[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
Here is our collar grab fun. Need practice lining up on the side!

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
This went fairly well…I may have committed a cardinal sin by not picking up the food bowls for play breaks :-). I went fairly quickly from floor to stool to crouching to finally standing where he made one error but I should have left the prop closer for that one. Oops.

After we finished that I decided to do a really quick drive to handler to see if I could get the decel better which was never my forte as a handler if you remember…

Not sure if posting 2 videos in one post is going to work so we’ll see.

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
Here is another try at driving to handler outdoors with cookie toss and no food in my hand, toy reward after the turn. The grass was not working very well with Brioche not really running back to me so I switched to the pavement for the last couple of reps. That was cleaner.

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
I accidentally started a new thread…oops…going to try to delete it but if I can’t then maybe you can. Sorry about that.

Here is the next level of the wrap shaping using a prop. He seems to get it just fine. So do I just keep using that same prop and move it further away or use maybe a large cone instead? Or this was actually made long ago from a Susan Garrett thing where I put a pool noodle on the post. Not sure I still have that noodle so whatever prop you think is good.

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
I think this one was more challenging for me than Brioche. I am not good with managing a handful of food so I kept it between my legs to reload which was distracting for him. My timing isn’t the best but the video isn’t as bad as it felt while I was recording it! I think we need to do more of this before adding the prop. I moved the bowls back slightly for the last minute or so.

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Prop Game 1

Hi Tracy,
I did all the various sends, some play in between. On the last one, I used a toy but all other was food. Again 4 min but includes some play so you can scroll thru that. I figure if it’s going well, it is worth trying the progressions in the session then can revisit anything that looks like it might need more work. Let me know if you think I’m doing too much and should break it up more.

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
Here is the drive to handler series. I progressed all in one session. It seems long but there is play interspersed so it is not 4 min of working. He doesn’t come in lined up to my side with stage 1 of the exercise. Is that important? The last part I had no food and then rewarded with the toy.

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,

Thanks for all the feedback over the 5 weeks of this course.

What kind of proofing are you talking about in the proofing games? And also, is the mental prep course lecture or what is that about?

Thanks!

Sandy and Benni

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
We did the sequences from week 5 today to wrap things up.
Video 1: sequence 1 done 2 different ways

video 2: really hard for me…I tried to figure out how to get a double blind in for the backside of 5 but I just couldn’t get the mechanics of it so I did it a different way but whatever I kept doing on that wrap, he was reading as a RC. Also, I should have been saying tight not left…oye.

Video 3: Sequence 3

Video 4: Sequence 4

I see you have a long list of courses for the winter. Is there anything in particular you recommend for us?

Thanks.
Sandy and Benni

• This reply was modified 4 years, 10 months ago by Sandy Mainardi.

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
We had a seminar for novice/open dogs with Jessica yesterday. I’m just putting the videos here in case you would like to see how he is looking on various things. I hope you don’t mind that they are not edited as I wanted to keep the instructor feedback for future reference. So just scroll thru and look at the work part of it if you have time. I’m not sure if I’ll get to set up the week 5 stuff this weekend after he has a day of rest. He’s been constantly licking his left forearm in one spot and he’s a bit resistant to passive range of motion. I massaged and stretched him to see if there might be some trigger points or spasms. He gets an adjustment on Monday so hopefully that will take care of whatever it is…possibly referred pain from his neck. He doesn’t appear lame and acts normal.

Here are the videos:

At the end of this video we are working on “GO”. He has such a good go usually….I guess that jump off to the left presents a different picture from any other “GO” drills we’ve done. I would not have guessed that this would be a challenge. Good to know so we can work on it…rather not find that out at a trial!

Thanks.
Sandy and Benni

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
With all the rain, I haven’t been able to get to anything from week 5. Is there a date for the end of this course?

