[Kristie Foss]

HI, Tracy,
Thanks for the kibble enhancement suggestions. I assume you leave the kibble to dry after these lovely soaks. The MM is so picky that the kibble gets stuck sometimes. I can’t imagine what it would do with wet stuff!
I did try using the chuck it squirrel as a tossed reward. It was pretty much a disaster. She’d go out, circle 1 pole and then start running hoping I’d throw the toy. I tried a few different things, but when she started getting fed up, I figured I didn’t want to “kill” that toy for us, so went to kibble in the MM.
The video here is for the 2×2 straight up going from position 9 to position 3. I thought she did pretty well, and my motion doesn’t seem to bother her – though she is still hoping I’ll treat her in addition to the MM treats. She is an Aussie, after all….;)
So, what should I be focusing on? We can do the tunnel discrimination again. Anything else in particular, or is there another set of exercises coming along soon?
Thanks, ~Kristie

[Kristie Foss]

HI, Tracy,
Thanks for all the tips and tricks today. I’ll try bringing in the squirrel as a reward and see what happens. She tends to get so wound up over it that all she can think of is chase and catch. 😉
Regarding the MM treat vs. hand treats. The MM only takes kibble. I usually have cheese or other higher value treat in my hand. I’m not sure there is anything lower than kibble, so I’m not really sure what I can have in my hand that is of lower value than kibble. I could try putting a bowl instead of the MM – that would mean I’d be going to the bowl each time to replenish, which sort of messes up the send and move to the next spot….Any other ideas? If the squirrel works out, that might be the ticket. I’ll give it a shot.

[Kristie Foss]

Hello again!
One more thing I’ve been thinking about. When we send and add motion, it makes lots of sense from 12 to 9 and 12 to 3. When were sending from the bottom half of the pole set-up, the motion is less clear. I’ve been moving forward a bit, sending with my arm, then turning around and moving back to the starting point. Do you suggest any other motion or non-motion from those points (8,7,6,5,4)? Just wondering.
Thanks!
~Kristie

[Kristie Foss]

Hello, Tracy,

Here’s the other piece we worked on today. This is the pole/tunnel discrimination activity. The area that would be considered lower right quadrant was a bit tricky, but I thought she handled this pretty well. The tunnel didn’t pull her in. 😉 She saw it, but having the reward placed as it was, plus the good treats on me, was enough to keep her focused on the poles. It will be interesting as we fade the rewards to see if the tunnel becomes too much of a draw to resist. 🙂

How’s this look to you?

~Kristie

[Kristie Foss]

Hi, Tracy,

Yes, it’s raining steadily outside – we need it, so I’m not complaining. Though snow is due overnight, they’ve decreased the amount and with a little bit of luck, I’ll just have a muddy field for a couple of days, no ice. (fingers crossed) So we went out to the field before the rains started.

Keiko and I worked on the off-side approaches to the 2x2s (what you call threadles). I thought I had the poles set at 1 and 7, but when I look at the video, it really seems they were almost straight. There were a couple of times the MM clicker didn’t seem to send. Perhaps it’s time for a new battery…
I thought she did great. I added motion this time, and the left side of the clock seems to go really smoothly. We’re also doing pretty well in the 12 to 3 o’clock range. When we got to the 4,5,6 slot, I switched back to normal sends, then re-did the area with the off-side send and motion. Perhaps the “normal” send review did it, but she handled the off-side piece well, too. Yay, Keiko! 🙂
Shall we go to the straight up pole section after the ground dries?

Thanks,
~Kristie

[Kristie Foss]

Hi, Tracy,

Just wanted to reply to your comments about a verbal (another one!) for the far end of the weaves. I don’t think I want to add another word to the arsenal – probably using our word for the far end of the tunnel (“far”) would work well for us. Knowing myself, I’d also be cuing physically – can’t help it. 😉

I don’t have an FB account – use my husband’s when I need to see something. So keep me posted on what gets discussed and how the group is leaning. There is always something new to think about, isn’t there. 🙂

~Kristie

[Kristie Foss]

Hello, Again!
We went out later to give the threadles another try, this time with the poles at 2 and 8. Again, I gave extra support in the last quadrant, but it seemed to go a bit smoother this time.
We’re due for rain coming in tomorrow mid-day, then snow overnight. 🙁 So we’ll be trying to get in a session or two before the weather hits. I didn’t realize the Find ’em game could be done before the straight pole exercise. We’ll have to go take a look at that. Might be a nice change of pace. 🙂
Here’s the poles at 2 and 8. Take care. ~Kristie

[Kristie Foss]

