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  • in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #53921
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    Hi!!

    >> I think on the smaller sequences, it is easier to be ahead so also easier to be in range of the jumps for handling and not parallel to or behind her.

    >. Plus, all the bars come down in a scary way if I’m too far ahead.>

    <This is useful info for planning – you can plan to get up closer to obstacles (especially tunnels) which can also help you NOT get so far ahead!>>

    This sums up a lot of my problems, lol. I can’t get too far ahead of her because she has such a short commitment point before an obstacle, and she knocks bars. BUT… if I don’t get ahead, I’m always behind, and things go so much smoother if I’m ahead (and I’m certainly never catching up to her, haha).

    I did a second attempt at the jumpers courses from Package 3.

    <<You are definitely getting better about the ‘keep going’ if there is an error, and she reminds you when you don’t>>

    <<My mantra is “Get on a line, any line, and go” 🙂>> (Totally adopting this phrase btw!)

    Well, you will see a hilarious attempt to do this that turned into an absolute train wreck! It took me way too long to realize stopping was just better that point. Watching it on video was painful, lol.

    I included 3 walk throughs of the first course (actual running with Nox starts at 2:21). I watched the walk throughs before running, but I didn’t catch a couple of errors that I made in every walk through until I ran it for real and Nox told me I was wrong, haha. I did several fast walk throughs on the 2nd jumpers run, but apparently I didn’t hit record, so you won’t see those included.

    Oh! I signed up for a working spot in the Jump Into Shape class you recommended. It was perfect timing for your suggestion since the registration started a few days later. I’m SUPER excited about that!!

    in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #53751
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    Hi!!

    We have been on vacation for the last week, so it’s been a bit since my last post. 🙂

    >>It is possible you need to do more ‘go fast’ walk throughs to get the arm locked in, so you don’t have to think about it and so it is easy on the first run. Rather than doing it once, do it 3 or 4 or 5 times to really get the flow – then watch your video of the walk through.>>

    I do several fast “walk” throughs, but I only post one of them. 🙂

    <<Overall, the runs are looking really good and you are tackling the most important skill… the walk through! When that is really comfortable, you will find that the courses run much better on that first run 🙂 It is all beginning to click into place, which is very cool to see!>>

    I feel like things go really well on the shorter sequences (for the most part), but when we try to do the big courses, things fall apart. I think that a lot of it has to do with me getting behind in sections, often due to having to support her line all the way up to a lot obstacles since her commitment point is so close to the next thing. It would help if I could run faster, too, lol. I am seeing some improvement on driving to things by herself, but we have a loooonnnngggg way to go still. Plus, all the bars come down in a scary way if I’m too far ahead.

    We ran the jumpers courses from Package 3 before we left for vacation, but I wasn’t able to edit the videos before we left unfortunately. I put them in two different videos. I know we’re only supposed to post one video at a time, so although I struggled in a couple of places in the first course, specifically with 12-13 and 16-20 (I know what the issue was for 11– leaving too early, lol), I need more help with the second course. I just could not figure out how to do 14 and 17. Getting from 20 to 21 was also difficult, but I think if I could get ahead more at 17-18-19, that would help. If you want to skip the first video, I’m totally ok with that. 🙂

    Hopefully the quality isn’t too bad. It was getting dark (since that’s the only time it’s not 1000 degrees…), and my phone doesn’t take the best videos at night.

    Since I will not have time to do all of the material before the last day to post thanks to bad weather, Nox being sick, and our vacation, do you have a recommendation of what I should focus on based on the skills we need to work on? Here’s what we have left.
    -Package 3, Round 2 of Jumpers (videos in this post are round 1 of these)
    -Package 3, standard
    -Package 4, jumpers and standard
    (There wasn’t a live for package 4, right?)
    -Package 5, everything (Is there supposed to be anything on the overview page for 5?)

    If you don’t have any specific recommendations, I’ll just pick a couple and then work on the rest after camp is over. I am definitely going to do the RYG challenge for 5. That looks super fun (although I think it might be difficult since Nox thinks countermotion is stupid, lol).

    in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #53489
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    Hi!!

    >>I recommend Dr. Leslie Eide, a sports vet who teaches online jumping and conditioning classes

    Thanks! I’ll check her out.

    >>One thing to remember is that the dogs are always slower on mats and the handlers are always faster

    Yes, I think she is more careful on the mats to avoid slipping. I only saw her really slip once (and only noticed it in the video!), but she’s definitely slower.

