[Kristin Omdahl]

Okay, well Reacher has been thoroughly worked over and he definitely had some extreme tightness and vertebrae out of alignment in the lumbar region, which likely is contributing to the poor weaves and teeter jump offs. He’s been to the chiro, massage therapist, vet for bloodwork, urinalysis, and tick-borne illness test. Vet testing was all clear so it’s either just a bit of a training regression or enough pain was caused by the lumbar issues.

I’m getting a second chiro in 2 weeks, and another massage next week because she said she had more that needed work back there.

I did miss class on Monday due to MY shoulder being completely jacked! So he’s not done agility since we started doing all these tests and treatments.

I think I’ll take a step back with the weaves and teeter to ease back into it. Any other suggestions?

Talk to you tonight!
Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Well, we have chiro now lined up for Saturday, massage next Tuesday, regular vet for bloodwork/UTI check next Wednesday. The good news is also that his regular vet works part time now at the rehab clinic my dogs also go (although knock on wood Reacher has not needed them except for initial evaluation and cleared for jumping), so there is some nice synergy there.

I’ll make sure there’s no medical issue and then start making a few things simpler again with weaves and teeter so it’s all happy and fun.

<<He was definitely pumped up! It sounded like some of the barking was ‘yeehaw!’ And some of it was alarm barking? But I don’t really know his ‘voice’ all that well 🙂 If you feel he is tipping over into overarousal, you can add in a pattern game to balance him back to optimal arousal.>>
Yes, he had multiple yeehaw barks and them some alarm barking (that was indeed his voice!) although I’m not sure what he was alarmed about in that case. Maybe just all the movement all of a sudden when people started going into the ring to set bars. He is normally so quiet that I was kind of happy he was feeling confident enough to vocalize that way. I sure as heck wasn’t going to shush him in that moment. And also I will for sure go to pattern games if it escalates too much. Of course I’m still figuring him out and I’ve had previous dogs that barked more when they were nervous, but generally Reacher is more quiet and slinky when he’s worried.

<<There was a jump right on the other side of the weaves – maybe that is a visual he has never seen?>>
Definitely possible. I’ve been thinking back and likely ‘no’ he has not seen quite that setup before. Once he’s cleared medically I can work to set up some more different setups at home first and see what he thinks. Things like that, and working on dog walk confidence, are on my Kanban board to tackle soon! 😉

I’ll keep you posted on all the medical stuff just for funzies.

~Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Thanks for the great thoughts. So much good advice there.

<<Do I recall correctly that he thought it was weird? The food box is definitely something to practice because it can be super useful (and your area uses it a lot more than anywhere else, which is really nice>>
Yes, he thought it was super weird the 1 time I tried it. Like he got scared of it actually and tried to get out as fast as possible. Since then I’ve been too worried to try it as I don’t want to have a bad experience. I do have an idea of how I could bridge that considering I know where the food boxes always go at trials in our area.

<<When you say he’d be brave for snacks (this is relatable LOL) do you think he might normally have some concerns about people?>>
No, I do not think he normally has people concerns. He just doesn’t typically care about people either way. Sometimes he’s curious, but doesn’t love much interaction. Other times he just doesn’t seem impressed with other humans besides Mom and Dad. So, not concerned, just not registering as fun unless there might be food involved. 🙂

<<Yes, on the human side of things – but the dog sides of things should limit failure to scenarios where reinforcement is available right there and almost no failure in the competition scenario.>>
YES, DEFINITELY. I certainly didn’t mean let the dog fail too many times. I think I just meant in experimenting with things I will just learn what works better than other things. “Fail” is probably too strong a word there. 🙂

<<And of course after this class officially ends you can always send me Facebook messages about how he is doing 🙂>>
Wow, I definitely appreciate that and you know I won’t abuse your kindness with that.

<<So I think Reacher is similar to them: he is going to think his way through the puzzle at this stage and we are going to keep making it fun fun fun. Then at some point the switch will flip then you will have to run a lot faster LOL>>
I really enjoyed hearing about your dogs’ stories here. I know you’ve touched on it in class before but this time it’s given me more hope that it can improve. Thank you for those examples!

<<Because of the complexity, I recommend a balance sport which is a bit of what I affectionately call “mindless fun”.>>
I completely agree. This is kind of what barn hunt is for us and I think we might start scent work as my husband is interested in training Ronin in that if he can’t get rehabbed enough to do agility. Even if he is, we might do that anyway!

