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Thank you so much!!! I have your amazing support, encouragement, and teaching to thank for our progress the last 5-6 weeks. If you asked me in December if I’d try a class in a trial environment with Kashia this soon, I’d tell you that you were crazy! I can’t believe how far she’s come! By no means am I going to start trialing her every weekend or anything but to stay so connected and to have so much fun for her first one, I was elated!! I’m so proud of my little girl!
Her second run was nearly the same except a puppy moment at a tunnel. It was a little 10 footer as #2 obstacle. She was so excited to be running that she skimmed right past it on the outside and then in through the exit side! Silly girl! But like we chatted, I just kept running and praising and pretended nothing silly happened. She completed the rest of the course flawlessly for a young dog! I was proud of her but most importantly, she had a ball. She had the cutest bouncy prancy gait ever. It was so amazing to see after how unenthusiastic she can be in training at times.
UKI definitely has weird courses. The whole start line obstacle 1 jump away (opposite direction) from the second obstacle and then make a sharp turn into the wall for obstacle two is super weird and new to us. AKC doesn’t do that. It confused my older dog quite a bit. Or more so distracted her quite a bit. lol
Thanks again for all your wisdom! It’s been amazing! You were just what Kashia and I needed to get a good foundation started together. So thank you!!!!
I know this isnt’t part of class but since we talked about it, I couldn’t help but share. Especially being it’s Kashia’s first trial ever. Hopefully you have a little extra time to watch it just this once. 🙂
The course was super flowy so I decided to just run it with her without declaring NFC. My plan was to just give her lots of praise if she lost interest or needed encouragement. I also planned to just run and hope she did the obstacle. Well she did great and only lost her focus the first jump. Easily fixable and off we went! I was so proud of my little girl! First time in that environment and on turf too! Little moments like this remind me that it’s worth it going through her dud moments like earlier in the week. She did significantly better than my adult dog even!
Thanks for all your training, help and encouragement! We’ve really enjoyed our time.
Okay, here is our last video for you until MaxPup 3 next week! We are excited!
I just wanted to practice a few reps with the tunnel to see what you thought. Pardon my redneck tunnel set up. I recently got some tunnel bags but I didn’t have time to set them up and I’d only planned a few reps to see how it worked. I thought it went fairly well. Her motion still isn’t like my older dog or any of your dogs but it was definitely better I think. We only practiced for 4 mins with an hour break between the two sessions. I kept getting my verbal and my physical cues mixed up. I blame it on tiredness. I’d tell her close but signal for backside. She figured it out most of the time but I rewarded her either way cause it was a super obvious handler error! lol
Thanks again for all your help! It’s been such a fun class! No doubt next class will be just as great! I also look forward to your summer camp so I can enroll my older dog in some training fun as well!
Ha ha I love this. Thank you for reassuring me she had some good moments! All night long I jokingly nicknamed her dud because she just felt like a dud when we were practicing!!! I did notice that the long stretch between wings got her more amped. I tried to run a little faster to get her excited without running too fast to be at the wing before I could even cue the “around”. The speed of my gait is just a balance because I don’t want to be on top of each obstacle before she’s anywhere close, stopping all my motion, but I also want to get some movement from her going forward and fast.
I had thought about a tunnel for this one since you mentioned that last time too. But I decided not to because I wanted to try it out just like you had it to see how it would go….obviously I should have gone with the tunnel! She is by no means a tunnel sucker and occasionally will skip a tunnel entry too but I think overall, tunnels still get her some speed so I’ll definitely be incorporating that next time!
So with the threadles, I tell her close to bring her in and then I run towards the wing and meet up with her on the other side/landing spot to teach her that close means come in and jump all in one verbal?
<<<6 dogs training/competing in 2 different sports? It is insanity LOL!!! The hardest part is the conditioning. I admit to keeping spreadsheets to help remember their training needs. And I also admit to calling them the wrong names on course sometimes LOL!>>>>
Oh my gosh!!!! 6 dogs!?!?! That is crazy!! I don’t know how you do that. You’d have to have spreadsheets to remember all that!! I have 4 dogs but only compete with 2 and I thought that was a lot! lol What other sport do you do?
Kashia was a D.U.D. – dud – last night!!! Ugh! This little girl just loves to test my patience! She’s consistently the best little running buddy. She’s the best snuggler on the entire planet. But when it comes to agility, she has a mind of her own. Sometimes she loves to work and other days she apparently doesn’t.
She gets excited when I untie her after practicing with my other dog. But as soon as we go into the exercise she just loses interest. Either way, here are a few attempts at the combos. I kept the sessions 2 mins and I did other things in between. The only other thing I know to do is just stop practicing when she has no motivation. This is our first time practicing this so it should be “newish” but she was clearly unamused.
