[Christina Wessel]

Hi Tracy!
I ran the second sequence and it was kind of a frustrating experience for me because I felt like we just weren’t on the same page. Also, given my narrow space, I adapted it a bit and ended by doing the straight line out like in the first sequence (his focus forward on “go” is improving!).

At first I struggled with 3-4-5 with him ducking into the wrong end of tunnel. But in reviewing the video, I think I found the solution to that when we went out to train again (more lateral distance and better timed tunnel cue). But since he was not running with much drive, he was not committing to jumps in the pinwheel, which led to various issues. Once again, I did try to adapt – I was using a “go” in the pinwheel to encourage a little more speed and did a blind instead of a front cross. So, our final full sequence was decent (despite a wrapper falling out of my pocket in the middle – honestly, what else could go wrong!).

As I reviewed the video, I did appreciate that Presto was giving me more effort than I was crediting him for. I tried to remember to maintain more connection by keeping my arm back more…but found I got lazy about that as the session went on, which may have contributed to some of the misses. And I know pinwheels are often harder for dogs since handlers don’t show as much motion, so I should be more patient with Presto on that skill.

I think part of what has made things frustrating lately is that his interest in rewards has been pretty low – both toys and food toys. He goes CRAZY when it’s time to go out the door to the garage (car to drive to training) or the front door (to work in the yard)…he seems super excited to work. If I take one of the girls out to train we have to close the door to our bedroom because he’ll jump on our bed to look out the window that overlooks the yard and bark. But then I feel like I can’t keep up his motivation up once we are out there because he’s only mildly interested in what I have to offer. So, trying to work through these individual pieces a few time quickly becomes as much about working the sequence as trying to make sure he is feeling rewarded for his work. This is really only manifesting in sequence work, especially jump seqeunces with turns…when I do Aframe, dog walk, or other individual obstacles, he stays engaged and happy. There I’m usually using a static reward – MM or a target on the floor. I do know I need to cut the “yes’s” out of my training and be more consistent about marking behavior with the appropriate reward cue. Hard habit to break!

Anyhow, sorry for the dump…I guess I’m just thinking “aloud.” Maybe I should just spend some time doing short jump sequences in arcs/turns and incorporate the MM. He doesn’t go crazy over it, but sure does love his jackpots in dog walk training 🙂

Thanks!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Thanks! That was all super helpful advice and hopefully I applied it all correctly! I had a chance to practice this morning before storms moved in. It was pretty humid, so Presto was a little sluggish. But, I could tell in the final full run that there was more understanding and confidence.

Thank you!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Hi Tracy!
Yikes, been awhile…summer gets so busy. I’ve been playing some of the games with Presto – the acclimating to the environment and verbals in arousal. We are still in the earlier stages, but I’ve been incorporating them into sessions when we train various places. I have found it works to start with the Up/down and then transition into some simple verbals in arousal with my movement. On that, we are currently at jumping jacks. Sitting with me jumping is HARD, says Presto. I mean, he just stares at me like I’m nuts 😉 I meant to take a video of my last session of that, but of course forgot to hit record!

I was inspired to set up a course this evening and try out the 1st sequence for Package 2. 🙂 I was able to get all the appropriate distances in my small yard, but I had to leave out the “dummy” jump for this sequence. I ran it and then studied the video during dinner, then went out to train and rerun.

I was actually pretty happy overall with his turns…a little less so with my handling (of course). I thought on the pinwheel he could have found the line just a little quicker, perhaps turned tighter on 10-11-12, and then he checked in with me on the straight line out. I think a little of the problem may be that I had a bumper and he kept looking to see if the bumper was going to be thrown – it’s a little too high value for longer sequences. Bu I practiced those three pieces and then ran the full course again. However, in putting together the video for upload, I actually think a piece I missed was that he was a little unsure in the 8-9 turn. I think he does the turn on 8 well, but then isn’t confident about totally committing to 9. He slows down just a bit which I acknowledged by giving him a “yes” to assure him in the rerun.

Thanks for your feedback!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Thanks Tracy – Yes, that all makes perfect sense. I am going to give the boil a frog thing a try with the weaves. Hopefully, I can be patient enough!
🙂
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Hi Tracy!
Glad you are getting some time off! We have been doing some of that too – up at our cabin today. But before the heat set in today, I did get a chance to do a little obsession session with weaves to test out the striding. For fun, I added Coach’s Eye timing analysis for each rep 😉

I started fully closed. His bouncing was pretty fast – I tried to give it our “best shot” by getting as much drive as possible – so used a bumper. Sadly, I missed that he left one pole early on his first rep. But, the second rep is a good example – I timed it at just under 2 seconds (about 1.9ish).

Then I opened them up (included a picture so you could see) and did two more reps. This was wide enough to get swimming all the way through. And it cut about .5 second off – he was down to 1.4 seconds. Obviously, he wouldn’t keep ALL this speed as the poles close, but it does seem to be significant enough to warrant trying to push for this type of striding?