And regarding the mats, it’s interesting you think he is shorter strided on them. He’s not very fast and they feel pretty sticky to me so I’m surprised at that idea but certainly not discounting it. Especially when you look at hundreds of videos and can see the patterns. I would consider trying to go back up at On the Run to train again like I used to, but this location and timing and instructor works out so well for me I’m not sure that will work. And actually I’d still make the sacrifice if they were a little more friendly toward people with food-motivated dogs up there. I get wanting to keep the turf clean and fully support that, but the vibe is just different and kind of uncomfortable. I was wonderfully oblivious until one time Reacher choked on a Zukes that he’d eaten out of a Lotus ball and it fell out of his mouth and it was like the air got sucked out of the whole place. I was like “What? What’s wrong everybody?” and then I got the talk about how next time I’d have to pay $50 for that. Eeek. Sorry no that’s too much pressure when it wasn’t like I intentionally threw the Zukes on the floor or a big thing of cheese or anything. I already have enough to think about with my young dog! 🙂

But on to some video! So yesterday’s training class was pretty interesting. I tried the teeter again with someone standing kind of close by. He bailed again. But now after watching the video I do not think it’s the proximity of the human that’s the issue. But will be curious to see what you think.

The first part of the video is a bit of our warm up and I was getting him a little excited and there was an exciting dog in the ring so he might have gotten a little too wound up. I kind of didn’t care because he was barking more.

He started off strong and did a nice backside push but then hopped off the teeter. I did digitally zoom in the video a bit to get it closer to see better but it did blur it a tiny bit. So based on the fact that he hopped off the side towards the person, and even wandered closer to her I am not sure that’s it. I think we just have regressed for some reason on the teeter. Maybe there is pain. I’m trying to get massage this week and we have chiro on Saturday. He has no regular vet appts until Oct. but if I need to do mid-year check up of course I will. But…I may have them check that teeter because another dog in class (an Aussie) who is solid on the teeter did it, but I noticed he was really looking at the floor at the tipping point both sides like he thought about bailing.

Regardless, I’ll be curious to see what you think about this, but thinking to do only teeters at home for a bit and start back at the beginning of the training plan for with it barely tipping, etc. and see how he does. I did NOT make him try the teeter again after this session.

Then, he did a nice dogwalk contact but could not get that weave entry. Tried again later and still didn’t get, so we quit with weaves again too. Seems we stopped weaving and now the teeter. Either young dog weirdness or pain or something else. Need to get to the bottom of it either way.

Let me know your thoughts!

[Kristin Omdahl]

Thanks for all the wonderful feedback here.

I took advantage of a great bark training moment tonight as our nearest neighbors were having a party and even though they are not that close the dogs had to call it out several times tonight. So brought the treat bowl out and every time someone barked I was quick to add the cue and throw a treat. Reacher was gently woofing on command by the end of the session. I’m sure we’ll need to keep working it but it was cool to take advantage of an otherwise-annoying situation!

Regarding the seminar:
<<I didn’t see what I would call a lack of confidence –
he probably had some questions about passing all the off course jumps and doing the discriminations (jump versus tunnel versus weaves, that can make dogs very ‘thinky’). He was running in extension with his front end but seemed tight in the hind end, not powering as much.>>
This is quite interesting! I will start to watch for this now…the difference between what the hind and front are doing, I mean. I hope it was him just him thinking hard!

<<I think the main takeaway is that he needs to see more of the ‘normal’ agility trial distractions like ring crew being *rightthere* and the judge doing weird things>>
Okay, this I think I can manage to work through. He is also not super speedy in class without all these distractions, but I’m sure it’s a combination of many factors. The good news is I have a great instructor and helpful classmates, so we can set some things up.

<<Pain or illness can show up with the only symptom being an increase in noise sensitivity.>> Yes, the amount of things one could do to try to track this down is crazy-making. But I think I’ll start with chiro and bodywork since he does need that anyway and then go to the vet if that doesn’t seem to help. I will also do some testing on this at home and make some comparisons to when we are at class/trials to see if I can detect any more patterns in this.