I’m not sure what I did wrong on the last rep to have her not take the backside? Not enough extreme connection?
<<<<It is truly a high failure sport!!! A “good” Q rate is 30% in AKC. And in UKI, a good Q rate is more like 10% LOL!>>>
WOW!!! That’s incredibly low!! Maybe I don’t want to join UKI if it’s that low!!! Ha ha just kidding. I love a challenge as long as it doesn’t feel like an impossible one. UKI isn’t popular in my area so I’m just getting a feel for it to see if it’s worth traveling for a few trials. I’m not looking to be anything amazing. I just enjoy the sport, enjoy some trials each year, and enjoy the bond with my dogs. I’ll leave the crazy titling and high-ranking stuff to the professionals like you and so many others. ha ha ha
<<< if she misses an obstacle, keep running, no fixing>>>
Yes ma’am! I do this in practice when I try a course with her at the practice arena. I’ll usually try it once all the way through and if she misses it, we just keep going. 🙂 After that, we do sequences but I think Kashia enjoys stretching her legs for 10-15 obstacles every once in a while since we never do that at home.
<<<Get another dog! LOL! Just kidding >>>
Ha ha two dogs is challenging enough since I’ve only ever had one in training at a time until I got Kashia. I don’t know how you can possibly keep all the dogs and their little quirks separate!
<<<< I have always found that setting goals for my performance with very specific things>>>>
You are right. This is great advice. Thank you! I sometimes (a lot of times) forget about the little things and just look at the big picture. If the big picture isn’t great, I’m usually not pleased with myself (initially). It isn’t until way later in the night or the next day when I’m re-watching my video(s) a million times that I start to see the little victories inside of the run. It’s so funny because I think I’m really great at helping other people see the little victories and celebrating the smallest of wins when they are discouraged about their performance. But I’m absolutely atrocious at doing it for myself. Pretty typical behavior, if I had to guess. lol
Thanks for the great reminder!
<<<<Agility is really hard and so giving yourself feedback is a great way to make improvements from run to run and bounce back when things go wrong (because things go wrong for all of us in agility ALL THE TIME LOL!!!)>>>>
You know, it’s so interesting you say this because it could not be more true. It wasn’t until last August that I’d ever gone or participated in an agility trial. I had NO CLUE how many NQs people got. I was flabbergasted at how few people, especially in excellent/master courses, actually get Qs. It truly shocked me. It was super humbling though and helped with some of the pressure I put on myself. I come from the horse world of showing which is far different than dogs…while also having some parallels but in weird ways.
No doubt I’ll experience this when I start open classes this year. Weaves will forever be my nemesis. I’m sure there will be plenty of runs that my older girl messes up her weaves. Sometimes she’s fantastic and starting to get some good speed and other times she forgets there is 12! LOL
<<<<if you enter NFC you can make up your own course. You can decide that when you see the course – if it looks fast and flowy, try it as designed. If it looks Stooooopid? Or too hard for her? Make up your own course 🙂>>>
Oh!! Great to know!! I did not know I could do my own course if I enter as training. Great news! I have my older dog in Speedstakes too and Saturday runs tall to small. So I’ll get the chance to run it with her before Kashia to get a feel for it. That should really help! But either way, we will just go in there and run, run, run, and have fun. The faster I run the more Kashia will stay engaged, hopefully!
I’ve never done Time 2 Beat. I’ll have to look into that. Besides the send in FAST, I love/loved using that class to expose my dog to the environment and let her be silly if need be because I really didn’t care about Qs in that class. We just used it to train without actually declaring FEO. So far it’s worked out really well and there’s no pressure for off course! It’s just go out there and pretend it’s the practice arena!
<<<Quality to quantity! That is my mantra>>>
Yes! I know this! I’m glad you reminded me of that!!!! I preach the same, especially with horseback riding! Sometimes I’m glad dog training sessions only take me a few minutes each night between each dog and other times I just want to keep practicing and wish their little brains could handle more! lol
Was it okay I added the bar on the last few reps? I thought that might help change it up a bit or challenge her a bit. For my other dog, she can lose energy if I keep it “too easy” for her. I’m all about keeping bars down or low but the older dog needs a jump bar at times to get her driving speed.
Thanks for all the help! We are excited for the next class!
<<<<The beginning courses *should* be relatively straightforward. But since there are so many new elements for you and Kashia, it is better to run FEO/NFC so you can focus on all of the other elements and not the Q. Make it fun for you both!>>>>
Ha ha I meant more for my other dog. I try to always make fun my priority no matter what….but I do put some pressure on myself to perform well for my dog. My other pup has enough experience that she should be able to handle it all well, hard or not. She knows her job and doesn’t stress out like I do…But given all the new elements we are going to experience, I’m nervous. I’m pretty hard on myself when I know my capabilities. I don’t really give myself leniency for mistakes. Now, please don’t think I put this same pressure on my dogs, because I don’t. Dogs are dogs. Unless they go off on a sniffing adventure, I’m always pleased with their efforts.