    >>One thing I notice on the walk through (that was mirrored on the run) was that you are really far from jump 2 here – as the dogs learn to be super independent on the threadle, you will need support it with a positional cue by being close enough to the jump to touch it

    Thanks for that observation! I didn’t realize that I should be so close to it. It feels like the closer I go to the jump, the rather behind I’ll be getting to the next line, but if I’m not trying to “handle” it with my shoulders as you also mentioned, I should be able to leave earlier. I know with the threadle wrap you said my feet should be facing the next line, not the jump she’s wrapping. Is that true for the threadle slice as well?

    >>You can try going even faster on all of the walk throughs, and also get the verbals out loud like you would do on a run – that changes the body language!

    I already feel like I’m going fast until I watch the video, hahahahaha! It also feels hard to go fast in the smaller or more technical courses. So much direction change! I don’t know how Nox does it. Maybe I need more legs… I will work on louder verbals, too, in the walk through.

    >>The other thing to plan in the walk through is seeing her head look at the jumps – that seemed to be the only real source of questions from her on any of these – you being a little early to cue or move away, which pulls her off or pushes her to a different line.

    If you want to just save yourself time, I think you can just copy and paste that as your feedback to everything I submit, lol!! I tell myself before I run to watch her face for commitment. And then when I run, I only do it half the time. But… I think I did better on the video below (at least the 2nd attempts, lol).

    >>Depending on exactly how the jump is set up (it was hard to see here), it is generally a backside push to slice but a threadle wrap is good to practice there too.

    This is a skill I’m definitely going to practice!! It was an interesting challenge.

    On to the new stuff… We did the Live 3 sequences. We did these Tuesday, so it was before I was able to edit and submit the last video. The verbals on the walk through are a bit quiet (and even a bit quiet when I was running I noticed…), and the speed could probably be faster taking into account your feedback previously. I only stopped once when I messed up. I knew I should have kept going as soon as I threw her reward. I was super happy with the whole session. It was crazy hot, and we were only supposed to do two reps max anyway, so this was our entire training session. I did walk/run the courses several times before I brought her outside. Again, her questions were pretty much when I left early. I just need to get my 1st reps to look like the 2nd ones!

    in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #53479
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    Hi!

    >>>>She is a 16 inch jumper, but I trial and usually train at 12 because she has always had such difficulty with jumping cleanly. >>

    This is SUPER smart and I wish more people would follow your lead on this.>>

    The decision was based on advice you gave me last summer. I do not regret the decision at all! 🙂

    In regards to the jumping issues, I did have her hips x-rayed when she was about a year old, but I have to admit she hasn’t had any of the other tests you mentioned. I will consider bringing this up with our vet.

    >>So she needs a power-steering style of handling – smooth, calm, within the bubble for jumping (maybe 10 feet or less), with subtle transitions – but no slamming on the brakes or hitting the accelerator hard LOL!!

    So basically, I have to be perfect in my handling. No problem, LOL!!

    >>Plus, there is a boatload of conditioning and skill work we all need to do (but most of us don’t do enough, myself included) So she might need jump grids once a week, just to work the balance and hind end, maybe cavaletti work, etc.

    I know VERY little about jump grids and am just learning about conditioning work. I have the Susan Salo book. Should I just go through and pick random ones to set up each week? I have looked for online jump classes, but I haven’t found much. As you said, it’s a complex skill, and it seems that not many people have the knowledge to troubleshoot when the dog isn’t a natural jumper. It’s been a frustrating couple of years looking for answers!

    Moving on to the next thing- we had the opportunity to rent some indoor AIR CONDITIONED space a couple days ago. We worked on RYG sequences from package 4. I was very happy with the first and second sequences. After the 2nd attempt of sequence 2, I did the opening with 3 different handling moves. I’m not sure which one I liked better, but they were all fun to try! For the 3rd sequence, we (Nicole Davilli and another friend) could not figure out how to get the backside of 6. I have been tasked with finding out what the answer is, lol. After we all ran it and tried breaking it down using a threadle wrap, we considered maybe a backside push would work better (with training the skill of course). Ignore the ending where I made up my own numbers, haha. And please excuse the MAS in the background yelling about how it should be her turn instead of Nox’s.

    in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #53257
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    Hi!!

    >>If you see something that is definitely a new skill or hasn’t been done in flow or on course yet – break those out. You can train those separately, and tweak the course to simplify the lines to be able to run the bigger pieces in flow without asking for the harder challenges.

