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Hi, Tracy!
We’re due for 1.3 inches of rain today, so we hurried out to the field to try to get a little fun in first. I liked your suggestion of incorporating the tunnel in the lateral lead out and send. We did it first with the barrel since we hadn’t done that side yesterday. I loved the distraction sounds that she obviously heard, but ignored and stayed focused on the game. I used her release word because the wait was long with distractions. The last 2 clips are using a wing and the tunnel. I figured you didn’t need to see a lot of these, but I especially liked the last one where I was already moving before she even got to the wing and she kept her commitment. What a good girlie! We had fun, but had to call it quits because the rain started. We really need it back here, so I won’t complain. 😉
Take care. ~KristieNo laughing, Tracy! I was determined to set things up just right so Keiko got to feel the joy of the “bounce.” It always looks so cool, and dogs seem happy doing it. At any rate, I started with the curved setup. A couple of bounces here and there. Then I moved them slightly, and again. OK, no real bouncing going on. So I decided to try a straight line of super low jumps – there are bounces here and there, along with lots of flying leaps. Again, I played with spacing, but didn’t get close, obviously. So I decided to raise the bars slightly (2 inches) and reduce the number of jumps. Perhaps a stray bounce here or there. She thoroughly enjoyed the activity and would have gladly done more but I felt she’d had enough. I have a feeling that, when she’s old enough to actually be doing a higher jump height, the bouncing will come. You can tell that she does love running!
Take care,~Kristie
Hi! We did a few more of these leadouts, with returns for treating, etc, then I gave it lots of distance. In these clips, Keiko is about 16 feet from the barrel, and I’m off the screen at 20′. She handled it all very well – slipped once on a leaf – and didn’t seem fazed by my distance at all. 🙂Hi, Tracy,
I really like your suggestions about the distraction of moving with me while other dogs are moving past – as in the going in and out of the agility ring action. I hadn’t thought about that in quite this way, so that’s very helpful! I do have a couple of “safe” friends with agility dogs, and, weather willing, I could do something like this with them. I also want to try to have Keiko do a small and happy speed circle while other dogs are around.
Thanks! ~Kristie
Hi, Tracey! You suggested that I bend the 3 wings in the Minny Pinny to get a “bounce” from Keiko. I was thinking you were looking for the bounce that can happen when jumps are at the perfect distance for a dog to land and go, land and go, = bounces. Well, I tried a few different set ups in terms of bar position and distance. I’m not sure if we accomplished what you wanted, but she did a lovely job of picking up those feet! 😉 ~Kristie
Hi, Tracy,
We “moved up” to using a real jump for this exercise as you suggested. She handled it just fine. 🙂 She can be such a good girl! She especially likes knowing a reward is coming soon – and that it involves action! 🙂 ~KristieGood morning, Tracy,
Thanks for the suggestions for ramping up these exercises. We’ll give them a go.
The one thing we’re working on that we need a lot more time on is continuing to work through her biggest distractions. She’ll ignore “dead” toys and open food, no problem. I’m beginning to ramp that up by making the toys more alive, especially a thrown tennis ball or me shaking her flirt. Her Daddy is a huge distraction, and so we have him come out and watch us practice. So far, she is able to do little things, but can’t do too much before she wants to visit him. She will come back to me, once she checks in with him. At this time, he has to be inside the ring. If he’s on the outside of the ring, she just wants to be with him. Her other over the top distraction is our oldest dog who loves to run back and forth on the other side of something, like a section of fence, or going around a planted area. When they’re both on the same side, it’s no big deal. But running back and forth or around with something between them is thrilling. That chase drive kicks in.
Unfortunately, we are not in an agility class at this time. The classes we are taking are things like “Hiking with your dog” and “Out and About”. So she is with other dogs in controlled (on leash) outside public situations, and has to do obedience things in that context. If you have any other suggestions, please share. Thanks! ~Kristie
Hi, again! Here’s our take on the Start Line Stays – lateral lead outs. I thought she did really well. 🙂 ~Kristie
Hi, Tracy,
Here is some work on the start line routine stuff you call “porridge.” Kieko has a really nice start line, and we worked on it with tons of reinforcement – hand delivered, tossed behind, etc. We didn’t do things this way, so it was interesting to see her “accept” the game, but not get overly excited. I did try different toys and tugs and her behavior was pretty much along the same lines. ~Kristie
Hi, Tracy,
We went back to the serp slice, and I tried your suggestion of just doing the whole thing in a trot. She held really well and seemed to have no trouble with my opposing motion. Fun little exercise, and a nice warm up. KristieHi!
I’ll try to hit the salient points from your comments. I gave you a lot to reply to – and all pretty different. 😉
I’ll revisit the serp slice exercise and go at a trot to liven – and challenge- things up a bit. I have often used the off side arm on a Serp, but only when I’m ahead of the dog and want to be sure they know to come in over the jump. Yes, I have had some OMD training, so understand exactly what you mean about the German turn.
On the Rocking Horse set, I realized I was pushing her and giving all the “go on” signals that I shouldn’t have. Yes, not only is she honest, she’s keeping me honest. 😊. I still may try a switch of barrel location to see if the equipment makes any difference to her. So interesting to see what does and does not click for different pups.
On the pinwheel, I wondered if narrowing the gaps would help her bounce, so we’ll give that a go. Thanks!
Good morning, Tracy,
Well, the weather is so lovely this morning that we had to go out and try the Minny Pinny piece. Since I still wondered about the position at the end of the circling, I did it both ways, as you’ll see in the video. Poor Keiko. Through various classes we have taken, she has had her fill of going in circles. It’s almost like she gets on a treadmill and plods along on automatic. I can make it more fun by moving off, using a flirt, throwing a ball, etc., but I thought the idea here was to have them focus on the direction and their stepping. (?) Hope your day goes well,
~KristieHI, Tracy,
I have a question about the Minny pinny piece. I notice that you always treat facing the dog at the end of their “circle” with your off-side arm. Is there a reason you don’t turn and face in the same direction as the dog and treat with your dog-side hand?
~Kristie
We also played around with the Rocking Horse with Tunnel exercise. It was funny – unless I slowed and did a FC at the tunnel and barrel end, Keiko just figured that was the end on which she was supposed to run full bore & away! Interesting… I plan to do this again, and I’m going to switch the wing and barrel locations to see if that makes any difference. She did have fun! I especially liked this for some of our distraction training. The biggest distraction for her – over birds, squirrels, noises in the neighborhood, etc – is my husband. She loves him and goes bananas when he comes out to watch her. So, we’ve been having him come out more often and she did pretty well today. 🙂 ~KristieHi, Tracy! We went ahead and did the more challenging Serpentine with Counter-motion activity. The first side we tried she did really well – no hesitation, followed the handling, and raced to catch up. When we changed sides, she had a little more difficulty. Since this is fairly consistent for her – one side clicks sooner than the other – I backed up a couple of steps and we did some exercises with a little more support and less motion. Then I built back up and she ended the session quite well.
I’m not quite sure I see how this becomes a serpentine, but I have seen throughout this course that your beginning exercises do lead to something more involved, and the baby steps are excellent building blocks. Thank you! ~Kristie
