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Thank you!!!!
No video today, I forgot to line up my camera with my video markers so there’s nothing to see 😛 Oh well!!
We tried to incorporate this into our short session today- we did smiley face with tunnel, which was hard for ME to remember to connect when he exits the tunnel. He did great when I connected 🙂 When I didn’t connect, he ran straight towards me- seems reasonable!
And then we did the wrap/tunnel verbals game, he really wants that tunnel LOL. We did ok when he was on my right, he struggled more on my left and I moved the wing pretty far away to get a successful rep then we stopped. We kept it short and will revisit!Thank you!!!
We had a busy busy week/weekend- 5 hour drive, hotel, dog show, working on a lot of happy emotional management for the young man to try to keep him confident and happy and not too much barking in the hotel room despite definitely not getting enough sleep (all of us).
Also, he is 8 months old today (3/31)!! Big man is growing up! I think if I’m lucky I have a solid 12″ dog in every organization (hoping he didn’t creep over 14″ but I think he is done growing at least)
And we did a little agility this evening- after sleeping most of the day :). We tried wind in your hair and smiley face.
Wind in your hair first- we did 2 reps on each side, then moved the wing further back and tried another on each. This video is long because we tugged so much and “toy management” took a lot of time, he was super into the tuggy today!
And then smiley face with wings (I have a tunnel, but was too tired to drag it out from the back of my garage, so will play with the tunnel in the future). HE was awesome. This video is basically a few reps and a LOT of me having no idea which turn is left or right. In the last rep he got distracted by a very good smell in the grass, and he wasn’t able to quickly reengage so we ended the session. I can see on the wing closer to the camera I’m not giving him much room to complete the wrap which is possibly why he runs into me on one rep lol, sorry buddy.
Have had almost no motivation to train (or edit videos lol) lately… so I managed to work on stays outside, and the threadle wraps adding the second barrel. I feel really behind in the lessons but trying not to worry too much 😉
So here’s our threadle wrap attempt with the second barrel
And stays outside!
Just adding on to say that I pulled out the treat and train again today- OH EM GEE that is his VERY BEST FRIEND now! When I was slow with the dispenser he would start pawing at it LOL. I asked for some basic behaviors and he figured out immediately to get his robot treats. We’ll play with the crate stuff soon 🙂
We practiced stays today! No video, I did it for his lunch without thinking to setup my tripod. I switched from tossing the food to him to releasing him to grab it- he can’t find the tiny kibbles (they are MINIATURE pieces), so tossing it was frustrating him. But with releasing him to the kibble he was awesome! We got little stretches of duration, I was able to take a small step away and he was really successful! So clever! Next time I practice with bigger treats I’ll try tossing them again
And then later outside we did the threadle wrap stuff again- and he told me very clearly (you’ll see in the video) he only wants the outside hand. Using both hands was confusing the heck out of him. So we made a major breakthrough here. I did practice with my other dogs for my own mechanics, but in the end Checkie told me what he needed 😉
And then we attempted the rocking horse with the barrels again… started off strong, and then his brain imploded, and then came back, then my brain imploded and we stopped. LOL
Short and sweet post tonight on account of my first 13 hour workday of auditing busy season…
Stay would probably be going better if I worked on it more, he is starting to do the “I AM SITTING REALLY HARD CAN’T YOU TELL” press butt into the ground thing, which is adorable. It’s going to rain again this weekend (hopefully!) so I can work on it more when we’re forced inside. He has a decent sit with about 1 second of duration which is great because I think I’ve done focused work on it maybe two or three times LOL
We practiced the threadle wrap without the barrel- when my hand movement is clear, he turns correctly. Funny about that 😛
Minny pinny-
Wing wrap transfer-
And then a few videos of the rocking horse barrel games, he is doing really well here and I am struggling with late cues, and figuring out how to actually do a front cross to a blind LOL. We had breaks with scatters in here while I tried to figure out mechanics. The last video is where I forgot his wrap cue (Dig) and tried to use his sister’s wrap cue (Flick) that actually sounds like his name (Check) hence extreme confusion for all involved!!!! I am THRILLED with his success here- I love that he’s honestly doing everything I ask! It’s just asking for the right things that’s MY problem LOL. You’ll see me a bit slow to reward quite a bit here- I was trying to keep food out of my hands.