<<he was flirting LOL!! Was he otherwise a bit tense about being around the crowds – not waggy or interested in socializing?>>
No, he was not really waggy or social otherwise, but that’s also not super abnormal for him. He was definitely interested in other dogs and monitoring what they were doing, but not reacting too much (except a couple of times and once when Lift surprised him and then darted away and I’m pretty sure he thought she might be prey!). And he’s never been a bit people person but would be interested and brave if anyone was crinkling a bag of snacks anywhere within 15 feet! 🙂 So, being social is not that normal for him ever, but he’s usually a little more waggy around home or at class. Generally, he’s kind of a serious dude though. I have wondered if perhaps I’m too mellow to get dogs fired up, but since I had Tina (the ultimate party girl) and Ronin, the Party Boy, I think maybe it’s not so much me as I never quelled their enthusiasm! Ha!

I may try the food box again at the next trial we have in May. The first time didn’t go well but I’ll think more about how to take advantage of that. I think I need to slow my roll on bridging the toy/food gap and take more time with that so I can be confident that he understands.

And also, after reading your thoughts and analyzing more about this I need to think of Reacher’s training differently in that if I’m not seeing the drive I want now that doesn’t mean it will never show up. It’s just not happening how I thought it would when he was younger and seeing different things. This is all just learning and growing at HIS PACE. Reminding myself that that this is all about LEARNING, not PERFORMING, at this point (and probably forever) takes a lot of the anxiety out of how it’s going and worrying that I’m breaking my dog somehow or that he doesn’t like this. There is freedom in the learning which gives the license to experiment, fail, try again, etc. Structure in this is still needed, but if I tap more into that learning mindset more it will open up more ideas for me after our class ends and I don’t have your expert guidance all week! Ironically, this year my “word of the year” for myself is LEARN. I picked it because of the freedom it gives, I knew that it’s in approaching life this way, that I would find my center, my real joys, my true mission, my true direction. I would be less afraid to try things in my job, and in building this new business I’m working on. I’d be more assertive. I wouldn’t worry as much about the outcome. I’d be a focused hunter when it comes to seeking opportunities, because the idea of it just being “learning” makes me feel more open and free. So for agility, re-focusing on the learning means that we will still have progress even if the training and experiments within it do not always have the outcome I am looking for. I’m going to work on this mindset shift applied as much to dog training as it I do in other areas.

Sorry for a bit of a weird brainstorm!

[Kristin Omdahl]

So that monkey video was absolutely hilarious!! I laughed so hard! Yes, I think Reacher was definitely the monkey on the right! Younger Reacher probably would’ve just pushed Ronin out of the way and ate his treat. But somehow, the older much more polite Reacher, made do with indignant looks. 😂 I have been practicing bark training moments and I think he’s starting to catch on slowly. I think we’ll get there eventually. I even had him barking a bit at the trial when there were some exciting moments where he woofed and we were not distracting any other dogs. I’ll keep working on it.

The Stephanie Theis seminar was just okay. It was a bit of a paradox. I took quite a few notes about things to work on and try (more than usual at a seminar – except yours. Yours gets WAY more notes!!) 😀 So that part was good. And on the other hand I think short sequences isn’t really what we need right now – I need long lines to get him to zoom!

Here are a few highlights from the seminar. I still see no reason why he does not desire to open up more. We played at most start lines, he didn’t seem uncomfortable, my handling wasn’t perfect but also not horrible. I’m just not sure why the lack of confidence at this point. It must be something about ME though!

In the second rep, I don’t know why I said GoGoGo and also she did correct me after for calling his name out of the tunnel, which she was absolutely right because I wasn’t really doing a hard turn. I don’t want to make that name call ineffective so that was a good tip she gave.

At 1:51 it was kind of interesting that he thought Stephanie was interesting and just HAD to check her out. 😀

On the rep at 2:16 I finally remembered that I should do more to have him chase the toy and chase me with it. She suggested that just when he catches up to it I should dart it away a bit and run faster for a moment before letting him have it. He DID seem to like that game (um, prey drive is there at least).

Then the second to last last rep was kind of funny because at some point he’s like, “I must leave mom and go check out that tunnel. Oh, there’s that interesting other person again, I guess I could run with you.” 😂

On to today’s runs…not a happy day for me but also I can’t blame the poor guy for being a bit weirded out and having some issues today.

