[Wendy]

Maisy did course opening no. 5. I am trying to move more and use more connection but old habits die hard. Everything happens so fast I get no time to think and use my verbal cues. https://youtu.be/LhNLZ49xzd0

[Wendy]

Maisy rarely misses the first obstacle and we do a lot of tire practice! I think it might be a connection issue as you suggest. Thank you so much for fixing my spread issue! – I was so fixated on not yelling a cue over the obstacle and I knew I couldn’t yell “weaving” before the spread but turn cue!!! duh!

Couple of suggestions for mini courses (and I know you’ve covered most of this but I can never find it) – directionals and break arms/collection cues 🙂

Sassy did some volume dial – she is always excited to work. I had thought the bunny tug would trump food but not as much as I thought. Which is good because she does not play in public, unless we are a loooong way from anything/people/dogs and if she knows there’s food – no more tug. In both cases she finished attentive, waiting for a cue, bright eyed. https://youtu.be/34VgcubLBjU

[Wendy]

Thanks so much for that feedback! Here is the video. So she starts by missing the tire… is there something I did? Then I knew the spread to the weaves would be an issue so I tried to cue when she landed but that seemed to be much too late. If I’d yelled when she was over the bars, she would have knocked them but let’s face it, she was already locked onto the tunnel when she took the spread. https://youtu.be/9MSyKWS_mNo?si=aMEjjaaiTYFUJJDS

• This reply was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by Wendy.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by Wendy.

[Wendy]

Sass is enjoying her games!

Here is Maisy doing the course openings (none of this is an issue for Sass).
#1 proved harder than I thought because I was trying to do my FX rotation early. Too early is evidently a thing as is too late.
#2 – she kept taking the less obvious wing at no.3. Why?
#3 – we love rears. Nothing gets between her and a tunnel on her line. https://youtu.be/QxJuakyE510

Would you indulge me and look at a trial video with one of those lead out pivot type openings and tell me what I did wrong? As an aside, I get quite scared when judges put maximum distance between jumps and then a tight turn. I’m always afraid she will jump long and take me out.

[Wendy]

Watching the sequences I feel I should be doing this course with Maisy – we have had most of those openings in the past 12 months with some pretty random results… 🙂

Sass is loving these games! Haven’t added the distraction till you OK the mechanics.

[Wendy]

Decided to break it down with Maisy and tried hard to get my reverse spin in time – but at least she didn’t knock the bar. Put bars lower as suggested.

[Wendy]

The little girls make it seem so easy! Sassy had a turn. I ran faster to encourage her.

[Wendy]

I think I did better.I practised running faster lots of times till I was puffed.

Ironically, the last course I did my big takeaway was “stop looking at Maisy’s face over bars, it makes her drop them…” I think you are saying the opposite? Anyway, bars flew like confetti. I think she prefers them on the ground because it is faster that way.

I recovered my equilibrium by running the small girls who always supply plenty of R+

• This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by Wendy.

[Wendy]

Thanks for the feedback. Sassy lacks a lot of confidence on course so I will definitely work on making sure she is right all the time.

I don’t know what to say about this next video. It is pretty bad and yet so typical of every run we do – it’s always over before I can blink which makes careful course plans seem redundant – my mind does not work as fast as her legs 🙂

• This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by Wendy.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by Wendy.

[Wendy]

Not sure I did this right but she did well.

[Wendy]

We tried for more connection and distance…then did the 1st sequence in Handling 2 – seemed to be easier than the exercises! She managed to miss taking me out by a smidge when I tried to be right up at the wing – was this what you meant?

[Wendy]

We had fun with this – I ditched the food and used a tug.

[Wendy]

I edited out most of the parts where I was fetching her treat pod but left in some of her “ma feet won’t move Ma” moments. It went ok today but I think she’ll probably enjoy the next exercises more. After the first few reps, I set her up in the middle except when she missed the jump. Her urge to complete the course is strong!

[Wendy]

I will definitely go back to 300, then 350 with the zigzags.

Back to the backside slice. We started the session tugging which seemed to send her a bit high and unfocussed. Switched to food.
No feet coming over the end of the board – moving it forward a bit was the answer. I cannot see her having any issue fading the board, lol.

[Wendy]

I may have skipped ahead a bit… 3 jumps at the next height 400 – 16″ (her jump height is 500 – 20″). I will go back and add some tugging and revisit the jump platform work.

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