Hope you have a great 4th and enjoy time to relax 🙂

Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Hi Tracy!
We had a good experience at the ASCA trial – although you had asked on Facebook about tunnel policies. Um, apparently not. A 20 foot tunnel had just 4 tunnels bags on it all day. And at one point they just scrunched a 15 foot tunnel to be 10 feet. I was mortified (and thankfully NOT entered in that class). So obviously, ASCA must not have rules…although perhaps different clubs are more conscious of these things, because I don’t remember having concerns when I ran at OTR a couple years ago. But I hope you can find somewhere for your babies to run – I can just imagine that is incredibly frustrating – especially when you are teaching a class on getting ready for trials.

But he had great start lines in all four classes. He did six closed weaves successfully in all four classes, although in the first two classes he had a least one “fail,” once distracted by the toy and then the number cone 😉 I am thinking he’s ready to run some full courses if they are jumps, tunnels, weaves by the time we compete again. I think the rhythm of keeping going is more rewarding than the distracting of toy reward and start again.

So, the obsession with weave footwork…I did a session back at the cabin today with all 12. The first two reps are closed, the second two reps are open maybe 1/2 inch. He has a steady bounce when they are closed. When I opened, he quickly reverted to what he was doing with more speed before – one foot on the left and two feet on the right. There is a 5th rep where I decided to drive up fast with him that I didn’t realize I left in there until I uploaded it, but I look super silly 😉

Thank you – and hope Electra is doing better!!

Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Hi Tracy!
Thanks for the feedback and ideas on the Pizza game 😉 Since I’d been introducing Sole to this along with Presto, I also did the Pizza game in her class last week and it was pretty amazing. Perhaps it will help unlock her next level of potential!

We are up at our cabin this weekend, so I had to be a little creative with our skills game. But I brought along my channels weaves since I can disassemble those. I just did it with six poles since the exercise was going to be at least 8 reps. He can do 12 closed weaves now – even did it in Jackie’s seminar in a sequence! But, as I mentioned when I saw you, he has lost the nice speed and footwork he had a couple weeks ago and he seems more thoughtful and deliberate. For now I’ll trust those will come back with more confidence and experience. But he had no problems with the independence – the only moment was in the middle rep included here he did look back at the end since I was a little late clicking the MM. It was harder for ME since I had to run into trees. 😉 Also, I noticed that as I do the wrap, I keep moving the clicker from one hand to another, which makes my send a little muddled. 🙁

Later this weekend I’ll try this again with a full 12 weave set, although I’ll reduce the reps. I was thinking I may also open the weaves a bit since it’s a new challenge.

Tomorrow Presto gets four FEO runs at an ASCA trial. I am hoping to find some longer sequences in the courses and if he’s handling the environment well, also work some weaves (although separately from the long sequences). His teeter is starting to look pretty good too, but not independent enough to do at a trial yet. After tomorrow, our next trial opportunity is UKI at the end of July – its the weekend he turns 18 months, so then I really have a great opportunity for NFC runs!!

Thank you!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

It’s exciting to get started on a new class…although I will admit I kind of enjoyed the break from video editing (although I now have the habit of videoing everything anyway!).

I started with the transition to trial exercise. We had introduced this way back when in one of your previous classes and Nancy Little’s Clubhouse talk on this awhile back also got me playing with this again. So, I progressed somewhat quickly since this was not brand new to him – I’d also already added a cue for it “Pizza!”. In the first rep he was a little rusty, but by the second rep he quickly understood to move with me. We did a session that was about 3 minutes total where I started asking for tricks, then taking the leash off, then the last rep is his full start line routine (thanks for the idea of calling him in when I’m ready!). In the last rep, I liked how he immediately ran for the treat chair as soon as I said “Pizza”. Although I moved quickly to this step due to past training, I do plan to take it a little more slowly from this point.

I was wondering how you build in the “get leash back on” behavior? Does it become run ends, give “pizza” cue, go get on leash, leave ring for reinforcement? Vs. end run, get on leash, give pizza cue, then leave ring for reinforcement?

Thanks!!

[Christina Wessel]

Thanks! Yes, I had noticed the early toy toss was not helpful 😉

So, I’m not sure which way to go. Earlier this week you suggested going to box cars before closing 😉 I’m of two minds…

Going to box cars before closing fully means he can work more on the rhythm of his footwork. With six weaves he is often doing two of the strides with two feet rather than swimming to collect and power out. So, moving to twelve with them open will get him doing more of the swim striding sooner.

But, then that means working on closing while doing 12 weaves, which is more wear and tear. So, then I like closing on 6 so its less physical stress.

Hmmm…I think I’m going to go with closing 6 poles first, then move to box cars…I think 😉

Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Hi Tracy – Another session in the books and it went pretty well again. I added some more angles, especially on his current good side 😉

So, hopefully we’re good to move on to box cars next. But we won’t train weaves again until Sunday, so he gets a break 🙂

Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Hi there!
Wow, it’s been awhile since I could get use of a teeter, so it was fun to get back to this. We added in the tunnel and the additional speed seems to be fine for him. I mixed in two full teeter drops in the session. From your feedback, I also remembered to reward in place and add motion past the teeter. It is so hard to keep all of that straight!

