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Good afternoon! Another lovely day, but getting warm. Keiko and I worked on the first sequence. I decided to try the weaves since we haven’t had a chance to do them as much as the seesaw.
As you can see in the video, she was fine when turning to the left (the exit direction on the poles). Makes sense. I like to do the exercises on both sides, so we did it on the right. She went through them happily, then it was, “what are you doing over there, Mom?” I’ve not seen her reverse weave before, so this is a hint to me to be careful with my handling when I’m behind. She did need a bit of a nudge to finish the poles in the third clip, so we just did the poles together to finish up.
Question about our videos. You said you wanted them limited to 2 per exercise. Does that mean 2 different videos for all the set ups in the sequence section or 2 videos per set up i the sequence section? My guess is 2 video for the sequences, period. If that’s the case, I’ll wait until we’ve done a few of the different exercises so I can include a clip from 3 or 4 of them.
I don’t know how you’re doing it – this class has over 30 participants, and I bet this is not the only class you’re teaching! Take a breather once in a while…..:)
~KristieYes, Tracy, that makes great sense! Especially emphasizing the word Cookies – that should help override anything else. ;). Also, I wanted to mention that the “shake” I asked for in the exercise is a very new command. For some reason, I hadn’t taught it to her, and decided it was time. Obviously, if I’m going to use it as a focus and fun thing, I need to do alot of practice and reward. It is also possible that the bending over could be an issue, especially in a trial setting. Great that we get to try all these things out now, rather than discover we miss-judged something at a trial. Thanks!
Hi, Tracy,
Thanks for pointing out that I might want to avoid “get” in our reward marker. I have been saying “let’s get your cookies” and at the end of the session, or a play time with all three of our girls, I always say “let’s go into the house for cookies” and everyone races in and waits by the cookie drawer. I do use “get out” so perhaps I should try to eliminate the “get” from my phrase. I could even change it to something like “cookie time.” I’ll have to see what occurs to me while we’re working.
~KristieGood Afternoon! Simply beautiful day here, so we gave the first Transitions exercise a visit. There were more sets. I wanted you to see our very first clip, a couple with more action, and the part where I put her collar back on before heading to the reward. I thought she handled this really nicely.
Thanks, Tracy. I did do more angles such as 30 and 45 when we were doing this exercise. I left them out since we’re limiting to 4 clips, and I wanted you to see how far we got, as well as her reaction to thrown and placed rewards. The little brain was a smoking’! 😉
Thanks for the suggestions regarding seesaw “comfort” training. I figure slow and steady and fun is the way to go. Her biggest issue seems to be the noise. I may try the “knock the noisy stack” game at home to see if that helps desensitize her to sudden clangs and bangs.Hi, Tracy,
Thanks for the explanation. We gave the first exercise set a go, and did runs for three obstacles. We started with the tunnel, did the seesaw, and finished with the poles. So the first clip you’ll see is the very first one we did, the seesaw clip was #3 on the seesaw, and the two from the poles were the last two runs. A note about the seesaw. I was particularly pleased with her seesaw runs because yesterday she experienced her first new seesaw in class, and she was not happy. It was rubberized, so felt different, was very noisy, and near a wall. The instructor and I worked on isolating the end (bang game) doing lots of special treats, and I stayed in close proximity, but it’s going to need more time and work. Any suggestions on helping her make the transition to different equipment in new places?
Thanks! Here’s our video: https://youtu.be/MGpYXi2BmnwHi, Tracy,
Yes, I’m really pleased to be able to “do” agility somewhere besides the backyard. 😉
I have read through the overviews and looked at the first Skills and Sequence sets. I totally understand your need to limit how much video we submit. A question: Do we pick just one of the sets for our videos for that week’s challenges, or do we do videos for each of the sets? You have examples with the saw, weaves and a tunnel for skills set 1. Do I just send you video for one of those pieces of equipment and do the others on my own? Can I submit video 1 on one piece of equipment. Then, after feedback, submit video 2 using a different piece of equipment, or does that not make sense? I want to be sure I’m understanding what you’d like us to do.
Thanks. Looks like a GREAT!! class! Lots of challenges for us to work in this first set already! Take care, ~KristieHi, Tracy,
I realize today is June 1, so you may not see this. Afte 4 days of rain, we were finally able to go out and see how she’d handle doing 12 poles right from the start. These are the 3 runs we did, and I’m pleased with my little red girl. The bounce will get stronger as she has more experience with this. For only the second time, I think this was pretty good. :). See you in the summer camp class! I imagine there will be 12 poles in there once in a while. 😉
Hi, Tracy,
Thanks for all the feedback. I will stick with 12 poles for at least the next time or 2. I’d like to see her confidence and speed pick up a bit for that BIG number. 😉 Then we’ll do some different things with 6. I assume the sequences on 6 poles you mention here are the ones under the “Find ’em Track: 2×2 heading? We’ve done some of those but there are certainly more to play with!
We’re due here for a rather Memorial 3-day weekend – so don’t know that we’ll get to the poles for a while. The break might be just right for her.