YES to the island! Gah!!!!! Maybe we can all go to New Zealand, at least we wouldn’t have to buy the whole island….. haha
Baby Check got to play with WINGS today! We did the threadle and slice game with wings, and then introduced the minny pinny.
Here’s the threadle… lol at my threadle cues. I swear I thought this through then my brain went ploot. I did remember to use the correct cue after the first rep HA! We kept this one short and sweet, next time I’ll try to do all the different angles but mostly with the changing picture I didn’t want to ask for a ton.
And the minny pinny. Well this is FUN! The bars- I can’t quite tell why he’s knocking them, making me wonder if they’re too far apart for a single stride? But just based on his body length and the distance he should be able to clear that space so not totally sure if it’s something else? Maybe thinking about my words so not thinking as much about his feet?
And I tried to play with the threadle wrap tandem turn stuff on the flat (no video)… we were getting it ok, but I’m still struggling with too quick hands because he’s so quick I think I get panicky. I’m going to practice with that a bit more then add the barrel back in. I am also going to have my other dogs help me practice the mechanics of that!
We also had show dog practice with some friends last night, and I am SO PROUD of my puppy- dark college campus at night and he was totally confident and happy, no barking or worry, and pushing me to work! (Even though trotting in circles is petty dumb when you could actually be sprinting or bouncing… but he’s a good sport) SO happy he is doing so well mentally even as enters adolescence.
We finally trained again today- wheeee! We had a fun weekend last weekend where we went on something like 3 off leash walks (which also includes 1-2 hours in the car round trip for each one), so Checkie was a little brain dead and we mostly took a little break for brain cells to recover 🙂 🙂 I did try one training session in there that didn’t get recorded on accident (whoops), backup to the folded soft crate, where he was a bit iffy about stepping up on the thing and kept going sideways. I found a little flat board though- an old nail scratcher board thing! I’m going to try that next. And also more attempts at pivoting on the perch, we got a few times where he moved a rear foot but mostly he wants to sit even with me kneeling, so I will keep playing with that.
We did two training sessions today, session 1 we revisited two barrels with the front cross – he was great! Putting this to rest for a while worked really well. I wanted that solid before moving on to anything more with the barrels, and a good click treat on setting something aside and letting latent learning do the trick… so I’m happy 🙂
And then we tried the threadle wraps again, this wasn’t going well- my mechanics are just not quite right here. He was trying very hard. he is perfect lol
And then we did 360 wraps with the cookie in the cueing hand- he says MUCH easier than distracting cookies in the other hand lol
And then later in the day after a nap (for him… and work for me… LOL), we played with the backside slice where my connection just wasn’t quite right and then he patterned the wrong thing at first, but I think we mostly got there in the end.
And then we did the threadle slice vs serp where I VERY confidently said my threadle WRAP cue LOL LOL. I mean he did it anyway based on my body language, but, sigh. He is so good.
And then we did threadle wraps again (with the correct cue haha) where I was just trying to think about low and slow hands and… sometimes got it right.
I completely forgot about the 2 errors rule in some of these, but was working really hard to reward him anyway so I’m forgiving myself this time but will really try to be better. Sometimes when it’s so clearly MY mechanics that are the problem (ok so like 99.9% of the time), I struggle to stop because I want to keep working on it, naughty brain. (Also, to be completely honest, having the motivation to do ANY THING after you know what happened on Monday has been a little tough for me, so trying to focus on happy puppy and happy human with the training stuff)
Thank you for the feedback!! He is 5.5 months old and somewhere around 13.5 inches! My other Farmie (Checkie’s dad) stopped growing upwards around 5.5-6 months old too. And yes he’s pretty darn snuggly… he fits perfectly in my lap (or so he thinks) and cuddles right up next to me in bed. He’s also FUNNY, I was teaching him to squish his giant badonk into the Sturdibag for future potential flying trips and he was so excited just for the chance to eat kibble for smashing his way around a carry bag, ha ha. I have to show you just because it’s cute, Youtube will only let me upload as a “short” so here you go lol
For the last couple days we’ve also played around with arousal dialing with tugging, working on a “nose boop” (nose touch to my fisted hand) and spins both ways, and trying to learn to trot, instead of bounce, in left handed circles (lol, conformation showing practice).
