[Kirstie]

Hi Tracy,

Just yesterday, I purchased the self-study MaxPup3 course for Copper, my 21 month old Aussie. Today I received an email sharing your plans to start a new maxPup3 course on March 31st. Is there any way I can transfer over to the upcoming course and pay the difference for a live participation spot in the new class?

Thanks,

Kirstie

[Kirstie]

Morning Tracy,

We did mat work with both the raised platform you suggested and also parallels outside with both the mat and a no-bar jump setup.

Raised platform:
Bandit mat on raised platform

Mat on flat with parallel paths:
Mat work with parallel path

Parallel path with jump:
Bandit parallels with no-bar jump

Thoughts?

Kirstie and Bandit

[Kirstie]

Hi Tracy,

We worked on retrieving game, which I was very glad to see. Both Copper and Bandit tend to run off with their toys. Bandit was mouthing his frisbee consistently, so my first video was me starting to work on having him bring it back to me.

Bandit toy retrieval baby stage Day 1

We started working on running contacts on the flat about a week ago, so he is familiar with the early stages of touching his mat.

Bandit mat on flat touches

We just starting working on moving across the mat to a Manners Minder a couple of days ago. We normally do this outside, but I was setup in my room this AM. I realized he missed the mat a couple of times when I watched the video back. Will keep a better eye on this next time

Bandit running contacts with Manners Minder

Thanks!

Kirstie and Bandit

[Kirstie]

Hi Tracy,

We worked on start line fun this morning. As you saw from the set point video I shared yesterday, he has a decent little start line already. But I have not used the “catch it” with a reward behind him, so added that into the mix today. I also moved to a toy instead of treats because I have noticed lately that he is starting to stare at my hands instead of forward.

Bandit start line fun

Talk soon,

Kirstie and Bandit

[Kirstie]

Tracy,

Here is a round of tunnel threadles that we ran this morning.

Bandit Tunnel Threadles

Thank you for the advice on not pushing any jump drills. I didn’t use jump bars when I did the set point game – my jumps have a permanent base bar though. If its too early even with no bars, then I will hold off. Assuming that is your recommendation, what is the appropriate age to start the Max2 puppy course? Here is a video of what I was working on with him for reference. Bandit is just shy of 4 months old.

Bandit set point with sit stay

Thank you!

Kirstie

[Kirstie]

Hi Tracy,

Its been a minute, but we have been working on stuff in between having family and a trial over this past week. I also have Bandit working on some of the MaxPup 2 exercises – tunnel smiley face and sit/stay with set point jumps. Since that is self-paced, I assume you don’t want videos of these. He is doing great with them!

For this course we worked on Strike A Pose and all variations of the Turn Away-Rear Cross games.

Strike a Pose – I think he picked up on this game quickly. It had been a bit since I had him touch the nose pad, so was excited to see he went right for it!

Bandit Strike A Pose

Turn Aways – here are videos of both the basic (no prop) and then with the prop.

Bandit Turn Aways Basic

Bandit Lap Turns with Prop

And here are the Tandem turns both without and then with the prop. The space was a bit tight, so the 2nd side was not as smooth as I had hoped. Bandit seemed to get it anyways after a few tries on that 2nd side. I am learning that Bandit is a big sniffer, so went off several times to explore the world. But overall I thought it was a good first round.

Bandit Basic Tandem Turns

Tandem Turns with Prop

Best,

Kirstie & Bandit

[Kirstie]

Morning,

We worked on the collection sandwich this AM. I did both the baby and advanced options.

Bandit baby collection sandwich

Advanced collection sandwich

We have been working on the turn and burn for several days as well. He didn’t get it at all initially, but is starting to understand the game. He does much better on my right side than the left, but it starting to get it. You will see that if he is not properly lined up on that left side he runs behind me. But when I line him up he is about 80% consistent.

Bandit turn and burn

Thoughts?

Kirstie and Bandit

• This reply was modified 2 months, 3 weeks ago by Kirstie.

[Kirstie]

Tracy,

We worked again on backing up and parallel path.

For backing up I stood up this time – I was pleasantly surprised!

Bandit back up with me standing

We do have more work to do on parallel path. He is still looking at me and not 100% hitting the object. Let me know if you have any tips for getting him to look forward more.

Bandit parallel path Day 2

Thanks,

Kirstie and Bandit

[Kirstie]

Hi Tracy,

We started working on backing up a few days ago, and Bandit is doing well. Here is a video showing his progress thus far….

