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Hi there!!! So sorry for the radio silence! I hosted a three-day agility trial weekend before last (my boys were rock stars but there was some human drama that kind of wiped me out). I recovered from that and then promptly started to get sick (caught my son’s cold) just as I was preparing to leave for Cynosport. So I am writing this from Tucson. Wren is with us, not competing but serving as Support Staff for Pirate and Scallywag, and I did bring a few pieces of equipment so I can do a few things here at our Vrbo (we have an acre yard!). I didn’t bring jumps or a tunnel sadly, but I have a few cones. Looking at week 2 material, I can probably work on some forward and lateral sends with those, and maybe even some blind crosses.
The good news is that even though I was super busy these last two weeks, I still did some work with Wren, and even took video of some of it. The video below is a mix of some Cato board bang game (you see why I am having to go really slowly with this), a few clips from a little session with a few jumps and a tunnel before one of my classes last week, and a bit of work with her running across a board in my field right before the sunset a few nights ago.
I promise not to be so lame going forward and will do what I can while I am here in Tucson, so I can get fully caught up once I get home.
~Melissa
Here’s video from our training session yesterday morning in the indoor facility I rent to teach over the winter. Wren has been here before, but the last time was six months ago. She had an easier time locating the treats on this surface and spent less time sniffing around to find them. Yay! Towards the end of the session, I moved the middle jump out and in the very last clip, I asked for two jumps before tossing her treat. Baby steps. 🙂
Here’s our first attempt at the Lazy Game. Wren spent a good amount of time searching out the treat in the grass each time. I chose the ones I did because they are easy to see (and that might have worked if the grass were shorter), but unfortunately are not very fragrant so she couldn’t always find them. Tomorrow I’ll use better (smellier) treats and we’ll be indoors, so I’m hoping it will go a bit better.
I took a short video of her antics as I set up the tripod and before I had set out the jumps, which is what you’ll see at the very beginning. Party of one!! To be fair, this is our play yard and she’s never done agility in this space.
I love the idea of training with a toy in hand a cookies for a reward! I’ll work on your suggestions. For my sessions today, I used food for the diamond (with a toy once he got the hang of things) and he was more thoughtful.
Here is video of the Diamond, including some of the sequences. Things felt better with the blinds in terms of timing. Question: when you are doing a blind and moving on to another obstacle, do you still show your hand across your body if you need it to show the next obstacle?
Here are some more rear crosses and backside wraps with go on’s thrown in for balance. The rear crosses felt a little better, but still a work in progress. I’m not sure I did the wraps correctly. I should go back and look at your videos again. On a few, when he came around the wing I ended up basically doing a front cross. I think I got it right later. He went around on my right and ended up on my right.
~M
Hi there!
I hope you had safe travels home.
Here are two videos of sessions from yesterday. The first one is the diamond. I struggled with this–I was late on all the blinds! And Pirate has a HARD TIME when I have the toy in the hand closest to him. At some point when I was doing race tracks, I realized so I switched it to my other hand. While I like his enthusiasm for toys, he is still kind of losing his mind over them, particularly the one I was using here, which hasn’t been in rotation much. Watching my video, he was leaping on me a lot and rather bitey. Any suggestions?
The next one is rears mixed with go-on’s. Ugh. Rears.
I will get more video tomorrow of the advanced level of the diamond as well as some backside wraps.
Take care!
~Melissa
Yes, that all makes sense. My big take-away from all this is arm back will equal more connection. You said something in the last class (or in a week 3 video) about your fingers having magnets that attract to your dog’s collar. That is a helpful image to me. 🙂
Thanks!
MHey there!
Finally getting some stuff off my phone and uploaded here. Sorry I haven’t been more active with posting. My contact equipment arrived last Wednesday, and I’ve spent most of my free time meeting friends over at the field and putting it all together! Woohoo!
These two clips are from two different short sessions of handling games/fun with tunnel exits. As I watch them, I think I am handling too much instead of going slower and letting him DO the cued behaviors of turning or wrapping. Hmmm. I might revisit some of the games from week 1. Let me know what you think.
In this one, I think I do a better job of giving the turning or go on cue sooner (before he gets in the tunnel). He was also REALLY interested in the brand new toy I was using. Probably should have chosen a less novel one…
See you in the live class tomorrow morning.