    Makes perfect sense!!

    >>Based on her questions here, this is a skill to isolate: getting commitment on a GO TUNNEL cue while you peel away, so the verbal overrides your motion

    This is so hard for her without her getting BIG MAD!! I am going to have to start very small with this probably. I’m thinking drive to the tunnel with me running parallel and having a really yummy cookie at the end in her Lotus Ball (or placed). Then gradually run on a less parallel line to her. I need to work on the countermotion foundation games more as well! (reminder to self: send to MM while I leave; send to prop while I leave)

    >>To not have to pull with motion as much, you can turn away a little but make a big connection and have your tandem turn hands pointed back to her – be watching her the entire time as you move her through it, to support the line.

    What exactly are “tandem turn hands” supposed to look like? It feels very similar to a threadle wrap cue when I do it, but I’m not sure if that’s what I want. I struggle hard with rear crosses and tandem turns with Nox, which is funny because I was more likely to do that with my previous dogs than with her, and she’s way faster than my previous agility partners.

    We did the Package 3 RYG sequences. We spent the most time on the first one. The first section was from earlier in the day, and then I went and ran errands, and we went back out once it had cooled off a bit. In total, we spent less than 15 minutes training, and that was split over 2 sessions hours apart. I am going to try very hard to be aware of how long each session is. She did great on the 2nd sequence!! The 3rd one was pretty good but had a couple of challenging spots, mostly for me, lol.

    At the end of the video, there is about a minute of some slow mo clips of her jumping. I was trying to figure out if there is anything about my handling that is different when she jumps way too early vs much closer to the jump. She is a 16 inch jumper, but I trial and usually train at 12 because she has always had such difficulty with jumping cleanly. She never has issues with depth perception in the house (i.e. jumping on the couch or bed even when she is running, catching treats in mid-air), and she doesn’t always jump so early in agility. That leads to me believe it’s likely not a vision issue (although I’m certainly not a vet nor a jumping expert). I was not able to discern anything about me that is influencing her jumping. I was wondering if there was anything I’m doing that you can see that I might be missing.

    in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #53171
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    Hi!!

    So much good info from your last post! I will work on backside tunnel entries since they are clearly a skill we don’t have. I noticed she barked every time she approached that entry, even before there was a “refusal,” so that tells me she has big questions, and I don’t think she likes having questions, lol. As a matter of fact, I used to think that she was a dog who barked while she ran the whole course. I am now seeing that she actually is relatively quiet other than when she has questions. Quiet while running that is, not necessarily in the rest of her life. 🤣

    >>Try to not circle around and send to the same jump again, because even though that sometimes works, she is getting savvy to it being basically the same thing as a stop plus it doesn’t give you time to adjust the handling.

    I got a little stuck on this a few times as you’ll see in this new video. I tried not to stop, but my default to that appears to be circling back. I tried to keep in mind that it’s not a great strategy, but my feet were a little faster than my brain, so I ended up stopping mid-circle. So basically, I’m doing both things that you told me not to do at the same time! 😂😂 I’m working on it, lol.

    >>Remember to not point forward of her to a jump – at 1:33, she was behind you and you pointed forward which turns the physical cues away from the jump so she got a little confused.

    UGH! I’ve been trying to break this habit for a loooonnnggg time. It never works, so you’d think I’d stop, haha. Thank you for the reminder!

    >>Bring a total of 5 treats with you, that is all 🙂 The rest are in the house. When the 5 treats are done? Session over!

    I like the concept of this idea, but it would be challenging for me because I also have to play a lot of pattern games with her, which require random amounts of cookies. If I have pockets, I can put “agility cookies” in one pocket and “pattern games cookies” in the other. But… I don’t always have pockets. I did not take the whole bag of treats outside with me in this session, but I didn’t think of the different pockets thing after I ran. I like the timer idea, too. My watch was very much dead, so I did not try that in this session, but typically I have it when training, so I will add this idea in to our next session.

    >>My new mission in life is to get people to watch their videos between each rep, ideally, and definitely between each session. The trend in agility is to work the pants off the dog then look at the video later that day or the next day.

    I currently use a GoPro to video everything so all the files are in one place and not mixed in with a million pictures of my cats and Nox’s adorable fuzzy face. It’s nice for organization. It also has a wider lens and takes good videos. However, the screen is too small to see any detail, so I may have to switch to my phone for videos if I watch it after each rep.