Today we did some more outside training games! We started with trying the 360 backside wraps, but today he said he didn’t want to follow my hand without a cookie, when I finally just put the dang cookie in my hand he was like “SURE MAMA!”. So maybe he was extra starving today, LOL.
Then we played with the backside slice, trying to get a little more distance and inching away, he likes this one!
Then we tried the threadle wrap on the barrels. This one was harder for him, he read the turn away but didn’t quite get the “and then go around the barrel” part- not sure if it was me not cueing correctly or just he needs some time to sleep on it? (or both!)
Then we did the strike a pose threadle slice just so I could try out the cue- and of course I forgot the dish so I was inadvertently using motion as I tossed to get him over the bar, so next time I’ll be sure to remember to grab the bowl!!
Also time flies, MaxPup 1 is ending soon right? What will I do without you?! 😉
Thank you!!!!
I’ve been having some trouble getting in the right frame of mind for training- so we’ve instead just lived life. Which has been great, Checkie had his VERY FIRST patio dining experience and was amazing- we went to a place I knew well and knew what to expect, and brought my other dogs along who are pros (btw, my definition of a patio dining pro is “begs from me nonstop but mostly doesn’t steal food off my plate” LOL), and Checkie was picking that up really quickly 😉
He also CAUGHT A FREAKIN RAT, like a huge full sized adult city rat, straight out of a bush in my backyard. I was so impressed, and because he’s amazing he traded for a million cookies.
Anyways… we also did a little bit of a training but not on video. We practiced the arousal dial game with tugging – out the toy- sit – regrip, and he was able to do a few reps. First “sit” was pretty quick but sloppy, second “sit” took a long time, third “sit” was really quick- good puppy brain figuring thoughts out!!! I also brought the barrel back out for the first time in weeks, and did some offering for cookies. And after like two reps of being unsure, and me really focusing on connection, he was super happy to run around barrels! He’s like a sporty quarter horse… big badonkadonk, turns on a dime, drives around barrel at full speed. LOL I just love him.
Today we did some training on video:
Backside slice- Before I started filming, we started with some really fun all-in tugging, then I turned on the camera and set out the barrel, tried one rep for a toy, and he wouldn’t take the toy and asked for a cookie (biting at my pocket). I cut that bit out of the video but don’t worry he got his cookie! – and later I realized he’d lost a canine, most likely during that tug session because I’ve been obsessively checking so kind of have an idea when it was there/not there haha, so that kind of makes more sense why he refused the toy.. So we switched to cookies (where this video starts). I’m super impressed by this. My backside slice cue is “push”. (Sorry for the awkward angle, it’s always a give and take of “where is the yard the least muddy and/or slippery”)
We then tried the 360 wrap. He’s speedy and my timing was a little off, but he was perfectly happy to follow my magic cookie hand lol. I feel like I was a bit lost on this one, I watched the video and tried to practice the mechanics but thinking maybe something got a little lost on the way to my brain, so might need to revisit this one!
And later today we did some more stuff for his dinner, we did more backup to the mat, I tried rewarding with my other hand and it really helped! I need to acquire or make a sturdier board so I can practice raising it a tiny bit, but life … 🙂 I don’t have anything shorter than like a Cato board, which obviously is way too tall here. Though actually I just realized I could try having him back up onto a folded fabric crate?
And more perch work. My goodness he makes me laugh, he’s so CUTE. I love his enthusiasm! He hopped right up on the perch today (and lots more hopping!), so in this session I was mostly just playing around with which method of getting steps work best- thinking I will try a clicker also to see if it’ll help me mark faster.
