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Yes, the weather was quite lovely “up north” where I grew up 10 miles from Canada in MN. It was nice to get away to the sticks and chill a bit.
<<Was it Loretta’s seminar? I think she was in your area last weekend?>>
YES, it was Loretta. I have only worked with her twice now, but feel she is so good with taking on challenging topics and being a real advocate for the dog while also recognizing what’s going on in the handler’s psyche, without ever sugar-coating anything.Thanks for sharing the story about your 18-month old and the quiet vs. busy spaces. It’s nice to get additional examples like that to support what I’m going through. I’m glad you have so many dogs that you can learn have such diverse experiences to draw from!
<<you don’t need to reward him for taking the tunnel>>
Yes, you are quite right!! I need to remember that…he doesn’t need a reward for every oopsie, particularly when I am very sure of my cues being correct. Thanks for the reminder!<<So be sure to mix in some tunnel sends too>>
Ah yes, right again! I think I will set this one up again as it was fun to work and I think the discrimination is very valuable.Tracy – thank you for yet again a really wonderful online class. I know I have a long way to go but I learned SO much from you once again. I think Reacher and I are coming together slowly as a team and I’m pleased with our progress. Much of that is because of your talent in training, and teaching and brilliant feedback always. Thanks for everything and I’m sure we’ll see you in another round of something.🙂
<<So in classes – add in having people in the ring being frozen zombies who stare at anything else except the ring. LOL!>>
NOTED! Will definitely have classmates help me out more by getting in the ring and being “weird”. I’m sure all the dogs could use that too!
<<Yay! And I bet those people were being normal and watching, not frozen ring crew zombies LOL Out of curiosity – was it weaves on matting, or on turf?>>
Yes, for that first round people were being normal. And interestingly, it was on matting that I considered pretty poor in that they were even more slippery than the ones at my current training center. This a place that doesn’t have many trials, mostly teacup, maybe a few AKC. So I was surprised we got them. On that note, this seminar was mostly about ring confidence, not agility handling, so luckily on that matting we just did short very simple courses. The main point, for Reacher anyway, was in fact to get weird people in the ring and work through it. It was definitely a challenge for him but that exposure was set up well and he worked through it. It was nice to do a quick 1/2 day seminar on a topic that just focused on that kind of topic and allowed the dogs to work through those kinds of challenges that Reacher saw in the trial but in a new environment, but one that was very controlled in that we built up the level of “weirdness” slowly.And I guess this will be my last video for class, that I managed to capture before going out town for the long weekend. This is the entire session. Had a few challenges but I think he had fun working out this setup.
~Kristin
Whew! Been busy and kind of deprioritized LYD stuff for a bit but worked on a few things today around the big stuff that was still out in the field.
But first, we had a really good time doing UKI last Saturday. We had three runs and he did well in all. I didn’t get the last one on video which was unfortunate because we had a lot of good contact practice in that one with a lot of speed.
The first run shown here had me making a major error which was not to redo something. I have no idea why I did that because nothing was on the line and I assumed a refusal was a NQ anyway so honestly why I fixed it was a total brain fade. But it didn’t seem to dampen his enthusiasm, so that was good.
Then, we had another NFC run and he could not weave on those poles with “not all the legs” so we need to keep working on that – I still need to get a set and keep working just 6 in class until he gets it. We were at another training center on Sunday for a mini-seminar and the weaves were right in front of where everyone was sitting at the front of the room and in the first run it was tunnel weave at a place he’s never been before and he nailed those weaves like a champ! The bases were different in shape, but again, had legs at every pole, so I’m even more confident that’s his issue. But on this one I can see we need to work on “leash off, engagement on”. LOL! I was happy about his enthusiasm and also know it needs to get channeled differently. I should’ve done more tricks and personal play first.Also on this run he did bypass some jumps and we just kept on going and realized later that that huge toy was sticking out WAY farther than I thought and I imagine that was also pretty distracting for him as I was crossing and running ahead. I was not always connected either, but I’m sure that floppy tail of mine was kind of weird. LOL!