    >>And if you pull her off a line? Keep going rather than drop the reward and stop.
    This is more important than breaking it down to teach her the elements, because once she has learned the course she is no longer giving feedback on the handling information.

    >>And on these big huge lines, placed rewards on all of these will help. You can place the rewards on the very first session rather than waiting to see where the trouble spots are, so she gets a lot of reinforcement for looking at the lines. (This was from the previous post you made)

    Can you help me understand when I should break something down versus just running it all the way through so that she doesn’t memorize it? I guess the obvious answer is the teach the elements away from a sequence, such as with the threadle wrap that we struggled with the other day, but there are times when she seems fluent in a skill but on a particular sequence it’s difficult. Or it’s good in isolation but not in a sequence.

    >>Running through the weaves is fine for now as you build up the layering – just remember you can’t do it int a trial LOL!

    Haha, it isn’t something I’ve ever done before! I knew I was not going to get out of there in time to show her the line (and she was going to yell at me), so I just snuck right through there, lol.

    On to the new video…
    >>Before running it again, skip ahead to the walk through stuff in the most recent live class and in package 4 – and walk this course, with that in mind.

    I walked it (and videoed it) before I ran it again with the dog and tried to visualize where she would be. The first part of the video is my first attempt (after walking) and a little bit work on the tandem turn at 7. Then I added both the walk through video and the actual run (second attempt) on the same screen for comparison. I felt like I held the tandem turn at 7 for about the same amount of time (maybe it was slightly different?), but I was not in the same place. I had to support her more going into the tunnel, so I didn’t get to layer the weaves, but at least I didn’t run through them this time, lol. I did not give her clear enough signals on the actual run to get the backsides on that last big line, but I just went with the front sides and kept going.

    Package 2- Jumpers 2, Round 2

    in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #53082
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    Hi!

    >>There are elements of it in all of the above 🙂 They are marked as ‘turn aways’ and backwards sends in the MaxPup classes.

    Thanks for those key words! I would have spent a while looking for “threadle wraps” lol!

    I tried the Jumpers Course 1 from Package 2 again. I think it went really well! I’m so proud of the distance she’s giving me and the HUGE lines she’s driving on (even if it’s not always consistent).

    I tried to make all of the changes you mentioned: stayed with her to end of the weaves; gave turn verbal at the tunnel at 9 (more below…) using “out” at 11-12 instead of “go”; showing acceleration and closed shoulders at 11-13. I was super happy with it overall!! (<<You don’t need to run it clean>> <<Practice Makes Plasticity (Not Perfect)>> Trying to remember these words of wisdom!!). I very much made up my own course at the end, partly because I messed up my handling at a wrap and partly because I got it confused with the other course’s ending.

    >>But if you are saying go and accelerating, and she misses it and curls off the line towards you – then you toss the reward back towards you – it can be confusing to her about what the behavior actually is. So keep accelerating forward and always throw the reward ahead of you.

    I did NOT do this correctly a couple of times, but I realized it, so hopefully I will start to catch myself BEFORE I do it wrong. 🙂

    It went great up until the tunnel entry at 10. I did get a really nice rep of this at the end of the video, though! In watching the 3 attempts in this video back-to-back, I can clearly see that she cannot see me giving her any kind of direction into the tunnel until she is past the entry. When I stayed at the entry and showed it to her, she got it no problem. Is that how I should handle it, or is there still a gap in our skills that I need to work on? It did put me a bit behind to show the next line, but I think think that if I had kept driving forward, she would have gotten the rest of it.

    That’s really my only question about this video (I think most of our issues were connection problems, anyway, lol), so I hope it’s ok that I’m posting Jumpers 2, Round 1 as well. I do not plan to run the first course again, so I’d prefer feedback on the other course to try one more time tomorrow before I have to move it all to mow the grass. 🙂

    This is jumpers 2. I am not proud of the first couple of minutes, haha. Those were not my best dog training moments. I don’t know why I continued the session as long as I did. We did go in the house and take a long break in the AC in the middle of it, so it was broken up a bit. Still, I was not breaking down the hard parts and rewarding strategically with placed rewards. I’m not sure how much actual learning took place here. As the intro states in the video, I have regrets, lol. At about 2:53 is the start of the next day’s session, and I think I did a much better job at attempting to break it down and reward better. It wasn’t perfect by any means, so I’d love some ideas on how to improve it before a final session on it tomorrow. The agility stuff stops at 4:43. The ending is just is us playing 1-2-3 (hard to hear my counting). I played it throughout this whole session (on day 2), and there was SOOO much less barking overall. I was looking back at my notes from previous posts, and I came across the one where you told me not to let her rehearse the barking in front of me in the in-between moments (so much to remember 🤪). Feel free to skip that part. 🙂

    in reply to: Happy song list #53033
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    There are some great suggestions in this list! I would add “Firework” by Katy Perry. It gets stuck in my head every time I hear it, lol.

