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Once you said JUMP for the way back it was night and day – great job making that connection for the verbal.
Gorgeous mechanics. She looks very smooth and she is hanging out with you while she waits to do it all again. I’m so excited for you to take all these skills into the lanes.
So the first video that was uploaded in this series had a moment where she was impatient and figure 8 wrapped the jump again and again and again. And she always went over, and then around. Never back. So I figured it might have been some underlying training of go over and not back.
Two Tug Game with distance and motion – stellar. Absolute perfection. She understands the drop and carries so well even with the excitement of you running away. I can’t wait for you to keep that criteria when it’s a ball and she is coming back through the jumps.
The coming back over the jump with the ball or toy was harder for her to nail it on the way back. You did a great job of coming up closer to the jump to funnel her in – and I’m wondering if you had a second toy would that help her focus in as well?
I’m going to respond on the 8th – I’m traveling without my laptop and I want to review them thoroughly! Didn’t want you to think I forgot about them.
The tuck sit isn’t 100% but it is SO IMPROVED. Your most successful reps were when her front feet were on the 1/3 of the pad closest to the rear feet. Once her front feet were about half-way to the foam pad she actually steps up with the rear feet and then rocks back moving her front legs back into her rear sitting legs (which has been the struggle). I think if you focus on making sure she is on that furthest edge from you before you cue – you will have a perfect session. I’m so glad you have still been working on these – I know they have been hard but they are going to pay off!!
I would turn the Cato sideways so it’s a little wider (unless you race on the 24″ boxes in which case leave it that way).
You do a nice job of being patient when she only gets the 3/4 legs up. I would love to see you put a tiny prop directly in front of the Cato (touching it once it’s sideways) and then repeat this exercise. Prop could be an agility jump bar, cavalettis, FedEx box, etc (5-8″) With a little more oomph to encourage her to hop up with the front legs I’m wondering if that will give you a better indication on side preference. NOt too bad of a session for being rusty!!
She is so good once she figures out what the current game is. Even when you were cueing her to wrap the other leg she knew what it was. Next steps would be lineup, collar grab, toss the toy, then ready set go to release to the toy (or ball). Build more of driving away from you!
Well ignore my previous feedback – when she is on the equipment and was forced to have more weight on the front legs – that fixed her tendency to bend that right leg. These looked perfect!
Nice play bows – got some nice extension in those hamstrings too.
Try feeding with your other hand sometimes and see if that helps the front feet to be more square. She tends to want to bend that front right one, and to be super picky I would like weight bearing equally.
I love that you are working both sides! Pick the higher rear feet (that are pointing downwards instead of upwards). That’s going to be the easier rotation and more confident turn for her. (And I’ll be happy to keep helping you pick if you like!)
PEEK-A-BOO Champion 2025. Tell her the medal and ribbon is in the mail! I loved how she was so good with your pressure and maintained that eye contact when she was in position.
Next up is a little light holding, tossing a toy, and sending with a ready set go! That was you can work on driving away from you too!
She has come so far with her turn and figuring out where to put those back feet confidently.
You could mix in some reps where you put a toy/tug on the slant board (like 3/4 of the way up but not all the way at the top) and send her to grab something off of it. It’s nice cause you can do that low slant and your board is big. Just make sure you have the prop pulled out just a little bit so she doesn’t go to steal. I don’t care if it’s slower or sloppy – just so she can feel what it’s like to pop up, reach in with her head to grab something, and then push back off. I don’t do too many hit it’s without something because I want the head reaching in, versus just slapping feet on there to get it over with and the head is looking up the whole time.
This cato session was fabulous!! You can see the light bulb going off and that she is actually targeting with her rear on purpose now!! I loved seeing her with that extra stride so she had a little more momentum (that might be a common theme when you start to do box work – she will look better with more distance and momentum in). She has a one track mind – so when she wants to zero in on the toy – you did a great job just moving to reset the brain so she could think about what might unlock the toy. I thought about suggesting holding the toy more to your side or behind you to see if that gave your quicker success…. but I’m honestly really happy with the rate of success – she seemed to get the idea faster than when you were using food.
Take a look back at my comment on July 30, 2025 at 9:21am for the notes about adding in a prop next to the cato (so she has to go over it).