And then, for LYD class stuff I worked on the weave turn away tunnel layer thing. I realized I didn’t quite know how I should cue that turn away, but when I came in making it look more like a rear cross that helped, and then adjusting to not get so far ahead that he took the tunnel instead helped us be successful. That was all reps. I found that I did get a little stuck being still on that last rep but if I had more space between the obstacles I doubt I’d have that issue and he got it anyway.
Then I tried the dogwalk layering to weaves bit. I did only 2 reps of that but forgot to hit record on the first one but he did both reps perfectly. Last time I tried this setup he missed it so I think he’s learning!
Ultimately, I was super happy with how confident he seemed at the trial. We did a lot of perimeter walking and I had him out longer before the run just hanging out which is tricky to get right so he doesn’t get too tired but I think I found a good balance for him this trial.
Will try to squeeze in another session before class ends!
KristinWhew, been awhile since I posted! Have had to prioritize other things than LYD Camp lately, but have a some video from the week to share.
First, thanks for the good advice on the weave pole bases. Talked to hubs Rich (the machinist, remember) and he said no problem I’ll make you some new weaves bases with the legs wherever you want. What?! Really? Yay!! May take a bit since we’re both busy but it will save me from trying to find some to borrow. May still do that but for now I’ll wait.
That being said, in class last Monday I decided that I’d only work 6 weaves with the “weird” bases. We had a experienced instructor sub and I explained the issue. She watched him very closely. She thought he was definitely looking down more than forward. I’m just showing a few reps here, but we did a few more with 1 other failure but wow you could tell he was REALLY thinking hard in the middle of the poles especially. Back to this weave topic in a minute. But also in this class, we once again struggled with the threadle. I tried so hard to throw my arm way back and it feels like I am but video shows I’m just not. Maybe I need an much more different visual cue for that besides the verbal. Or, what else do you think I should do to work on this? Clearly it’s me, but I just can’t seem to get all the pieces together. Threadles are my nemesis! LOL!!
So today I went to Jacque Hoye’s Speedy Courses mini-seminar at OTR and here are some highlights. Sorry the camera is just SO FAR away. Couple of interesting points… he was doing great but missed a jump after the A-frame on the first course. It didn’t seem like I made that big of a disconnection, but what do you think caused that?
He didn’t miss a single weave pole and he did them so fast! But they had out the white bases that had a leg every single pole. Maybe that’s why he has always gotten his weaves at OTR but I swear they normally had a competition base same as in my class at Fusion, but maybe I’m just not remembering. Anyway, I was loving his weaves! Then, the best part of the day really came in the last clip that I know is SO far away, but it was kind of like our last Pkg’s homework where we did the turn away to the weaves. Now, I know this setup didn’t have the jump after the tunnel, but I practiced the turn away to the weaves without me layering at first, then in that last clip tried to layer and it worked! This was actually extra hard because although the tunnel entrance was only about 6′ from weaves laterally, it was a slightly curved tunnel as I think you can see then the distance increased as he was weaving. Didn’t seem to bother him at all. So I think once we get this base/legs issue solved he’ll be a weaving maniac. 😀
Let me know what you think,
KristinThank you very much for the videos of your RDW. I can definitely see the results of the leaping over the apex – so cool! I will have to consider the regulators.
<<You’ve had two dogs where running contact training went smoothly? That is impressive.>>
Well, yes, the truth is that other than being able to get two agility CH’s on a highly reactive dog this is my proudest achievement is having great running contacts. But I was *meticulous* and did huge amounts of groundwork and prevented mistakes SO HARD. I don’t know if you remember a famous competitor Ali Roukas-Canova but she had a running contacts video and I just thought once that what the heck I’ll try that (quite long ago!) but if I was going to do it I would be very literal in applying the method and see what happened. I figured if it didn’t work out it would be way easier to go to stopped contacts. But it worked!
I don’t have a lot of bit agility accomplishments to my name, but this is the one thing I can call mine that I actually did well. I have to hang on that when I think about how many other things I have messed up! Ha!