As for Kashia, I’m not worried about any of that. I want it to be fun for her, no pressure at all. No doubt I’ll still be extremely embarrassed if she does something wild or crazy…but I’m going to try to just let it be and keep it fun for her. She **usually** has stellar recall. But I do worry about the bird dog instincts in her and that little sniffer catching something and totally going off on her own free sniffing adventure! That’s actually my biggest “fear” with both of them. Which is silly because my other dog has rarely done that…I just know bird dogs too well.
<<<I just do jumps and tunnels at first – no stays, no contacts, no weaves because those are highly likely to go wrong and I don’t want the dog to be wrong in the early trial experiences.>>>
I totally agree. This is actually the only reason I entered her in speedstakes. I just want her to have an experience in a trial environment. Our first AKC show is in April. I may enter her in FAST for the same experience. Just to have fun and get experience working in a trial environment. We aren’t ready for weaves or contacts with her. I always jump my dogs preferred/select anyway so Kashia will be at 12″. 🙂
<<<<In UKI, you are allowed to throw rewards in NFC runs so you can try a ball or toy she might like?>>>
Hmmmm, I’m not sure a ball will entice her in that environment either. The lotus ball has been great but only with food. Even if I don’t have a toy, I can do FEO and just give her lots of praise and pats, right?
<<<Might be too many reps of the same thing, so if you get two or three correct reps, change it up to do something different.>>>
This is so hard. I kept it to 3-4 backside reps with a straight through running rep in the middle and the end. I really don’t feel like that should be too much but I know I’m also comparing her to a mature dog. It’s just hard quitting after 2 reps because it feels like hardly any training! Like it feels like it would take a century just to master something at that rate. lol
<<<I pulled out my foundation plank yesterday.>>>
Great! I will task my husband with making me something. 🙂 I’m sure we have the supplies around the barn somewhere. Thank you for keeping it bargain prices for people like me. 🙂
Here is our second try at extreme connection. We had a few mess ups. I’m not really sure what I did to cause them. When I was practicing, I felt like I was pointing directly at the wing I wanted Kashia to go behind but in the video it does not look like that at all…I’ll try to be even more exaggerated when I practice next time.
I will video us trying the combos on Tuesday and then I think we will be officially done with all the games!
Ugh! I wrote a whole message then it deleted itself!
Let’s try this again!
<<<< A European designer might mean that the courses are a little extra crazy hard LOL!! But they will be FUN!>>>>
Oh don’t say this! I’m already super nervous for this being it’s my first UKI trial, first indoor trial, first trial in this new facility/environment, and first trial on artificial turf. I have a lot going against me, I hope the courses aren’t also hard!
I agree with FEO but I have a few questions about it.
1. When do you start trialing your dogs? Do you have a minimum age you wait until or does it depend on their skill level?
2. I’m nervous about the lotus ball because Kashia only likes it if there is food in it. I’m afraid the first time she goes to get it and there’s no food, she’ll just be disappointed and disengage with me.
Tonight I practiced the backsides again. I’ll attach the video tomorrow morning for whenever you check back on. I think they went fairly well. She sure loses interest quickly. The beginning reps she had bouncy excited sends and by the last couple she was quite slow. I tried to break up the session with weaves and the teeter but it didn’t help much I guess. I also only practiced for 6 mins broken into 2 segments. She’s just a hard dog to keep engaged. My other dog is not like that.
<<< Homemade or borrowed stuff is the way to go especially for foundation stuff because you won’t need it for that long. And the foundation stuff you can purchase is soooooo expensive. There is always a way to do a homemade version of it.>>>>
Thank you for saying this. I feel like there is so much pressure to use the fancy name brand stuff or the competition style stuff. It really starts to make me feel like the sport is unaffordable for me. I appreciate that you can recognize homemade stuff can fulfill the same purpose and it’s not all about the fancy brands and such. I’m sure all that stuff is nice but for the minimal uses I’ll get out of it, it’s just not practical for me. Thank you for being open to homemade or borrowed.
Also, quick question for Max Pup 3.
Equipment needed (working participants only):
3 jumps, 3 jumps bars or bumps (ideally wing jumps but can be wingless jumps), 1 tunnel (10 feet or longer), lots of tunnel bags, contact training mat, access to a teeter or wobble board, travel plank, occasional access to a long plankCan you help me out with what a contact training mat is? Can I just use like a yoga mat cut in half or something similar?
I have a teeter but it’s not competition size. Will that work? I do go to an arena to practice courses but I’m not supposed to move their stuff so I only may sometimes have access to a full teeter.
