[Christina Wessel]

Hello – I’m back! I’ve done a few session since last Friday and I finally caught up on pulling the videos together…probably just one more day to train something before we head off to Florida on Saturday. Yowsa!

On Friday and Saturday I did the switch aways. The first session was mostly a mess because for both Presto and most of Sole’s session, I used the wrong verbal – cuing a right when it was really a left. Both dogs totally tried to tell me I was nuts in their own ways…but I was pretty annoyed with myself when I realized what I was doing wrong. Luckily by Nikko I had it correct. For them all I then switched the sequencing and fortunately got my cues right and the all liked that exercise. For Sole and Nikko I also mixed it up with some tight rear cross turns. I do find myself doing that move fairly often…in fact I tried to use the rear cross wrap on Saturday at a trial and both dogs read it as a wide turn…Nikko actually went all the way and took the triple as a bonus! So, that’s why I was playing with go, rights and wrap right. Marginal success. But overall all three dogs though this was fun and were happy to send out to the tunnel. I am noticing a little wild arm waving again…I want to make sure the switch away doesn’t look like a get out. Sigh.

Today I set up the outside arm exercise and the dogs really loved all the running. Presto needed a little extra support on the sends and turns, but we got in sync. The girls loved the sends, but also responded nicely to the turns. And their tunnel threadles were brilliant – even when I was a bit late. I think I’ll also use this set up to play around with some backsides and jump threadles. It seems like a great way to just brush up on all those skills with some tunnel speed.

There is months more of work with all of these exercises! This course is awesome for hitting all the key skills and breaking them down so helpfully. I’m so glad I signed up even if I can’t get close to “finishing” everything before it wraps up 🙂

Thanks!!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Hello! Before the rain hit, I snuck in a round of the start line wrap game. Although I put his video last, I actually started with Presto. Which was humbling…it was another session of “word mean things?”. LOL. I think he would benefit from doing one direction per session to solidify the directionals. So, it was a little tricky and didn’t progress too far, but always good to know what you need to work on!

Things were much better with Nikko and Sole who were more solid on the verbals. A few misfires here and there, but once they understood the game they had nice commitment. I think I got slightly tighter turns with the throw back. But I’m not sure which option I would trust more in a trial. I think I need to make sure they take a full stride towards the jump before it’s safe to take off!

Super fun!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Thanks Tracy –
I think it makes sense – and hopefully I put it into practice when I did the exercise with weaves today. 🙂 I tried to get a little more speed/distance by starting back by the wing jump. Presto and Sole were super solid – and he had much better commitment to the jump today. My worry in watching the video is maybe my arm was a bit TOO much? – I don’t want them to think it’s a threadle arm, especially Sole who tends to be most responsive to verbals. Although if I was doing a threadle in this exact situation, I think I might also be rotating towards the dog a bit on the red jump since the dog need LOTS of decel to be able to do the threadle. I don’t think I’ll see anything like that at the Open, but ACK premier courses seem to love the scenario where they are taking a jump straight on and need to go 90 degrees for a threadle. So yucky for the puppy 🙁 but now I want to play with that before I break down the set up 😉

Anyhow, they all sent really well to the weaves (Nikko, a bit TOO well on a few reps). The balance of switching back and forth is clearly an essential element of this exercise! I think Nikko’s run by the jump was because I was in her landing zone – she will tolerate a lot from me, but that was maybe a bit too much!

Sadly, weather sucks until Friday 🙁 So, I will try to use the “spare” time to write up reminders to bring with me to the Open from all your feedback so far and take a look at the new exercises! I do have some time at TCOTC, so maybe a can fit something in there.

Thank you!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Shoot! Another instructor tells me to get my butt in a chair (Katarina did too with dog walk training)?!? I sense a theme… 🙂 But if I can do it with a mug of hot chocolate, I like it! I will play with that!

But for today, I set up the layering exercise. First session was tough…I really had a hard time NOT getting the tunnel. But when I went back and rolled the tape, I saw I really wasn’t giving them much helpful physical information until after they took the jump and were pretty committed to line to the tunnel. So when I did the second session, I started my rotation (turn shoulders, turn feet) before they took off and suddenly BINGO – 100% success. With Presto it was night and day. And it was nice with him that the “right” verbal was enough and I didn’t need to call his name or extra hand movements.