I never needed the regulators before because Emmett in particular you could absolutely see how he’d regulate his own stride to get feet in the yellow specifically between the last two slats. It was actually the coolest thing to see in slow-mo how he’d adjust his own stride to hit the right spot. It’s my only claim to fame that no one remembers. LOL
Here are a few fun videos of that:
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19RPH6h5o8/
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1CfC4hdUBw/But this time, I admit I spent less time on the groundwork hit the target *at higher speed* and I’m wondering if that is part of why it’s less fluent at this point. I may go back and work that because it can be pretty fun too.
Regarding the weaves… I did the experiment with the poles in class last night and I am thinking it might be the bases after all. At Fusion they have the competition poles with the legs in completely different spots than my set of 2×2’s at home. And while he does sometimes get it at Fusion and quite 99% of the time so far at On the Run (who I assume have the same competition set from what I recall) it makes more sense to me that it’s the legs vs. pole color given last night’s test.
Here’s some video:
I hate to paint my pretty aluminum bases at home green, but am thinking I might need to do that! Then I’ll have to paint them tan to match my downstairs carpet in the winter. LOL! But what do you think? Any other experiments I should try? Or how to resolve? For example, he’s never seen guide wires, but should I try that?
Thanks!
KristinFirst, I hope you are doing okay-looks like it’s been a really tough week. Hang in there.
<<He was looking at you on the RDW – he might need a focal point to drive to, that is not the TnT 🙂 It can be a jump wing or something that he can lock onto so he accelerates down the ramp and off it (while still maintaining criteria, of course :))>>
Yes, I do think he’s ready for moving some jumps after the DW. I’ve been doing that on the flat with the target and it’s being going pretty well, so thanks for the nudge to get that worked into the practice.<<I think the noisiest part might have been the center ramp of the DW moving?>> Yes for sure the DW was making noise and I was surprised at that because it’s not done that before that I ever remember. Even as of last week when I had it in a different part of the yard it wasn’t doing it, so I do have to check out what the rattling is really about.
<<Have you ever used stride regulators? He is being careful to get criteria, but you can use stride regulators to get him extending even more and then still getting criteria.>>
I have not used stride regulators before and admit I’m not really how to use them in this case. I’ll also acknowledge that this running contact training isn’t going quite as smoothly as the past two times I’ve trained it with my other dogs so I probably need to learn some new tricks. Do you have any recommended resources for how to implement them in training? I’m a little worried Reacher will think they are super weird and slow down even more, but it’s probably my lack of experience with them that makes me think that.~Kristin
Thanks for the tips. Since I had some time to set up a full course and haven’t done that yet this summer I thought I’d try it out here in Week 4. This was from YESTERDAY. I took your advice and got him a bit more ramped up at the beginning, and surprise!!, he took the off course jump instead of the a-frame. Ha!! I still gave him a reward for that of course.
Then had another surprise with a balk at the teeter, which had me thinking maybe he’s sore again, but I think it’s just been a long time since I had our teeter out and despite calibrating with weight I think it does tip heavier than others. He seemed to get over it fast and we went on. I rewarded the dog walk and weaves. He did two sets of 12 weaves perfectly in this session so I don’t think his weave issues in class are from pain, but whether it’s environmental or the pole colors is still TBD.
It’s hard to see on the video but I did cue him incorrectly for the second-to-last jump as just a brain fade on my part but no biggie.
We ran it a second time just to try to get more flow and I thought it went okay. I always wish he was a little more excited, but he’s doing fine. He’s thinking SO hard!
I threw in a little running dog walk video practice from TODAY just for funzies. He didn’t fail one time. I think the dog walk speed will come eventually. It’s distracting too because Rich had his CNC machine cutting parts again so it’s a bit louder out there. But it actually sounds a lot louder on video that I think it does in person!
Then a little surprise for you at the end…I just tried to do the super hard weave entry from the tunnel under the dog walk just for kicks one time. I actually think he *might* have gotten that entry but I didn’t realize that hubs had wandered out there and was standing just under the lean right about the other side of where the weave entry is and he was NOT out there before. I didn’t actually know he was there until after I sent Reacher to do the thing or I’d have skipped it. But he still got snacks and I’m surprised he still gave it a pretty good try! I’m honestly surprised Reacher didn’t stop and bark at him.
