[Linda Cummings]

So, to reduce anxiety I need to get some bookkeeping done. So I will do that. But,

some things came together at a seminar this weekend. I got an invite for the seminar, but not part of the group of friends that were there. I started down that path of ‘I don’t fit in here’ ‘I’m too old’ ‘these guys exclude me’ ‘I can’t do this’

So I just said STOP it! And reviewed the things I can’t change
My age
My deafness
my personality of an introvert (I love being at seminars, trials visiting, exchanging ideas, but at the end of the day, I am desperate to get away to my RV or motel. I actually can’t breath until I do!)
What other people think

What I can control
my diet & exercise
paying close attention to what people are saying
my attitude & demeanor

So all that opened the door to being pleasant to others, videoing others, encouraging others. I also ‘self talked myself: I have mastered some kind of hard shit through your classes and can actually execute. I CAN do those landing side blinds, I CAN do that FC to BC. I can cue those threadles. So all this opened the door to ‘what can I control on my go’. I can control my focus on Hoke and that’s about it. So I did & had one of the best 24 obstacle sequences of my life. Granted, we had broken it down & worked pieces of it first, but still. AND that focus let me see when he was headed to the wrong side of a jump AND we were able to correct it with a VERBAL. AND, when I stumbled in the grass, I was able to amend handling on the last three obstacles to a rear instead of a blind.
So there you have it – a really good experience. I’ll have to do my bookkeeping now though so I can mindful breath & not hyperventilate because it is not done. Thank you for your help.
Linda

[Linda Cummings]

We followed along on the class last night & I thought it went well until the BCs. The BC are late & now I see she was looking at the toy in my hand. We tried it again this morning & I hung on to the toy instead of throwing it. When I throw it & she plays with a bit, she is ok to let me trade for treats, but after a couple if times of that she deflates.

I probably need to back up to the game before. Let me know what you think! Tia https://youtu.be/XTsUl2WiBTk

[Linda Cummings]

Good morning!

Yes, I need to think on my feet. I still didn’t pull that off with these sequences, but at least rewarded after the error & did not stop at bars. I walked both of these longer than I usually do & the pop out course, I videod my last walk & compared to the run. Not bad. I ran faster in my walk video than I did with the dog which surprised me & helps with that frantic thing I get in to. I also ran it with Lizzie & compared to Hoke. Much easier to stay connected with her because I feel like she needs it & Hoke doesn’t? Go figure

Course one from the jumping, I broke down 13-14-15 first & had no trouble with it. But when I ran it had trouble 13-14 since the first go I had to go further out to 12. Looking at the video, I still don’t know how I got that right turn in 16.

A friend brought Teri O’Neil to her place this weekend is it will be fun to work with someone in person!
Linda

[Linda Cummings]

Lots to think about, but generally the same as always. Lack of connection & failure to use verbal & lack of reward. I guess I thought reset cookies were enough. At least that part is easy to change.

[Linda Cummings]

Hi!
I started off handling aggressively by not reading direction & had the tunnel in there! The jump tunnel discrimination class we did this winter was very helpful with this type of thing.

We had a heck if a time with 1 to 2 on sequence 2. I went back to look at your demo video & right away so the biggest part of my problem was flinging my shoulders to the front of the bar. My videos got confused so I don’t have a lot of that to see. Even so, I see myself running this wide circle path to get him there. I need to break this down – exact challenge for us – send to the back side, support, move away all at the same time. Interesting difference in your videos of Voodoo & the more support you give Contraban. Suggest with that would be great.

Hoke is getting frustrated easier lately so I let some of handler induced errors go. I think the puppy bugs him & he doesn’t like sharing me with him.
Thank you!
Linda

[Linda Cummings]

Here’s one-

Everyone expects me to make a mistake

My first thought -No one us paying attention anyway-
Second thought – Hoke is the best trained dog I’ve ever had

How can we use that training to run this course?

[Linda Cummings]

Yes! It was a hectic week with Axel getting here! A friend flew to Sweden to get him. The time difference wore me out. I am going to start working through the Max Pup with him right away & hopefully will be able to catch up to time right for a working spot class.

I will do these things again with Liz. For sure, I want to see the grid again. Hoke & I had another discouraging trial. It seems I will never put cue combinations together. 😔 Back to LYD with him. you will be seeing a ton of my video this summer!

Thank you!

[Linda Cummings]

Hi!
This was our second go on the last grid. She loses so much energy with the 5 or 6 reps. I thought the first time could have been a one off, but apparently not. Reps 4 & 5 are at the same distance. I wanted to see if she would adjust her stride if she looked at it again but she didn’t. But happy she did go back to a bounce in the final adjustment.

Starfish – short & sweet. Suggestions on the ‘go’ without head check?

Thank you!
Linda

[Linda Cummings]

Great! Thank you.

We did not work the other side because I wanted to have your feedback first so I will do that today and be aware of what side of the wing. geez…
Linda

[Linda Cummings]

What fun stuff!

Here is our backside work. I can see I need to lead out & stop before release. I did reward some random stays. I decided to use food here so we could get a few more reps in. She happily tugged before we started & afterward, we ran to the other corner to play. She will keep looking for food otherwise.

I was very surprised I was able to get this far away & still get a the parallel path.

Thank you!
Linda

[Linda Cummings]

-The wildness was not drive, it was usually a combination of frustration and lack of arousal regulation. –

Yes, I understand that now. There is certainly a difference in Hoke when he is able to regulate arousal.

Here is our work on decel. I did not have the camera going on our 1st session with dog on left so this is just dog on right. Great exercise which I also did with Hoke since it made me realize the decel when I am behind Hoke has gone to hell. See above statement on arousal…

The decel game did feel awkward to me. Struggling with the slow forward part. Again, see note on older dog’s decel gone to hell. We have a handler problem.

And the diamond game.

I am feeling the clock ticking on this class and there are still a great bunch of games to play. The best part in these sessions was the improved toy play. If you recall, Liz was running off with the toy & then losing interest in playing. In these sessions I traded her some low value tx for the toy, then she came back to ‘bite’. On our last couple of reos, she let go of the toy waiting for me to pick it up & go back to tugging. I feel like we are working our way through it.
Thank you!
Linda

[Linda Cummings]

Ok! I guess it was not as bad as I thought. The video was all the reps. The ones I was not happy with were due to the lack of connection – I see that in the video now.

I am used to dogs being crazy wild in the beginning & she is not. Her attitude lends itself to training much better! I see your dogs more thoughtful as youngsters and then are able to turn on the speed so I guess I don’t need to worry about it.

Thank you!
Linda

[Linda Cummings]

Hi there,
Help!
Probably not the best way to start the go & rx game since I got her focused on the toy. The game to get the toy back went good off camera. She ran to her favorite corner, traded me low value tx, then grabbed back on to tug. I tried for too many reps.

Thank you!
Linda

[Linda Cummings]

Hello stranger,

I went trialing with Hoke, so I was not able to play with Liz as we planned more than once. I think I let the play be herself go too long. She was starting to deflate. I will video next one.

Other – we did the sends & steps with the MM. You can see my path pulling away from the jump to ‘help’. I realized it & moved straight in next reps. Then coming in to the right was hard since I had just done the other way.

Thanks!

[Linda Cummings]

Yes makes great sense. We will just do this for a bit. And the green toy she did engage in the jump exercise, but not to trade toys like it used to. Making what you think all the more correct

I’ll let you know how it goes
Linda

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