Thanks.
Sandy and Benni

[Sandy Mainardi]

HI Tracy,
My mistake on thinking the PDF suggested a BC on sequence 1 for backside/wraps. The way my printer printed up the sheets made it look like that text went with the map of sequence 1. Oh well, maybe it was nice practice for me to try it anyway!

I have to be honest and tell you I don’t think I am actually thinking about when his head turns for the backside! LOL I have to concentrate more on that. I think I generally am waiting for him to move his body in that direction. I’m definitely going to do a few reps of the toy drop for independent backsides on a regular basis. I think we both need that.

And I didn’t realize about needing to reconnect at the middle jump on the GO lines. Good tip. Thanks.

It’s like summer here! Yay!

Thanks.
Sandy and Benni

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
We worked on week 4 sequences this afternoon. Got very dark for the last one.

Video 1: GO sequences

Video 2: Backsides/wraps sequences 1 and 2. I was wondering if a serp could work on seq 1 to get the tunnel at the end? Not sure I would have come up with putting a blind there without the homework sheet suggestion.

Video 3: Backsides/wraps sequence 3

Video 4 Backsides/wraps sequence 4 (oops on the second run, I didn’t do the backside of 5)

Video 5: Backside/wraps sequence 5 too dark outside, tried some lights but they made the camera glare so I had to turn some off and Benni was not able to find the backside of 3, kept trying to cut thru the slats on the wing so I switched out the wing type and that helped…going to try to avoid training in the dark again…hate when the clocks change!

I couldn’t remember what you did on the demo videos so I did my own thing! 🙂

Thanks!

Sandy and Benni

• This reply was modified 4 years, 10 months ago by Sandy Mainardi.

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,

YES it was NOVICE! So NOT a novice course but you should have seen the open course after that which involved a pinwheel going into that zig zag line….I was working ring crew and it was just awful to watch. Yikes. BUT, it tested skills and he passed with flying colors. I’m in no hurry to get out of novice but that tunnel thing was kind of a bummer! LOL Sigh. Of course I saw the map for today and it’s a beautiful, flowy novice course…but I’m not showing today! By the way, I didn’t see anyone else do serpentines for that JWW opening…all kinds of crazy crosses were being attempted….I was VERY happy that it worked for us because it simplified everything.

And that car alarm/horn honking! Good lord! Well, good thing a sound sensitive dog wasn’t in the ring. That was bad.

So I’m not exactly sure what you mean when you say to drop my shoulders forward for the run across the ring to the tunnel in T2B? Can you please clarify?

Any yay for weaves in the dirt…this dirt is nicer than where we train.

He is the best boy! Just love everything about him. Thanks for watching our runs 🙂

Sandy and Benni

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
Today was trial day. Here are the runs:

T2B/FEO – he did not read the RC after the A frame. Because I was training the see saw, I did not attempt a BC after the AF and I do not like to do FC before the AF if I can help it. Well, good to know we have this problem so I can work on it. I also do not think he could hear my verbals. I typically do NOT enter shows where a mask is mandated for running….not my cup of tea…but they changed the policy and I wasn’t able to withdraw. So be it but all other entries pulled for the remainder of the year.

Novice JWW – this was a very zig zaggy course for novice and of ALL the things I obsessed over, the tunnel start was not one of them. I might add I did a tunnel bypass drill earlier in the week which looks exactly like this tunnel set up….I didn’t say “by”, I said “tunnel” but he got a bit happy there for a moment and cut in front of me. Oye! I also noticed I stepped to send on the outside foot which is weird, should have been dogside leg so maybe that contributed to it. Also, I did not say “break”, just said “tunnel” and it was almost like he hesitated a split second trying to process that which led to the bark and the mishap. Would have been his title but no big deal. I was quite happy with the rest of it with him reading the lines. Some of it could have been tighter but for a baby dog, I thought he did a great job.

Totally behind on the homework so maybe we’ll get some things done this weekend. Maybe even something short this afternoon since he did some jumping already at the trial.

Thanks.
Sandy and Benni

[Author]

Posts