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Hello!
<<<Someday it would be fun to get to see them run in person 🙂>>>
If you ever make it over to the west side of the country, that would be cool!!
Today I did week 2, advanced two jump games. My girls had zero energy. I have no idea what was going on with them. Maybe the unexpectedly warm temps? Maybe half the afternoon with their grampie instead of their usual napping while I’m working? Who knows. They were soooooooooooo painfully slllooooooooooowwwwww. Both dogs kicked it up a bit in areas of the drills, but I definitely didn’t get the enthusiasm I usually do. I started doing some of week 3 just to see if that would jazz them up a bit. It didn’t work too well with Kashia. I think my entire 2 minute video allotment would have been her doing ONE circle of the sequence 1 game…🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️ I mean she may as well have been shuffling, her little trot was so slow. lol Kastella was not her usual either but I still got more pep out of her. The girls just acted tired. They aren’t sick or anything! I decided I better wait to do week 3 sequence game 1 until my Wednesday or Thursday in hopes my girls have more energy!
Anyway, I watched your demo videos and had a classic case of “I heard you but I didn’t hear you”. I heard you saying I needed to start my second blind when the dog was around 6ft/2m from my the tunnel but apparently that didn’t really register in my actions. I didn’t even notice I wasn’t doing the blind in the right moment until the very end when I’d already finished filming. I’d even walked it all before without the dog. Either way, they both knew what I wanted when they exited the tunnel so I guess that was good?
I included Kashia’s “oopsie” rep. In slow mo, it looks like maybe my connection was a split second too late and that’s why she didn’t commit to the jump right out of the tunnel. Is that accurate?
I don’t know how my positioning for the blinds were but it seemed to go smoothly nearly every rep so if I was really messed up, my dogs were super forgiving! lol I also forgot until the very end that you suggested I run up to the tunnel with Kashia to amp some energy in her. I remembered that at the end so you’ll see I didn’t really do a good job of that. I’ll remember for next time!
Thanks for everything!
I love the way you describe Kashia’s little brain and attitude towards these games. It’s so spot on, I think! LOL! She has such a funny personality!
I really like blinds! This has been really fun so far! I’m learning so much about timing. I definitely didn’t consider all these little intricacies before this class. Before, I’d just do a blind where I thought I could get ahead of the dog. Now, I’m more methodical about it. I can run fast, and my dogs aren’t speed demons, so on full courses, I try to do blinds where it makes sense, feels smooth, and saves time. I play it a little safer at trials, but I still try to squeeze a blind in if I can! In fact, I’ll admit, one of my last trials, I was late on my blind, so Kastella was still on the “incorrect” side of me and totally bypassed the jump! My fault, though, because I thought she was on the other side! I did not queue her in time, and I take all the credit for that one! I messed up her chance at a double Q, dang it! 🙂 The good and bad of having two dogs in the same class but different heights….I was able to fix my mistake when it was Kashia’s turn, so she got it flawlessly. 🙂 Sorry, Kastella, that mama handled you more poorly. It just depends on the trial day for which dog is my “guinea pig” for handling errors on the first run. ha ha
I don’t know how to describe this, but for the one jump advanced game and two jump game, it was really cool to see the almost U-shaped line the girls ran because of the connection I had with them. By the time they were coming out of the tunnel or going around the wing, I was on a completely different line than them, yet they still committed to the jump before following me laterally to the next obstacle, whether it was the wing or the second jump. I feel like not that long ago, the girls would have just followed whatever line I was running. I guess that connection and that information for them about what I was doing and what was coming next really made a significant difference!
Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge and training virtually. It has been so amazing getting to learn from/with you. Kashia is a smart girl, but I credit much of her quick progress in agility to everything we’ve learned from you since I started her as a pup in your Maxpup classes. I absolutely love all of your classes, and it’s been so fun getting to train both of my girls with you now!!….even when I get a little behind because of life. 🙂
Chat soon with more videos!
Hello! We’ve actually had most of week 2 completed but I didn’t have time to edit and upload! We just have to do the advanced two jump games still!