They also all had a little trouble with the drive out of the tunnel to the jump ahead…although when I connected more and opened up my shoulder a bit, they were driving forward better there.

This was really cool! I’m trying to play a little with all the exercises you have to prep for the Open, although it would be nice to spend more time with each of them. I did switch out the tunnel for a set of six weaves and I want to try that tomorrow before setting up something new.

And no Presto at the US Open. 🙁 I initially had planned to enter him at least in Speedstakes for the exposure/experience. But, after getting back from the Montana trip, realized I want to focus on the girls and it will be a lot easier to travel with just two dogs (3 dogs edges us into needing to use a utility trailer for that long of a trip). It makes me a little sad, but I found a great place for him to hang out so I know he will have a blast while we are away. That will actually be a good experience for him as a pandemic puppy.

Thank you!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Good evening!
Thanks for asking about Sole – yes, she is doing amazing. I honestly feel like yesterday didn’t happen – but she was SO extremely out of sorts yesterday morning. She’s my teflon dog and seeing her like that was so scary. Anyhow, I’m just grateful that she seems to be recovering really well and I even let her have a couple shorts sessions along with Nikko and Presto today otherwise I think I would have broken her heart.

The feedback from the threadles is really helpful. My inclination was to move further out from the jump – but I can totally see how that could be confusing for the dogs. I was playing around with more motion with the girls because they have a nice start line at home – but they will NOT at the Open, so wanted to get a sense of how I need to handle it there and definitely seems like I will want to be closer to the jump. When I play this next I think I’ll add the tunnel (or weaves!) to spice it up. Although – I also need to play the other games from this week. Yikes!

But today I went back to the discrimination game since I felt we didn’t really get what we needed out of that exercise yet. Adding the wing and the full jump was very clarifying! All three dogs handled the tunnel/front of jump super, super well. It got a little trickier as I switched to a backside. I was able to get it with all the dogs (especially Sole, because I think her verbals are the best), but it was pretty nuanced handling. I think they understand it better when I rotated my shoulder just a bit, rather than leaving my chest open to the tunnel. But definitely would appreciate your advice on this!

I did it first with the tunnel in the morning, but then did a second session in the afternoon where I used 4 weaves (opened up) in place of tunnel. I know that discrimination is a challenge that we’ll see too and I’m hoping throwing it in some of these exercises instead of a tunnel will help for that. My dogs (at least Nikko and Sole) are weave suckers ;). With the weaves it went similarly, they were really successful, but again found the backside a little trickier.

Tomorrow I hope to get in some layering fun! Have to catch up a BIT before the next set of lessons drop!

Thank you!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Hey there!
I had fun trying out the threadle exercise on Friday and today. Sole did not participate today :(…although by this evening she was actually playing with Presto and rather disappointed I didn’t let her train. Hopefully she’s just as normal in the morning!

Presto definitely needed some basics. But by today’s session he was doing pretty well. I think when I did the forced front cross I tended to stick my butt out too much 😉 The video doesn’t have all the reps – but does represent how things went. I also think at first I was too close to the wing and he didn’t have time to make the turn (even though I luckily did think to use my wider bar).

Needed to get things in sync a bit with Nikko. But this was a fun exercise with her. I did add more movement and there was a point when it was too much for her. But I found with the forced front cross I was able to get further up the line (very last rep) than with just the threadle, where she was following me rather than committing to a backside.

And then Sole – she loves her verbals. She did great – although she did not seem like it when I did a throw back instead of a full front cross (at least turning left).

Plan to switch back to the discrimination stuff. Watching CynoSports has been fun – but SO MUCH TO DO to get ready for the Open. Ah – it will be fun no matter what!

Thanks,
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Oh dear – how are we only one week in any I’m already feeling behind!!!

I moved on for the moment to try out game three with discriminations…although there was some great tunnel “go” opportunities at class this week and both Presto and Sole FLEW straight out and over two jumps after a straight tunnel with a “go” “go” and my driving motion – so some of your feedback from the last post was put into action. Nikko didn’t get to play.