    Also, I have to say that is a hilarious typo in the title for this thread! 🤣🤣

    in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #52975
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    Hi!

    >>The Threadle wrap is all about that shoulder turn away, then hands turn on the flat, then hands send back to the jump (but you don’t need to turn and face the jump there).

    So for the wraps, I should not be turning with her toward the wing with my feet after she’s turned towards the jump? I am sure there is a video somewhere of you teaching wraps. I just need to find it and go back to the foundation on this one! I can’t remember if it was in a webinar on verbals or perhaps in the Max Pup self-study class that I never finished. 😝

    We did the first jumpers course from Package 2. I broke it down and started with the two lines I thought might be difficult. She rocked the first one, no problem! The second spot was harder, but I think I was trying to leave too early. We got it in isolation but then it was an issue when I put it all together. After the failed attempt in the big sequence, we took a break and came back to it the next day. We did finally get it!

    The other spot that was difficult was getting 9-10. She took the off-course jump a couple of times (but I kept going, lol!), and it was hard for her to get the tunnel entry when she did not take that jump. I did a quick rep of it at the end of our session, and she got it nicely. I was past the tunnel entry that time. I’m not sure if my position is what got her through that correctly or if it was something I was cueing differently. Maybe I was blocking her view of the tunnel entry? I think that would have gotten me down the line faster to get #12 better had we kept going, too.

    Overall, I was very happy with how much distance she gave me!!

    in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #52948
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    Hi!

    This second round for the Live class (from Package 2) was more of a training session for threadle wraps than focus on sequencing. I did not run each sequence 4 times, so my video is in a bit different format. After a brief warm-up on the slice and the wrap, we were able to do the first sequence the first time very nicely! I took some time to train the opening of sequence 2 (see below for questions!) before we ran the whole thing once. Finally, we did 2 tries on the 3rd sequence. I hope that’s ok!

    I would love feedback on the wrap training specifically. After a couple of tries where she got the wrap but it wasn’t really fluent, I reviewed your feedback from the first round again and tried to really focus on turning my shoulders away from the jump while letting her see some decel. It was so counterintuitive for me to turn away from the wrap, but it definitely helped! However, we then got some big loopy turns. I made a note in the video about that, but I wanted to elaborate on my question here. It’s getting the job done, but if I keep practicing it like that, am I going to be able to exaggerate less as she gets more understanding of the body and verbal cues, or am I going to be stuck overhandling threadle wraps with the loopy turn?

    in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #52901
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    Hi!!

    >>One thing to remember is to always be connected and watching her

    So it turns out the secret to agility is… CONNECTION! 😂😂😂 The word “connect” or “connection” has been used 55 times on this thread so far (no, I didn’t count them manually, haha). It’s such a simple concept, yet it’s sooo hard to do, lol. I tried really hard to watch her fuzzy little face in the sequences from the Week 2 Live class! There were a few places where I was not successful, but I at least felt like I was making a more conscious effort and really thinking about it.

    Our biggest struggle was with the threadle wraps. We haven’t had threadle slices in our toolbox for all that long (the last few months really), and the wrap is even more new for us, so I’m not surprised that it was difficult. I did think she knew threadles a bit better than what she was showing me, though. I did the warm-ups and that seemed to go pretty well, but once I added more motion and speed, it was a lot harder for her. I know some of it was handler error, but my goal is not have to do much “handling” for the final behavior. After this session, I thought about it and realized that although we worked a lot on the threadle cues (both the slice and wrap), they were not done with a lot of speed or motion from me, so I skipped some steps before trying to add them in to sequences. This was super helpful information!!

    I’m starting to be a little more fluent with not stopping every time something goes wrong. Again, not perfect, but improving! 🙂

    Live Week 2- Warm-Up and all 3 Sequences

    in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #52783
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    Hi!

    >>I have a set of MAD channels, they are really nice!

    Good to know! I would definitely prefer to get channels rather than try to use straight poles to minimize the impact on her body. I will probably do some work on this skill in the meantime, but I may have to wait to do much until I get some channels.