Overall I just adore this puppy and we have so much fun training, though I’ve been struggling a little with what to try to train each session, it feels never ending (which of course agility foundations is like that!!!). I guess the good thing is we won’t ever run out of training content!!!! Also he is definitely a little more adolescent-y (less of the sweet snuggly puppy who comes to me for everything and more of the “yeah I can do my own thing now, Mom”), and he had another growth spurt, crossing my fingers that’s one of his last ones, I LOVE his size.
We’re back!!!!
Our trip took a LOT out of little Checkie- driving, hotel, canopy setup crating on the show grounds, no off leash time at all, and tons of unfamiliar dogs around. He was pretty overwhelmed and started to get barky at dogs in the distance, I mostly just did my best to support his emotions (lots of get it pattern games!!). So we got back late Monday night and Tues & Weds were total rest days, no pressure to do anything. He actually pooped in the house Tuesday for the first time ever, that’s how out of sorts we all are. He’s coming up on 5.5 months old and feeling very much like an adolescent so none of this surprises me- but feels like such an adjustment for ME from the cute happy baby to the “aware of all the things” teenager.
We did training today (Thurs), high reward and just having fun. I gave myself a talking to about putting pressure on the baby- currently trying to just reward every approximation and make everything super happy. He was really happy to train today 🙂
We actually did a training session Tues Dec 31 before we left that I completely forgot to post, so here’s those videos first-
Parallel path
Strike a pose serp game
And today we played a few games, we worked on backup to the mat
And then I introduced perch work. In hindsight this was a struggle for me to adapt in the moment, he didn’t understand what I wanted and I didn’t realize until pretty far in he was trying to offer going back and forth, and all sorts of other incredibly adorable things. He stayed engaged with me so I’m happy I didn’t shut him down, but I don’t think just trying to free shape a foot onto the bowl was working. He was quite happy to follow my hand lure when it made sense to him.
And then later today we played outside. We started the threadle vs serp stuff, REALLY impressed with this, I didn’t add in the verbal because I’m still torn what I want to use. But I will decide on a verbal before I try again
And then we tried a little bit of the arousal/volume dial game, mostly just playing around with some tricks and asking for a sit. I can see the last sit took longer- I assume it’s baby brain processing?
Thanks so much for the feedback 🙂 I decided to take a couple days off training to get myself back in the right headspace, just messing around with fun tricks. Checkie also came to my other dog’s Barn Hunt trial yesterday and was freaking amazing, super confident and happy walking around everywhere, he would have liked to say hello to more people but he was able to redirect to me really well. He said hi to a couple friendly dogs and a cattle dog mix girly wanted to play with him and so he started zooming around like a tiny madman LOL It was adorable.
Today we did some quick training games in the yard, we started with get out to the mat. I’m really happy with how this game went today!
And then we did the running contact box, I tried to wait for him to run through to the dish but as soon as he hit the box he wanted to look at him, so I decided in the moment to pre-empt that by just saying dish. Not sure how to help him keep looking forward the whole time. Hoping I can bring the treat and train into prime time soon, but to be honest I haven’t worked on introducing it again – so much to do all the time!!
And that was it for today. The sun came out (YAY) so hoping for a slightly less soggy yard tomorrow and maybe we can play around a bit more. On early Wednesday morning I’m leaving for a 6 day dog show trip, so I’m planning to bring his target mat just in case but my bet is we’ll mainly be working on life skills at dog shows and hotel rooms 😀
Hi!!! We’ve had a bit of a struggle these two days- sort of quiet days at home, but really without the usual routine of Da Mama working (I work remote, but it’s still desk time + puppy nap time), I think Checkie is getting more and more tired. So we trained a bit yesterday and today, but you can see his brain has fallen out and he is really struggling to wrap barrels. So not sure if we’ll take time off all training, or just the barrels, or go way back on the barrel wrap teaching stuff? The other stuff is going well but suddenly barrels are *hard* LOL.
Training from yesterday, we started with Get Out and Strike a pose on the jump stanchion- both awesome!!