Today I did the tunnel/jump discrimination. I was a touch lazy and just pulled out my short tunnel. There were probably multiple factors at play (like my body position), but I do think my using the short tunnel to work on exits the other day and NOT first cuing tunnel when I did that drill may have had a little bleed over here. So, in my next session, I may pull out the full size tunnel.

Anyhow, Presto’s brain was pretty dysfunctional. Early on in the session our neighbor walked by with his male Golden, and so he was a little puffed up (he thinks he is THE man). So, I edited out for time some of the additional work I did on the wing reminding him that words mean things 😉 He has been doing plenty of sends to wraps recently as part of DW training, so I was a little surprised that he suddenly started wrapping the wrong way (which Sole did too). Maybe that was their reaction to feeling the pressure of the tunnel and being uncertain? Anyhow, as soon as we had some success, I called it a day with Presto.

Nikko and Sole did much better (although I needed the wing a little further away from the tunnel for Sole). In rewatching the video, I was also a lot more aware of my body position and the dogs head position. I thought I was paying attention to that while doing the exercise, but clearly not consistently. However, I was pretty pleased with the two of them at this first step.

Oh and thanks for your super in-depth look at Nikko’s surprise rear crosses. When I read this sentence: “I am having a bit of an a-ha moment about why Nikko would consider rear crosses – she might be trained to be sensitive to that slight rotation pressure as a rear cross cue.” I was like – OMG she nailed it! I didn’t train it that way, but these are the mistakes you don’t know you are making with your first agility dog. Nikko really didn’t get “trained” to rear cross so much as learned to be super sensitive to my motion to figure out where to go when she found herself ahead of me (I actually remember the first competition where I “discovered” that I could get Nikko to change directions from behind her – good god). She is SO sensitive to turning away from me – and I think it is just the twinge of the shoulders. So the idea of using the other arm to throw is brilliant! I will give that a try – although luckily today it wasn’t an issue!

Thank you!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Hi Tracy!
We worked the game with me staying back and letting them drive ahead. Couldn’t quite set up the perfect circumstances since my yard is limited in size and last time Sole ran across the driveway she burned a pad…which is why I set it up so they are driving into a tree line with lots of soft dirt and pine needles. So, I instead tried to use some send distance and then made sure I was never past the end of the tunnel so my motion would be less of a factor. Plus, I knew I couldn’t throw a toy far enough if I was too far back – as it was, one got stuck on a tree branch and another bounced across landscaping and luckily landed in the right place 🙂

Presto had a couple reps where he TOTALLY nailed the focus forward, not even a slight head turn. With the girls, they were doing pretty well and driving forward, but still wanted to catch sight of me in their periphery. I threw in a wing wrap with all of them. Nikko was interesting, she decided everything was a left wrap today. I stopped did some work with her (edited out) just on the jump turns (no tunnel) and she was being extremely sensitive to my body position and the verbal meant nothing. So…homework. 🙂

However, balancing lots of gos with just a few turns definitely seems important!

Thanks!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Hi there!
I love the suggestion for saying right/left as a question, so I’m working on getting used to that. But I think adding the jump was definitely a more helpful visual for the dogs. All of them did better at focusing ahead.

I actually have two sessions here – on Friday morning I did the tunnel with a jump and worked on the left side. I think I only did turn out of the tunnel with Sole. Otherwise I was working the go straight and then turn on the jump. Once I got the timing right (definitely needed to hear the jump verbal just as they were emerging from the tunnel) it was lovely!

Then we went up to the cabin and had a fabulous weekend with the dogs enjoying lots of exploring the outdoors and swimming. When we got back this evening, I pulled out my mini tunnel to isolate the go vs right verbal (I’ll do left in a different session). I didn’t include clips of the full session, but I think I spent about 5 minutes with each dog and in here are the last several reps from each where they are all doing a really nice job of driving straight or turning right based on the verbal. I tried to balance doing a lot more straights to encourage the drive forward 🙂 As I just took a peak at the next game (discrimination) I realized that my set up here might make that a little more challenging since I was not using the tunnel cue since we were too close to the entrance. I might modify THIS training by starting further back so I can be sure to use the “tunnel” cue before adding the directional.

Thanks!!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Felt like a real fall day today – but I braved the cool and wind to play again.

