[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
Got to work outside today…and the leaves were blowing so we had to stop doing the accordion grid and come back later in the day to try it. I said “break” just as a leaf was blowing right at him and he chose to chase the leaf rather than take the jump. Happened twice so I just stopped and then came back to it later.

Set Point – front view as per your request:

Accordion

I did try the focus forward idea on the lateral lead out but as soon as the toy was not out there, he just stared at me. He would only look forward at the jump if the toy was out there. He was able to hold the stay until released however. I never trained Benni to focus forward. He does fine. I take the step to push out toward the first jump and he takes it.

Hope you had a fun weekend!

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
Next level up on the set point to 8″. You can see clearly in this video how he slouches back in the sit position when I walk away.

Rain, rain, rain today. So lateral lead out in the basement. Worked both sides dog on left and dog on right:

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
Well, got rid of the snow and then got sleet so back down in the basement we go…less than optimal with the space for this game but we got it done.

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
Well, we do have a patch of grass that is workable. Most of my wings are down in the basement so I just used some cones to set this up outside.
Get Out:

I attempted to do rear crosses and after watching the video just smack my head. I have a feeling I have bad habits doing rear crosses with Benni but he knows what I want and just does it. I will try again another time and see if I can get my handling corrected. Not even worth watching!!!

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
Tried the set point as you suggested. Second bar at 6″, 4 ft spacing. His horrible sitting posture is making me crazy. I have been working with him on a platform and on the inflatable stuff. Not only do his knees bow in but his back is slouched. I never had to work on this with Benni. He just had good posture and positioning even from a very young age. I feel like this will affect Brioche’s take off from the start line.

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
He turns 1 year old tomorrow!

The conundrum with trying to set up the video so you can see what you want to see is the space restraint. I have the camera against the wall so can’t pan out any further and the 2 posts are in the way so I try to center the jumps there. I know you want to see the side view for his jumping. If you don’t care about seeing how he grabs the toy after the last jump then I can lead out further with it but it will be out of the frame by the time he reaches it. I could maybe try to angle the camera somewhat to get more of everything in the picture but then not sure you will see what you want to see.

Even when the snow melts, it will be extremely muddy in my practice yard. Ugh.

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
Worked on jumping today with a large toy as per your suggestion. He ticked the bar on the first zig zag but other than that looked pretty good I think.

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
I did a couple of the games with as much distance with the set ups as I could.

Find the Jump, we got up to 15 ft but not enough room to get up to 20 ft distance to the jump.

Rear Cross – not a lot of room and on the one side he has to turn into the wall so not the greatest but the best I can do without my yard. There is no agility place closer than 90 minutes for me to rent. And that one is dirt. He has been on the turf at United Dog once.

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
Still snowing here. I was looking at the RC video but I’m not sure about trying it if I have to run. Hamstring is not even close to doing much besides walking. Not sure if I have the space to try it. I’ll see if I might be able to set it up. I think we have done all the other games that I’m able to.

As for the food and eating situation. I finished up a package of gently cooked beef (different brand) and he did eat that. I just opened a new package of the Viva Raw turkey and he would NOT eat it. So I gently cooked it on the stove and then he did eat it. I have a lot of the Viva Raw puppy blend (beef/turkey) in the freezer. I was going to use it up and move on to adult food. So he is boycotting raw? Seems weird that the new delivery I got was when this all started although I seem to remember a bit of hesitency prior to that. I e-mailed the company to see if anything changed. I hate dealing with dogs that won’t eat. So stressful. And I don’t want to set a precedent of jumping thru hoops to make them eat.

Let me know if you think a walking version of the RC could work. I haven’t done anything with RC since the target game. I certainly won’t be going anywhere today!

Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,

I think zig zags are one of his favorite games. I did a 5 foot bar with no space between the wing and jump bar. He slipped one time probably because I was slow on my cue.

Seems I am more coordinated with my out signal on one side vs the other. The video for sure shows me how crappy my mechanics was when we started out here (my weaker side I guess). It was a very incremental distance increase due to the space we had to work with.

On the tandem turns, I could not figure out if it mattered with the wings whether the jump cups were on a specific side or not. Brioche is not all that thrilled with this kind of work but maybe because we did this last and he was getting tired.

He ate a gently cooked food this morning by Raised Right. Have not tried his raw yet. And now Benni had me up twice in the night. But he does have a history of GI stuff. Not fun.

AAANNDDD…another 12-18 inches of snow coming tomorrow. Blah.

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,

Here is what we tried today.

Advanced Out Game. I only did the FC for the safety of my current hamstring situation.

I attempted to do the tandem turn but for the life of me I couldn’t get the mechanics on one side so I’ll save it for another day. He was getting pretty good on the side I got correct.

Today still eating the boiled chicken and pumpkin. Tomorrow I will try a small amount of his raw and see if he will eat it.

Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
Between snow on the ground and lack of larger space and now my pretty significant hamstring/adductor injury, we have to pick and choose the games we can play.

Here is the Out game. I do not use “get out”, I use just “out” with Benni. But Brioche gets the concept.

Turn Aways:

Also, all of a sudden, Brioche (who was always a good eater) does not want to eat his meals. Since Monday, I have had to mash some salmon into it for him to eat. Same food he has been on throughout puppyhood. He is not sick. He will gladly eat freeze dried nibs which I use as rewards and training treats but not the raw he has been on. We are going to the vet today for his acupuncture therapy and will speak to the vet. Could it be adolescent hormone issue?

Thanks.
Sandy

[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

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