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Hi, Tracy,
We waited until afternoon when the sun had softened some of the ice crust on the snow, and then we ventured out to give a few exercises a try. I kept our motion easy, and Keiko was careful, too, once she felt the surface and how things felt. We’re just happy we had a chance to get outside and play agility! 🙂
Here’s our first take on the Counter-Motion Commitment. There is a tunnel just off-camera, and Keiko almost took it one time. I think it’s good for her to have to pay attention to what I’m cuing, and not just take anything she wants. She does love her tunnels! 🙂
~KristieHello, Tracy!
Well, this snow is nasty, we even got a small second dose later in the day…still dealing with getting the driveway cleared off, and the agility field – well, it’s very pretty – and very white. So I’m glad to see that many of the regular exercises for this week are things we can manage indoors. This is the one time when I envy those with indoor arenas. I used to be able to rent time during the winter, but Covid has meant no winter ring.
However, I figured Keiko and I could take a shot at a few of the things from the live sessions, so we gave Sno-Gility a try! 😉 The attached video has a pot pourri of little exercises from the weekend sessions – I’m not sure I remembered everything, or even managed to do them correctly, but we had fun and Keiko was jazzed to be rewarded for playing in the snow! 😉 I realized when I was editing that for a couple of the sets the second wing is out of camera view. However, I think you can see enough of me to get the jist of what we were doing. Doesn’t make it easy to critique, I realize – sorry about that. The snow added another dimension to moving and handling. It will probably still be useable for another day or two, so if there is an exercise from the live sessions you think I should give more focus, please holler. https://youtu.be/-I80YxHN5Us
Take care. ~Kristie
Hi, Tracy,
I like your thoughts here about the 2-parts of a tunnel cue – take it and exit. It does shed some light on the whole timing issue. Thanks!
I looked at the exercises for week 2, and I think we’ll be able to do some of them indoors. Good timing for us! This snow looks like it will be around for a while, so indoor options are nice. Looking forward to seeing the Live classes this weekend. You do the same things on Saturday and Sunday, correct? ~Kristie
Hi, Tracy,
So glad for you that you still have grass! Enjoy it! We got 9.5 inches of snow. The temps are going to stay low for the next several days, so we will be white here for a while. Don’t know when I’ll be able to do the next set of exercises, but will keep fingers crossed that it’s sooner rather than later. 😉
Thank you for the specific info about my cues and timing. I kept thinking I needed her to know about a change before taking off for the jump before the tunnel. See landing, and cue makes sense. I’d love to get out there and practice right now, but it will have to wait.
Take care and be warm. ~Kristie and Keiko
Hi, Tracy,
I decided to try working on the various options for helping Keiko know when to barrel out of the tunnel straight ahead, and when to be ready to turn. I tried using fronts, blinds, and a tunnel break – and one time, I did an odd spin-thing. You can see how we both did. She was really happy to be outside and work/playing today. I think she senses the storm in the air and she was definitely wired and eager to do things together. I tossed in some chase and fetch games in between the runs, and she was delighted. If we do get a good snow, I know our three girls will be romping tomorrow!
So, let me know what you think. I really don’t think I ever got the blind done perfectly. I think in this type of situation I’m much more likely to use a FC or a tunnel break. She seemed to pick up on that fairly well. As always, your suggestions are welcome.
Take care and stay warm and dry! ~Kristie https://youtu.be/1Sjq8KQvGCYHI, Tracy,
Ah, the snow has started. We’ve only got 1/4″ right now, but they’re predicting 12″+ since it’s supposed to keep up overnight and last until afternoon. We’ll see…Okay, so I wanted to get back to some of your comments.
From the Verbals and Connection video: That time she went off to the right was mostly due to the fact that she kept asking to play. She’d been around the circle and saw one of her favorite toys, so decided to go get it and see if she could rope me into some “free time.” We did play, but she had to do another loop first. 😉 I leave her toys out on the field so she gets used to ignoring them when we’re doing agility.She’s really pretty good at ignoring, but it was just too much that day. 🙂Plank work: I’ll have to find my old broadjump boards and get them angled to work on entries. Thanks for the suggestion. I have the table nearby will be using it for the “get off” end soon. We’ll be doing a 2o2o for all the contacts. As she gains confidence, I’m going to need those extra seconds to catch up. 🙂
Circle with Fronts: Yes, you’re right that running with her into the jumps will give me more opportunity to show decel and rotations in a timely manner. I’ll have to work on varying what we do.
Circle with Blinds: I thought it was interesting that you suggested a spin – when I did that one, it just came naturally. I’ll give the blinds more work, but I have a feeling in this situation the spin is going to be my preference.
Thanks again, Tracy. Hope you don’t have much in the way of sleet or ice to contend with tomorrow. Hopefully, it’s a stay-at-home day. 😉
~Kristie
Here are our Circle sequence sets with blinds. Keiko went wide the first time we did the wrap. So I did a variety of turns on the wrap on the far jump. You’ll see 3 different methods, one of which put me on the wrong side – which was fine with Keiko since the reward came at a good time.;) I liked the spin on that far wrap better, perhaps, than just slowing and pulling her around the wing. What do you think? Do you have a better way to decel and get the dog to wrap fairly tightly? As always, thanks, Tracy. 🙂PS: We are in Storm Warning mode here. 12 – 16″ of the white stuff possible with winds to 45 mph. It looks like you may be getting a piece of this down Virginia way, too. So, after tomorrow am, I’m not sure when Keiko and I will be able to access equipment and bare ground. Time for those microspikes!
