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Thanks for the great feedback. Still working on finding what toys he might like, but for these sessions used food since it was breakfast time.😀
Wing Wrap:
We had done a bit of this back in February before you even mentioned the class, so we are a little ahead on it, just had to dust it off a bit.
Goat Tricks 2:
Also he has been on this thing before, but Day 1 pretty much looked like this. LOL!
Blind Cross:
Despite doing blind crosses all the time it’s amazing how hard they are in this context with the puppy. LOL! The good news is that I think he likes the flying squirrel toy!
Ronin is on the injured list – I hope we’ll still be able to see you in our working spot when you come here in June – but that also means more training time for Reacher, so there will be more videos!
Let me know what you think.
Kristin>>Also, does he like balls? Just trying to figure out what he might like
I just introduced the Lotus ball, separately from these exercises, to see what he thought and I think he might like that too once he figures out how to get the velcro open. He seemed a bit frustrated by it on the first try, but was motivated by the food inside at the same time. I took out my old one with basically unusable velcro to make it easier and that went better.
I do think he’d like the flirt pole idea also. I didn’t get that or a string yet for my weight gloves, but will! This time I did attach the two gloves together with their velcro to make it a bigger toy.
>>Having him wear a collar will really help as you start to be upright and adding motion.
Definitely. I meant to have the collar but then when I got it all set up realized I didn’t have one and just went with it. This next time I made sure to use the collar and it was indeed much better.Here’s the next round of Focus Forward with a bit more motion and distance.
On the Send, the first rep I realized I didn’t really indicate anything (brain fade) and he looked at me like, “Um, okay what are we doing?” so I managed to remember what I was doing after that. LOL! Let me know what you think of my mechanics and positioning.
Here are two Goat Tricks videos on different things:
He is pretty goat-y around things at home so we will see what happens as equipment comes into view.
Let me know your thoughts on all this. Thanks!
Kristin
Great feedback, as always!
>>Before going to much further with the foot target, you might consider something bigger so he can get 2 feet on it when as he grows
OMG no! He can’t get any bigger dear Lord no! 😂 He is already turning into a monster size for a Mini-Schnauzer. I have jump height worries. Ha! But regardless, I did switch the prop to something a little bigger, to your point.
>>And you can also try to see if he likes toys!
He doesn’t really like them very much in this context, but is a supreme cuddler, which I why I thought that would make a great alternative, but you are right he didn’t seem to like that and he gave me valuable information on that point so I switched things up today.I did get inspiration for a “toy” he might like and I think I might have hit on something… Turns out he really likes my sweaty weight-lifting glove!! Ew, but whatever works! So I used that for a reward with the games a bit to see what would happen. Definitely better than cuddling.🤣
Prop Game:
I didn’t stand up for this one because I know it was hard to see my face in the last videos (I will get my normal camera for that back soon – it’s currently stuck on top of a Mtn. bike helmet), but I don’t think I’ll have an issue with him finding value in it when I move farther away.Target Game:
Drive Forward game:
Again I used the “very used” weight lifting glove and he seemed motivated by that. I realize this session was a little long so will set a timer next time, but I wanted to show the complete session.And I will de-clutter the environment next time even though he doesn’t care about Ronin’s toys laying around.
It is SO much fun to get started!
Kristin
Here are our pre-game videos!
Game #1
Game #2 – Round 1
Game #2 – A little later…
I seem to forget my words a few times but will refresh my brain on mechanics as we go I am sure.😁
Thanks for the great feedback! Your eyes miss nothing!
And I was thinking the same as you about just starting the Doxy for Ronin anyway, but hubs doesn’t agree exactly and he did improve with chiro work. So I have an appt. soon for lyme re-test and also going to do full X-rays of joints too just to be sure.In any case, I have MANY videos to submit this time due to taking the time to train but then getting too busy later in the day to cut the video and upload. So, I’m sorry for the massive amount in this post. If you need more than a day to work through feel free to take it! My plan is to at least get at least one feedback on the remaining exercises before class closes and if I get any second rounds in before the end it will be a bonus. 🙂
Big Lines 2
For the first rep, I definitely lost my train of thought so just rewarded a few things and moved on. Ha! Rep 2 – soooo, losing my train of thought appears to be a theme! LOL! Oh well Ronin doesn’t care and still gets a reward.
