class and at home. He really reflects my moods. So if I am happy, confident and upbeat he does much better. He is more tolerant of my mistakes as long as I don’t make too many. This is a lead up to a question about the course you have on-line (In the Zone-21 day mental prep masterclass). Since both of my dogs have a tendency to shut down at trials and I am the common denominator I am thinking that my stress might be a significant factor. From the description, I think this course might be really useful for me. Would you agree?
Last question. I need to modify the standard course to fit it in my yard. I made a short video to show the modifications.

Please let me know if I should change anything. Don’t forget the sling shot video.:-)
Kathy

[Kathy]

Hi Tracy,
Didn’t get to practice yesterday so I am sharing practice runs today with both dogs. I did the second round using the same dog and sequence that we did in the first round.
The first is seq 3 with Buccleigh. I was trying to send to jump 4 and then move up the line as you suggested. In the first run he came with me instead of taking 4. On the second run, i tried to support him more on the send. I looked at the video and I think I was able to do this and he took the jump. Run 3 looks good too, I think.

The second video is seq 4 with Keltie. My goal was to try to improve her turn from 4 to 5 and to work on the timing for the wrap. She started out slower today. I don’t know why. I do think that I was not as confident handling 4-5 which may have been why she really slowed down there. On Run 2 I tried to cue the turn earlier but I didn’t support the path and instead turned my entire body and she did exactly what she should have done and I pulled her off the jump. I think I started to get it for the next two runs. On run 4, I was trying to wait to turn for the wrap at 9 until she passed me. She was running slowly so I needed to slow down and then she slowed down even more. On the next run, I tried to wait a little more at the tunnel so I could keep moving and give her a chance to catch me and pass. I feel like this helped a little. Between run 4 and 5 we did two runs of sequence 3 because I think she gets a little bored or tired if we run the same thing too many times. It did seem to perk her up a bit.

I think I am starting to understand the timing better but I still need work. Should I continue practicing the sequences or try the courses? I am going to need to modify them because I don’t have quite enough space. The field has some irregular edges so I hoping to find the right orientation to fit most of it in.
Kathy

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