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Huge wins include (1) less shoe biting attacks (though still happens); (2) loose leash walking at home and better at other locations; (3) baby increments on handling environments without going bats**t crazy feral beast; (4) less eating of everything in sight; (5) spells of being able to self-regulate at home outside the crate (naps and quiet times); and (6) really nice sofa cuddles (newest and bestest).
The not-so-good and most puzzling: JP has started chasing his tail WITH catch and hold to tear at it. I feel utterly helpless with this one. Maybe I’ve made a few strides in slowing it down. He loves to shred so I have started coming up with shreddables (easier to do now that he is less apt to eat what he shreds)—boxes, sacks, toys. Food dispensing toys are good. We are doing lots of cuddle time, which he does like now. He’s learned to swim and is a little fish—-he loves it and I have a place we can go three times a week this summer. And he has all his usual stuff too. I am broken again, making extra duty difficult. I think this is attention-getting behavior, but I’m not really sure. I don’t think there’s anything physical. Balancing boredom against his need to relax and get puppy rest. Any suggestions or experience with this would be most welcome.
And then there is more really good stuff—back to class.
Week 1
The Lazy Game
Wingin’ It
Plank Confidence
Mountain Climber
Week 8 / The Starfish
First attempt with Starfish but figured I better post because I may not get another run before time’s up—weather may not be cooperative.
I’m sure I was a little rushed feeling this morning. Jackpot had some early morning puppy brain and, so far, he has shown he is not a fan of thinking when it’s hot out. So, lots of compromises here just to get off on a start with the hope I can work this again.
I was surprised at the trouble we had with the tunnel in the warm up. That set the tone for the rest of the session. I exaggerated all my handling on the end wings to line him up for the tunnel entry. That made for some quite ugly turns. I think I need to adjust my timing and tidy up my cue so that he wraps tighter there. All the passes around the wings felt a bit like racetrack. I made some course mistakes forgetting a couple obstacles but they weren’t of consequence for this first try so I ignored it. And, I quit using a stopped start toward the end, which increased his yeehaw moments but kept spirit higher in the heat. I was extremely happy that he did come in on all the tandem turns, even if wide; and especially proud that he read the decel to tunnel threadle so well.
I hope to give this another try before we are done, as well as bolster some of the training deficiencies I’ve been compensating for—reward markers, JP return with toy and my toy handling, brightening up the stay game, stuff like that.
Thanks for this great course. Can’t wait for the next session. 💪 All 37!
Week 8 / The Accordion
Penultimate exercise…ran through this only once.
JP tried to bounce the first rep when the first 3’ added and nicked the bar. He almost made it. for second time through, he figured out he should add the stride.
I made my camera angle too tight. For the first rep, I forgot to place the toy on the ground, which is why I did that rep twice. I didn’t redo when the second attempt ended up as a broken stay.
So this was a little rough. Normally I would do another try on another day to see if I could clean up a few of the issues before submitting for review but I was fairly happy with this. Stays are hard and he had only the one which I felt that was my fault for not being well-enough prepared.
Week 6 / Zig Zags for Slice Jump Foundations
I messed up my videoing of all the preliminary steps so this short video has just the three jumps all together from the first session, then a bit better attempt later that day. Suddenly it’s hot and humid out.
Thank you for all the awesome feedback, especially when I dumped so much for review at one time. I’m going to copy all the advice into a training journal. Too much to get through as I continue to cram to finish up. But I am looking forward to revisiting many of these exercises to clean up my mechanics.
I agree on the toy handling—that’s been a huge weakness this whole class. Cleaning up my reward system is at the top of my list. That is the one suggestion from the most recent notes I was able to implement today in my Tandem Turn Day 2 video (though I most used treats).
Week 9 / Handling—Lateral Leadouts
(Sorry, this one is a bit long. Stays take a lot more time. I should have edited more judiciously.)
Week 4 / The Diamond
Whew! Finally finished this one. Besides JP’s illness, I’ve had a time with a troublesome knee, which will be apparent in some of the these videos. I worked on this probably the most of any of the games yet, but love the value of it so plan on continuing the journey. I haven’t even tried to put in extra obstacles—the tunnel plus the two wings is my limit right now.
Thanks for all this great feedback. Jackpot has been under the weather for the last week or so and training has been on hold. Because time is getting away from me, I’m cataloging all your comments so I can more easily revisit where u gave holes. In the meantime, I still have other videos already cued for review that I completed before this last submission. I’ll start posting those games, one at a time, to clear them from the desk and then at least start something on all the new games I haven’t even tried yet, so I can ask questions at least or see if I’m on the right track. I so appreciate this class and look forward to next session, hopefully without falling behind!
