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Hi, Tracy,
Well, well. First, I need to tell you that a week ago Keiko surprised me from behind when we were playing the indoor chuck-it game, took my feet right out from under me, and I landed flat on my back. Running, bending, and just general moving is still quite painful. Medically, I’m told it can take up to 4 weeks for a bruised tail/lower back bone area to heal. So, I’m doing my best to be exciting and run in our sessions, but I’m not doing as much as I’d like.
That said, I think today’s session went fairly well. I took your suggestions – go rid of the chuck it so she didn’t have that to focus on, tried to get her excited before runs (she was pulling on her collar for the tunnel each time before I let her go), and made a fun sequence of tunnel, weaves, tunnel, Manners minder.since I’m “running impaired” I took off and was ahead of her on most runs. I hoped that would speed her up a bit. I put the tunnel in a variety of spots between 10 and 2. And a couple of times she chose to take the tire, too.
She wasn’t a lightening fast BC, but she moved into the poles each time with confidence and ran to take the next tunnel and get the reward. I noticed in the video that most of the time, she strided into the first set and bounced out at the end. She may turn out to be a swimmer. I think she may not show a definite stride until there are more poles – or do you think differently? What I found especially interesting was the crossed outside leg stuff she did when approaching the poles from the 10 position. Odd.
Okay, so let me know what you think about the video. I am wondering what might happen if I just ran her through the tunnel from straight on and kept doing just that. Start with poles at 1 and 7 and turn them slightly after 3 runs, and so on. Other ideas? My little thinker is making ME think!
Hi, Tracy,
The tunnel was still muddy from our rain and snow(!) so I decided to use tossed toys and treats. I did nudge the poles closer to straight (horizontally) just not closer together vertically. We hadn’t done anything with the poles since the 14th so she had a good break – perhaps too long? She was still being thoughtful and careful about entries. You’ll notice in the fifth clip that I made a noise because she started heading to the far side for a near side entry. She quickly corrected, but I have noticed that she does this sometimes- trying to use the first pole as a “wrap” to start the poles. Should I perhaps tip the first set a bit and keep the second set straight? She seemed to be fine with entries, but as the poles are getting so close, she seems to be rethinking the straight entry. She’s fine from the other angles, straight on is getting muddy. I should be able to use the tunnel entry tomorrow, and that may help with her speed and perhaps help her not over-think. We’ll see. Suggestions?
Here’s the video.
Take care, KristieHi, Tracy,
Yup, what you say makes perfect sense. She’ll enjoy just running and chasing the squirrel without too much thinking required. Looks like it will be Saturday or Sunday before the field will be runnable, so she’ll get a well-deserved break from weaving.
Looking forward to seeing the new videos. We won’t do them until she’s ready. I think she is actually going to like having more poles to navigate. Just 2 sets hardly gives them time to adjust, then it’s over. 😉
Take care, KristieHi, Tracy,
Sadly, the forecast has gotten worse, not better. We’re looking at 1.25 inches of rain over the next 2 days which means it will be Sunday or Monday before the fire ld is dry enough to be safe for running. So we went out in the late afternoon to do just a few runs with the poles closer together. The start of the video shows the placement of the poles. When we get the chance to do this again, I plan on moving the second set of poles more in line with set one, bit by bit, but still with the small gap. Then we can work on closing that up, too.
So here are just a few runs from different spots using the same pole setup all the way through. One of the things I especially liked was I was able to be more distant from the poles, and when I got well ahead of her, or was off to the side, she just charged ahead through the poles without worrying about what I was doing. It’s so neat to see the progress and changes they make as we move through this sequence getting out pace cue from the pups. 😉
Here’s the video of our closest set so far.