    >>Separately, on a course with the DW there – replace the weaves with a straight tunnel, to teach her the concept of “go allllll the way out there and do a thing”.

    I actually thought about that as option! But I still needed to run the other course, and it was too hot to move a tunnel across the yard, lol. I will use this set up at some point to work on teaching distance. I also like the suggestion of using the same set up as the RYG challenge with the barrier.

    >>On the full run – Nice opening! That looked smooth and fast!

    Thank you!! I was super happy with that section.

    We did the 2nd course today. The first section is us practicing the Find Your Face game. I had done some work with it in the Got F.A.C.E class I did with Bobbie, but I completely forgot about it until the webinar yesterday. I wanted to see where we were with the game since it’s been a while. She did great when I was just slowly moving, but when I added a jump, she got a bit frustrated, so I know we need to work that skill away from excitement and movement for the time being. You can skip to 1:14 if you want to jump to the actual coursework. 🙂

    Technically the “first” attempt is our second. The first one was just a video of the sky and my face when I was messing with my tripod, lol. Apparently I turned the camera on by accident and when I thought I was videoing the run, I actually turned it off. Anyways, you’ll see the “first” run followed by a breakdown of the hard part (tunnel under the dog walk and getting out to the weaves). From this, I learned that I need to work on simply sending to a reward. I have not yet worked on countermotion using a Manners Minder, but I think that will be hard if she won’t drive to a Lotus Ball on the ground ahead of me when I’m going in the same direction. We did one final run at the end. I don’t anticipate doing a 2nd round of this course since we have lost so much time due to bad weather and Nox being sick. (Trying to decide what to move on to next and what to cut!)

    in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #52659
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    Hi again!

    Thankfully Nox got over her kennel cough pretty quickly, so we are back it! We were thwarted by storms yesterday when it finally got cool enough to train, but we finally got some practice in today.

    As you saw from my post on Facebook, I am looking into options for channel weaves. I have also reached out to find out about some prices from MAD Agility since I’ve heard they make a pretty good set. I would love to see the steps you mentioned on how to start that training with Nox.

    In the meantime, I tried adding gates onto my weaves to see if that made it any easier for Nox to stay in while I left to get to the other side of the dog walk. I had varying degrees of success. I think I need to practice this without the dog walk in the picture so I have more options for gradually making it harder with increased distance both laterally and being behind her. I can often get a nice lateral fade, but turning in the other direction and being that far away was really hard!

    Week 2- Standard Course 1, Round 2

    in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #52545
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    That all makes perfect sense about the weaves. Unfortunately, Nox was trained on straight weaves using gates (small garden gates set perpendicular by each pole on alternating sides). I know this is a bit “old school” and it’s not how I will train my next dog, but it’s what what was recommended to be by a respected local trainer. It did work pretty well. Nox learned to weave in a relatively short time with reasonable independence. However, it certainly had its drawbacks, and I have just found another one, lol.

    I do not have currently have access to 2x2s or channels. It is something I would like to invest in for my next dog, though. Would it make sense to look into buying them now and training Nox how to do them on “easy mode” so I can use them as you suggested, or would that likely be really confusing to her at this point? Regardless of the answer to that question, which method is your preference to start a dog on?

    in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #52491
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    Hi!

    Yes, kennel cough does suck!! Thankfully, she’s mostly better. She doesn’t cough unless she starts running around and barking a lot, which as you know, is kind of her thing, lol, but even then it’s minimal.

    I started working on layering parts of the standard course 1 from week 2 before she got sick. We did 1-4 several times and then did 1-6 all together. I think that part went well overall.

    We had started working on the weave section, and I thought I had lost all of the video I took except for one short session, but it turns out I actually had all of it! The part I’d like the most help with in this video is how to progress with the weaves. Since I couldn’t run the whole course to submit, I included most of what we did with the weaves. I believe this was from 3 separate sessions, all relatively short. I think that if I keep running parallel to her while in the weaves, she would have a much easier time staying in them. She can also sometimes do them while I am standing still behind her, but I cannot always get her to commit to them when I’m behind her. I don’t think she’s going to be ready for me to layer the dog walk and get the weaves in the next week or so, and I’d like to move on to something else once she’s able to run. With that in mind, I would like to improve this skill, so any ideas would be most welcome! I will probably attempt course 2 before I reset to something else, but if we have the same issue, I won’t spend a lot of time on it right now unless other things from camp build on it.

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