[Kristin Omdahl]

Hello! I have some catching up to do!

So I tried out the Lazy Game and dropping the treats in the grass didn’t work well (not on video) so I tried dropping the lotus ball, but that was also too not-flowy so I kind of guessed that he was getting it anyway and moved on to sort of a Lazy Game Par 2. The middle jump was super far away, but figured I’d start easy since I was kind of breeezing by a step. 🙂

Let me know what tweaks I should make or if I should move forward in the exercises.
Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Thanks, Tracy!

We are still on Hell’s porch here in MN, but despite the heat I got a short little session outside for the One Step Sends (or in my case, sometimes several step sends 🙂 ) I thought it was okay, but couldn’t really remember what I was supposed to do with the middle jump but I didn’t worry about it.

I also raised up the plank a little bit and he was definitely confident with it raised. It was very interesting to watch how he was learning to use his body on it. I’m glad for the times he had to bail – super great practice in experiencing how that feels and that he can learn to adjust that over time at a safe height. He seemed to enjoy this game!

Thanks in advance for the great feedback!
Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

This is all really wonderful feedback, thank you!!! I had skimmed it but didn’t get a chance to really internalize before I shot the video below on Monday night, but I was running out of light and had to hurry so I went with it anyway, probably making a few of the same mistakes, but will fix if I can train tomorrow night.

Anyway, I set the Starfish and gave it a shot. Despite practicing a few things without the dog I forgot most of the courses anyway so we kind of just winged it.😆 Ronin is not super speedy but ultimately this was a really great practice outside as after a few reps I was getting more focus and less interest in eating the fresh grass.

I tried a toy for the first few reps too but he quickly became disinterested in it so had to switch to the lotus ball with smellier, extra yummy treats in it. He does like toys, but in higher distraction environments the food is just much more valuable to him. With that though, I will definitely take your suggestion to put a string on the Lotus so he has to chase it around a bit more. Have the string now and will get attached soon!

Getting set up for the first rep was funny because he chased his leash when I took it off. What a goober! We have to practice all those little routines for sure.

Sorry about the sound on this video. It was INCREDIBLY windy that day! Oh, also, I found myself without one of the wings needed for the Starfish and so since I was losing light fast I just threw in a jump instead.

The rep where he skipped the tunnel…it looked like he missed it because I may have been really crowding the entrance too much but not sure.

My rear cross still suck, but will keep working on my timing. Before I do this again with Ronin I am going to practice a bunch of the lines without him.

~Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Sorry about the bad Backside video link! Here it is again: https://youtu.be/jfQqkkizrD4

We also worked on a few things today over the course of a few sessions. It was raining in my corner of MN today, so we had to move in to the basement. Not ideal, but better than no training I guess!

Tunnel Threadle:
For the first rep I kind of forgot what my command was and didn’t tell him much! Otherwise, I think we did okay. On the threadle I felt like I didn’t know what I was supposed to be doing with my upper body.

Lateral Lead Outs:
On this one, we did two separate sessions and the first one felt kind of awkward and like I as missing something, so I re-watched the video between sessions and realized I should have been moving more on the cue and doing more of a lateral lead out. So the second session I tried to correct that, but are there other tips on my handling that you can find?

Then we went back to our nemesis, the Rear Crosses…
I did balance the rear with more Go, Go, Gos but cut a few for time.
Also, I didn’t remember until almost the end that you said to use the left/right verbals, so I tried that and it seemed to help 2 out of 3 times. It’s hard to get enthusiastic straight go outs with the smaller space, and I thought maybe I was being a little boring, but we’ll keep working on them.

Let me know what you think,
Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Oh shoot! Here is the correct backside video link:

Thanks!
Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Hi Tracy! I’m back and easing into training again.

We worked on the tandem and lap turns this time. Not awesome but a few good moments. It certainly felt a little awkward at times. Like even though I knew I wasn’t supposed to be backing up on the lap turn it was hard not to do it!