Take care, KristieHi, Kim. Just dropping by for a hello and a peek at Sly. What a great little guy you have there! He does look like he’s lots of fun, and loves playing with his mom. Take care, Kristie
Hi, Tracy,
I moved the tunnel around some more, and moved the poles a bit closer, both sideways, and closing the gap between them a bit. They are definitely straighter than 1 and 7. We’re getting pretty close to straight. But I just nudged them a bit. We’ll probably do a few runs tomorrow, then we’ll be off for a few days with the rain…
I was pleased with her performance. I crowded her on her first run and she zigged and hit the pole. Otherwise, she zipped through. I had to include the one self-offered weave set. She cracks me up! “This is what you want, right? So where’s the cookie?”
I do really like her entry accuracy, and she seems to pick up speed both when she sees me getting ready throw the toy and when she sees the exit. It will be interesting when we add more poles….
So how’s it looking? She begs every day to go to the field, and now the first thing she does is run to the poles and weave. “ Hey, that’s Mom’s cookie and toy thing right now, so let’s get to it”.
Keeping the sessions short, playing some chase games in the midst of the runs, and varying the sending locations and obstacles seems to be keeping her interested. So, here’s our stuff from today. Take care, KristieHi, Tracy,
I have used the other dog training to rev a pup up, but have not done that with Keiko. Right now, the dog I would want to use is nursing a badly bruised toe, so she’s not supposed to be running, jumping or twisting on that paw. My other girl is 10.5 and has never been a speed demon in agility. However, she would probably be happy to try to make her teenage sister squirm.
I’ll certainly work on closing the pole sets up – gradually, of course. We have lots of rain forecast for Thursday and Friday which will probably mean Saturday the field will still be too wet. So I may do some little sets with pole changes over the next 2 days. We’ll see how it goes.
BTW, when does this class end and when does the next class start? Thanks! Take care, KristieHi, Tracy,
Ok, so here’s our tunnel run session from different locations. I used my interim cue just once, then switched to weave. She did ‘t even seem to notice. 😉
I tried to put the tunnel in positions across the top of the clock. She did well, and I think she was a tad faster when I cued her while she was in the tunnel, which of course makes sense. I try to do that, but we’re so used to looking AT someone when talking. This is different, and that early cue helps her prep for what’s coming next.
I didn’t have room for the tunnel to be straight out from the 10 and 11 spots, so I sent her to the far end of the tunnel, and tried to position myself in the appropriate sending spot, causing her to have to turn. I wasn’t great at that, but she nailed the poles!
I cracked up when I was editing and saw the last two runs. What you can’t see is there is a 20 foot tunnel under the dogwalk, and that is what I sent her through. I, of course, could see everything, so it didn’t occur to me to turn the camera….AT any rate, she came out of the tunnel the first time directly from the 9 position, the I sent her in the other end, and she came out from a spot between 7 and 8. Her enthusiasm stayed up and she was happy to chase her toy.
I found her choice of stride interesting. Coming straight down the line from spot 12, she did some stepping / swimming. When coming in from harder angles, she bounced. Perhaps this girl will adjust her stride to fit the occasion….she’s too much! Take care, KristieHere ‘s the video:
HI, Tracy,
Here’s the “little go” we gave things today. Only 3 runs, since it was supposed to be a day off….
First run from 12 o’clock Tire throwing a toy she likes (I threw too late)
Second run from tunnel at a bit of an angle throwing the squirrel (Yay!)
Third run from the tunnel throwing a treat.I know the poles were open, but she really seemed to like the difference in the approaches. No stupid wings. Enough, already. We did a Linda Mecklenberg jumping foundations class with tons of circling cones and wings. I think if she didn’t ever have to circle a wing again, she wouldn’t miss them…..;)
So, what’s your read on this? Keep going with fun entries (she does like the tire, too), work on speed, tightening the poles, keep the sets apart for a while longer, and throwing rewards?
Oh yes, here’s the (really short!) video:
Hi, Tracy. Great, helpful feedback ( as always!). Thanks! The tunnel will be a great change for her. We‘Ll give it a little go. 👍
Hi, Tracy,
Well, darn. I just wrote you a short novella to go along with our video from today, hit the wrong key, and all the text evaporated. So, I’ll try again…
First and foremost, Keiko is fine. No limping, no hesitations to do anything physical – begging for play and jousting with our other girls. So all is well and good there.