Rep 3 – I liked the BC on the other side of jump 3 better than trying to serpentine it on the first two reps. Seemed more clear to him (and me!). He seems like a dog that I will probably almost always be faster than so I might as well move my ass to make it clearest for him. Also on this rep, not sure if I was confusing him with all my head-turning on the way back to tunnel or what, but he certainly paused and seemed to consider taking the jump despite my strong Tunnel verbals.
Rep 4 – decided I just wanted to try to get that serpentine anyway for the fun of it. He got it, so Yay!, then I did a horrible rear cross in there that he put up with anyway, HA!, so I rewarded that.Big Lines 3
I like this session mainly because he got the rear crosses! We have really struggled with rear crosses, so I was pleased he got these.Forced Front Cross & Forced Threadle – Step 1
Missed doing any of the forced threadles, but he thought the FFC were fine! Determined that the toy vs. lotus ball still is not very exciting outdoors. LOL!FFC & FT – Step 2 – Sequences
Note that I did several rewards for the stay that I just didn’t include in the video to save time. I STILL didn’t do too many forced threadles, but he seemed to get it. Will practice these more!Go Tunnel, No Tunnel
Tried another toy option for reward, but still no excitement. Back to the treatball! It lost its latching mechanism to allow me to get a good string on it but will fix that for a bit more excitement. Otherwise, this session was just okay. I think he thought it was weird going behind the tunnel to just the wing and I felt awkward too. But I get this exercise’s importance for sure.No teeter training lately since my teeter is in need of resurfacing. Current state of rebuild is replacing the rotted wooden plank with aluminum and just glued the skins back on today. Currently curing for 3 days, but then will be back to almost new!
Kristin
So for piling two posts on top of each other, but I have some videos finally! But do still let me know how long he feedback will go.🙂
Tandem Turn – I feel so weird doing these but I can see where they would be handy on course some day. Will keep working on it, but let me know what you think.
Tunnel Threadle – I am not sure my arm cues are very effective in this practice. I feel like he’s so short how’s he gonna see anything up there!😉
Lead Out Lines
I was pretty happy with his stays on this one, and I did reward more of them than shown here (just to save video time). He did have two reps where he went around the first two jumps (but I only showed one of those on the video. And I’m not sure why he bypassed the jump at the end of one of the reps. Maybe too much looking forward and disconnection?
Looking forward to getting your notes!
KristinHey lady! I am sorry I have been MIA for three weeks. It’s been kind of insane. Work completely off the rails crazy – entire department cut in re-org except me and one other (!!!!). Old guy Emmett had cancer removed which was stressful but went well despite coming home with a massive incision to take care of, but then he almost died 1 week later from some serious liver disease with the cause unknown. Made peace (sort of) with the possibility of actually losing him this time while getting ready to go out of town for an event which I decided I could not skip. Em came with just in case. Then was suspicious of Ronin contracting Lyme’s based on symptoms, but test was negative. Went to his chiropractor and then saw improvement, but I’m still suspicious. Going to retest for Lyme’s anyway + full xrays because the test may have been done too soon after finding the tick and I’m still seeing a few potential symptoms. He can do agility okay but I’m limiting it until I know for sure if I’m crazy in seeing what I see, or not, and can get a diagnosis.
So, yee haw, it’s been a fun three weeks! <insert bigger than average eyeroll here>
I actually have a few videos from the 14th yet to upload, but really right now I would like to know when is the end of getting your feedback on the class lessons so I can plan appropriately. Thanks in advance for the end date, and all he fabulous feedback to date!
Krisin
Thanks, Tracy! I tried a few more tunnel entries and exits today and maybe I just got lucky yesterday because we had a bit of a struggle with the rear cross in this session. Here are the failures:
How would you make this easier to train it more comprehensively? I am thinking shorten the tunnel up significantly and slow down my motion. Thoughts on that or other things to try just in case today wasn’t just a puppy brain fart?😂
We also worked on lead out. He was a good boy! Note: on the platform he is not required to have a specific position so I let that go for those reps. On the ground though, sit required. 🙂
Let me know what you think!