Run 1 was Beginner Agility and the first thing that happened was on the dog walk at about :08 he glances at the judge who is waving her arm and saying to start the timer. I am hoping that’s why he was just trotting down the dog walk plank and still hits a perfect contact with no aids. I’m happy with that in that 1) he didn’t freak out at the judge waving her arm 2) got a nice contact hit first time in competition and no aids. I do want him to blast down the plank in the future, but we’ll work on that this summer.

I like our nice playtime with the toy to make up for the yucky turns in the course. He’s even tugging on the toy, so that was good. Then inexplicably until I watched the video, he jumps off the teeter. I think he’s only jumped off the teeter one other time ever, and it was the first time he’d tried that one. This one he trains on every week so THAT WAS WEIRD. But I really think he had a “holy crap” moment when he got up there and realized there was a bar setter RIGHT THERE. She was pretty close.

Then I tried to regroup and get the weaves, but he couldn’t do them. Granted, they were kind of going into a wall and he maybe was thinking about the teeter thing and just couldn’t finish after getting about 3/4 of the way through.

We kept going and he was pretty slow throughout the rest, which included me doing a front cross way too early and him pulling off. I’m having flashbacks of the Speedy Jumpers seminar last month where I did the same thing. Definitely something to work on!

Then, on to Jumpers where all I planned to do was a quick loop around the right and out. I did not bring a toy in this round. In hindsight, maybe I should have considering how the first run went, but I know we have to practice without. He wasn’t too slow right off the start, but not great, then he slowed down and DEFINITELY could not weave.

So, not a great day, but certainly made notes on things to practice. Overall I just still wish I could figure out which button would turn on the motivation and confidence he needs to have fun at this game. It has to be ME. I mean I know he turned into a pretty mellow guy even outside of agility, but something just doesn’t seem like it’s adding up. And then today I notice he did seem a bit more nice sensitive than I’ve ever seen him before. Like a lot more startles at things. He recovered fast every time, but there was often that little jolt of surprise. I can work on that at home too.

We did stay around longer after our runs just to hang out in the facility, get snacks in tight spaces, just being able to watch and hear all the activity. He was probably tired, but did almost seem bored by the time we left 45 minutes after starting that. I think that was good environmental practice, but if you think that was too much after having two runs in the day let me know. I did see him wag his tail once at least. He was stone still but got a wiff of girl in heat who was parked really close to us at one point. That doesn’t bother me, he has to get used to that. But it was pretty funny he thought she was pretty cute and wagged his tail at her but was to shy to do anything else about it (very appropriate) though. 🙂

Let me know what you think of all this!
Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Good news! I got a working spot in the Beyond Novice seminar with you in June!

And for your entertainment, here is a video of me trying to teach either of my dogs to bark. I thought having Ronin there, peer pressure, would help, and I picked this odd location because me coming up the steps and teasing them there gets them pretty riled up. But having the cookies in play so I could be fast on the reward seems to be have been a distraction. It seemed only 1 dog was learning to bark on my “woof” cue.🤣 I did have another opportunity not on video to catch Reacher barking at the neighbor where I started adding the cue and that was pretty funny and I thought he was getting it maybe, but not really I don’t think.https://youtu.be/b5mmNQW20rY?si=Bx8_dDNBRFxjpsgu

We haven’t done much agility in the past 2 weeks due to our weekly class being cancelled twice in a row for odd reasons, but do have a 1/2 day seminar this Friday and trial on Saturday (entered only two runs). If I get some agility practice video from tonight I’ll share it!

~Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

It’s been a few days! Haven’t done really any agility this week since I’ve been busy with business-building stuff, but I’m really glad you mentioned what you did in regards to Reacher missing the weaves last week because it addressed my gut feeling that I felt was right but was doubting myself.

You said:
<<Yeah, it was odd for him! It could have been there was some visual clutter with the weaves near the wall? Have you done any skin rolling with him (gently lifting his skin and rolling down his back with your thumb and fingers)? That can tell you if he is tight anywhere. You have had weird weather lately and I have found that the sudden shifts from cold to warm to cold/ice/snow can make my dogs pretty tight.>>
It could have been some visual clutter but the first thing I thought about when I saw him move there (in the moment) was that he didn’t look right. So after the the second miss I didn’t do any more weaves afterwards. Then, after my post to you I felt like he had more heat in that area when he was stretching up on my like he usually does, but usually there is no heat flooding into his back area. The weather has indeed been up and down and I did do the skin rolling and some massage and while he was not crazy tight I do think that was it.