Hi, Tracy,
Here are a couple clips of the Circle sequence with the Front Cross wraps. Keiko likes barreling ahead, but she also seems to enjoy it when she has to pay attention because I might do something “strange.” You’ll notice that I didn’t always complete the whole circle because I was trying to toss the reward in different places. I think she liked that. 😉 A question: I am able to send her and work her from a distance on some of these exercises. Should I also vary that and run with her so we have both things going? I know some of the exercises were looking for sends, but I don’t want to overdo that. Your thoughts? Thanks!
Hi, Tracy,
We had a surge through our network, and my iMovie program isn’t working properly, so I’ve spent the last 3 hours just trying to find a way to get my little videos to work for Agility U. I’m hoping this one comes across, and I’ll know I’m on the right track. Enough of my issues. Technology is lovely – when it works….Okay, I raised the plank on some cinder blocks and we did the run overs, the turn arounds, and then we tried the tossed treats at angles. She still came up sometimes from the side, so I put up some blue cones at the ends. Then I moved them back so they were at the spot where the colors change, then I took one set off. She does line up most of the time. Should I put angled boards or something at the entry and exit to encourage straight one and off behavior? Let me know your ideas on this. She is young and we’re just starting this, so I’d like to reinforce the correct entryway. Thanks, ~Kristie
Hi, Tracy,
Thanks for posting all the extra exercises from the Live class – this is a nice sequence for practicing lots of things! The first little video I’ll post here is the two of us working on the “Verbals & Connection” exercise. Such a good thing to focus on! We all tend to be late with verbals, as well as with connection. This reminded me of an exercise in which I had to click or make some type of motion or sound the moment my dog’s front legs touched the ground as she went over a circle of 4 or 5 jumps. Tricky!
When I watched this little video, it almost seemed that by calling out the obstacle that would be coming up next (over), I was also telling her what was right in front of her. Telling her about the tunnel before she took the jump made sense. Otherwise, I wondered whether my timing of the verbal should be different (?). I think I made good connection at the tunnel and jumps. Let me know if I should be saying the next “over” sooner or at a different place when the next 2 or 3 obstacles are all the same thing. Thanks! ~Kristie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JmS_WRWWb8&feature=youtu.beHI, Tracy,
Here’s our second visit to the jumps and tunnel exercises from the Live class. I really focused on trying to use your BC method. Most of the time, I managed to get turned in time to give Keiko a clue about what was coming and then to see her land. When she goes through the tunnel, she is really ready to go do a jump. Even when I was turned, looking at the opening, and calling her name, she came out fast and had to curve to get on the path. Should I be giving her a verbal cue sooner, or some sort of modified tunnel break?
In the last couple of runs, you’ll hear a lot of background noise. It started to HAIL! I still wanted to try a couple more things, and Keiko was agreeable, so we ran in little ice pellets. In the second to last set, Keiko was sitting behind a jump that wasn’t showing on the video I thought she handled that set nicely. Let me know what you think. Take care, Kristie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isyq4ndSpqQHI, Tracy,
Thanks for all the feedback! I’ll respond to your comments here.
Step and send: You are so right about my needing to reward my girl more often. I get focused on a whole sequence or on my handling, and wait until the end – which doesn’t tell her how she’s doing! Please, keep reminding me to reward at various points – it’s important for both of us. I’ll look forward to the proofing games regarding small breaks in connection and bar drops.
Plank work: We’ll add some (small) height, and I’ll send the treat farther away so she has more time to adjust before getting on the plank.
Seesaw: I understand what you’re saying about her taking more of the weight shift on her front than on her rear, so I’m glad we’ll be doing exercises to work on that. We did the bang! game (the one where you have the dog on the down end of the board and let it drop down) when she was younger. She weighs too much for me to hold her in that position now.
Live exercise: I’ll take a look at the full taping so I see anything I missed after I had to sign off. I also went out today and worked on some of the sequences (and made a couple up) so I could practice the Blind cross twist. 🙂 I’ll be posting that below soon.
Thanks again, ~Kristie
I don’t know, Tracy – you promised there would be something besides blinds, and then there they are in the first live exercise! 😉 I always enjoy seeing the live sessions. We went out in the afternoon and worked on the sets you gave the class. In watching the video, I was actually surprised to see that I had reverted to my old blind technique, except for one time. I wasn’t aware of it while we were running. I can see that, while Keiko did fine on the blinds, she did best on the one where the opposite arm is also in play. The Tracy Torso Twist really does make the active side extremely clear to the dog. I think we will need to do this exercise again and focus on my handling for the blinds. Here’s the video of what we did do. ~Kristie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-UXeYUo5Vg
Hi, Tracy. I wanted to talk to you about the seesaw. Keiko has been working on that for a while now, and we’ve gone past the “run to the end up in the sky.” I tried to go back to that since that was in this week’s lesson, and she was very tentative and worried because that’s not what we do now. I’m going to paste a short video showing where we are currently. The seesaw apex is at 20/21″ and we’re working on a 2o2o stop. I will be removing the table and substituting some sort of mat (to keep the end out of any smooshy stuff) so we can keep working on the end behavior as the weather enters winter. I feel she runs pretty confidently to the end and looks forward and down for her reward.
What are your feelings about what we’re doing at this point? Any suggestions/comments about next steps or something we should work on to improve things? Thanks, ~Kristie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQQ1V_-6SIQHello, Again,
Here’s our work on Plank Confidence. Again, we did each section as you described in the video. I think she did really well. She trotted happily across the plank, entered from different angles, and managed to stay on top while turning. 🙂 Anything we should re-visit? Here’s the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDDoY-ilOBQ