Kristin>>Sometimes a good laugh is best when things go wrong LOL! It was not that bad of a session LOL!!>>
Oh yes, I may have sounded sad at the end but there definitely were a lot of laughs afterwards off camera. 😄But I thought of a better item to start the discrimination work with (a mat – Duh!!) and so I tried that, plus didn’t have them so close together, and it went better. Not perfect of course, but he was certainly thinking.🙂
We also worked on some tunnel entries and exits. After seeing the video of this I could see that what I was feeling on the inside (lack of confidence about my handling) indeed translated to what I was doing. I was late a few times and kind of uncertain in my motion as well. But we can improve for next time, so let me have your feedback!
Thanks!
KristinHi! First, serpentine training is going well since our last check-in on that. No video to review there, but we are making good progress.
I tried out some discrimination work today and it was kind of a train wreck.😂 I feel like I did so many things wrong with the sessions I tried today. My poor puppy!
First, I realized that “kennel” and “tunnel” verbals probably sound too much he same for this exercise. He kind of knows “crate” verbal a little so I tried it out with not the best results. I even tried lots of other objects he knows the commands for like “hop it up” on a balance disk (not on video) and getting on a platform (he was MUCH too sticky to that thing). Some of the things not on video may having you spitting out your coffee in wonderment of just what the heck we were doing!!🤣
But here’s what I’m choosing to submit for feedback. I did just think of another object I didn’t try that maybe has more equal value to the tunnel than any of the other things tried (except kennel, which we maybe would eliminate given the verbal is too similar).
For what it’s worth:
Let me know what you think!
KristinHi! Angled jump idea makes total sense. Tried on the first couple reps tonight. Worked well to help with the understanding for sure! Then I straightened them out a little and moved on. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to add then tunnel, then straighten, or keep angled when adding the tunnel. Based on the second to last rep I think I should’ve keep the bigger angle, but he still did well overall I thought.
It was fun to see him get it. 😀 Sorry it was borderline too dark for video though.
~Kristin
We worked on the serpentine today. I realized after that the camera angle was really sub-optimal for this, so I’m sorry about that. I also though he’d remember this more easily and we’d get to adding the second jump and tunnel more quickly, but no. 🙂
I’m really glad we started with the refresher. On the video it looks like I’m quite far past the middle of the jump when I cue him to go, but I don’t think I was quite as far over as it looks, but maybe I still should have cued more when I was closer to the middle? Also I think I’m using my off arm in here when I shouldn’t – do you think so?
Thanks for the feedback!
KristinThank you! Great feedback on the timing! I see it now. We did a few sessions of this again yesterday and it went well. I even introduced the MM, but think he like dropped treats or the toy better. It’s good to have options though! I’ll save the video time for when we get back to the real exercises. But I’m going to give this remedial work a bit more time before going back to that.
We worked a bit on the contact training from last week, starting with a quick refresher of the target behavior since we hadn’t done that in awhile. He did well I think. But definitely learned that if the treats are out with the toy he definitely no longer cares about the toy! The boy has his priorities!😁
Let me know what you think. Thanks!
KristinHi! You were spot on in your assessment that I needed to take that extra movement/step out because it very clearly made a difference. The video below has a few sessions on it. The first one outside was from Monday which is just a sample of how the 2-ish minutes went, but very representative of the problem that occurred when I took out thee extra step and hand cue. He didn’t understand the 360 wraps in that case.
So okay, no problem, I backed it up a bit and made it simpler. Oh, one thing though… on the first video I did also realize that I NOT slow it down like I was supposed to, that you pointed out, so that didn’t help. My bad. After that Monday session I went out of town for several days where we didn’t practice but it gave me time to think about what to do next.
The two sessions in my basement are from today and separated by a break. I tried to reward with the toy more on the backside of the wrap and he did start getting it by the end.
Between Monday and today’s session, it also became very clear to me that I didn’t understand what you meant by keeping going if there’s an error. I’m not sure how I am supposed to keep the sequence going if there’s a mistake or exactly what I should be doing if he doesn’t execute the wrap. Can you explain more?
Let me know what you think of this, how I can improve it, and next steps. I’m thinking I should keep it pretty simple for a few more rounds before going back to the homework, but let me know! Thanks!
Kristin