Hopefully I didn’t go too much off the rails here. First off, my hand is still wildly flying. I totally forgot to pay attention to that and I tape it to my body next time if I have to! Much shame 🙁

I worked go, go wrap right (because of space, that was safer than right) and right out of tunnel. And I tried to work it from different sends to entry. They all did the go wrap right pretty darn well – I was rather thrilled. Gos were pretty good, although since I was changing things up, I think they were doing a little extra checking in.

And the rights were, um, so so. I want to pull out my three foot tunnel to isolate the tunnel exit commands a bit. I think putting the Manners Minder for Go and using a toy for rights and lefts will allow me to test the verbal understanding better (with less wear on the dog too).

As always, thanks for your immensely helpful feedback!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Thanks Tracy! So, good question on the “out”. I’ve used “GET out” with off arm for lead change…”out” has been more about cuing a send/distance away from me running on the same lead which is why I used it here. However, that is more in the context of a jump line. I wasn’t sure if a “go” might be unclear which end depending on their angle of approach. But then again, visualizing a situation where “go” is unclear, I don’t think “out” would actually help either. 😉 So, I will try out “go” and see if helps them.

I’ll try to control my arms 😉 So hard.

Quick question – by adding Game 2 you mean adding the wing/jump to the situation, right?

Excited to keep playing, but not today…hopefully Minnesota is trying to pack in ALL the fall rain in one day. Winds may hit 40 miles an hour! But dogs need the day off anyway 🙂

Thanks!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Wow…that would be awesome!!!

But looking at that “great” forecast, I wasted no time getting in the first exercise. 🙂 I worked on the tunnel sends with straight exits as a fun way to dive into this. The dogs really loved it! All three successfully sent from each point (not all reps included in the video). And for the girls I made the drive to far entry a little extra challenging.
In watching, I guess I observed two things:
– My hand goes up rather high when I’m sending all the way to the other end – I think I just do that automatically when I’m doing an “out”. In this case, I said “out” and then “tunnel” to tell them to drive away from me. Seemed to work…but I don’t know if that’s an unnecessarily wild hand.
– I think I was doing a pretty consistent job of cuing “go” shortly before they entered the tunnel, but the dogs differed in how much they checked in with me exiting. Presto seemed to drive forward the best – as evidenced with my very poor toy delivery on one rep. Nikko was showing more drive forward with more reps. But Sole wanted to check in more in a way that slowed down her drive out of the tunnel…although that is also her personality.
Anyhow – look forward to your feedback! Thank you!!! Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Hi there! A mix of lots of long weekend travel (and perhaps a little online training fatigue) and I can’t believe I haven’t posted in weeks! But I had a super fun time setting up the course for the walk-through exercise tonight 🙂

While I briefly read the exercise description, I confess that I didn’t watch the whole video until after I’d done my walk through, so the walk through you see is “my” style. The 5 minutes went by super fast and I still wasn’t 100% certain of my handling choice for 7-8-9. My space is not really 40×60, so I had to smoosh things a bit…so I ended up choosing the option you did with Elektra. I also realized I never did the “fast” for the comparison during my initial walk-through. So, I did my 5 minute walk-through, went inside to eat dinner and watched your video, went back outside and recorded my run with speed, then immediately got Presto out and ran him (but did manage to move the tri-pod JUST a smidge so when I did the overlay, it’s a little wonky).

In terms of execution with Presto, the plan worked well for him and we got around clean! I was actually surprised by how good it felt – he never looked at the off course jump. I did include an overlay between the walk and run at the end of my video…and it’s clear that I was also too far ahead! Given that, I think I might have been able to do the other handling option you did with Contraband and Hot Sauce and that may have given him a tighter line through that part of the course.

I liked how you broke down the walk-through into those different stages. While I think I generally end up doing all of that (including the visualization which I ran out of time to do in the 5 minutes), I kind of mix it all up. So, breaking it into more deliberate stages is more organized. And, I definitely could add more deliberate thinking about connection. I was more mindful of that at 2-3-4 and 7-8-9 where those blind crosses were so critical.

Lots of fun – I hope I get a chance to do this with one more course before I have to break it down.