Might try course 2 tomorrow if it’s not too smoky around here. I’m not overly sensitive to that but the air quality has been a bit bad. Yesterday it was such an obvious smoke smell. Kind of ruins the outside time! Which is sad now that the heat has toned down we have smoke. 😕 Oh well, still better than those poor folks in that situation.
~Kristin
<<And also with weaves, keep tabs on any physical issues because if something hurts, then imperfect weaving in different locations are usually the first sign.>>
Totally agree, that was the issue last time he stopped weaving, and it was combined with not doing the teeter. I absolutely had that thought in my head too. But since he’d been weaving well at home I thought it was less likely, but still could be because he’s just more confident at home too. Will keep an eye on it!<<It could also be the different bases, and where the feet are on the bases. Are they the same color/width/foot placement as at home?>>
Good point on this also! I’ll check that the next time I’m there. I think they are purple on blue matting. And mine are aluminum on grass or tan carpet, so that’s for sure different. I’ll check the leg spacing next time I get a chance too.Since I had to train early this morning before your feedback came in I tried the same exercise except with the weaves. The video shows all reps. I used the extra momentum by starting back farther to help me out since that seemed to work with the jump. I had the weaves about 12′-15′ from the tunnel, so pretty close compared to where we want to be, but I thought he did well after the first rep, particularly since the soft side is definitely harder.
Just doing some short LYD things since I’m spending the rest of my time on running DW training. Gotta take advance of that during the summer for sure!😀
~Kristin
It’s been a minute since we did CAMP training! Now that it’s not as hot as Hades I got out early this morning. It’s going to be so nice temp-wise today that I will probably try a second round later. We worked on the Other Side of the Dogwalk. I thought 24′ to start would even be too far for Reacher so I believe the distance was about 20′.
I edited out the eating out of the ball and me moving the wing to the other side (did just the wing since I realized how close to the dog walk it was), otherwise this is all reps and transitions.
He was definitely confused about the assignment at first, but was game to follow direction at a distance once he was sure that’s what I wanted. Should I do something differently or is it just more reps to give him more confidence to go straight out to the jump? Should I bring the jump in even closer?
And also, I have a weave question. Reacher has been struggling to get the weaves again a bit in class, but I *think* if the poles are all the same color it’s less of an issue. And he weaves well at home, but of course I have white poles with stripes. I’m hypothesizing that the new solid color poles in all the rainbow colors is sometimes hard for the dogs to process depending on the flooring color, pole color, etc. When I look at them with the DogVision app I can see how it might be really hard for the youngsters. Not that we know for sure what they see, but if it’s even close I kinda get it. I’m planning to bring my poles to class next time and do an experiment, but was curious about your thoughts on this. I may paint my home poles or worst case invest in a new set so I can really test the difference. Am being very careful to make sure I’m not just making this into an excuse, more curiosity about all the things that might be causing this difference (home vs. not-home being the most obvious). What do you think?
Kristin
THANK YOU for the timely and sound feedback! We got out in the field this morning about 7:30AM to take advantage of a glorious 60 degrees!
So we ran it again, breaking it down and rewarding some parts.
<<Wraps were a little harder – you were throwing the reward a little late, as if waiting to see him take the jump but you can throw as soon as he is arriving at the backside wing.>>
I think I still was throwing the reward a bit late but I’ll keep working on that.<<The other thing to consider here is using two different verbals, rather than a compound verbal for the wrap.>>
Okay, you’ve convinced me. I had tried it but nothing was sticking in my head so I guess I had given up, but I’ll use Dig Dig and In In and just practice more until I’ve got them in my head. I’ll do whatever I need to to make it more clear for Reacher, so thanks for the reminder and nudge. I just have to work it myself so I don’t forget to use my words!<<Then when he is approaching the 7 jump, you can be moving away to 8 and calling him which should take his eyes off the line to the tunnel.>>
I really tried to follow this advice and still think I was a little late, but it did work out and he got it!We still had a little issue with the backside wrap but got it the second try and I think if I work on us both learning the verbal as you suggest it will really help.