I found our work today, and the resulting video, rather interesting. You’ll see that I started with the second set of poles offset, nudged them closer, and then did the last 4 runs with them both straight up, about 16″ apart. I also moved the side wings until they were almost in the 9 and 3 positions, so the angling was a bit harder.
Her pacing was interesting. I noticed in the first sets with the easier pole angles, she entered the straight poles with one leg through, then bounced the rest of the way. When the poles were all straight up, she tended to use single legs and/or a walk, and then bounce on the way out. I’m not going to worry about it at this point. I know she’s thinking and slows down when she does she. I figure once she’s confident with the straight poles, she’ll decide what she wants to do, and do it. A couple of my Aussies have actually used the single step to get into the poles, then bounced the rest of the way. We’ll see what develops.
One thing I noticed was when the poles were all straight, she seemed to want a second cue of “through” for the second set. I didn’t give her a “yes” because I didn’t want to distract her or pull her off the second set of poles since they were so close, so a second cue worked fine. However, if I’m going to be cuing more than once, I’m wondering if I should switch to my usual weave cue and drop the “through.” What are your thoughts? Too soon, or are we ready?
I do think we need to do a few sets from the lower part of the clock to keep that fresh.
There was a lot going on, and I’m looking forward to your feedback and suggestions. What should we focus on next? Is it good to mix things up, or should I work on straight poles, but father apart, then gradually bring them in closer. Do we go all the way around the clock, or stick with the top section? Looking forward to hearing from you!
~KristieHi, Tracy,
As I mentioned, I gave Keiko a mini set to work on. We only did the four runs you see here. No limping, though she did do a lead change or something like that coming around the wing for the first run. Her speed picked up as soon as she knew the first set of poles were correct. And you’re right, she does love the squirrel. We’ll stick with this game for another session and I’ll work on striaghtening the poles more. Anything else? Thanks, Kristie
Hi, Tracy,
I agree with you. I thought I saw her do a “catch” step or tiny limp once or twice in the video. It was not evident in her chasing and squirrel play earlier today. However, yesterday she played hard with her sisters, and may have aggravated an already sore-ish muscle. I’m going to keep an eye on that. I, too, was thinking maybe making the angle easier would help her motion – and ease her think-tank a bit. 😉 I know we’re supposed to go easy at this level and skip a day. However, since I’m backing up on the difficulty, I may have her do 3 or 4 runs tomorrow and see if she charges through. Then I’ll have a better idea if this is still Lyme, or just lots of thinking.
Take care. I’m assuming you’re getting some nice weather in Virginia. We’re finally having days in the 60s and 70s. Yay!!!
~KristieHi, Tracy,
Here’s a session with Game 2. I started with the poles as you suggested. During the session, I moved the poles 3 & 4 in about an inch and later I brought them up closer an inch. Very little change since it seemed this set up was okay, but not too easy. She’s not barreling through from every wing approach. I plan to leave it like this for at least another session and see how things go. I feel that happy is most important right now. I did try to praise/encourage when she got the first set correct, then toss the squirrel for the second set. She tends to enter carefully, then pick up speed. When she’s going quickly and is confident, I see the bounce. When she’s slower and thinking more, she trots or swims. Very similar to my other girls when they were learning.
Any suggestions? Thanks! Kristie
Hi, Tracy,
Here’s work on various clock positions with the poles getting closer and closer and eventually straight up. Once again, she was happy with her squirrel. 🙂 Of course, as they got closer, she slowed down since she is a pretty much a stickler for accuracy (or at least what she is considering accurate at the time. ) 😉 Though we only did 9 runs, I think I should have stopped earlier since I was increasing the difficulty of the poles AND changing the angles of entry. We’ll give the Find ‘Em game a try next time we’re in the field, and see how that goes with a wider distance between the poles.
Comments? Thanks! ~Kristie