Banding backing up on elevated board

We also did both the parallel path and counter path prop games.

Parallel path with prop

Counter move with prop

Thoughts appreciated!

Kirstie and Bandit

[Kirstie]

Hi again,

That place looks great! I need to figure out how far it is from my house, but I cannot find the address on their FB page. I was not able to locate an addresson the FB site or Google. Could you please send the address? Also, are you teaching any other seminars/courses while you are here? Would love to join one if so.

Now that its finally warmer, we took the line of obstacles outside for the first time. I put them in front of a tunnel, which he started learning this morning! I don’t think anything phases this little guy – he just does his stuff!

Line of obstacles outside

And we did the wraps with both a solid seat and me standing up. It took him a minute when I stood up, but he eventually got his groove.

Bandit wraps with standing

I will start working on other games in this week in my next post.

Talk soon,

Kirstie and Bandit

• This reply was modified 3 months, 1 week ago by Kirstie.

[Kirstie]

Hi again,

Crazy that you are in FL experiencing this cold right now – I assume you are just visiting? I would love to learn more about agility training venues that you recommend in Central Florida. I live in Orlando and goto a practice facility on the East side of Orlando (Practice Makes Pawfect). But would like to expand to other venues that are in the area (both for diversification of environment and to learn from experienced trainers). I have only been at agility for about a year, and have lots to learn.

Today we worked the barrel wrap with me seating. For his first try I think he did good. The only thing that seemed to throw him off was when I moved the metal bowl on my right side back to my ankle. Before that he hit all his reps.

Wraps with chair and barrel

I also setup a “trail” of obstacles. I was not 100% sure how you wanted me to lure him across them, so started with a toy. He was WAY into the toy, which distracted his focus away from the obstacles. He did better with food lures, but think there might be a better way to work the lures (both toy and food). Take a look and let me know what tweaks I should do to help Bandit with this mini-baby-course.

Obstacle trail

Stay warm!

Kirstie

[Kirstie]

Hi Tracy,

Its very cold outside despite being in FL (low 20’s with strong winds). So we kept working on inside games.

Wing Wrap foundations: He rocked it with a small crate, so we tried a barrel. And he seemed to do just fine with that as well!

Wraps with larger objects

More planking – we continued to work on up-downs and jumping off and on the board. I added a toy towards the end to up the arousal as well. He is getting better with his up downs I think and continued to show high interest and no fear when interacting with the plank.

Bandit more planking games

Thoughts appreciated!

Kirstie and Bandit

[Kirstie]

Tracy,

Bandit is back! More planks and wobble boards.

Plank – I raised it up as you suggested. He seemed very comfortable with walking across and turning at this height. For Up-Downs, this was frankly the first time I had him do a “down”. It took a little bit but we got a couple of reps in!!

Bandit plank raised with up downs

Wobble board – added the tugs. He is very comfortable with this game I believe!

Bandit wobble with tugs

We have a trial this weekend, so may not hear from me again until Monday.

talk soon,

Kirstie

[Kirstie]

Tracy,

Some of this round of exercises are right in Bandit’s wheel house. We have planks, wobble boards and tippy boards in the living room, and he plays on them all the time.

Bandit Plankrobics – you can see he is very comfortable on the plank. I was going to start working his 2 On 2 Off with this board this week since he has no problem interacting with it.

Bandit plankrobics

Bandit wobble board – again, he plays on this obstacle all the time so is very comfortable with both the movement and noise.

Bandit wobble board

Folding it in – he would pit stop on the way to the bowl to smell my hand because I had treats in it. He did well on the first side, so I decided to try the other side. He did the first rep OK but then started skipping the cone. It was a long session so I put it down to puppy fatique and me not starting with the bowl closer. Will fix that in the next session

Bandit folding it in Day 2

Talk soon,

Kirstie and Bandit

[Kirstie]

Hi Tracy – excited about the new content!

Collar grabs – I want to work on getting Bandit to come to my side, so chose that option. He was a bit confused at first on how to turn to get next to me, but he started getting it at the end. I touched his collar longer than I think you wanted, but he didn’t seem to mind. He did much better on my right side (last rep at the end).

Bandit collar grab day 1

Stealth self control – I was probably confusing Bandit a bit with my inconsistent target pointing. Despite that he started to get the idea with the toy towards the end of the session.

Bandit Stealth Fold It

Goat game with inflatable disk – He did well with this game. He got bored with his toy once he figured out food was associated with the disk! But he got back on track with a different toy.

Goat game Number 2

Thanks!

Kirstie

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