For the advanced one jump games, I think my timing of the blind was terrible but my girls read it correctly sooooooo…??? Are they just forgiving or was my timing better than it felt and seemed in the video? I wasn’t ready to commit to the blind when they exited the tunnel because I wanted to see commitment on the jump! But then in your two jump video, you said we have to trust the dog is committed to the first jump because we needed to start the blind as soon as they came around the wing! My girls never performed incorrectly but I still felt like my timing was a bit slow. It’s hard to trust that commitment is there! lol
For the tunnel games, when I crossed the death zone of the tunnel, I didn’t realize I was off-camera by the end, but hopefully you can see enough to determine whether I got my timing right. My girls never went the wrong way out of the tunnel, so I’m assuming I did it right! 🙂
Getting the blind before my girls got into the tunnel felt relatively easy for me. Is that because they aren’t crazy fast like your demo dog, or was something I did different?
I think you need to include a disclaimer that wing games may cause dizziness or queasiness! LOL I get motion sickness relatively easily, and the spinning back and forth for the blinds on the flats were making me VERY QUEASY!! I kept my sessions short, but I still couldn’t get as many reps with the second dog because I wasn’t feeling so well by the end! ha ha ha ha My brain was spinning in both directions a little too much!
My girls seemed to love that flatwork, though! It was really good for me to get a handle on everything because sometimes I feel like my limbs and brain are going all over the place in discombobulation!
Thanks so much for the feedback!!!! I really appreciate all of your tips and tricks. Sorry I got so behind. I look forward to starting your next course and hopefully I can stay on top of it. I really enjoy learning from you. I have so much great material to practice and perfect. I just need more time in the day to squeeze it all in! Thank you so much! The outside arm has so much use! Others are missing out!!!
Hello! Sorry to spam you at the very last few days of class. I practiced and videoed all week (week 5 lessons and retry at the Threadle wraps) but I was too busy to edit and post. I apologize. We re-tried the threadle wraps, attempting to incorporate your advice. We also did some layering and some back side pushes.
Also, I had an agility trial yesterday and we used this backside push and get out for one of the obstacle sequences in Master Standard and Fast and it worked beautifully!! My girls understood those cues way better than me just saying “go tunnel” or something similar. How cool to get to incorporate it right away! I’m pretty sure I learned these same skills from you with one of the Max pup classes but these lessons were more “forceful/strong” and built on what we already learned a while ago. My girls responded super well to it! I didn’t see many people using that outside arm to push the dog like you taught but it worked so smoothly for us and not as smoothly for many of them. Super super useful!
For your next blind camp session or whatever it is called, can we do two dogs under one working spot like this course where I just split the videos into 1 min segments for each dog?
Whoa. We really struggled with the threadle arm. I mean, I’ve done threadles before, but much different than this and with no verbal or anything. I guess I did it more by the line I ran with the dog, and they sliced or wrapped based on my body positioning. I didn’t even try the sequences. This is a pretty advanced move for my girls. I would say the only time I’ve done something similar, I cued it by doing a backside from the take-off side of the jump, and I stayed close to the wing on the take-off side to get them to wrap it and continue on. Your approach is more efficient, but it didn’t translate well for my girls, especially Kastella. I don’t have a verbal for a threadle wrap, since I’ve never done it this way. My only verbal is “back” for taking the backside of the jump, but that’s usually when the dog is on the opposite side of me, not running between me and the jump. I can’t recall when we’ve ever done an intentional threadle slice the way you showed in the balance reps. I guess you could say my girls and I don’t do too many fancy moves. ha ha
Anyway, I only included a few of Kashia’s reps in the video because she started figuring it out. I included some of her incorrect reps so you can give us feedback, but she actually had many correct ones where I could see her brain figuring it out and choosing to go to the backside of the jump and wrap it without luring. I should probably attach a verbal to it now that she’s picking it up. She’s stronger on the left side of the jump than she is on the right, but she did decent on both.
