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Thank you for your feedback. It really is much appreciated.
I did have to squash this sequence up to add jump 7. She did really well with a nice tight post turn provided I gave my collection cue. Last rep is a spin.
We practised more of the forward focus and she does struggle when I am behind her – ongoing work for that.
I was both surprised and pleased when she did the first 2 sequences without much help. I kept the bars low so she wouldn’t knock them but it didn’t make a great deal of difference.
We did some tunnel layering: success seemed to depend on where wing no.1 was once the tunnel ends were open. Still, happy with this. The jump was about a metre away from the tunnel but the angle makes it look less.
Grace did well at her seminar – not so much the stays (I think it was the sandy arena surface her butt did not want to approach), but her tunnel and wing wrap were on point and her focus forward to a bowl. She did go exploring once and did not want to leave but went to the instructor for a cuddle so I got her back … stuff to work on but the instructor was very impressed and said she could go in Novice when she comes to instruct at Wagga. She’ll be 14 months by then.
We did some diamond – I think I’m too slow with the sharp blind? And the racetrack foundered on the middle jump (out of frame). I think she was getting tired or the connection was not strong enough.
We did a practice on 32″ then 34″ but I’m wondering if it should be more? And maybe the bar is too high at 4″ (she’s almost 11mo and will have to jump 8″ eventually). The pool noodle was not cooperating.
I’m excited she has a “Foundations” seminar on the weekend. I am less worried about her skills than if she’ll come back to me with her keenness for all dogs and people.
Week 4 wind in hair rear crosses: she definitely prefers left over right. She found the lefthand serps easier too. On the right turns I think it was only the toy lure that sent her right.
I can also see the session went a bit long (6 minutes all up) – the latency in her wraps and the sniffing are giveaways.
We did a couple more sessions on serps and sends and she did well. It is a skill we will revisit because it is kinda hard.
We started Find the Jump and she is great at this. I moved the jump to about 15 feet eventually (from 10, then 12) and tried more lateral distance.
Thank you for your input! Sass got chased and is now quite hypervigilant in the ring, even small trials like ours with bunting around the rings. I don’t think it is the reinforcement issue because she learnt that as a baby. And no toys, only food for her. Anyway, I’ll keep working on the pattern games etc
I am not sure Maisy is that interested in the toy reward – agility, running fast and jumping is her most valuable thing and I feel the weaves cause an unnecessary delay, lol. At home I usually throw the toy when she completes the weaves but I can leave it indoors. As she trains at the trial grounds I thought there was a fighting chance she would do the weaves there like she usually does in training…Anyway, Grace doing her serps – forgot to do the FX reps but this is our 3rd session and we did them in the other 2. So hard for the little dogs to stay out so I narrowed the gap before widening it again. My speed away from the wing also seemed more likely to pull her through.
We should be back on deck tomorrow. I have been sick, mostly in bed, with a cold/flu, then we had our Club agility trial this weekend, 1 of only 3 I attend each year. Sassy was just not keen to do the 3 jumps I tried to put her over NFC in a couple of runs which makes me sad because she is so good at everything, having done this course. I’ll try again next year and she loves practising meantime. Maisy raced through all her courses and, as usual, I was too slow to prevent the inevitable off-courses, except the one jumping round that ran like clockwork and I actually got a time on (7.3m/sec) over a flowing 130m course, 17 seconds start to finish, 2 knocked bars.
Maisy’s big problem is weaves: she weaves beautifully at home and at the club but never in a trial – she is 7. I’ve tried raising her arousal with mad tugging sessions etc but it never seems to translate to a trial. In her 3 agility runs, she got the entry once but ran straight through and galloped off. I did NFC to try and get her back in – 3 attempts and no weaves, just straight through whichever gap she chose. We have 2 more trials: one in May and one in September (in which every course has weaves). Any advice? She will do your latest trends course starting in June.
