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Hi, Tracy,
Today, we worked on the Get Out. It was interesting for me since I usually use the dog-side arm to push my girls “out” . Keiko read the far arm push just fine. We just did a few runs from both levels, then she was ready to go back inside. We’ll both be glad when things return to normal. KristieHi, Tracy,
Thanks for the feedback. I plan on giving some of the other exercises a try, then, when she’s more “herself” head back through again. As you mentioned here, I actually did start with just 2 wings first, then added the third when she seemed to “click in”. She does enjoy the chase games and tugging. It’s having to think that’s tricky right now. 🙂
~KristieHi, Tracy,
Here is our work on the Zig Zag with bars. I placed the wings 6′ apart and used 4′ bars. She had a bit more trouble when the first wing was on her right than when it was on her left, but this is typical for her. I included here our 2 best runs on each side. I had to back up and bit do a little review first.
Something you can’t see is her lack of focus. Keiko is in the middle of her first heat, and I’m finding there are days when she’s “with me” and others when she’s spacey or just feels like lying low. I understand the changes she is going through, and the way she must feel sometimes, so I’m not pushing her right now. We’ll take a stab at the various exercises, but I may not have lot to show this week. Just wanted to let you know. ~KristieGood morning, Tracy,
Wow! Thanks for all the great feedback and insight here! I do need to work on my timing with verbals and getting them out earlier. I think what happens when I’m farther away from the tunnel is I am waiting to see her to make connection. That’s not necessary for the verbal. I can certainly give a verbal more than once: early, then linked to an visual cue next.
I appreciate the info about her backside behavior corresponding to the position of my sending arm. That’s great to know. I’ll have to do some reward toss backs on the wraps, too. She was getting tired by that point. I should probably have quit earlier and come back later for the wraps and backside work.
Everything you share here makes sense, and gives me lots to work on to improve my handling so Keiko can do what she loves best – just run and do it! 😉 ~KristieHi, Tracy,
Okay – here’s the work I said we’d do. 😉 I added the extra wings after the rear cross jump. Keiko did fine with the first position I put them in. When I moved them out farther, she tended to turn too tight and went on the front rather than the back of the wings. I think if it had been a real obstacle, such as a jump or tunnel, she would have taken it. I imagine we’re working in that direction, so we’ll see how it goes when you give us the next challenge. 🙂
I also tossed in some backside work from both ends of the tunnel. One side does seem stronger than the other, but I think she’s doing well. She seems to enjoy going around and coming back toward me.
Take care, ~Kristie
Hi, Tracy,
Thanks for the feedback. I do need to get the verbals out sooner, and will keep working on that. I had a wing before the tunnel, but did not add the side wings after the jump this time. We’ll add those the next go round. I can also toss in a couple reverse wraps on the backside sends. She seems to like the back sends – maybe because they’re really different. 😉. Take care, KristieHi, Tracy,
Here is some work based on your comments on our last posting on rear work, as well as the beginning stuff for week 5. We had already done some nice work on backsides, and we decided to toss a couple of those in here, too. She does seem to be “getting” the different verbals, as well as reading my physical cues and pressure. She’s quite a pup!
Take care, KristieHi, Tracy,
Keiko and I went out to give your suggestions a try. She did pretty well, and I tried to be sure to get the verbal out sooner. I think this leads us nicely into the new exercise you’ve posted. Any comments?Take care, Kristie
Hi, Tracy,
After a couple of days of indoor practice with the “walk-behind” rear cross exercise, it was time to try it with more motion and a jump. We took this outside this morning before the rain. I need to get the verbal “turn” out sooner before she takes off. Otherwise, I think she did well. Someday I’ll catch up with this pup! 🙂 ~Kristie
Hi, Tracy,
I had found it awkward to do the BCs with the reward in my sending hand since Keiko sometimes got distracted by the toy and then didn’t go around smoothly. However, we gave it another try this am before the rain, and it wasn’t a problem. This was even using a brand NEW toy, so I was pleased that she was able to ignore it. Even though I kept the toy in my sending arm, she still swung a bit wide at times, but that could just be a training and familiarity issue. While watching the video, I realized I could try to extend both arms back toward her more. That would give her the signal both sooner and stronger. We also did a Diamond run with pumping arms and verbals as you suggested. She really enjoyed that! ~Kristie
Good afternoon!
I hope your puppy workshop went well, and that the drive wasn’t too exhausting. 12 hours is a looong time on the road!
Here is our first take on the Diamond handling exercise. Keiko was good, but I kept wanting to do a spin rather than a BC on the wings. I’m so used to BCs planned for certain types of situations on courses, and it felt strange to do it on a wing. I realize it is good for tight turns and following the handling. As you’ll see on the video, I managed to do some correctly, and Keiko seemed to enjoy the larger space and the chance to run in a circle. I had a tunnel set up from another sequence so that’s in a run here. Then I switched to the 3rd wing. On the last run, when I told Keiko to go “out” she went wide and took an extra jump (probably just to show me she knows what “out” means.) 😉
Take care – Kristie
HI, Tracy,
I agree with you that my verbals weren’t clean in the beginning. It was the first time I used “turn” with her, and I wasn’t really sure if she was ready or not – so I think I just managed to confuse things at first. We’ve just had 2 very wet days, so we haven’t gone out and done this again. Instead, I have been working on C/T for her turning her head when she’s in a sit, I’m behind her on one side and I cross to her other side. She’s getting pretty good at this, so I’ll be adding motion when we take the RC back into the field. Of course, we’re due for over an inch of rain tomorrow, so the RC may be put off for another day or two. In the meantime, we did work on the Diamond exercise today. I’ll post that next. 🙂
~KristieAnd Good Evening!
We are supposed to have 2 days of rain (which we need badly) so I was inspired to do one more exercise with Keiko this evening. We did the rear/backside sets, and had a good time. I did the exercises on both sides. We still need more work on the rear crosses, though she did handle the pressure pretty well. She just isn’t 100% confident with them yet. The backside wrap went well, I thought. I look forward to your feedback and we’ll give things a try when the field is dry again.
Take care, ~KristieGood Afternoon, Tracy.
We worked on the Serp and Threadle with tunnel exercise. I may have had Keiko too close to the jump at first. She chose the tunnel twice, so I backed up and did some reward placement. I think this helped refresh her memory on the serp hand signal. I know you will hear her release word (ok) a lot. This is due to the fact that I placed her in a wait before each set. Once she seemed comfortable again with the serp. I mixed things up with the tunnel and also the threadle. The last run was a tunnel send – that extra burst of speed and enthusiasm on her part was because she saw I was carrying her new favorite toy. She loves the Chuckit flying squirrel! -KristieHi, Tracy,
Here’s our first work on the jump grid. It seems that once we found the “sweet spot” for the jump distance, Keiko was happy. I forgot to do the single jump and 2 jumps first. So you’re seeing her whole session. I stopped after these 5 runs because I figured that was enough. The off-set jumps didn’t faze her a bit. 😀 Kristie
