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Hi Bobbie,
I am not sure Sprite was distracted by the lotus ball. She tends to take off early and I did a lot with just wings as a puppy. I am not sure she’s reading the bar and where to takeoff which is the point of that particular grid. She was jumping early with the toy at the end of the grid too. But, I agree she didn’t seem fazed by the error and I absolutely rewarded as she’s trying but not understanding where to put in her stride.
Here’s our first attempt at relaxation. I feel like she’s just watching my hands. Since I’m not looking at her it’s hard for me to see what to reward. I was randomly counting between 3-7 most of the time. This is kibble mixed with some meatballs. Also, what do you do to end the session? Just get up and walk away? I decided to do my older dog afterwards, but had to put Sprite away. That may undo any relaxation. I understand why this is important, but I’m not clear as we move on what exactly should be rewarded.
Hey Bobbie,
This is from today. We are doing a jumping grid with only one bar and Sprite tends to take off early. She crashed a jump so I just showed what happened afterwards. We are working on treat magnet transports. Overall, she didn’t seem too bothered by the error.
I have a question about the relaxation lecture. It sounds like we stop at 10 min even if they haven’t relaxed. Do you want to see 10 min videos? That’ll be hard for us. Can we use kibble for this? It’ll be a lot of food for 10 min a day.
Hi Bobbie,
I don’t have video for the resilience exercise. Is there something I can set up at home? We mostly train alone, but she is in class now. I’ll see if someone can film Tuesday for me.
I just returned from Wildblue dog camp in Tahoe. 58 people and 75 dogs. Sprite did well, but was highly distracted. She sniffed the grass a lot, but smells were everywhere. So, hard to know how much was simple distraction in a teen versus stress. However, she won me a bottle of wine by finding the liver treated Kong in a sea of plastic balls in a kiddy pool in 2.51 seconds!
She did get overly aroused during an agility class when a particular BC ran. I moved her away and was ultimately able to get her to calm down. But, I’m not sure how many seconds it was. She sat for photos on a pier while she could see dogs running on the beach to the side. However, she was watching them and not looking towards me or the camera. So, we stopped before something happened like leaping off the pier.
She did earn her CGC and a novice tricks title there. She was great in the tricks testing which was the last thing after 5 days of camp. LLW during the CGC was a struggle as I couldn’t get her nose off the ground. But, I asked her to walk doing hand touches and that was easy for her. She stayed, did her sit and down and recalled. Whined a bit on the 3 minute separation, but she did pass. 3 minutes in a LONG time.
She doesn’t bark while waiting and overall waited patiently during her classes. If she was tired, she might jump up on me for petting. It was a lot! Of stimulation.
So left would indicate a tighter turn in this case. I do get confused sometimes when to use them and when to be quiet on soft turns.
She did smoke the serp line and that was one and done! I don’t feel like she’s that fast as I don’t have frenetic barking in my ear. But, she’s going to be fast once she has all of her confidence. She likes straight lines and decel is still a work in progress.
A question came up with a friend about BC timing for a contact. Once they are on the correct line to the contact can you blind before they actually get on it? That’s what I tend to do with Gemma who has excellent obstacle commitment. If not, what is the correct timing of a BC with contacts?
My next question is when to bump her up to 20 in? We are mostly practicing at 16 in as she sorts out handling maneuvers along with jumping effort. How do you determine when it’s time to learn the skills on the actual jump height?
Thank you so much Tracy! It’s always a pleasure to work with you. I’ll look for the short sequence classes. Plus, I think I’ll do resilience with Sprite. It’s probably too late to reprogram Gemma. But, I’d like to get Sprite the best start possible. Gemma can play along for fun. It can’t hurt her.
Hey Tracy,
The heat wave broke! But, now we have air quality issues due to fires. I had the training yard and just pieced together really short sequences. Sprite has never seen the wall before. It’s at a super low height. We’ve only done a few broad jumps a long time ago. She also did 4 weave poles which was great in a new environment and they were just sitting there. I didn’t show you that. We are working on angles with 6 weaves in my yard, but it has been on hold a few weeks due to the extreme temperatures. I did one serpentine sequence and she rocked it. That’s the last thing we did. This is over 3 sessions on the same day.
Let me know what’s next!
Hi Tracy,
It is ridiculously hot here all week. 116 yesterday! So, not much going on. When is class over and what is our next step?
I might do some travel board stuff later.
Hi Tracy,
It’s a delicious Cosmo! One of my specialties. I was laughing filming this as I felt ridiculous.
Ok, more serp work. I still need to turn back more and connect as she sometimes went behind me.
Also, I did RC tunnels as we struggled with that in the past. Last one I have my water bottle. That’s hard as I’m trying to watch the bottle AND the dog. Not too much spilled, but it wasn’t easy.
Have fun at your seminar. I know two lucky people from my area that are there!
Haha. I started high value assuming I’d pay more attention. This is hard! Plus, it bounces out a bit with fast motion even if you are watching. Didn’t spill too much!
Hey Tracy,
We did a little one jump work. She’s great with a wing. So, I think she is trying to figure out jumping organization. The markers are at 5, 10, 15 and 20 ft. Bar at 12 in on left turns and 12 and a few at 16 on right turns. Ultimately she will jump 20 in.
If I use the Cato board how far in front of the jump would I put it? Also, I’d then just go back down the line so I’m not having her turn and burn over it?
I wasn’t sure what you meant by the outside hand. Did I do it correctly minus the swoosh towards the jump that she doesn’t need?
I might be brave enough to film the FC with a beverage after Pilates tonight. But, I’d hate to spill my cocktail!
Hey Tracy,
We tried the decel game again, but I think we need more help. Is there some game on the flat we should be trying? It doesn’t look lije she understands no motion means slow down. I know forever ago I was told to have them stop with you at the jump, feed a cookie and then jump. Is that something we should try?
Thanks!
Her foundation class isn’t too hard for her. We barely do anything. Jump grids, go in a tunnel, work on a travel board or go around a cone. It’s the environment that’s hard. A horse ranch with people, horses, goats and all the dogs in their crates. She doesn’t just chill in the crate as she’s watching everything. I try to cover her if it’s not too hot, but… Plus, this are so do for her. She struggles to tug and return if she’s distracted. Hopefully she’ll sort it all out.
So, on the video you said not to reward if they aren’t collecting. If she turns at all do you want me to start moving regardless of where she takes off? I was VERY pleased that she could easily send the 16-18 ft. I didn’t use verbals at all in this session to see if my position held any meaning to her. I can probably do a two jump exercise in the backyard. But, no shaky shaky hand, correct? I should just be standing still?
Hi Tracy,
I haven’t even thought about entering Sprite even for FEO. We’ve just started in a live class about two months ago. She’s taking off and running the field. All of the dogs out are a lot for her and she’s not staying focused on me or work. So, not mentally ready at all.
You can’t see from this angle, but no motion is NOT a slow down cue for her. I wasn’t getting a check stride at all with me standing still. She did better with the sends. Then, maybe slightly better with me still afterwards. What else can I do to help her understand this concept?
It’ll be 105-107 this week, so I did the go tunnel, no tunnel exercise too. She did well with that.
Hi Tracy,
Sprite did a lovely RC wrap in her class yesterday. Buy, she struggled to take jumps that were near a tunnel and not just dive in. So, I did some either or training at the end of the clip. I tried to pick up the serp sequences I didn’t do a few weeks ago. She’s launching a bit, but I’m too far away from the serp jump. Angles aren’t exactly the same as your set up as I had to work with what was in the yard.
