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Hi there!
Another fun agility day. Girls ran clean in all their UKI courses today – including a few backside circles wraps – so I’ll try to capture that from the Facebook video and share on the backside group. Sole did well – although I realized I had stopped working it at 16″, so she definitely needs work to help her sort out her body at 20″. And Presto did lots of “agility trial” stuff, including staying in his crate when the girls each had a chance to come out and hang with Mom for a bit (but not when they were actually running – that would be too much).>>He was super good about continuing to drive through, especially considering that there was no reward target out there! Nice! His head position made it appear like there was a target out there, but you said there was no MM<<
There was no MM, but I did place a yellow frisbee that I use as a target for jump grids. I didn’t actually place any rewards there, but it clearly helped keep his focus forward.>>Do you have a photo of him next to Nikko, so I can look at body length<<
I don’t think I have any that are useful offhand, but we can take one!So, I gathered enough energy to do a session with the 2x2s, adding angle to the second set of poles. Presto did great – even had a really high degree of success with his tough entry. There were a couple moments where he was a little unsure of driving forward – probably both from some movement and my verbal rewards. Oh, I also noticed my clicking was all over the place – often way too early. So, need to pay more attention to that! Luckily it didn’t result in reinforcing wrong behavior.
Thanks!
ChristinaHello!
Well, my lesson plan for channels today got a little blown when I realized I forgot my MM. So, I ended up using a toy to reward. Good to practice that, right? Because I was adding the excitement of the toy, I didn’t get as “extreme” as I had planned with the MM, but we still got some fun stuff in. The entry is still a soft spot, so spent a little extra time on that. At the end I did a few reps with just four poles – maybe should have done the whole session that way, since it would have made tossing the toy easier (one toy throw ended up lodged in a jump wing). But oh well 🙂 He does drive nicely through once he enters – and I saw him make some nice stride corrections to stay in on entries. But, my oh my, my “weave” noise cue totally drives me crazy when re-watching my videos – I have to take that down a half octave!!!So two things:
>>Then after a minute or so, angle base 2 so he has more challenge there at the ‘top’ of the clock (11-12-1-2-3). You can angle base 2 a little before angling base 1.<<
Just checking my understanding…base 2 is poles 3 & 4? Just checking if I’m supposed to add a little more angle to the new set of poles before going more straight with poles 1 & 2?And as for height and stride. He was measured the other weekend as a solid 19″. Weighed him the other day and he is still just 31.4 lbs – a pip squeak! My preference would be for “weave/swim” striding, unless he clearly doesn’t work for him. Actually, both Nikko and Sole also just naturally choose to do the “weave/swim” striding since I didn’t have a clue how to encourage one or the other. They are both just a little shy of 18″ – so he’s not much bigger. Nikko’s weaves are absolutely to die for – wicked fast and a thing of beauty. I would be over the moon if Presto has weaves like hers. Sole has very solid weaves, but just doesn’t drive through in the same way. But I am SO excited about the idea of games that can encourage that performance. Obsessing is what makes agility EXTRA fun 😉
Thank you!
ChristinaBig day at TCOTC 🙂 Added the down to the mountain climbers!! I did a few reps of the bang game and then went to the full teeter. He was doing really well so I did add a little more tip and motion. He is definitely way more balanced this session without dipping his head for the treats. And I have to say, he was freakin’ adorable when I went back to reward with his little paws hanging over the edge.
Thanks!
ChristinaHi Tracy! Played around again with 2x2s, but this time in the yard. The session went nicely and while he is still having a bit of trouble with that one angle, I think he’s improving a little – he was able to go a little past 10 before it was a question. And I started adding motion to all the angles as well. So, I’m thinking next 2×2 session I’ll start straightening poles 1 & 2 and keep working angles and motion with that.
Next session will be back to channels to play with those harder entries!
Thank you!
ChristinaHello! We took the wobble board “on the road” to the front yard and that was a crazy ride. I also incorporated a toy, not always using it, but having it in my hand. And that definitely brought out the wild child. So, I played around with motion – and when on my left, he was more sensitive to speed, a few times just running straight through 😉 But he also was figuring out how to control all that energy and had some really nice downs.
