[sgmichaud1]

November 30!… cue the panic mode 😉 haha.
Given the end of class approaching, I tapped some front side wraps today with and without a plank cueing the sit on the ground. I started with his good side and it actually went well but when I switched to his weaker side he was sitting too far away from the jump so I brought the plank back in to help him.
Then I decided I wanted to try the backside wrap with him before the end of class. So this is just the first session with the plank in the new location for the backside. Took some noodling but he figured it out. 🙂 Not sure if I did this correctly as I admit I hadn’t refreshed my memory on your video in a long time so I may have gotten some things wrong.
If due to my day job this ends up being my last posting I have to just say this was a great class!! I loved it and Torrin loved it. I plan to keep going with all these exercises through the winter.
frontside wraps

backside wraps

[sgmichaud1]

Hi Tracy
Still here 😉
I have been practicing a fair amount of zig zag and organization but just haven’t had the ability to film (thanks to being away or darkness.)
So what I had seen was that as I got straighter with the zigzag Torrin really started to put in strides between jumps and just seemed to lack the power needed to bounce. So not sure why it took me this long to get here but I finally decided to see if I could get him to put more effort in for a toy instead of MM. That seemed to work! this session I was playing with what he could and could not do with a bounce to find my starting point, since I wasn’t really sure what he would do with the toy!
I want to add that the other day in class Torrin came out of a tunnel to a straight on jump for a wrap… in the past I would have expected him to jump it big… but NOPE! I actually was able to see him collect in front of the jump and take a beautiful wrap! Class paying off for the win.

couple questions… 1- when does class officially finish? and 2- for the fading I assume it will be dog dependent if you fade the plank or fade the cue? Just trial and error to see?

[sgmichaud1]

Hi Tracy,
Not sure I employed all your comments in these next sessions of organize front side. I only did one direction because I was really just trying to NOT be so exciting on release… failed several times 😉 In addition Torrin was a bit more excited last night, maybe extra hungry! He was full of piss and vinegar!

I also did a session of zig zag. I videoed from front and back. I thought he looked better this time round. I did bump this jump up to 8 inches from 6. Not quite sure why that MM isn’t pulling his vision as much as I would expect! There seems to still be a fair amount of looking at me both on zig zag and the organization video above.

[sgmichaud1]

Hi Tracy
So I got a bit stalled when I went to use my organizer on the slice because… hmm my jump legs totally didn’t make that set up work… took the legs off and I couldn’t for the life of me get it to stay standing! haha.
So after much noodling around I finally figured out a solution! (that will work up until the ground freezes)

Why I wasn’t continuing work on zig zags while I figured this out, I have no idea. Maybe I was obsessing with getting this set up to work ;-). Anyway, here is video of our first try at organizer set up for front side slice.

Then I finished off with some work on organizers set for front side wrap.

[sgmichaud1]

couple questions as I just checked out the organizer on the slice video! So it is ok for the dog to organize on the board then before jumping the bar, place feet on the ground? and because I couldn’t quite hear… it is tell the dog sit on the organizer and just a release to the reward, no jump command.
also forgot to tell you Torrin is hovering at or just below 22 inches. No official measurements yet!

[sgmichaud1]

interesting!
So maybe I should film him ‘going’ instead of ‘coming’ Might give me a better view of what his hind end is doing! It was his right sacral region that was the worst on his adjustment. So it may still need some more work. Of course he has never been a ‘gifted’ child when it comes to his rear end!
I will try the organizers on the slice next and then when I return to zig zags I will set the bars at 6.

[sgmichaud1]

haha… swallow before the next rep?? isn’t that part of the challenge? 😉
So after our dog walk today I decided to give the zig zag a go with jumps. I wasn’t exactly sure what he would need for a bounce but we got it on the first try. Currently the wings are slightly overlapped but maybe next session I will give it a go with them just touching. I feel for his size that should work for bouncing but I wanted to make sure he was confident he could this time round.
I have to admit it went better than expected! I think the first couple reps he seems to put too much effort into that second jump but I think it improved through the session. These jumps are at 10 inches. Of course it did take me way too many reps to realize he still had on his hunting jacket… oh well he didn’t seem to mind.

[sgmichaud1]

after a bit more rest we started retrying some of the exercises.
Here is the zig zag without jumps. The gap is about 5 feet between wings. I think it went better though to me it still seems he has a preference for his right lead.

Then we did some organizers. I finally was able to borrow a plank that will work for Torrin! I tried a couple previous times and won’t even show them as the plank itself was a disaster! haha.
So we start with a quick reminder that this plank is the same as my previous (I did not get that on video.) then I started working the plank with the wing. took a couple attempts to get him to understand but by the end I thought he was doing pretty good!

[sgmichaud1]

So we had our massage. His right side was off. Behind his shoulder blade, mid back and the spot that seemed most sensitive was his right sacrum region. He was as you say, ouchy there. Maybe why he slouched over to that left hip in the video. Hopefully the massage was enough to loosen things back up but I will take a couple days to see how he is doing. Hopefully we will be back at soon.

[sgmichaud1]

Thanks Tracy,

Here is the original video… I admit I was going to submit but got a bit caught up in if he was feeling ok 😉
As you will see I started with my wings closer than the video I posted yesterday. So maybe it was just too much too soon. I will be sure to let you know how the massage goes.

[sgmichaud1]

Hey Tracy

So last week I video tapped a zig zag and thought he seemed off. That was the 3rd time that thought had crossed my head so I took some time off. He just didn’t seem to want to use his left lead. To the point where a couple tries instead of switching leads and coming into my hand he instead chose to stay on his right lead and do some wraps around the wing. I actually wonder if it is his toe since it really did seem to be more switching leads then necessarily using that lead but anyways I am keeping an eye on him still and he has a massage tomorrow so I will ask her to feel around.

Anyways, just tried a few reps again. Sadly, I don’t think I chose the best angle to see his lead changes. Also still not sure he is using his leads correctly. I am terrible at seeing lead changes in real time. Oh and you will see a wire on the first two reps because darned if I couldn’t get him to come to my hand instead of wrapping the wing again but he does seem to have figured it out so was able to remove the wire. What IS the best angle to film this exercise? This exercise was so interesting, I was surprised that he seems to struggle! This is going to take some practice!

Thanks

[sgmichaud1]

Hi Tracy,
Took the organizers outside to the garage which has less slippery flooring.
So we started with me in front of the blocks again and was able to get some angles in all directions including out behind me. I then move along to showing him the exercise with me next to it and tried some slow walking. Definitely noticed that he needed that extra help of the sit cue BEFORE the platform. Still thinking this plank set up needs tweaking if I intend to use it in front of a jump. first I need to officially connect the two blocks but before I do that, is this set up even long enough for the future jump work?
At the end of the video I show one rep to each side of me handling the wrap… then as I was re-reading your comments realize it was directed towards our multi-wraps not the send and go version. Oops, we can try that again tomorrow. I assume we should still be trying to isolate that head motion.
Looking forward to also maybe trying the first zig zag exercise.

[sgmichaud1]

Thanks, I will S L O W down with the motion override 😉 and hmm… not sure why I didn’t think to just handle the wrap, had in my head that I was looking for an offered behaviour. I will try to clean that up for him.
I filmed some of Torrin working the tight sit in front of me. He certainly can organize when he needs to! haha. For now I was able to hold the blocks in place with my feet but need to find a ‘stickier’ surface to set these blocks.

[sgmichaud1]

Sorry about that, I hate when youtube decides to reverts back to the private settings! It should be all set now.

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