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Hi!
I am glad she is doing well with her shoulder injury!I think because there was pain associated with the weaves, the best bet is to start from the beginning using a different method – like switch to channels if she originally learned on 2x2s. Then you can work with a SUPER high rate of reinforcement so that will help to rebuild the weaves.
I hear that Karen Holik’s Ninja Weaves on the Clean Run site is really good! Have you checked that out?
T
One thing you can try during NFC/FEO run is making up your own course so that you don’t get too far behind because that is when things come off the rails with baby dogs 🙂 So using the short lead out as she learns the stay, you can start with a small loop so then you are ahead of her again for the next part. That can keep her going in a good flow, even if something goes a little awry 🙂
Hi!
She did well here too! Nice!!!>>Also, I’ve found I need to show her the treat before I toss it away so she can find it quickly.>>
Perfect! It is an easy way to make the food delivery more efficient for her!
>>I take my time putting plank down cuz I don’t want to scare her with it.>>
That is smart! She seemed very comfortable here.
>>I’d like to take this outside with my DW plank on the ground? It actually sits a few inches above the ground, but not much more than the plank today.>>
Yes – the DW plank will also give you more length to work with so she can trot back and forth more. As long as the DW plank is not too high and doesn’t move, it should be perfect!
Great job :)

TracyHi!
>>Thinking too hard about her left and right in the beginning.
Yes, there was a delay of almost 20 seconds between the end of tugging and the bowls going down, and then a few more seconds before the cookies were ready – so that derailed the start a bit. Try to have the cookies ready first, before the upright and bowls go in, so that you can start reinforcement immediately. The second transition after the tugging at about 1:40 was a lot better, with the bowls coming in fast and the reward coming in fast so she got into the rhythm really fast too!! Super!
So next steps here are to get you sitting on something so you are higher off the ground. When you are sitting on something and she is happy with that, you can then start working toward a barrel or large cone.
Nice work!!
TracyOh yay! This went really well – note how she immediately got her back feet on! Yay! That is a combination of the slight adjustments to the set up and from what she learned in the previous session. Super!
You can revisit this here and there, or make a small “field” for her to walk around on if you have several of these.
Tracy
Wow, she did really well at a busy environment! Fun!!!
>>She was only uncomfortable with one thing..the second little girl reached over the top of Mochi to hug her.
Kids move differently, so you can help direct the children to present their open palm to her and not go in a for a hug. That can help keep things very relaxed!
Sounds like she did well with the dogs and people in class too! If she barked when you ran your other dog, that is a frustration sign – so next time, let her relax in a crate far away from the action, so she is not frustrated by arching you run your other dog.
Tracy
Good morning!
The sends are going well!! One thing that was interesting to note was that in both session on the clip, he had an easier time turning to his right and a slightly harder time turning to his left. Your boy is probably a righty! So with that in mind, keep the distance on the sends where he turns left (when he starts on your right side) a little closer for now because they are a little harder. The sends when he starts on your left (and he turns right) can have a little more distance.
One other suggestion is to make a little more eye contact as you send him (and keeping your send arm lower). It sounds counterintuitive but more eye contact actually helps get the dogs to send!
On the drive forward video – he had a little trouble playing with the toy in a new location at first but then he got into it when you tossed it! SUPER!!! Toy play in new locations can be hard and tossing it was smart to try and ended up being a total game changer. He got really into it, so you easily added distance and your motion. YAY!!
The is great to know – the next time you are in a new place that is challenging, start directly with throwing the toy to get him into the game 🙂
And that was an excellent toy (or several toys) 🙂 Definitely high value and easy to throw. You can definitely move to the toy races that were posted in week 2.
Great job!
TracyHi!
Super nice session here with all the pieces! Looking at the backside sending/parallel path: you were being really good about NOT going fast because that is what the instructions said 🙂 but with her speed, let’s revise the instructions and get you moving faster 🙂 I suggest this because she did well with you slightly ahead or parallel to her, but when you were behind, she was not as sure and ended up on the front side. So, more motion from you will solve that, because you won’t be as far behind as she learns, and even if you are behind, there will be more motion to support her.
Keep your parallel path just like you had it here – that was excellent! The outside arm seemed to help her a lot, so you can keep it if you liked it, or you can fade it out by adding more intense connection as you add more motion.The counter option exits looked great! As you combined the 2 sections, it was easy to get her to the backside but hard to get her over the bar even with the well-timed toy drops. 2 ideas for you on that:
– you can angle the jump slightly, with the entry wing pulled back more towards the start wing, and the exit wing pushed more past the tunnel so she sees more of the bar as she comes around the entry wing.
– As you drop the toy, add in a big exaggerated look at the landing spot and point at the landing spot as you drop the toy. That will help guide her focus to the landing spot as well, helping her see the bar.I don’t think the tunnel was a distraction at all! Yay! The motion was what made it hard in her moments of question, so more motion on driving to the backside will help, and changing the upper body motion to indicate the landing more when she is on the backside will help too 🙂
Great job!!
TracyHi!
She is definitely super speedy!! And definitely seems to love love love the game.Since she won’t play with the toy in the ring, proceed REALLY carefully with FEO runs so you don’t build in frustration – the most important thing is to NOT stop and fix if she runs by something. She ran past a jump in each of these two runs, and you brought her back to fix it… but they were both 100% handler errors. So don’t fix – just keep going. Fixing basically tells the dog that she was wrong but it will be very confusing to her: she was reading the cues correctly and doesn’t know why you brought her back (even if you are saying good girl, the stop in action can be frustrating).
>>As we head into the big trialing season in Alaska, I’m going to be mostly working on her non agility behaviors like relax while other dogs run-or let’s be realistic-just focus on me. And maybe not bark at everything you see. She needs better handle on that before I can take her into more open environments.>>
This is a great area of focus!! That, plus more of a stay in training – both good things to play with, as well as finding things she will play with in that environment. So emphasize that a lot more and don’t do very much FEO at all because she needs more tools in her toolbox before you will want to make trialing a regular thing (FEO without playing with the toy is basically trialing). We really want to protect what you have here and not add too much, too soon, especially with a teenage dog 🙂
Have fun!
TracyWe missed you! But I am glad you arrived home safely! We have plenty of time before MaxPup 3 and now that the snow is gone, it should be easy to play all the games! Have fun!
TracyThis is a great update! Sounds like a really good resilience walk, where she got to experience the world around her in a really good way! Yay!! You can try to incorporate something like this once a week, whether it is a mall or a restaurant with a dog friendly patio or anywhere she can sit on your lap and watch the world! I don’t really recommend a lot of leash walk in parks or around the neighborhood for a dog her size because there are simply too many instances of off leash dogs running up to our dogs and she is so tiny! So, she can go to places that humans might go but other dogs are less likely to be. And she can experience seeing other dogs by tagging along to a training class or trial.
Have fun!
TracyThis looked really good too!
>>I’ve notice when she has trouble with this it’s turning to her right. So maybe she’s a lefty.
We do see side preferences in this game, which is very useful info! So keep the right turn reps easy (wing a little closer, bowl a little more visible) and the left turn reps can be harder.
For the next step: you can sit on a couch or a low chair, so you are working your way towards standing up.
And you can check out the game posted Wednesday where we add a bigger upright like a laundry basket to go around 🙂
Great job on all of these!
TracyHi!
This is going super well! She seemed very happy to get on the plank and also turned around really well in both directions. SUPER!
You can add on tossing a treat off to the side so she leaps off, eats the treat, then leaps back on the plank. That will add even more challenge in the form of balance after speed to this game 🙂Tracy