Backside Slice:
I think this was pretty good considering it was VERY HARD to keep him from being too distracted outside. It’s like as soon as the new grass came up Ronin decided it was DELICIOUS!😆 He was so distracted overall outside so we’ll have to ease into training out there before it’s super productive.
On the last two reps I have no idea why I used the wrong backside command compared to what I was doing before Push vs. Back but I guess it’s still so new I forgot and it hopefully he won’t remember those two.😉

Let me know what you think!
Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Hey Tracy – long time no talk! How long will be able to submit videos in this forum for the class? I am so behind after 1 busy week and another being totally down with COVID (my first time, guess my number was finally up) and I can it might be another week before I’ll have enough energy to get back to this. But I’m on the mend and no big deal other than just major fatigue now.

Anyway, let me know how long we have and we’ll see how far I get catching up with the last few weeks!

Thanks,
Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Finally got outside again – the weather has just been horrible here. We worked on two things:

Wind in Your Hair – Decel
So today is now officially called “The Day of Horrible Throws” 😂 You’ll see why.
And I’m not sure why the audio didn’t come through on the first part of this, but we had a break in between doing this on the left and right and part 2 does have audio.

I think for that very first rep I was crowding him extra hard (was crowding for most/all of the reps where he was on my right it seems) but I’m wondering if the little hand flick I did + the crowding had him going around the wing??

Get Out
-Overall I think this went pretty well, but always plenty of room for improvement.
-Note I did have a leash on the ground to mark my line, but the white wing is mostly hiding it from view.
-First rep I used the wrong wrap cue (I’m not sure the ones I chose are really working for me, but not sure what to do about it now).
-On the second rep I should’ve thrown a LOT sooner!
-There was one interesting rep (the 3rd I think) where he’s hidden by the white wing, but he did the wrap and then just stopped dead, stood there, and looked at me. Super weird! Except…in reviewing a few times I am thinking I was not well connected, slightly more rotated, and my off hand was kind of waving a little so maybe he just wasn’t sure which I was trying to cue??? Certainly it appears he had a valid question when I look at my position but it was kind of funny that he just stopped dead and waited until I got my shit together or something else happened. LOL!! Like, “Mom, I refuse to work if you cannot be clear about your intentions! I do not make choices on my own yet.”

Oh! And I signed up for your seminar at OTR in June – the Friday PM session!! I am so excited! I will make a plan to give us our best shot at being ready for it.

Let me know what you think of this.
Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Hi Tracy,

The jump bumps in the grid are 32″ from middle of bump. I might try it again with dragging the toy instead as you said (I forgot about that from last time) and see if that changes things. I suppose it will encourage him to keep his head down and perhaps a longer stride.

Yesterday we worked on Turnaways at OTR. We spent most of the time before this just goofing around and playing with toys and working on recalls because he was quite distracted. I think that was a productive way to spend the time. But I figured he could handle the Turnaways since he’s so food motivated.🙂

I think once I added in the front crosses I was less patient and didn’t wait until he was 3″ away before stepping back, which led to the errors, but what do you think?

Sorry it was a little blurry – I think I had some smutz on the lens.

Thanks!
Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Hi! Loved the feedback – thank you so much! I have a much better plan for tomorrow’s practice at OTR based on this. Oh, and I realized after the fact that I had labeled it wrong…it wasn’t the Diamond game, it was Tunnel Exit, but who cares, right? 😉

>>Do you have any way to put him in a class or baby dog seminars?>>
I have been looking, but it is SO hard to get into a baby dog class around here (and no seminars right now – maybe you should come!! 😁) unless you are retired and can go at any time of day maybe. Plus, I’m in this weird place now where we are beyond the most basic foundations, yet not doing any contacts yet, and that makes it harder to get into a class when you have not started with the first in a center’s progression. That being said, I am persistent and plan to talk to a few folks to see if I can weasel my way in somewhere soon! I did up for this great course that is only three weeks unfortunately but SO helpful for pups, actually EVERYONE should take this, but it’s called “Mind Your Own Business” and really is just about exercises to focus in the face of normal training center distractions. I also thought about getting into a basic obedience class which would be a lot easier to get into and yet would still give him exposure to new places, dogs and people, while I keep working through your class progression and working contacts & weaves on my own. I do like obedience training!