With all that we haven’t done much running this week I’d still like to capture him in real extension getting after it for comparison sometime soon!

On another topic, since you are teaching these topics in June and if I should be so fortunate to snag a working spot, which would you recommend for Reacher considering where we are and what we need to focus on?
-Turning Tails: Mastering the Handling of a Great Turn
-Discriminations
-Introduction to International Skills
-Beyond Novice
-ISC/UKI Coursework

I have some ideas on what I think would be best but curious what you think!

~Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Had an interesting thing happen in class on Monday, where Reacher missed the weaves twice. He hasn’t messed up any weaves in quite some time and I’m not sure why. Not fretting, but it’s interesting. The video was really far away so I zoomed in in editing so it’s pretty hard to see. I thought maybe it was the color of the poles blending in too much but I’m not sure. The entry was tucked pretty close to the wall back there but I’m not feeling that’s so much it either.

Anyway, kind of interesting.

The other part of the video is just some running to try to do our little test of speed. You’re welcome for the comedy relief of watching me run back and forth as well. 😂

It’s REALLY hard to get video of the running all out moments. He has tons of them but there are very hard to capture. I think one difference between agility and most other times he’s running is that of intensity. It’s not just about the speed, but it’s the desire to go fast that’s missing in agility I think. I just wish he was a little more intense about it. But I’m still hoping that will come. If it doesn’t that’s okay too.

Let me know what you think!
Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Dang, this is the second time I’m typing all this since putting it all in without realizing my session timed out (so sad!) so now I’m not sure what I wrote the first time. Probably won’t be as good. 😂

Thanks for all the great advice on the runs! I am noticing that he’s an energy-matcher and when it’s loud and kind of exciting at the trial he might be a bit harder to get engaged at the start line, but he seems to get amped up and excited by more chaos. I guess that’s better than getting worried as the energy goes up!

<<Was it a ‘real’ run – no toy, using the actual course from the judge? I think it went great.>>
YES! It was a real run using the actual course! And, since I hadn’t checked in for this one (oops!) and didn’t have a toy they counted it as official and he even got a Q. So baby dog is now on the board! Didn’t mean to but the course was nicely designed and I wanted to try without a toy and it worked out. 🙂

I’m going to try more empty hands, but don’t worry, I won’t be getting greedy. I want him to be super confident and that’s going to take more time. I’m not going to be a “fix-it” person. And we have no trials now until the first weekend in May, so might be a little quiet in the forum for a bit.

Oh, I am also noticing that he’s getting a bit more confident about running the portion of the course by the crowd, but still has some hesitation there so I’ll be extra sure my cues and connections are solid on those portions.

I do wish Reacher would find agility more intrinsically rewarding like he seemed to when he was a puppy, but hopefully some of that joy will come back the more confidence he gains. Or, he just won’t be that dog. We shall see. I’m still going to think of anything I can to bring that fun/joy back.

Speaking of fun, last night in class I wasn’t really feeling like doing agility in the traditional sense (just in the mood I guess) and just wanted to see if we could have more fun out there, so mainly we just played around with the toys and did only a few small things.

Here’s a sample:

We mostly just played around in the ring with his toys (no food). Then a bit of chase. Then I tried a couple of distance challenges at the end. For that I wish I’d thrown the toy farther out on the line, but he didn’t seem to have any issue working away from me, so that’s good.

I was also thinking about just keeping him jumping 8″ even though I know he could do 12″. I’m not sure what the norm is these days for running Preferred/Select, but we’re not World Team material and not expecting to compete for super stardom so maybe he’d have more fun at a lower jump height. What do you think?

~Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

I think our last two replies showed up out of order in the thread for some reason, but anyway I’m just now getting around to posting video from the trials last weekend. I got sidetracked afterwards and then saw you were going to the UKI Invitational so assumed you were busy and I didn’t need to pile on. I hope you had a great time there!

Here was our first run of the weekend:

He was pretty distracted at first by another dog who had been barking quite a bit at him while we were getting ready to enter then threw one last ‘woof’ when we were in there. These two were puppies together so he was quite interested. But I got him back and off we went.