Kastella, on the other hand, (face palm), could not figure it out, and I could not figure it out to help her figure it out. I ended up basically luring her. I tried to keep my line straight and my feet straight ahead, but that was nearly impossible when I had to use my arm to circle her around the jump. A couple of times, I tried saying “back” as I would on a backside, but it didn’t seem to help, and I figured it was just confusing the poor girl more. I was getting pretty frustrated, as was Kastella. I could tell she was trying, I think, but it also felt like she was just anticipating the jump so she could get a treat and not actually thinking about what I was asking her to do. She’s not as much of a thinker as Kashia, but she’s also the first dog I ever did agility with. So she likely has some bad habits from me, since we had to learn agility together, whereas Kashia was trained after I already had some experience. I know Kastella isn’t a lost cause, though. Please HELP!
Week 4 – Rear cross sequences
I’m not sure I have the timing of this cue correctly. Especially with Kastella. Her lines didn’t look super fluid or like she knew what I wanted until last second. On the first jump with wing, she didn’t turn until landing, making the landing look super awkward. Also on the sequences, you’ll see I had to go super wide and then on one rep Kastella still took the wrong side of the jump. I’m not sure where I went wrong besides I really wasn’t mastering where I should be signaling her. I like the premise of the technique but I definitely need some work with it. I didn’t feel like I moved through it super well in the sequences. I liked the way it felt with Kashia though. Kashia flowed a lot better but she’s slower so there’s more room for error.
I should have read your feedback before working on the soft arm sequences. I didn’t incorporate your advice about the tunnel because I read it after I had already practiced. But I completely understand what you are saying, and I will do that next time!
Also, I’m proud of myself because I actually noticed my issue with speed before I read your comments. As I was practicing yesterday, I noticed that the more I move my feet, even if in place, the more Kashia (and Kastella, actually) pick up momentum and speed. You will see I wasn’t doing that at first with Kastella. I was trying to do the drills by just standing around in the middle. Shame on me! I didn’t notice the bad habit until I started practicing with Kashia. Watching the videos back, I still lacked movement, but it was better than the previous videos. I will try to be even more cognizant of it for the next drills. In my mind, there isn’t much movement needed since it’s a smaller space and a circle. I need to remind myself that the dog reads my body language and will emulate that lack of speed! I’m also trying to get a little more distance and confidence with the girls, so I don’t have to be right at each obstacle, so maybe that’s why I subconsciously wasn’t moving as much.
I noticed Kastella was constantly watching and head-checking me. I also noticed I was late on several of my verbal cues with both girls. I’m actually annoyed about that because I think overall, I’m decent at giving them the information ahead of time. It’s one of the things I pick up first thing when I watch others run courses. So why I was failing to give them the information as soon as I should, is beyond me! Was that why she was head checking? Was I not being clear on what I was asking? I also don’t know why my dog side arm is kind of helicopter-ing around. I need to keep that lower so I’m not disconnecting from the dog. I clearly haven’t videoed myself in a while, prior to this class, so I have a few quirks to work out!
At 1:27 you’ll see Kashia take the jump rather than the tunnel. Where did I go wrong to send her over that when I actually wanted the tunnel?
I thought I was only one week behind so I was surprised to see you posted week 5 today! Eeek!! I will get 1 lesson of week 4 done today. I go out of town until Saturday but will get the second lesson of week 4 done on the weekend. Again, thanks for having a couple extra weeks into April built into the program so I can get week 5 done without rushing.
Thanks for the detailed feedback! 15-mile run or not, Kashia is just like this 🤷🏼‍♀️. Her enthusiasm for agility is significantly less than Kastella. However, Kastella was the same way, and she has 1.5-2 years more experience than Kashia, so I’m hoping Kashia will grow into enthusiasm as she continues to gain confidence!! Kashia does really well in trial environments, thank goodness, so at least she responds well to that kind of pressure. Her speed still isn’t what your dogs have, but it’s more than what these videos show and enough to meet the time qualifications in Masters. I couldn’t include all of our reps in my next video, obviously, but by the last couple, Kashia was just trotting the entire course until the last 2-3 obstacles. Her slow pace made my video clips too long, so I couldn’t include many. She’s just too smart and bores easily!!! 🤣🤣
Here is our rough attempt at the “get out” arm. We’ve done a similar thing in some of your other classes, so my girls knew it pretty well. I think the body positioning is more exaggerated this time, but it’s definitely something we were familiar with. Since I’m playing catch-up, I did not practice these sequences before recording. They could have been smoother, but we got some good reps in. I also started to forget all the different pattern options when it was Kastella’s turn, so I just winged it. lol
Thanks for the feedback! I should have just jumped right into the sequences. That made way more sense to my brain as we added a lot of movement into it. I was trying to be methodical about it, but I think sometimes that causes me to overthink it! I felt like both dogs did really well on the sequences with the brake arm and the exit line. I look forward to hearing what you have to say!