>>To help build even more speed, use a shorter tunnel (15 feet or 10 feet or 6 feet if they have those shorties! And also bag it – he isn’t exactly moving it yet but he needs to get used to the feel of a heavily bagged tunnel.>>
Yep, you are so right. I will do that next time for sure. Funny, I posted a short subset of this session on my FB page (separate cut, not mentioning it was from your class since I think that is a no-no) and got a few comments about the no-bags even though he didn’t move it. So yes, lesson learned!

>>the dog walk was on his line (not the tunnel) so he was confused. He doesn’t know the DW so he didn’t get on it, but he recognized that the visual of it was on the line so he wasn’t sure if he should take the tunnel or not.>>
Wow, very good catch – I didn’t even think of that and just assumed he’d ignore since he hasn’t seen a dog walk plank since we did Plankrobatics in the first class, but I can see now how that would potentially pose a question! I will definitely block that off tomorrow.

>>And yes, you can increase the value of the reward but also attach the lotus ball to a line so you can keep it moving and engaging. Will he play with toys there?>>
I had tried at first to just play with him with a toy at first in that room, but it was not enough to hold his attention, so I had to switch to the lotus with food. I will see if I can find some string to attach to it for tomorrow, but if not I think I have another idea for how to make it more interesting and keep it moving a bit.

Today I just did a few short sessions back to Minny Pinny left/right proofing and the ladder grid. Although there was no evidence of this, I thought he might be a little sore after he and Emmett got into a little scuffle last night. That Em is one tough, reactive pupper being all old and skinny with a feeding tube sticking out the side of his neck still launching his steroid-wasted self across the room to teach the annoying puppy a lesson. I was heading over to protect Emmett from Ronin’s playful antics and I guess he thought I was too slow! Terriers!! GAWD!!! But I digress…

Previously, we were having issues going to the right but only when he was on the inside of me, zero problems to the left and you said…
>>The next time you tackle this game, move the wings to a slightly tighter angle (and the bumps :)) so that they are a little closer together, so he can ‘bounce ‘ them more. I would start the right turns the same way you did here (between 1 and 2) to warm him up, then working back to start at 1.>>
So I’m wondering if this is what you meant by tightening up the wings for a tighter angle so he can bounce? I could not get my three wings to cooperate – the legs were in the way – so I tried this setup. Aside from the one bump not being flat on the ground like it should, was this what you were thinking?

Had a couple of errors and once taking off without the release, but otherwise I thought it was okay. But let me know what YOU think!

Ladder Grid:
What do you think of this spacing? I have taught Susan Salo’s jump grids before but not for a long time and can’t remember the best way to determine the spacing (I should watch those DVDs again that seems like it would take a LOT longer than just asking you what you think of this spacing LOL!!!!)

~Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Thanks Tracy, this is a great plan. I will add in the wrap after I have thrown he toy.

Since I’m on a bit of a staycation and finally have flexibility, I booked a little ring time at OTR and worked on the diamond drill. Seeing the video I was so late on so many cues and said many wrong things – poor Ronin!!

But this was more about just seeing what we could do in a new place he’s never been to but once when he was only 6 months old and he brain was NOT ready for it then! Anyway, Ronin is somewhat of a pandemic puppy in where he’s been until now so I need to get on changing that. It was an extremely distracting environment smell-wise and with all the stuff around so I was always worried I would lose him to sniffing. So considering all that and my poor handling I think he did pretty well!😂 I know I need to give the cues a lot earlier (and the correct left/right) but also I was thinking maybe I need to leave the wraps and turns earlier. Thoughts?

These were all the reps, with a crate break in between for maybe 7 minutes.

I have some more training time booked for Thursday and this time I will be upping the reward for not sniffing around and for coming back to me – steak it will be! Suggestions for which drills to do in a distracting place? I had wanted to wait on more GoGoGo training until I had your feedback today at least, but could try that there if you thought it was a good idea, or wait to do that where he’s more familiar.

~Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Thanks for all he super great advice, Tracy!

