[Donna Lee]

Hi,

Here are some more rights and lefts. She did better with the neutral position. There was someone in our drive so had to work hard on focus. She still gets into a left hand turn loop a bit.

Neutral lefts and rights

And some more serp work, trying to stay closer to the jump….

Serps
Other side

Slice jump foundations – started with 3 wings. She did pretty well, so added a 4th. I had more of an issue getting her to sit than getting her to stay. I thought it was great work on a lateral start. At the end, I was able to jog to the 4th wing without her breaking.

3 wings
4 wings
more 4 wings

Find the jump – I thought she did well on these. First video about 13 feet, 2nd video about 21 feet.

closer find the jump
Further find the jump

USDAA trial weekend – unfortunately my 6 year old cattle dog was a bit lame, so I pulled her. Luckily, my friend only runs her younger BC, so I get a rental BC for the weekend to run!

Have a great weekend…
PS Some of my editing appears to need work. Sorry.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 2 months ago by Donna Lee.

[Donna Lee]

Week 3

Rights and Lefts including going away from me are all great…until we get to the middle and try to be neutral. I think we just need to work on it more.
Rights and Left

Serp work – I think these are also going well. On the second video I worked on moving the wing much further. We had a few misses. If I try to pick up the pace, sometimes she will not come back in towards me.

Baby Serps
Advanced Serps

[Donna Lee]

It all makes sense. Thank you. Have a great weekend…

[Donna Lee]

We were out today before I read your comments. I don’t think she understands left and right as well as she understands her wraps and back sides, but she is getting there. Here is today’s work…

Proofing

Proofing

Rights I did stop driving as much and toned down the excitement….

More rights

Longer week 2 work – Same with these.. I thought I was trying to get more distance out of her and just help when she needed that one more step.

Week 2
Longest Course

• This reply was modified 4 years, 2 months ago by Donna Lee.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 2 months ago by Donna Lee.

[Donna Lee]

Hi,

We have some more work with the proofing exercise. In one direction she was stalling out before the last wrap. Maybe too much focus on the toy??
Proofing

We also worked more on the jumping exercise. Other than the sit stay, I thought they looked good. I think she is achieving what we are trying to get…
Jumping

Some fun on Week 2 work…

I thought lefts were pretty good. But on the goes, we were getting fly bys on the 2nd tunnel.
Lefts and fly bys

I think I just needed to cue her instead of assuming she would take it. Fixed on next video.
Gos

Rights are really wide. Need to work on them more.
Did you say right

Thanks

[Donna Lee]

I agree with everything and you are already calling me out on my bad habits.

I like your play more than the time the work takes and the reminder that it will start getting warm. I have always been bad about cramming much into one session although we take many breaks. I work on set ups for my upcoming classes as she runs around and plays on her own. Yes, it is really hard to remember she is only 5 months old!!

I have been working from home since last March. My job was eliminated at the end of this February. It has been great (puppy, goat kids, spring time). But I expect there will be a new job soon and it won’t be from home. Everyone will be in for a shock and my habit of cramming tons of stuff in when I have time will be more of an issue!

Thanks again!!

[Donna Lee]

We are back…

A bit more Pregame, more distance.

Pregame

Wind in your hair without a target. I found the barrel to be handy, it housed a boat load of toys…
This was the last game we worked on during this outing. At the end she decided she was done.

For the advanced smiley face, we used your path. Good news, hardly used arms, pretty good connection. Bad news, I forgot how to speak. Zero verbals. Seems my arms and tongue must some how be connected!!

Advanced smiley face

We did this proofing work first in this session. I thought her brain was going to explode from thinking.

Proofing 1
Proofing 2
Proofing 3

Next session we will get back to jumping and the set point and more proofing.

Thanks

[Donna Lee]

Thanks for all the great feedback. Regarding the party of one, yes she still steals and runs off, but it is improving. So that impacts my behavior, worried about that outcome. The other issue is the trade game doesn’t work, because she drops the toy when she realizes I have food. I need to improve that and it will help. Perhaps as the game becomes more fun, the running off will improve.