He is still pretty “thinky” about the whole process and I wish I’d see a quicker drop at this point. BUT, I’m sure all this work over the last few months has built a solid foundation of what’s expected and he’ll find his sweet spot as he builds more confidence. 🙂

As for the obstacle cue, I was thinking of just using “spot” for the whole behavior. But, I may change my mind on that and add the same cue I use for the girls “tip it” so indicating the next obstacle has a cue and the end behavior has it’s own cue.

Thank you!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Thanks Tracy!
We took yesterday off from weaves and today worked again. I focused on closing down to 1/2 inch like we did a week or two ago. I could tell it was making him think a little hard and work through his striding. But he had a nice success rate with the easier entries. My thought is he probably needs another session with where the poles at to solidify the striding before working other variables?

Thanks!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Good morning!
Not weaves but, Presto was SO super fabulous at the trial this weekend. My start line routine went well, held start lines no problem, was 100% focused, ran with lots of drive, played with the toy, was happy through it all. I made a couple handling errors as I figure out the “just right” with him…and my only regret was that I didn’t reward him when he ran past the triple jump (I nearly ran INTO it and jumped to the side, so he just went with me). But, he also self-rewards by leaping at the toy, so I don’t think it bothered him much. He did seem a little “higher” in the environment, but so far it looks like in a positive way that gets him excited to play. I was also able to crate him inside for nearly the whole weekend – even while I ran the girls (although right after his runs he had to car crate for awhile because he was still too excited to settle in his crate). What was super nice was the judge and a few exhibitors told me they were the best use of FEO – very positive for the dog 🙂 I have him entered in the UKI outdoor trial next weekend in speedstakes to try out that environment.
Saturday: https://youtu.be/V3WNd2kdpLs
Sunday (just a clip because I was in the back a lot): https://youtu.be/Lv2qbfjfh_Q

Ok, now actual weaves. 🙂 The video combines a few different sessions over the last several days. I isolated the entry on a 2×2 which was very helpful! Then I did a couple of sessions with full six at 1.5 inches. Ugh – now it’s the OTHER entry! The first session had a nice rate of success. In the second session, it was more of a struggle – may have been our audience of three young kids on bikes – or that the weaves were too close to the plants so pressured him from making the correct entry. I’m not sure. Sigh.

Thanks – hope your travels are going well!!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Hi there,
DARN, I so need to reread your stuff right before a session. So, we did crazy! He was 100% on one side (entering from the right), but as I’ve seen in the past it was way harder for him to get his collection together to wrap around that first pole when entering from the left side of the poles. What I forgot about from your notes was that I wasn’t supposed to tone it down, I was supposed to open them more. Ugh!

So, we were at 1.5″ for this session, should I go back to 2″? I kind of suspect that may not make a huge difference in success, since he also had this issue when poles were at 2″. I wonder if actually keeping the same level of excitement and staying at 1.5″, but sending from a more 1 or 2 o’clock angle – I was more 3 o’clock or so which really upped the collection challenge.

But, otherwise, really loving how he tackles the weaves!

Thanks!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Good morning!
We did the teeter! As you suggested, I slipped one full teeter into the middle of the session. Honestly, I’m not sure he even really noticed the difference much – except that he got a TON of chicken for it 😉 His timing of weight shift is improving bit by bit, but I still hope to get it a little quicker. Good news – I saw the map for the TCOTC set-up for the next two weeks and starting Monday, there will a tunnel-teeter! Perfect timing! That will add much more speed and hopefully prompt a quicker down.

I tried to remember to bend with my knees – and in the process pretty much forgot to reward him once he got into position before the drop. But, he is so focused on the preloaded target, I don’t know that he needs that extra reward unless there is another reason for it 🙂

Oh, I keep meaning to mention that we are doing a thing this weekend – I entered Presto at an AKC trial at TCOTC. He knows that location SO well, and there won’t be another trial there until November. It’s also nice because T2B is first course on both Saturday and Sunday, so I can really focus on him first thing, then worry about the girls later. He has shown lots of confidence and ability to handle new situations well, otherwise I wouldn’t try this. But I do want to see sooner rather than later if other issues – like the judge/bar setters, waiting at the gate, etc, are a factor we need to work on more. I have been practicing gate waiting, ring entry, start line in class. My goal is to do a simple start line (just lead out past first obstacle), then find 2-3 short sequences with jumps/tunnels he can run with a toy reward in-between. I want to keep him in extension as much as possible with the short sequences, making the trial environment fun and fast. Based on recent training, I think a toy has value for up to three sequences, then he wants food. So, it would be start line and short sequence, reward with toy. Another short sequence without a start line and reward with toy. Another short sequence without a start line reward with toy as we run to the exit and food. I suspect he is going to really enjoy getting to play with the big dogs!

Thanks!
Christina

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