Kashia was her usual lolly-gagging self, if you remember from previous classes. She picked up speed once we got going on most of the reps, so at least there was that. She’s a little more amped at trials, but today she was pretty tired from a 15-mile run, so the fact that she still was interested in participating in agility was a bonus! You could see her tiring at the end. My other dog, Kastella, has a lot more enthusiasm overall. She, too, will lolly-gag at times, but she has a lot more forward movement overall!
I’m really glad you built in some extra weeks. I’m so far behind! 🤦🏼‍♀️ Life. I will catch up before the course ends so I can get my full value of training! Here’s a quick attempt at week 1 with just a single jump. I think I was more handicapped feeling than anything. I didn’t have the camera at the best angle either, sorry about that. I couldn’t really wrap my brain around the exit line. It looked easy when you did it but then when I tried, I felt super awkward so I’m sure I was doing something wrong.
Hello!
I wanted to send one more video before concluding the course. We only got 4 reps in before the thunderstorm rolled in! You might even be able to hear the thunder and the rain. But it passed just in time to get a tiny bit of sun before sunset where we got a few more reps! I thought Kashia did way better this second time than the first video. Not that she did badly, but she always seems so much more fluid the second time around! No mess ups to the tunnel this time between jump 2 and 3.
Thank you for all your help over the last 4-5 months. It’s been so wonderful taking classes from you. Kashia and I have learned more than we could have ever imagined, especially in such a short amount of time. I’m sad it is coming to an end. I love having your lessons to look forward to each week. It makes practicing so much easier! But I still have all the material so I know I can keep going over all of it and perfecting our skills. You are a wonderful trainer and teacher. The best dog trainer I’ve ever used. We’ve really enjoyed our time with you! You are so helpful, encouraging, and so positive. I hope we can take more courses from you in the future! Thank you for all your time, dedication, and kindness. It’s been an absolutely amazing experience! Kashia would never be as far as she is without you. Thank you so much!
<<<Did your older dog have any visual distraction when she did the same thing? >>>>
I guess she sort of had a visual distraction too. When I was practicing with her, Kashia was chewing on a bone near the fence, somewhat near the tunnel entry. Definitely a distraction that would catch her eye before turning to enter the tunnel. Huh, either way it was weird. They’ve never done that with this tunnel before. I’ll have to move it again and see if that helps just out of curiosity!
Yesterday I did a quick practice session during lunch break! We tried the deceleration concept again! Kashia did well! No bar knocking this time. She came out of the tunnel a little hot going to the right so her initial turn was wide before going over the first jump. Is there anything I should have done to correct or help this? I think you can see it on a few of the reps.
I think we are pretty much caught up now! I’m just going over the last couple of weeks exercises because I did not get to try a second session after receiving your feedback on some of them. 🙂
I’m adding to my earlier post since you haven’t replied yet. When I was going back through to see if I finished everything, I found a game I missed! Forced Front Cross Sequences. Kashia did pretty well. In the first sequence, she had a little bit of a struggle seeing jump 3. She kept going to the tunnel. I tried to really concentrate on getting her attention and turning my body. I’m not sure if it helped or not. She got some reps but not others. In the second sequence, she had a lot of hesitation on that move where I pushed her over jump 2 by stepping backward and facing away from her. She questioned what the heck I was doing but she got it each time. It was a little awkward for me too since I haven’t done that before. Hopefully, I’m up to date on all the games now minus the second video attempt on a few.