I was super pleased with his weaves and then the backside send! Then I disconnected and he’s like ‘C’mon Mom WHICH SIDE!!’ but we got back on track for the A-frame.

What do you think caused him to skip the jump after the A-frame? Going into the crowd? Did I not seem clear? But from there I thought we ended strong.

Here’s run #2 of the first day:

Thoughts about what caused the pause and sniff after the purple jump before the tunnel? Looking for a reward? Too much like the end? Turning into the crowd? Got too far ahead off his line?

Next day Run 1:

He was pretty distracted by the little white papillon that was running before us because it’s the same one that yelled at him a few times and also, the little white blur looks a lot like a bunny too! I think he’ll be more used to this sort of thing. I do wish I’d tried a bit more to connect with him then instead of just basically dragging him to the start line. I know what I’ll try differently next time, but not sure it would’ve worked anyway. He was pretty into watching that dog!

I was incredibly late on my cross at 0:59 which I knew was late as it was happening so I can see why he missed that jump but no worries, just kept going. I’m just thrilled he was fast enough that I was late!

Day 2, Run 2:

I have started a few runs like this and regret it every time. I wished I’d set him up with a start line stay on this one or if I was going to do a running start I should’ve started out farther back. But we got on track and I thought it was pretty strong. I had NO TOY on this one!!

Day 2, Run 3:

I think he was TIRED by this one. This is the first time I did 3 runs in 1 day in a 2-day trial and I think it was too much. As a result I cancelled my third run for the trials I entered in May and backed off to only do 1 day of each also.

Despite the fatigue, I was proud of the little dude for keeping enough focus to do another perfect set of weaves.

I think it was a pretty successful weekend. Of course I wish he was more excited about agility without the treats and toys, but not so much quite yet so we’ll keep working on that. The main thing is that it was a positive experience and he showed some nice skills. We’re getting there – let me know what you think and any improvements to try!

~Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Thanks for the great plans! I use the hoop and target ON the dogwalk so I’ll just plan to skip that. He has seen tunnels under A-frames in class before so I’m not too worried about that.

I’m just going to use the toy to keep it simple and probably switch between the toy I call “Big Fur”😂 (yes that one you remember) and the new toy. I’ve been keeping Big Fur pretty tucked away to keep it fresh and fun.

Thanks for the info on measuring. Of course you are right Ms. Julie will for sure know so I’ll bug her on that one.

Here’s a video from class last night. I tried the opening sequence two different ways; I think he liked the blind cross better. Also, I might have to stop rewarding so much after the weaves because I think on one of the rounds here he was fully expecting to get the toy and then was surprised when I just went on. My praise in that moment and a bit of disconnection there I’m sure contributed to it. We did reward at the end so he got stuff, but I do think I need to do the weaves more often without stopping. I think he’s ready for it.

Let me know what you think!
Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Hello Tracy!

I’m happy to report that we got into the UKI trial at OTR this weekend off the waitlist, so I’m excited to try some contacts and weaves at a trial for the first time (probably not both in the same course though).

We are in:
March 22,2025 (Saturday) – Agility-1
March 22,2025 (Saturday) – Jumping-1
March 23,2025 (Sunday) – Speedstakes-1
March 23,2025 (Sunday) – Speedstakes-2
March 23,2025 (Sunday) – Jumping-1

So, I guess I need a plan! I will probably skip the dog walk because I don’t want to do it without a hoop or target without some more practice at home first, but I think he’ can do the A-frame and teeter in agility.

Then I thought I’d try some weaves in something too.

Plan is for all NFC and I’m not sure how big their food box is so will probably just go for the toy with lots of big rewards outside. Other ideas for a good plan for Reacher?

Oh, and I missed the live chat tonight since we had our Monday night class and I tried out a new toy that a friend gifted to me. Came in the mail right before I left for class so I brought it and he LOVED it! I think I’ll put it away until the trial this weekend and try it out there. Will get some video up from class tonight probably tomorrow or Wed.

And I guess I have a UKI question…this was in my trial letter and I guess I’m wondering how do I know if I have a “real” temporary measurement or not?
If a dog is under 3 and newly registered, a temporary measure or proof of the dog’s height must be done by the dog’s 3rd trial. A permanent measure must be obtained by a UKI official measurer between 12-18 months after the dog’s first/ temporary measure. Any registered dog that only has a temporary measure, must follow the above rule. If a newly registered dog is over 3, they must obtain a measure by an official UKI measurer by their 3rd trial and this measurement will be permanent.