Have a good weekend! Take care, ~KristieHi, Tracy,
We started where we left off, and I decreased the distance between the poles by about a foot each time. As you can see, she’s pretty confident when seeing 6 poles. The last couple of runs (12 inches apart and then all 12 together) are slower and more careful, which is what I have come to expect from Keiko when she is seeing something new or different. Plus, she’d been doing poles and was probably getting a tad tired. She only had one “do-over” where she skipped a pole in the second set and did fine the second time through. Question – do we keep at 12 for a while now, or should I vary sometimes 6 and sometimes 12 and sometimes 10 or 8? Simple sets or inside a small sequence? I think she’ll pick up speed and confidence as we go on, but I’d like to make that progression as fun as possible. What do you suggest? Thanks, ~Kristie (proud of my girl 🙂
Hi, Tracy,
Here’s our runs from this morning. I was all set to do treating at 6/7 and after 12. As you can see, Keiko saw the next set and was ready to go ahead. After seeing that I was interrupting her forward progress by rewarding in the middle, I just let her do both sets of 6 without a reward pause. She did great! We quit because I figured we were doing well and I’m trying to quit while she still has energy and is having fun.
How’s this look to you? More of the same, just 6 & 6, or should I start closing the gap? Thanks!
Kristie
Hi, Tracy,
It’s been a few days since we visited the poles. Keiko’s been gradually getting back into the swing of things – Basic Manners class, walks in the woods, and romping with her sisters. So today we did sets at 2 different times – one in the am and another in the pm. We did 6 poles from different locations around the clock. As you can see, she did fine, even coming off different equipment including blind tunnels and wrapping jumps. The only issue she had was when I sent her from between 6/7 o’clock, and she went to the top of the poles and tried to enter from the other side. She knows she can use the top pole as a clue for sends from the bottom off-side (5/6) and tries to do the same from the other side. So I went all the way up to the top with her and cued the correct entry. I’m not going to stress about this (unless you think I should)…I don’t anticipate being in many situations where I would be sending her to the far end of 12 poles from the 6/7 location. I think it’s time to move on to making 12 poles fun and fast (and accurate) from at least the top half of the clock and then we’ll ease into the lower half as experience and confidence continue to build. Let me know what you think. Thanks!!
Hi, Tracy,
We’re back! :). It’s been 8 days since her surgery and 9 days since she’s done any agility at all. She’s healing well, and has been champing at the bit to get out there and DO SOMETHING! So, we did just a very few passes on the poles. We started with 2 passes on 6 poles as a refresher. Then did 2 sets of 6. She had been doing 6 and 4 before surgery, so I thought we’d try 2 sets of 6. She did some thinking, especially on the competition set of 6 that have non-skid tape on the base. It’s different from what she has been accustomed to with the 2x2s, so she seems to have to figure out that the motion is the same. I thought these passes were okay – she did better/faster/more bouncy in the 2x2s, and was slower and more thoughtful in the comp set, but I have a feeling this will all even out with practice and exposure and more speed and excitement in the approach. I wanted today to be gentle, so didn’t push. We’ll take a day or two off before coming back and revving up a bit. Any suggestions? Thanks! It’s so nice to be out with her again. The leash-no-fun-runs confinement has been hard on everyone. ;). ~Kristie
Hi, Tracy,
Thanks for asking about Keiko. Yes, the waiting to hear is the toughest part on the humans. Thankfully, my vet knows how I feel, and always has his assistant call me as soon as the surgery is over and the dog is coming out of anesthesia. Then I call later in the day to see how things are going. They keep all surgeries overnight to make sure everything is progressing as planned, so we didn’t get to see her until today. We’re all delighted to have her home. She’s subdued, but that makes sense, and she is being very sweet and lovey. Internal, dissolving stitches, so not much for her to bother, but the hair growing back will itch, so I’m already giving her gentle tummy rubs where possible. ;). I’m pretty sure we’ll see her eagerness to be out and about real soon, so will be doing lots of indoor trick training and food games to help her through the next few days. Walks in the woods can start after the weekend, so that will certainly help. We’ll be back at agility as soon as we can. Take care!
~Kristie and KeikoHi, Tracy,
Here are runs from a couple of different days. The first 4 are running straight on into 6 poles in small sequences with lots of space on each end of the poles. I thought these looked pretty good.
We skipped a day (rain) then went out today to give 6 poles with varying entries a try. The first 2 clips were from the green tunnel (didn’t show in the first clip so I did it again). Next, a run from the bottom of the aframe, followed by 2 runs with me doing a rear cross right before the poles. Again, it didn’t show in the first run – I’m not thinking about the camera as we move about the field…..
The very last run was a try at a set of 6, a gap, and a set of 4. It was the first time she used my competition weave set (Max 200 and they have a black stripe in the white of the base). She was not completely sure she should treat these poles the same way. You can see how she picked up when she saw her 2x2s at the end. This is good to know – my thinker may decide to analyze new pieces of equipment, even if they are similar to what she’s been doing. I think getting into a class somewhere, and doing run thrus when they’re finally available will really help her acclimate. I’ve heard it said several times that dogs don’t generalize easily, so experiences will be co-teachers. 😉
One of the reasons I tried the 10 poles is that Keiko is going in for spay surgery tomorrow. This means we won’t be doing any agility for a few days. I will be checking with the vet, and we’ll be watching our girl as she heals. I know she’s going to be begging for agility and fun stuff before she’s really totally ready. That’s always one of the hard parts. The hardest part (for us humans) is when she’s away for the surgery. So wish her a speedy and complete recovery, and we’ll be back as soon as we can. Kristie & Keiko