I will buy a pool noodle….or two.

I also noted the stay issue. I thought there was an instruction to face the direction you were going…I took things too literal!!

Totally agree and understand with hanging back to help her learn to drive ahead.

It will be fun to work on these without the arms. My guess is you will comment on less arms more in the future. It’s a bad handler habit….

And I forgot to apologize for the road construction!!! Hopefully they will be done soon.

Thanks again and go Indy!!!

• This reply was modified 4 years, 2 months ago by Donna Lee.

[Donna Lee]

Hi,
Here is our pregame work. We do use a left and right command for the wing wrap. However, we have separate commands for the barrel work and they are not left and right focused, so you will hear the same command for each direction. We then have a second command for the threadle or turn away direction on the barrel. I justify this because we will do NADAC and it seems more intuitive that way.

Wing wrap

Barrel Wrap

Adding more stuff…
Jumping foundations. I really have never worked much on jumping technique with any of my dogs.
Issue 1: The Treat-n-Train decided the batteries were done, so had to improvise today.
Issue 2: Because awkward for me, it was a longer video. I edited to shrink it, not a strong point. Tried to cut most of our “catches” and down time.
Issue 3: Initially may have set spacing between jumps a little too far. I was thinking that she is very long, so thought a bit extra might help. She is currently 16.5″.
I think we started to get it. Looking forward to your thoughts.

Jumping foundations

Feel the Wind… thought this went well. I think I need to use a toy and add distance.

Feel the wind

And lastly…The Smilely Face and Race Track
(On most of these I tried to stay at the Baby level to wait for your feedback before going to the Advanced level)

Smiley Face

Race Track

Thanks

• This reply was modified 4 years, 2 months ago by Donna Lee.

[Donna Lee]

Hi,

Winter showed up and life got in the way and progress has slowed. I want to get everything done before the next class starts.

We have been working some basics in the house. She is sending nicely to the minder manor target (red ball thingy) while I go in a different direction. We have been doing some strike a pose basic stuff. I have an L shaped hallway and both ends come into the same room. I can send her on a BIG out! We spent one day at a dog trial and she was awesome with impulse control on her cot (I only had to catch her once). Most importantly, we were near the ring and she wasn’t a crazy BC. It was also her first time in a soft crate and that was successful!

Appears the snow is melting and we’ll be back on track soon! See you soon and I’ll be dusting off my video camera for the March class!

[Donna Lee]

Hi,

I have not had the barrels back out to pick back up on the wing wraps. We have been back on the low DW and she is running more. Yes, we have used toys and the manner minder. She is doing very well. I’ll be honest, she is so amazing (to me anyway), that our training sessions are too long (because I want to be amazed more), I need to play more and keep it fun. But from a contradictory perspective, I feel I need to start being more deliberate. She seems to be developing a bit of a mind of her own. She runs around and offers a bunch of stuff to get rewarded. I have started being more deliberate with her path, not letting her cross behind me and making her stick to the task at hand and not letting her decide what she wants to work on (sounds so silly, but yes, she is doing that).

We “deliberately” worked on the “Get Out” work today. She did very well and I was amazed.

I wanted to talk about the “verbals” discussion. I have actually been thinking about this long before she even showed up. The two areas where I am undecided are: Backsides. I only use one verbal with my older dog, push. Do you have suggestions for the wrap and slice? Also, for the jump threadle, I have never had a cue. Current dog is pretty velcro and I would do a tandem turn with a left or right verbal. Previous dogs with more distance would be a name call, a directional and a Hail Mary! So, I would appreciate some suggestions there as well. I have a plan for all the other items discussed!

Pretty sure I will sign up for online for foundation class in March, so you will have a chance to see her in action and correct all my bad habits!

Have a great week and thanks!