Hi, Tracy,

Keiko told me we needed to do something in the agility field today, so we went out early to try the threadle exercise. We just did it this first time with poles at 3 and 9. As you’ll see, I worked closer for the sends from the lower right quadrant. She’s starting to get the idea in that area, but it’s still not as strong as she is in the other 3/4 of the clock.
Here’s our session: https://youtu.be/YiPDSGQnkqc

[Kristie Foss]

Hello – again! 🙂
Step 3: Poles 1 and 7 with motion.
We took a good long break, and went back out in the afternoon to give the 1 & 7 poles a try with motion. She pretty much zipped through the left side, and was perky and happy. As you’ll see, I did a few extra sends and motions from the 4,5,6 slots, and she did much better than in the morning. I still think I’m supporting her a bit extra in this area, but I want her a bit more confident before I pull back. How does this look to you? Thanks!
Kristie

[Kristie Foss]

Hello!
Since things had gone so well with the 2/8 positions, I shifted the angle to 1 and 7. I started off moving a bit too much, possibly because we’d been moving in the last set. Then I realized what I was doing and tried to work on the send without much motion. The Manners Minder started having some issues, and didn’t always drop treats every time, so there are places where I double-clicked to be sure Keiko got a reward. Once again, when we got to the 4,5,6 area, she found it more difficult and made a couple of errors in a row, so I tried some repositioning. She was such a good girl. I could tell she was a bit confused, but I didn’t see any stress or shutting down, so we gave it a bit more work, and she seemed to click on it. That’s when I called the session done. We played with her chuck-it squirrel for quite a while – she’s a maniac with that thing! – and then we went in. Wonder if there will be any latent learning?
~Kristie

[Kristie Foss]

Hi, Tracy,
Step # 3: Angled Poles at 2 & 8:
You’re going to have to believe me on this. Keiko and I did the whole circle (both sides) with poles at 2 and 8, with sends. We took a play break, then I went to check make sure the video was still angled well…only to find out I’d never turned it on. She had done really well, and I did not want to make her re-do everything. So we went ahead and did the 2 and 8 with motion. That’s the video you’ll see here. I thought she did quite well on the left side of the clock, and most of the right side – except when we got to the area between 4 and 6. We took a break, and then I did a little work in that area from closer to the poles. She did fine when I was about 3 feet from the poles. It’s obvious that area is one we need to spend extra time on. Otherwise, how does this look to you?

[Kristie Foss]

Hi!
After lunch and a rest, and warming temperatures, Keiko and I gave step 2 a shot with motion from me. She seemed to handle my motion well. The one having difficulty with the motion was me! I couldn’t recall if I was supposed to keep her always on the same side all the way around or not. It felt more natural to change sides depending on the side of the clock we were on. Otherwise, I would have been doing rear crosses as she entered the poles. On the other hand, that may be what you intended since the sooner they see motion in all it’s forms, the sooner they adapt. Unless you think differently, I’m planning on going on to step 3, adding angles to the poles. Which side (of me) should Keiko be on when I send her, or should I be mixing that up? Anything else from these first 2 videos that I need to focus on more? Thanks, as always! ~Kristie

[Kristie Foss]

Hi, Tracy,
Here’s our go at Step 2: Around the clock at 3 & 9. I thought she did quite well. It did crack me up that she thinks if there’s a cone, she is supposed to go around it. We’ll have to fade that somehow. I can just see her circling all the (coned) numbers on an agility course….. 😉
You’ll see a couple of places where Keiko had to think about what to do, but she figured it out. It took me a bit to get used to changing my position on the different sides of the clock, but I think we finally got our act together.
We’ll try this activity later with motion. I think Keiko should be able to handle that, and some latent learning may also kick in.
When I first saw your video for this exercise, it bothered me a bit that there were times when it seemed the dog did not enter with the first (closest) pole on their left shoulder. However, after watching the next videos and seeing how the angling works, I see that it all comes together.
Let me know what you think. Take care, Kristie

[Kristie Foss]

Hi, Tracy,
The weather has been holding – as a matter of fact, we’ve had a couple of lovely days in the 60s, though now things are heading back down for a bit….So we took advantage of some of the lovely sun, and started our 2x2s. Here are our first couple of sessions of the Shaping Value exercise. I did one indoors and one outside. It was much harder for Keiko to get focused outside with all the distractions around. Squirrels running on the ground, birds hopping about, my husband coming out to see what we were doing…But she pulled it together and did well. And yes, those are wind chimes in the background in the last couple of clips. I love that sound, and there was just the right amount of breeze.
So, now on to the field and beginning position work.

Hope all’s well with you, and that you’re getting some lovely weather, too. ~Kristie

[Kristie Foss]

Yup! The snow’s gone (and we’re planning on keeping it that way.) Rain can mess up the field, but we’ll have dry days and will be able to weave indoors and out. Yay!!!

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