This was super fun and hopefully will help him a lot when I try adding it to the teeter! Headed to TCOTC tomorrow so I may give it a try if time permits.
Christina
Thanks!! The tip about the tunnel bags is really helpful – I didn’t think about that. And YAY that we are adding end position to mountain climbers 😉 I hope that will help sort out the balance stuff!! Super excited to give this a try this weekend!
Christina
Good morning!
We added the next set up 2x2s – woohoo! It was a bit of a distracting session – I had one student come in to chat about his dog and then one of Presto’s favorite humans arrived for the class that I was teaching afterwards. So, both mom and dog were a little unfocused at times. But I still thought it was a really successful session. He did have one clear question – angle entry from the right. When I got closer he was successful, but will need to continue to work that position 🙂And the weave sets look close – but I did actually line them up and then add the angles, so it should be the right spacing.
🙂 Thanks!
ChristinaHello!
Thanks for the feedback – I’ll take the wobble board “on the road” – or at least to a different room/outside 😉I did mountain climbers yesterday and it’s been probably more than a week on that one. It was interesting, he was totally find with the tip and keeps driving to the end nicely…so I added more of that. But he was oddly off balance when going into his down. I don’t recall him ever being so uncoordinated…on one rep he actually leaned so far forward he fell off 🙁 I switched up the reward target from the “big dog” one that is lower to the “small dog” one that come up higher so he wouldn’t lean – although that one does not work so well on clip’n go teeter because of how the treat holder is designed to go straight up – but the teeter has a very curved edge. Anyhow, you also may notice that the Teach It is a little unstable until I realize the issue and tweak things again. He did get a little more coordinated as the session went on.
Is there anything I should change with this? Or should I wait for the next set up games?
Thank you!
ChristinaGood morning!
More wobble board 🙂 I worked this yesterday morning, but just got a chance to upload the video today. I can definitely see how this exercise is a more efficient way to work on the end position! The rain is supposed to stop by tonight, so then I can also set up the teeter and do the bang game version of this as well.
Christina
Hello! Finally set up my teeter again. I have to assemble and dissassemble it every time since I have to use it in my backyard. 🙁 And I think I need to add some sandbags. But, it certainly is great for testing out sound and motion!
As always, he seems to have zero issues with the scary teeter stuff. With the set up at home, I started with more tip than I would have liked, but he was fine with it. I mostly edited it out, but there are a few clips with him jumping up on the end – and he does a nice job of using his hind legs to push up.
Your suggestion for adding the target to the end was spot on – he stopped every time and had no more questions. I moved the MM further away at the end to add a few reps where I released him with “break” instead of the MM, just to remind him that’s a thing 😉 Just still working on the weight shift a bit – no sliding into home on this exercise, but some of that may be the board, since it doesn’t have fabulous grip. Hoping to order a skin for that any day… But I think I can get this to fully horizontal in another session or two.
I think tomorrow I may go back to the “wobble” board set up to work on moving into the down quicker.
>>There is nothing I would add to this in terms of distance or more tip – it can go into the training rotation as something to revisit to keep his balance and core strength in tip top shape<<
It’s funny you said this – it was like you were reading my mind. I was thinking as I posted the video, is there more we need to get out of this particular game 😉 But makes sense to use this game and variations on it for balance and strength!!Thank you!
ChristinaThanks for the feedback! Today we played with channels again 🙂 I did try a toy at first with this session, but he was like “uh, what are these things?” I’m not sure why, but he was super distracted by scent on the ground at first (and ALL the neighborhood dogs were out in front lawns). So, I did go with the MM to get him to focus forward through the channels and that helped. I didn’t include the couple of reps where I tried with the toy because I stopped and went inside in between.