~Melissa
Hi there!
Here is a video sesh this evening just as it started getting dark. We worked on tunnel threadles with a bit of a warm-up/reminder of the basics before trying the double whammy.
He definitely seemed more comfortable when he was going in the first time on my left and I picked him up for the threadle on my right. I cam also see that I am “helping” a bit more than I should. When I went back and watched your video with CB again, you really are letting him find the entrance without showing it to him. I think I did some showing when I did this with Pi.
See you tomorrow evening for class. (This has become the highlight of my week. 😊)
~Melissa
Question for you:
I am going to be traveling on next Tuesday Sept 1 to my grandmother’s funeral which will be held the next day. Is there a way I could participate in the live class Saturday 8/29 instead of Tuesday 9/1?
Thanks!
MelissaThanks for the suggestions. You can come over anytime to listen to trumpet music!! 😊
Yes, originally, I couldn’t get the videos to publish on YouTube–it was being hinky. So then I tried Vimeo, but realized that if you don’t have the upgraded version, you can’t share your videos 🤨 So I tried YouTube a few more times and eventually succeeded. (Confirming a good life motto: If at first you don’t succeed to upload to YouTube, try, try again.)
~M
Hi there!
Here is a session today with moving serps and threadles, as well as some turn & burn on a wing.
I thought the moving serps and threadles went well. He actually drove out to the toy better with me moving, so this was fun. For the last two reps, I tried using my opposite arm. He wasn’t quite certain, but figured it out.
Here’s the turn & burn transfer to a wing. He caught on quickly and I like his bendiness. On one of the reps, I had to watch it again because he turned so tightly that I almost thought he didn’t go around!
~Melissa
Hi!
Here are two videos from a practice session this afternoon. The first is another attempt at rocking horse. The last two or three reps are with a sideways send. He is definitely more engaged and speedy with a toy.
The second video is of some discriminations between serps and threadles. He’s getting better at leaving the toy, as well as going out for it after coming in to me. 😁 I can also tell he’s getting more confident (less frustrated?) because there aren’t teeth in the hand touches. 😂
Have a good rest of the weekend!
~MelissaHi!
The student you are mentioning isn’t Tricia Lude, is it? I think her young Aussie Skye had an issue with eating mushrooms. She and I are friends, so if it’s her, she could be a good resource for me!
Thanks for the suggestions on Rocking Horse. I can switch back and forth between food and toy with Pirate, so I’ll try a few reps with food and then a few with a toy. In general, I think I need more practice having a toy in my hand while we work. 🙂 And I’ll experiment with my steps/step size as I move the barrels apart and start running.
Here is a session from last night on threadles. I think by the end (the last two reps, particularly) he was done. It was a million degrees outside and we’d already done a session on tunnels, stays and toy play an hour before this. Then he hung out with me while I assembled some jumps, and then I filmed this session. (I just bought an entire set of agility equipment–wahoo!–and I’m putting it at a fellow trainer’s field where I’ll be able to practice and teach classes. The jumps and tunnels are here, but the contact equipment won’t arrive for about another month. Can’t wait!) Anyway. I will try practicing this with my pet tutor this weekend to see if I can get it cleaner.
Hope your weekend is off to a great start!
MHi!
Here’s video from a short training session today on Rocking Horse. I think I am struggling with two things: when the barrels are further apart, I am not doing the right thing with my feet–I think I’m either trying to take an enormous step or putting in a few little (awkward) ones. Maybe I should just move the barrels apart a bit more and actually run. The other thing is that Pirate has a hard time ignoring the toy when it’s in my hand. That may be something I need to work on! 🙂 No soundtrack today…Stan started making dinner right before I went out to practice.
Thanks for the suggestions above. Re shadow chasing: Pirate can’t eat when he gets super-fixated. I have been able to get him to chase a ball (haven’t tried tugging yet) but he might chase the ball once or twice, and then drop it to look for shadows. This is unlike his normal behavior when he’ll play and play with us as long as we let him. I’d love to hear what your student with the Aussie did. I’ll keep you posted on how things go and what my vet says.
Also, it is so funny that Julie Heller has a trumpet-playing husband providing the soundtrack for her videos as well! Haha!!
Thanks!
~M