Oh – and Presto also had his first for competition runs the other weekend! I did UKI and we ran mostly NFC, but I did decide to give it a try for real in Speedstakes. His first course he was a little tentative (was also the last run of the day), but ran nicely, just hitting the wing so taking a bar. The next day he ran first thing in the morning and moved much faster…so at least three places I planned a blind they turned into an awkward rear cross 🙁 But he still ran clean (even called off an off course jump) so got his first agility Q 🙂 🙂 🙂

Thanks!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Hi there!
Yikes, how have five days passed? So, first…
<<just a worm in your ear: if he continues to say “this down thing doesn’t really make sense” then you can shift to a nice weight shifted 4on at the very end that he is giving you 🙂 >>
YES! I have totally been considering that 🙂 My desire for a down is really more about me having clear criteria, rather than him. Nikko and Sole’s lovely two-on two-off teeter is now what some called “that fancy European running teeter.” I wanted to do down for Presto because it would be much clearer to me when criteria was met…and, of course, I hoped Presto would go for it. But, he’s just not a “slide into home” kind of guy…he’s a bit more cerebral about his agility 😉 So, I agree that it’s probably time to switch things up a bit to make sure he keeps finding the fun in the teeter!

I have been doing several of the trial skills with Presto, and hope to pull together a video sometime this weekend. But we’ve also been working on the threadle wrap skill (with all three dogs!). So, this is a video of our Presto’s latest session. I have added the verbal – I’m using “come, come” (although I am sometimes slipping up and not giving the verbal first) and just starting a tiny little of his movement. He is a little focused on my hand, although it was improving a bit during the session.

On verbals in general, I think I am close to having my full vocabulary 😉
Tunnel – tunnel
Tunnel threadle – kiss
Jump – hup
Drive forward – go
Threadle slice – in
Threadle wrap – come
Backside slice – push
Backside wrap – dig
Left turn – Left
Left wrap – loop
Right turn – Right
Right wrap – roh
Dog walk – run
DW exit straight – go
DW exit gradual left – left
DW exit sharp left – chi
DW exit gradual right – right
DW exit sharp right – cha
Aframe – hit it (will probably add sharp turn cues like DW)
Teeter – tip it for obstacle, spot for contact
Weaves – weave (have not considered a threadle cue yet)
Yikes, am I forgetting something?

Thank you!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Thanks Tracy –
Can’t say enough how much I always appreciate your thoughtful, detailed and helpful responses! I was’t super happy with myself, so it was hard to share the video. But I know it’s worth the emotional effort to help me be a better partner for Presto 🙂

The feedback on the pinwheel makes lots of sense. I think I’ll try the set up one more time yet today and see if I can get that send/timing right.

And your questions on the reward issue were great food for thought. I considered all those possibilities, but he plays with toys a lot inside (chewing on rubber balls, tugging aggressively with Sole) and I’ve also been careful to limit Aframe/teeter sessions – lately been just 1-2 short sessions per week. But he does have two physical appointments coming up – developing a fitness/conditioning plan with Lin Gelbmann and his six month check-up with Dr. Julia at TC Rehab…so if there is anything more subtle I’m missing, hopefully we’ll discover that. However, your comment on how Elektra has trouble with the heat was a head-slap moment. It has been really miserable weather, and although I’ve limited training to pre 9 am or post 7 pm, we all still feel it. He really does not like the warm weather and is notorious for finding any patch of shade to take a break…even retreating under cars during outdoor training. That may also explain why his engagement with the MM is stronger – those are typically indoor sessions. So, I’ll be more mindful of noticing differences in engagement between indoor and outdoor sessions to see if that’s more the common thread.

Speaking of teeter…I have been meaning to post our last session where I worked the distance game from the first package. His teeter has been coming along slowly – he drives and weight shifts nicely, but still is delaying his full down. Right now, I’m not too concerned about that. I just ordered the new Cato plank with the tilt stand (who doesn’t want more equipment!)…I’ll be interested to see if that helps isolate the shift to a down. This session was definitely the most lateral distance he’s ever seen – so not surprising he was even slower to down as I played with that. But it was nice that he didn’t seem phased about my lateral movement while performing the teeter and it didn’t really come into play until it was time to “find” me and fully down.

Thank you!
Christina

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