Get out:
Strike a pose:
And then the barrel wrap attempt. Not on the video but for about 20-30 seconds we did some exciting toy play and he was really into tugging. In the very last rep of strike a pose, and then during this game, he was much more distracted by noises than usual- then he went straight inside and fell fast asleep, which is why I suspected he was way overtired.
Ok, and today- we tried barrel wraps again. There were some really nice moments and some deer in the headlight moments (from both of us). My other dog is wandering around…. he wouldn’t go inside, LOL. So he got to be a minor distractor. I thought Checkie was better rested this time but maybe not, because he went straight inside to try to nap immediately again. Maybe a growth spurt? Teething? Or just baby brains do funny things!!!! LOL
I tried to make things easier then try to ramp back up to harder, which was probably a mistake- he wasn’t able to do harder today, which is totally ok but I’m struggling a bit with adapting in the moment.
We mixed up these attempts with long cookie scatters and me doing short behavior reps with my other dog.
Here’s all the barrel attempts:
And in the middle of the barrel attempts we also played the threadle wrap/turn in a circle game to change things up a little, which was fun!
Yesterday morning we also went on a walk with my friend, which was a little overwhelming- her dogs and my dogs are usually good together but for some reason her dogs were super over the top excited, and Checkie got bowled over into the ground on some hard gravel… hmm typing this out now I’m wondering if he’s sore and that’s why wraps are hard???? He doesn’t appear physically off but I guess anything is possible? At the very least I think that overstimulating walk + lack of nap routine has him just a little “off”.
Thank you so much for the detailed feedback. We’d be lost without you 🙂 🙂
We played a couple of games this morning, he’s so enthusiastic for training these games with me I love it.
First off, strike a pose transfer with the bowl on the ground. he was awesome!! I wasn’t totally sure how much I should be asking for him to go to the actual target, I understand he doesn’t need to hit it with his nose but does he need to go towards it or just do the motion?
Then we did the two barrel wrap game trying to focus on connection- he was GREAT! You’ll see I tried to switch to the toy after the first set, and he said no thanks. So I switched back to food, and off video after this game and before the next we did some toy play without any work. I’ll try again for toy next time we visit wraps 🙂
And then the get out prop game with the different hand shape. he was awesome here! I forgot to add in the come to sides to go back and forth to out vs in close, but really happy with this progress.
And then lastly we did the running contact box, with the bowl ahead and me behind. Also, YEAH, my cookie toss hand looks exactly like my first attempt at the get out hand, so I don’t blame him at all. I was laughing about that during this session LOL. He was really great here!! I didn’t do the back and forth, I only grabbed one bowl so we tried to do only one direction and he wasn’t sure he should have to go around instead of through haha
He also had a BIG runaround with all his Farmie friends at Danika’s in the late afternoon. And practiced some show dog trotting. AND then had a bath!! (That’s what happens when everyone finds poop to roll in) He’s tired!!!
Thanks so much for the feedback!!!
Yesterday and today we did two super successful outings (one to a car dealership, and one very briefly to a mostly empty Petco), we played some really great get it pattern game (awesome fast redirects!), and we had an AWESOME off leash walk where he zoomed around like a wild thing.
Yesterday we did some backing up, I started with the mat which went well, I then tried my Cato board which wasn’t great- it’s clearly way too tall, but propping it up didn’t make it a better angle, so I’ll need to get something else here- any suggestions for a flatter plank to try? Maybe just some plywood?
Backup to mat-
Backup to board-
And today we trained outside again! First up we tried the “get out” to prop game, here he thought my off arm was actually throwing a cookie so he kept sprinting forward looking to it, I tried a few different positions to try to help him out, but finally realizing to start with less speed helped a lot more. I wonder if maybe next time I try this I should start with just basic send to prop reps to get that in his head?
We then did the double barrel wraps, this one was fun! He thought there should be a cookie in the middle every time so getting the two barrels smooth was a little harder, and then my reward at the end was totally fumbled, but we had fun, lol
And then we looked at the wrap into front cross again just to try to practice me NOT pointing and causing that disengagement, his front crosses were good!!! Keeping my arm back was hard 😛
And with my last few cookies we tried the strike a pose concept transfer- brilliant puppy!!