What size travel plank? Is this like a Cato Plank? Can I make one if I don’t want to spend $100 on one? I’m quickly learning how expensive agility can be so I try to bargain shop if I can.
What size is the long plank? I’m thinking the plank of my teeter would work for this.
<<<<Who is the designing judge for the UKI trial?>>>>
For the first UKI trial we are going to the Officiating Judge is Torka Poet and the Course Designer is Marko Mäkelä (Finland). I entered Kashia in Speedstakes just for the experience. I haven’t decided if I’ll do FEO or just go in there and give it a stab. She’s completed some At Home Speedstakes courses (unofficially since I didn’t enter her) and she did them beautifully and cleanly! Either way, it’s just great exposure for her. She’s gone to many trials with my older dog as morale support but this will be the first one she gets to compete in. 🙂
<<<<We want to keep it basic where we can so we don’t over-complicate it for the dog (or for us humans haha!)>>>>
It’s funny to me you say this right above the paragraph where you explain several different wrap commands, all by using different noises essentially…..that seems extremely complicated to my novice brain! I know another handler that does the same thing and it blows my mind. I can’t imagine ever getting to that point but maybe someday! For now, we are keeping it basic. 🙂
<<<<The next step to backside development is to add a bar back but still only have one wing. It will basically be the wing you had here, and a bar on it but the other side of the bar is on the ground (no wing). That way it only kinda sorta looks like a jump, so she won’t have the natural draw to the front side that she would have on a real jump – that will make it easier for you to show her the backside because she won’t be automatically locked onto the front side 🙂>>>
So the bar would be on the inside of the last wing, right, between me and the wing? I know that’s a dumb question because if it was on the outside, that wouldn’t be a backside jump. But I like to clarify things to make sure my mind is imagining them correctly because sometimes I get them screwed up….for as book-smart as I am, you’d be surprised at how much I mess up left and right. Random dyslexia kicks in sometimes. LOL
Thank you!
<<<<You totally can! It is a matter of what you prioritize, based on where you think you will focus your competition in the future. If you are going to do AKC regular classes like Standard, JWW, and Premier, then the super independent backsides are not a high priority. If you are planning on AKC ISC class or UKI, then.>>>>
Ha ha well this isn’t totally useful for me! I started in AKC and it’s what is most common around me but I’m dipping my toes in UKI at the moment too. We have our first UKI trial (besides the at home ones I have done with my older dog) in February. I probably will focus more on AKC but strong skills for both would be a good goal to have!
<<<<<– backside slice is specifically meaning ‘go to the other side of the jump away from me and jump the bar’
– The exit of the backside slice involves coming towards the handler (for the most part) based on the handling of the exit line
– Backside slice may not involve a lead change (it might, or not, depends on the course design)
– get out is specifically a front side cue (never a backside cue)
– Get out always involved a lead change away from the handler to go find the front side of a jump that is not on the line
– And the exit of the get out cue involves staying on the line parallel to the handler and not necessarily coming right back to the handler (but also depends on the Course design
It might add more differences after I have more coffee 🤣😁>>>>>>>Awesome explanation. THANK YOU. That is 100% more clear in my brain the way you broke that down. Some of these things are so similar that I struggle to know how to differentiate them to the dog. Like for a while I just assumed I could use “around” for a backside too because the dog was “going around” something with the jump back to me being implied since it was in front of them. I understand the two aren’t the same. Now I try to just use “around” when I’m sending them around something. But in my brain, I didn’t know how to differentiate to the dog. I understand better now with the way you’ve broken it down and the way you break down the sequences. I’ll probably still have dumb questions but it’s helpful. Keep in mind agility is its own form of a language. I’m still learning that language! I haven’t grasped everything even though I’m familiar with a lot. Thank you for speaking in basic terms. 🙂
Although that brought up another point. A wrap. Do you use that term and if so, in what context?
Thank you for the recommendation! I definitely want feedback. You can’t know how badly I was seeking help with getting Kashia started. No one was doing anything in my area and I’m so new to the agility world that I didn’t know who else to reach out to. Your lessons have been a game changer. The ladies I practice with are absolutely amazed at how much connection and growth they can see in Kashia in just these short weeks we’ve been doing it. So thank you kindly. 🙂
This video is our first attempt at extreme connection part 2. I noticed many reps I didn’t look at Kashia until I was ready to give her the “back” command. That was incorrect, right? I should have connected with her immediately after sending her around the wing? I think my subconscious was still on the disconnection lesson for the initial send around the wing and run away. I didn’t realize my connection wasn’t great in the moment but watching the video it looks awful in the first several steps. I didn’t include my straight runs but we did those every 2 reps. She lost energy on the last rep which is also where I ended the lesson. Too much repetition in one training session for her! lol
Oh okay, phew! I was worried I was going to miss the privilege of getting feedback on the last couple games. Thanks for clarifying for me!