He’s been measured twice already at both the trials we went to, but I don’t know if they recorded it beyond just for that day. How do I know if he needs to be measured at this trial? He’s not 3 yet.

~Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Hello! We had a really great Speedy Jumpers mini-seminar on Friday, so this video is from that. There was a lot of experimentation in a place (OTR) that is obviously not super new, but not where we go on the regular anymore.

I tried out that vibrating toy that I was mentioning in the live chat that my dogs go absolutely crazy for. I had my husband disable the sound to see how it would work in the ring and if it would be too loud for NFC. Well it had a kind of funny result at first because I didn’t realize it would go off while I was running with it (thought it would only do that when thrown!) and then just how distracting that would be to ME while I was running. Until I got used to it anyway.

We also tried some empty hands with a few things and then some really good meatball rewards thrown in also.

I thought he overall was pretty darn speedy! And WOW HIS WEAVES!!! He didn’t miss a pole the whole time. We did not do more weave sets than shown in these videos because I figured his brain had had enough and Jacque was amazing and didn’t include them in the last round anyway.

Looking forward to hearing what you think!

Run 1 – starting off I was for sure caught off guard when the toy started going off immediately. Hence was disconnected for jump 2 & 3 so just rewarded and gathered myself!
Run 2 – had my wits about me finally but still forgot my blind cross between 3 and 4 so I just rewarded.

The run where we missed a jump (at 1:27) and I just go on I’m not totally sure why the miss other than a) I didn’t say anything at that jump. I made sure to have better connection on the next try.

For the Empty Hands runs I didn’t have anything on me except a few super low value pieces of kibble in my pocket for an emergency if needed. On the first empty hands run he sure as heck knew Jacque had the toy and it was hard to get him lined up.

At 3:36 on the video I messed up the title slide and I had the toy so obviously NOT empty hands! Ha!

For the very last round we had a boo-boo when testing his commitment to the jump before turning back to the tunnel. That’s not something we’ve worked much on for awhile and it showed. Also, by this time the boy is tired! So I had decided before-hand that I’d only do the run once. We did try to work through the mistake once by just doing the tunnel/jump but when he still didn’t get it (I probably STILL didn’t wait quite long enough) I just quit there with a note to work on commitment again soon.

All in all I was pretty happy with his overall motivation and improved speed – still not what I know he can do, but I think it was confidence-boosting and good for him to “feel” what it’s like to really GO on the agility field. It was pretty fun!

Really curious what you think and anything else handling-wise I could improve here.

Probably no more video for this week since it will be a busy week and this was long anyway. No class for me tonight since Reacher had a little wipe-out at home yesterday goofing around, and I thought maybe he was a little sore this morning so better safe than sorry and decided to give my class spot to Julie and Lift and let Reacher rest tonight. If he’s at all sore I didn’t want him to have any bad feelings about agility ever.

~Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Oh wow, I am making up for some lost time a little bit with all the following video. I’ll tone it down next week but really want feedback on these things.😀

First 2 videos are some open ring time at Fusion. As Julie mentioned on her thread, there was some interesting distraction with a guy fixing the lights in the facility and talking pretty loudly to another guy and it was kind of loud, echo-y and just sounded a little weird given their location up by the ceiling! Plus, we had the added distraction of some additional dogs barking (one was my other pup who was having major FOMO).

First round of this one I had this homemade toy. Tried to be interesting and surprising with it. He was into for 1 round. 😁

Trying to hit those jumps on the way back toward the camera was good except for the offset jump at the end I wasn’t sure how to cue and he didn’t naturally take it. As you’ll see in another try later, we didn’t get it a second time either, so am not quite sure how to cue that! Being behind on even a long line is not something I’m used to!! And I’m SO grateful for this problem in this session – he was speedy!!

Next sessions, I have the meatballs (cue the Arby’s commercial voice-over). 😀 They are on me and he of course knows it.

Heading into that tunnel going away from the camera he nearly misses it because whataya know I wasn’t connected and the video proves it! But meatballs were thrown, he was happy.

Next run I tried a rear cross at the end, but please critique it. Seems kind of late and cutting in too sharply but let me know what you think.