Thanks again, I really appreciate your coaching!
Kristin
Hello! We worked on the countermotion exercises yesterday, a short session and here are all the reps. I feel like I personally was concentrating more than when I tried to work similarly on the jumping course #1 that we did this morning!😆
Backside with Countermotion – These are all the reps. On the wrap where we had the oops, it seems like I was moving too horizontally vs. forward in a straighter line but I’m not sure if that is exactly what caused the error or something else. What do you think?
The jumping course #1 was pretty fun! Had a few surprises but would like to try it again tomorrow if you can help me work through the errors.
On the wrap on what I think was #15 jump it seemed like I just took off too suddenly before he was committed. No worries, we just kept going.On the second rep we had a bit of a bobble on the backside push, but the big surprise was him taking the tunnel instead of the line of jumps. I thought in the moment I hadn’t really said anything to him after the threadle so he made a choice. So I just set up that little sequence (didn’t start from the beginning) and spoke to him a lot more and got up down the line, but he was just into the tunnel!🤣 He got a reward both times so he was happy, but would like to get thoughts about how to handle that better please.
Will be getting out early tomorrow to beat the heat and then get ready for what looks like a week of rain.
~Kristin
Tried out a walkthrough today. Somehow managed to walk course 2 not course 1. Not sure why I ended up with that page in the field instead of 1 but no matter. 🙂
Did have a mistake at #9, and I was pretty sure what I did so ran it again. Didn’t correct my mistake as well as I had hoped on run two but he got it.
I did a slow walk through, regular speed (and I never quite know what speed of dog I’m going to get but usually slower than I think), then run 2x.
Let me know what you think.
KristinHi Tracy,
The screenshots were SUPER helpful, thank you!! Had to share a few victories from our regular agility class last night. We did the threadle wrap and push wrap and he nailed it! And then we did some layering, followed by a threadle almost-wrap in another section. I actually laughed when walking the course because it was like she’d read a bit on Package 2 homework.
So on the video, the first clip is just showing the yellow tunnel to the threadle wrap (even with another tunnel entrance close that provides an option to take), followed by the blue jump in the foreground. I tried both the threadle wrap and push wrap and he got both no problem. I was pretty surprised that he got the threadle wrap! Unfortunately, you can’t see it because apparently my batter died just as I was walking out on the course, but thought I’d show it just so you could see the setup. I was celebrating that victory after struggling with those threadle wraps all last week!
Then, we did some jump to tunnel layering, which I could’ve had more distance, but he got it 2 out of 3 tries. The second rep on the layering I could see on the video I had disconnected from him and so I’m guessing that’s why he came in. THEN, we had threadles again that were what we’d really been struggling with on the Jumping course 1/2, jumps 1-3/4. This one didn’t have a full wrap but a bit softer turn to another jump but close enough to count! I was just happy he got the threadle at all after how we’d struggled. I waited until I for sure saw his eyeballs looking at me or the proper side of the jump before I kept moving.
So, we’re making progress!
Taking today off from training and maybe tomorrow too for a probable rainout, but hoping to try out the walkthroughs later this week.
~Kristin
I decided to flip the order on the discrimination just for fun and have the tunnel as the closest obstacle. I think he did much better with this. To be fair, I did push the things a bit closer together this time, although the camera angle does make the jump look a bit closer than it actually was IMO. I just think he prefers the jump. So, we’ll work on that!
Now, for the pull threadle again…Ugh, SO HARD! 😂 I see on the first rep (of the pull threadle, not the push one) my feet were totally pointed to the jump, not parallel, so taking the front side makes sense. But the next ones, I’m not sure what’s going wrong. I even tried adjusting to not be as far ahead, and then another adjustment of the jump so the wing wasn’t as far out from the tunnel exit and we’re still not quite getting it. More advice please!😀 I just don’t get it; he’s gotten this move several times in class at Fusion with no issue so I’m not sure the deal now. I with there was an easy way to find those class videos!
Pro Mosquito Tip: Wear long sleeves even if it’s hot. You’re sweating your ass off either way, so might as well get less bites.🤣
~Kristin
