[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
Another round of next steps wrap foundation. I’m holding off on the toy races due to a knee issue. Maybe by Sunday, I can try it.
He only tried to “cheat” once but I blocked him with my leg. I notice when I change the distance at first, he seems more hesitant when wrapping to the left. I’m not sure if that just happens to be when I change the distance each time or it’s an actual side preference.

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

The plank is actually not slippery at all. It has a thick layer of sand and paint. It’s a pretty rough, nubby surface. I think the slipping was him not being aware he was on the edge of the board. I can move slower. Also, I think he is so focused on me and the food that he isn’t thinking about foot placement? Jess had him doing this on a dog walk plank that was disassembled so just the one plank low to the ground. His performance was similar. She had 2 boards set up like a T so he could turn right or left at the end of the board and go to the other board and turn around to come back. I have to keep reminding myself to keep my hands at my side or behind me which helps him focus on his job better it seems.

Thanks for the feedback. 🙂
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
Worked on next steps of wrap foundation. I initially was going to use one of the large cones I have but decided maybe you would rather we used something totally different than stuff we actually train with eventually.

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
Here is our plankrobatic video. Will be good to work on the turning around I see.

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

PS I was using tiny pieces of homemade dehydrated kidney but it was still a bit frozen….too chewy apparently. I wanted something higher value that I normally use. Oh well, next time I’ll thaw it better! I think the dehydrated muscle meat is much less chewy. Maybe I’ll try that next time. 🙂

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,
Here is our goat trick with movement video on 3 unstable objects, the last one being the most challenging but doable. I need to remember to keep my hands either behind me or at my sides as he does like to focus on my hands with the food if I keep my hands in front of me.

Later on in the day we tried movement with low level noise. The last object was a cookie sheet cushioned on the tile which I thought would make a bit of noise but it really didn’t however it was something totally different for him to step on.

Thanks.
Sandy

[Sandy Mainardi]

Hi Tracy,

Here is our game with sending around the cone. One time I tried using the dog side arm to send which is normally what we do but was kind of awkward…it wasn’t planned, it just happened that way! Seemed to go pretty well I thought.

Thanks.
Sandy

[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

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