ANYHOW, I was a little more methodical with my around the clock today, just to see how that felt. I think I might do that more because I walked away from the session feeling better about what we had accomplished. He had lots of success, even on difficult angles. I started with walking as he was moving and as we went along he got more and more into the game so I added more speed. I think he only missed one or two entries during the session. I also am seeing more balance in terms of confidence in his entries from both sides 🙂
So next time I pull out the channels I think I’ll start adding some of the exercises from the new channel games.
The new 2×2 games look super exciting – can’t wait to add that second set!! But I restrained myself and did not pull them out tonight 😉
Thanks!
ChristinaHi! We snuck in a little 2x2s before the rain and cold weather move back in. I was pleased that I was able to start the session at straight poles and he seemed to know right away what to do. Just to change things up, I used the toy only for this session. He had a little question at the very end from a hard angle, although I wonder if some of that was just being kind of tired.
And I added some movement and tried to do it slow, but starting right away. That didn’t seem to be a factor in this session (except maybe in the last couple of reps), although it will be interesting to try with channels since there are more ways to “fail” there! 😉
One question I have is about how to structure the session. I tend to kind of “popcorn” around on sides and angles. But then I end the session and feel like I missed something important. Is it better to be more structured and work systematically around the clock, maybe starting at noon and working back to nine (or further) and then back to noon and around to 3 or so? Or, is it ok to be a bit more random and assume that over several sessions you’ll end up covering enough of the clock? And my apologies if this is something you talk about somewhere – my brain is a little overwhelmed with all the info at the moment 🙂
Thanks!!!
ChristinaHello! Catching up with videos from Saturday. Was at an agility trial today at On the Run and Presto got more practice being a good boy in a crazy environment. I’d give him a solid “B” – still wants to play with other dogs, jump on people and bark with frustration (during the judge’s briefing). But, we did start lines on the practice jump and he spent long periods of time quietly in a crate. I think next time I might crate him inside for the whole time – EXCEPT when I’m running the girls. I suspect hearing his sisters leave to run is still too much!
So, downhill. Overall I think he’s doing really well with this and I did add some more tip in this session. You’ll see in the video I was playing around a little with the bottom. When I moved the MM further away, he was overrunning and I thought it might be because he wasn’t sure where the end was since the table is the same yellow as the teeter. So I moved out the table and just put a box there…but then he seemed to wonder if the box was supposed to be his “spot” target and he was really trying to figure it out. So I put the table back with the MM not quite so far away (but not right and the end) and maybe we found the right compromise. 🙂 Tip and noise still seem irrelevant to him…the downs are coming along. Not quite sliding into home plate, but showing good control.
We also played the back up bang game. In answer to the question from last session – I think the barking is about this being mentally hard. He was showing it pretty quickly in this session. But, luckily he’s still willing to work even when he’s frustrated…he just has to tell me how he feels.
Thanks!
ChristinaThanks! I know, those releases were cracking me up too – I had to show them to my husband because they were so cute. But thanks for the feedback – I’m glad this set up will achieve the goals of this exercise! Off to TCOTC soon to hopefully do the downhill track!
Christina
Good morning (at least it still is here!)!
We had a really fun outdoor session using my channel weaves. It’s very clear – as you already noticed – that now he is having trouble with the other entry. I was a little stupid at first and kept sending from too far back…finally I got smart and started closer and it was going better. But working on that entry will be priority #1 for my next 2×2 session. I so LOVE how these two methods can complement each other!
He is now super successful from the other entry – unless I add motion a little too soon on the really hard ones. But he was getting some really tough ones even with motion.
I also switched up and added a toy for part of the session like you suggested, and other then some awful tosses by me, it did rev him up but he kept his success rate consistent.
You probably noticed I’m also having fun with colored poles. I have three colors (plus white) at home and I’m trying to vary it all the time so that color isn’t relevant to his understanding. Since I have the weaves out, I’ve also been playing with Nikko and Sole. Nikko does struggle with the entry on the same side as Presto with harder angles and Sole just could use a little more speed. So that’s fun too! And Nikko is thrilled to be working – although I’m not sure my neighbors appreciate the piercing Toller screams on a weekend morning. 🙁
Thank you!
Christina