[Donna Lee]

Hi,

Again, we are a bit all over the place.
Back in week 3, on the stay work, I feel good with the catch it and “OK”. Her understanding of the stay concept is improving and mostly staying away from “stay dang it, attitude”. I am a bit confused about the “get it”. Not to mention, I use that when I want her to bring something back which we will get to shortly.
Also, from week 3, she is 100% into the party of 1 mode or chase me to get it. I need to keep working it. She is a great little tugger, but if you just let go, she’ll find something else to do. She will chase the toy to tug some more, but she won’t engage the tugging at all. When we are outside and her toy is pretty far away, she will get it and bring it back when she feels like it (if there is a trade in play and / or I am retreating slowly). But if retreating too aggressively, she will just drop it and come running.
Week 4, strike a pose…we are doing well. I need to focus on adding more distraction. With food in the far hand, she will hit the target and then go for the food. Again need to try it with favorite toy more before moving to part 2.
Week 5 Running Foundations, we have been mixing it up. I have an old ST carpet, which she did good on. She will run thru a mat. And she will run thru a slightly elevated plank (it’s more of a puppy trot). I have backed off from that until we do more mat work on the ground with real running…
Week 6 Wing wraps – with the 2 barrels about 6 feet apart she did a great job with me in all positions. When I moved them about 10 feet apart, she had issues with the sideways and back sends.

That’s it for now.

[Donna Lee]

Hi,
We are kind of all over the place on working on different things.
First, she is starting to understand what is wanted by stay. Been working it many different ways. She has her cot, working it at doors, a bit with heeling and walking around her and in an agility setting. Sometimes for the last, I have the Manner Minder behind her. I am using the “catch” command when I treat. What do you think about that?

She is running thru a curved big dog tunnels with plenty of gusto (with a cue). I set up a shorter straight plus we have the toy straight. I want to improve on the verbal only and am very interested in the threadle work. She will take it from the threadle position. At first I didn’t quite notice where we will be going with that and thought just a different look at the entrance.

She can do both the lap turn and tandem turn. After the turn she is running thru a hoop and then to a toy.

I haven’t tried leg bumps but we have been doing the ladder. She doesn’t stay straight and wants to walk off the side. I am luring to correct??

We need to work more on retrieve. She is a little thief and takes great pleasure in stealing anything at her level (shoes, socks, other clothing) and having you chase her to get it….depending on the item, I try to ignore her. She doesn’t seem to be interested in destroying anything, but I don’t want to give her the opportunity.

I mentioned I lowered most of my obstacles, it appears now I also need to drop all the bars. She went over a 12″ jump on her own. I wasn’t near her…

What date is this class over??

Thanks

[Donna Lee]

One of your comments made me laugh. I posted a FB video of her in the bathroom titled “Obsession”. She jumps into the tub, pulls out the strainer on the drain, jumps out. I put it back and it repeats, over and over and over. No strainer on the drain anymore. She still goes in to check it out!!

My cookie comment is more related trying to ask her to stay…she has no clue. I will be sure to check the stuff you recently posted for staying. For shaping it seems she reads my mind, does what I want and looks at me waiting for her reward.

Thanks,

Donna and Indy

[Donna Lee]

Hi,
First work week of the year was very busy! Indy & I are further behind.

Our small space Blind Crosses are good.

She will get on almost anything but likes to default to the sit position. We need to work the Buja a bit more and then the stay part. I also started the plank work on an aerobic step. With treats she is all over anything, but if they stop coming she loses focus in a moment. I shaped her 4 feet into a large bowl in just a few minutes! (I lowered all my adjustable contacts to puppy height because she won’t stay off of anything – she has no fear. I was out there just cleaning up with both dogs. It turned into catch the puppy before the down side).

Worked the wing wrap with a barrel. She is doing awesome. Work both with treats and with toys. I believe I have learned she is left pawed. And I can cue it from a few feet back standing and she flies around it. Occasionally, doesn’t make it all the way around.

We have done the basic back up a number of times and it has improved nicely.

Hopefully, we can finish up week 2 and start on week 3 this week.

Thanks

PS Seems as she is getting taller, my shoes are less of a target.

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