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Hi Tracy,
We tried the new starfish pattern. So much fun! We tried hard to be early with the directional before he enters the tunnel. Pretty hard to get it in! In the first rep I struggled a bit with remembering the correct verbal on the first try. I think it got better with the later reps but I left in the first to let you see my slow brain working.
Mike
Today I worked on 1 new accordion grid with Ronan (spacing of 4.5-4.5 to 4.5-8 to 4.5-10.5 and back). We also tried the next starfish drill and as you will see, he shot into the tunnel instead of doing the second “in in”. Was I driving forward too much to try and get up to the wing? My arm is still pretty high – I’ll try and focus next session on lowering it a bit. My connection with him around the wings for the left-left and right-rights was better. Karena
Hi Tracy, tonight I did the next step in the Zig zag game based on the video in your reply. He seemed to really get it with the more obvious line but as soon as the jumps were nearly straight he added another little step in between jumps 2-3. I added a little speed and that didn’t help. For the last rep the jumps are again more angled and he didn’t add that extra step. Thoughts?
Karena
More zigzag fun. Here are 2 sessions, one with Mike and another one with me.
I worked on less dramatic leg and arm movements. I did notice that he would “catch up” and I’d end up rotating late for the last wing. Near the end of my video clips there are a few where I tried to rotate once I knew he was committed to the previous wing. This is hard!
Do you think that Ronan is getting the concept of the game? It seems he is changing his leads pretty quickly.
Karena
My short starfish session 2. I tried to really work on picking up his nose from the tunnel. He was super 🙂
Karena
Interesting observation. Mike DOES fall/slip more often than I do in agility. I thought maybe it was just his shoes.
Eureka! This is why we don’t simply audit the class! There was a different between handlers when we recently did the RC drill and it was also decel/motion oriented. You could do a decel case study- 1 dog vs 2 different handlers :).
KarenaStarfish! Aka sea star or bat star :). We noticed Ronan had a much higher accuracy rate doing the threadle with me than with Mike. I took some snapshots of the videos and it seems that Mike is either a step further out or a step further back than I am when Ronan comes out of the tunnel. Feet are usually pointing forward and we are both moving forward towards the wing… In that first rep or 2 I also think the huge holee roller was distracting! What do you think??
Hi Tracy,
Thanks for the feedback! I will try the zig zag again and see if Ronan will recognize the drill with smaller hand motion. I think he will, especially if I start with 2 to start.
Here is the redo of the accordion, shortening the distance to 4.5 feet between the jumps. The last video was at 4.5 feet.
Mike
Thanks for the comments on the backside drill. He is really starting to understand that verbal and it will be great to not need any type of handler motion to command. The next time I work on this drill I will keep that parallel path until he is committed to the backside.
Here is a repeat of the zig zag drill. I am a bit late on the cue as he moves down the line. I may work on it again with the wings more spread out to improve the timing of the cue.
Mike
Toy fox terrier and Italian greyhound actually! Our first agility dog was a confident male Iggy. Kiwi the pap is a girly girl.
Hi Tracy ,
Thanks for the comments. I redid the accordion tonight at 54 inches instead of 64. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize until afterwards that I had 4 jumps and not 3! LOL. I will redo it tomorrow and upload. I did think he looked better in the bounce jumps. In the meantime, I put some work into the backside challenges. That drill was fun!
Mike