Final cut is clearly showing the distraction with the guys fixing the lights. Lots of barking from Reacher and wasn’t sure what to do but just let him feel it a bit and then go. And better ways to handle that you would recommend?

Very curious how you’d critique my interactions with Reacher during all this.

Here’s a short clip showing another attempt to be surprising with the meatballs kind of raining from the sky (thanks to Julie). They were surprisingly hard to see I guess and rolled quite a bit easier than expected! But of course he found them all eventually. 🙂 I’m not sure he was overly excited by this but hopefully mixing it up was good.

Okay, this is a lot of video but feel like I need feedback as I venture into this world of trying to get the rewards OFF ME. I did a lot of short courses with the meatballs on the table at the end of ring just off camera. I made it really obvious I was putting them there. I only had a few plain old Zuke’s treats in my pocket in case I had to reward something out at the far end, which I did need to but the Zukes were definitely not even close to as exciting as the meatballs!

There is a tunnel just off camera for obstacle #2 and it’s a little hard to see on the video but I sure did notice some divided attention passing that table after jump #1 about twice before the final time. Good practice!

He did pop out of the weaves because he was just going SO FAST (yay!) and we were practicing a turnaway from there to the tunnel, which he didn’t get, but he got a bunch of Zuke’s anyway. And I was so pleased he got the entry in the first place! Didn’t get the turn away after the weaves the second time either but he got more Zuke’s and we just went on. Will set that up at home to practice later.

The next round after that where we’re waiting for the dog walk hoop to be put in place (if I’m not planning on really working the touch board for the running contact I ALWAYS put up the hoop to avoid a mistake at this point still), I kept in because I hope this engaged chill is okay. I think it’s interesting because he was actually a bit nervous there as he got startled by someone ripping some paper off the pole right there by the table. He recovered but I realized after watching the video that that’s probably why he chose to then put his paws up on my for a bit. Needed comfort from the mama.

Any feedback on the rewarding or handling or other interactions is appreciated!

The very last rep was short and quick just to do a surprise reward after the tunnel which we’d not done before that day.

Let me know what you think! Looking forward to the live call Tues!
Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Two words: Meat. Balls.
😂
So I took your advice from the live chat and mixed up the rewards a bit for class this week and it was DA BOMB! Yes, he knew I had the food on me for most of the class but wow did that motivation come back with turkey meatballs in play.

I had two cameras set up for this and neither ended up being great but that’s why on the video you’ll see the angle suddenly flip to the weaves. It’s actually still in flow of what we were doing.

For the first section, he was so excited I did have a break in stay but he’s been doing great on the stays so I’m not worrying about it. The opening 1-3 was supposed to be a serpentine to threadle. He missed the serp but I just kept going because as I suspected (and I was right after watching the video) that I was possible not really cuing the serp and actually looked a lot more like my threadle cue. Yep, watched video and for sure that looked like my threadle. Made for poor entry to the dogwalk but he ran a really nice running dog walk. I had the hoop up to prevent a failure there so certainly was helping, but he hit my touchpad perfectly so it was worth it!

Then on to the weaves where we missed the entry at first but he was SO FAST! He still got a reward for sure. Tried the weaves again and this time he got that hard entry so close to the wall but was again SO FAST that I think he just couldn’t hold it and skipped a pole or two in there. Again. he still got meatballs for that effort. It was 2-failures so we just went on.

The camera was far enough away and the angles not so awesome in a few spots to see just how much faster he was but I was pretty happy with his excitement! Did some hard skills, and a beautiful a-frame, then got the weaves successfully later in class (only tried 1 more time and ended with that success).

Then at the end I wanted to work on having no snacks on me and practice his GO GO GO so I gave the bag to the instructor. I was not very sneaky and he knew she had them for sure. Was quite distracted at first. I think it was still good practice to have him work on that focus forward and that it’s rewarding to leave me behind. 😀

That trial I was going to enter in March turned out to be full, but I’m on the wait list. If I don’t get in then it’s probably not until May (after class is done, bummer) I can get into a trial unless I get AKC registered and figure out FEO there, etc. I might do that but also have so many other things to work on so we’ll see!

I’ll keep thinking on how to be more surprising with my rewards and keep mixing things up to keep it interesting for Reacher and hopefully will get that crazy spark back!

Let me know what you think.
~Kristin

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