[Sandy Mainardi]

PS…. much as I tried, apparently I can’t help myself on the threadles to keep my arm back and not cue the tunnel with it. Ugh.

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
My internet is totally down today. So annoying. So I’m trying to do this in my phone. Here goes…may be lots of typos…
Strained my hamstring yesterday at the show so no games requiring running for me. We did get 3 QQs though!

Ladder grid zig zag:

Serp/Tunnel/Threadle:

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
I see what you mean about moving my arm back for both the serp and the threadle and also cueing the jump after getting the threadle. Have to concentrate more when I do this game. I didn’t realize I was not supposed to move my arm back. I feel like that is what I do with Benni and today I used just that for the opening of JWW to eliminate the need for a BC (I don’t do very many threadles when running him):
Serp arm back at 0:23

And as for the ladder grid, I forgot to bring the long toy downstairs with me and then tried to tie the 2 short toys together. Guess it still wasn’t long enough. I thought I was supposed to set him up close to the first jump? So when I try it again with the long toy and leading out more, should I still just use 3 jumps or add one?

It seems like I don’t drop my arm back as much with the send n serp as I do with the stationary exercise.

What do you think I should focus on when I get home from the trial before week 5 begins? I couldn’t do the diamond game or any other game that needs much more space. I was bummed not to be able to do the “find the jump” game. Do you think I could modify that somehow in my basement?

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
We are leaving for an agility trial this afternoon thru Monday. So here is our homework for now.
I was pleasantly surprised at how he did on the serp/threadle game:

Ladder Grid (yesterday was 4 ft, today tiny bit under 5 ft), ticked the bar just when I was going to stop so I did one last rep at the and and he fixed it. That will be it for jumping until next week so he will have a rest.

Last one is yet another round of trying to get my FC better. I have trouble sending him with the toy in my dog side hand but I guess he will get better at that. Hopefully there is some improvement on my part here. Why is it so hard? I feel like I don’t trust his commitment so I stay still too long. Is that what you see? I will persist and keep trying! Funny how we forget that we can’t take things for granted with puppies/young dogs!!!

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
We finally had a lesson with Jessica today after a 2 month hiatus. She helped me with the serp vs FC game so I gave it another try tonight. I need to keep my upper body rotated more towards the jump on the serp I see on the video but he definitely likes the serpentine stuff. And he did much better with the FC tonight than he did at the lesson today…but there was major distractions going on in the arena next to the puppy room so maybe being home in his comfort zone helped him do better….or maybe he had all day to process it and that helped too. I also want to know about my position while doing the FC. I’m kind of standing between the wings when I’m doing the left wrap and a bit more on the landing side for the right wrap (and he went behind me which is what he was doing at the lesson).
FYI I changed my left wrap verbal to “loop” (Left ….Loop…makes more sense to my brain) and I put the “tight” back to the right wrap as I didn’t love saying wrap wrap wrap (tight and right rhyme so that works for my brain too LOL).

And here is the ladder grid. Not sure if you prefer a side camera angle?

I have the serp/tunnel game set up for tomorrow. Kind of tight in my basement but I think it will work. Need to review the demo again. I hate skipping games!

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Also, I never did any threadle work (that is when you are saying “close” right?). I have a word for it with Benni “in-in” but I haven’t done any games to introduce this for Brioche. I think the game for this week trying to do that may be too complicated for him. He can probably get the serp and the tunnel part of it. Any suggestions for introducing it?

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
On the backside wraps, are you using a verbal? Is that verbal different than the backside/slice verbal? And then does there have to be a different verbal for right vs left backside wrap?

Also, I know you are using right and left for the rear crosses. I have forever used “switch” as my rear cross verbal. I have a separate verbal for a turn on the flat “turn” I don’t know how much I want to change my verbals this time around as “switch” has always worked for me. I did add the right vs left wrap verbal. And I am anticipating I will need a RC wrap verbal….which I currently have no verbal for that but I do see a need for it but then am I going to give a separate word for right vs left RC wrap? My head is spinning…too many words!

Not sure I have the space to do the RC exercise in my basement but I can try. I hate skipping games because I can’t do them outside right now.

Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
YT was a real bugger today. Hours to upload videos.

Zig Zag games. He didn’t do well when I added the 4th wing but seemed okay with 3 wings.

Then I tried another round of send/serp vs send/FC. Even after watching the demo video again, I still feel like I’m not doing something right on the FC part.

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Oh good lord, well, maybe round 3 of send n serp I will actually get it right! Oye! I will do that when I get home from the weekend trial.

Today for the first time I asked a friend to play the role of leash runner at the practice jump while practicing his start line routine and stays. His mind exploded! LOL. He kept sitting facing backwards where she was standing. So I used a food lure and worked thru it. But he was able to do it! Mostly he wanted to say hello to her but also he really wanted to make sure he could see her too. I’m teaching him the same warm up routine that I do with Benni also. I can’t believe he is 11 months old.

Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
Okay, I tried the send/serp game again. Thank you for the feedback. I didn’t think of angling the jump to help him. I also watched the collar grab videos. You can see that I am trying really hard in this video not to grab him so thanks for those videos too. Yikes…bad habit.

When our sessions are done he does not want to go back upstairs….he gets a bit defiant when I call him to climb the stairs with me. Guess I will need to either pick him up and carry him or put a leash on him to signal that our training is done. He would very much like to stay and play.

Decided to hold off on the next game as we are leaving for CT today for an agility trial shortly. Have a great weekend…fingers crossed it really is NOT going to snow on Sunday AGAIN!

Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
We moved on to the serpentine game. We struggled with the right turn send and I believe it is because I am much better cueing with my right arm than my left plus I guess I was not where I needed to be to get the serp although initially he did it just fine. So a bit of back chaining to break the error pattern. I guess I jumped the gun moving the wing out too much. Ultimately moving the wing closer did the trick. I will definitely revisit this tomorrow after he has had time to process and get your feedback to improve upon this.
I do have a question on giving the “right” or “left” verbal on the wing….isn’t that actually a wrap?

Looking at the zig zag video, seems that you pair the verbal simultaneous with the arm cue to release the dog. I just don’t want to confuse him on his stay by releasing when I move my arm. Is that a problem? Can I say break and the do the arm push or will that be a late cue?

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

After sleeping on that, we tried again this morning.

Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
We didn’t get to do the games from last week due to snow on the ground. Not enough space down in the basement for those.
Tonight we tried the directional proofing game:

I was looking ahead at the serp games that also include a backside. I’m trying to remember from MaxPup 1, did we do a backside game? I somehow don’t remember teaching him a “back” verbal. I will have to go back and review what we did.

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
We are back from the trial in CT. Snow on the ground so basement training tonight. Added as much distance as I could in the space. Is the placement of the wrap wing correct? Not sure if it needs to be pushed more in line with the middle of the jump so his line is directly to the center of the bar? Anyway, I left it unedited, bloopers and all. I think maybe I am supposed to throw the toy with my outside arm or doesn’t it matter?

Set Point done with your suggestion of stationary and then moving toy but not already placed out there.

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Oye YouTube. Here is the correct video:

Sandy

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