With your fabulous feedback I did two sessions today. Reviewing the video I see a couple of mistakes, but overall I think it was pretty good. These were the sum total of reps we did today; I didn’t leave any out. Interestingly, I must have had more playtime in the second session because I had less reps in it but *both* uncut sessions were exactly 5.1 minutes each! Not that less reps and more playtime is a bad thing, I realize. 🙂 Just saying it was funny they were timed exactly the same.

Anyway, he seemed far less excited for toy placed out past the jump vs. thrown, whether it was thrown then releasee or thrown after release.

I plan to keep doing this throughout the week without including any drills with rear crosses until he’s really getting the driving ahead.

Let me know what you think and additional tweaks as needed.

Thanks!
Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Hi Tracy – buckle up, this is going to be a rough ride critiquing this video today! 😕
This was actually the most discouraging training session I think I have had thus far with Ronin. We worked on Wind in Your Hair part 2 and we really struggled with these rear crosses.

At least this time I did remember the jump bump, which I had forgotten last time. It started out okay with a few reps going straight, but all went downhill from there.

Couple of things to note, working in the agility field (that FINALLY dried out!!) is new for Ronin so prior to this session I had spent a day walking him around the whole thing on leash and then did a couple of short sessions yesterday not on video of super simple games. He was a little distracted, but did okay. It’s definitely a new space for him though and he’s not a super confident dog – usually suspicious of new surroundings at first, so I know that was partially a factor here.

Still, I need to figure out how to fix my handling here – I can see at least three things I did incorrectly several times (one of which you even told me NOT to do in my last feedback so ….UGH!!) but also Ronin didn’t make the rear cross attempts easy because he was not driving ahead of me to the jump. I fear there is not yet enough value for that jump, especially to drive ahead of me to get it. Should I go back and work on that first?

I was sure feeling deflated after this one both with myself and worried about Ronin. 😟 I do not want to create a slow dog and am so worried I will! I have always been faster than my dogs (only had two agility dogs so far – Rich’s Italian Greyhound doesn’t count ’cause that dog just be crazy!) and I have explanations for both of those, but maybe it’s actually ME! I want a dog that is confident enough to want to leave me in the dust.

I feel like I need to take a step back here – especially being in a new space, but let me know what you think. Thank you!!

~Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Thanks for all the great feedback. I need to go back and do more on the last few weeks of things, but for now I will catch up and work baby levels on new stuff. 🙂

Diamond:
Not my best work – ha!! Plus, it was super distracting to be practicing outside, but it is a good thing to start experiencing since if it ever gets spring here and my agility field dries out we’ll be doing more out there with all the good smells!

Strike a Pose Proofing:
This one went better than I thought it was going to. Any suggestions for tweaks or what to move on to?

Wind in Your Hair:
Not too thrilled about how I did on this one – needed more connection and to pay more attention to my lines. And why did I keep saying “Ready?” to him in the middle of the sequence?!? I must be nuts. 🙂 And again it’s outside which is new for him so I could tell it was hard for Ronin to focus. But it’s a start!

Find the Jump:
This one went okay. Suggestions for changes?

Thank you in advance for the feedback,
Kristin

[Kristin Omdahl]

Thanks for the great feedback.

Round 2 of the Serp Lead changes…I tried to be a bit more of a handler on this one and I think it was better. It sure is good we’re doing these because you can really see over several reps especially that they need to the practice to figure out the lead change footwork. It’s definitely not always automatic!

Serp vs. Wrap:
I think this was better, still not super smooth, but I think there was a bit more clarity on the front cross. I also don’t know why it’s so hard to remember o stay closer to the wring, but I see I still wasn’t as close as i should’ve been.

MinnyPinny proofing:
>>On the warm up – was he able to go all the way around to the right, without you moving, starting from your left side with you kind of in the center of the bump?

Yes, he definitely rocked the warm ups without me moving, on the left, going to the right.

I did try one regular rep just to see if it was still a struggle, and it was so I tried making it easier per your suggestions. It definitely helped such that we were able to get two nice reps correctly at the end.

Let me know your thoughts on if we should move on with anything or do something differently.
Thank you!

~Kristin

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