[Christina Wessel]

Hi Tracy!
Took a nice long walk with the dogs today, so no energy left to drag a teeter into our soggy grass 😉 But, this morning we did work on the end position on the plank again with the MM close to work on focus forward. The first few reps you can see just a tiny flick of his head, then he got very consistent with looking forward when I sent him. But when I added my motion, he was looking up. Two questions:
– Should I keep doing the same kinds of things in the next session until he keeps his focus forward even WITH my motion?
– I’m wondering if I should remove the target for his feet? I think he’s pretty confident in knowing what “spot” means – but I’m wondering if he’ll drop into position a little quicker since. Or I could go back to taping the blue strip of yoga mat so at least it’s lower? But if you think that target is still helpful at this stage – totally open to keeping it!
And I have to remember to try a toy in the mix to see what that does to his brain 😉

And on the mountain climbers…
>>When you added the wing – did you do any where you wrapped the wing and sent him with you standing way back by the wing? I think that will help him drive ahead so you can do the RC more easily.<<
I forgot to do any reps like that – I guess I was thinking about it being about speed, but it totally makes sense so I’ll add that next time.

And on the end position back up…
>>He did get mad when you moved away, so yo u can release him to you for a hand touch (and reward as a helpful anger management tool haha) then cue the backing up. I think some of his verbal feedback was just “this is hard, you crazy human, whose ideas was THIS!”<<
OMG, Presto is my curse for telling my husband that I didn’t want a Min American Shepherd (because he loves Aussies) because they are “too barky at their handlers.” God and all my mini Aussie friends are laughing. But, on a serious note, I also have a chin rest on hand behavior that would work nice here because it will better position him for the next rep!

So, yesterday was also kind of awesome. I had to bring Presto along to my agility trial because Eric was out of the house all day. I was nervous, feeling pretty overwhelmed by running the girls in three classes each AND dealing with a young dog that can’t crate inside. But, wow, I have hope for our future. The girls and I went 5 for 6 (Sole got one off course jump going through a box) and we felt so in sync. And I did crate Presto in the car when I needed to focus on them, but in between I brought him inside and he was so good. He was very excited by the environment, but confident and engaged. He moved around people and dogs pretty well (some lunging to meet dogs and jumping on people, but typical for him). But it was the other stuff that made me so happy. We used the practice jump area to work on start lines, and some wraps and rear crosses. He was VERY good. Super focused and intent on the games. As we walked around the building, I would ask for moving sits and downs and he was quick to respond and hold his position. And, by the way, I’m starting to see that game translate into even better start line sits!!! He snaps his butt down so much quicker on a start line when he’s been primed by the game.

But, miracle of all miracles, he actually crated quietly inside!!! I sat near him at first and he was a little whiny and restless. But I went to throw something away and got distracted by a friend, then suddenly realized I’d left him alone for several minutes. I rushed back and a woman sitting nearby said he’d been fine the whole time. After that I did a couple more longer periods of alone time (10 or 15 minutes) and they all went well. So, there is HOPE! I think I may do two other one day weekends of trialing coming up (at the OTR), so I plan to take advantage of those to keep working on getting him used to both crating and working in that environment.

And, he got a practice measurement from a VMO and he is most at 19″- probably a hair higher. So, while he’s not much bigger than the girls, he’s clearly in AKC 20″ territory. I strongly suspected that would be the case (and would have jumped UKI 20″ anyway)…but it’s helpful to have some certainty for planning his training.

Ok, sorry to ramble on about that…but it was weird. I’ve obviously been training him for agility for ages…but yesterday was the first time it felt real that someday he’d be entered in a trial. And I was so happy that I felt like he’ll be ready for it when that day comes. 🙂

SO EXCITED TO START THE WEAVE CLASS!!!!

Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Hello!
I cheated a little and did two games in a training session. I did read your admonition to avoid that, but at the moment teeter access is still limited. So, I did two exercises I felt were very different at least – mountain climbers and backing up.

He did very nicely on the mountain climber on a new teeter. I didn’t do any tip in the session. I got through all the challenges. He didn’t start asking questions until I did some pretty severe rear crosses with the wing. So, I think I’d do a little more work on that before adding a little tip and going through the series again?

And then we did the backing up with a little tip. Hopefully I was keeping myself low enough. But he was doing really well backing up nearly all the time. And only unhappy with me once (barky monster).

Quick question about weave class…I have my lovely set up 12 2×2 channel weaves, but I was thinking of taking half of them to my friend’s place (the one featured in these videos) for at least the early part of the course to give me a second place to practice. Is six poles sufficient for the first few weeks?

We’re also having fun in the RDW class. Although I’m so naughty with my movement that Katarina is making me send from sitting in a chair 😉

Thanks!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Thanks Tracy! We’ll work on moving the MM closer and building focus forward into the criteria! The problem was that I had cheese curds in hand and MM had kibble – hence my Facebook post yesterday! But we’ll flip it so that MM has yummy stuff (I went shopping last night and kibble is now marinating in stinky cheese and teriyaki beef jerky – and there are also hot dogs, peanut butter captain crunch AND Zukes in the house). My hand will have the plain stuff! Dogs are too smart…

Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Hi Tracy!
Thanks for the advice about the MM, I was actually thinking about that after the session, so I’m glad I didn’t have to ask! We did the plank work again this morning and it was going really well – I added several of the challenging positions. A couple of the reps he was doing the slide into home 😉 I’m also trying to watch for and reward the hook (he did it a little on the actual teeter too).

And I got to use my Teach it for the first time!! A little bulky to lug around, but I’m really excited for how it allows us to work through the changes in tip incrementally. I did the teeter-table game since I had a table was handy at the club. Although he’s done plenty of teeter work, he did seem to have just the smallest bit of hesitation at first (maybe it was more a little confusion about what we were doing), but through the reps he did gain confidence. As I suspected, he was offering a down (AFTER he ate his treat!). I stuck with a very minimal tip, but didn’t get all the way through a rear cross or more speed with a wing. Does it make sense to keep it at this tip level and do those – or start to add just a bit more tip? I can definitely see how helpful this work will be! Tomorrow I get to play on a different teeter and try the mountain game 🙂

The weather has warmed up a lot around here…I’m crossing my fingers a patch of grass opens up by Sunday so I can pull out my own teeter. I mean, you can back up onto a teeter even if the ground is frozen, right? 😉

Thank you!
Christina

• This reply was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by Christina Wessel.

[Christina Wessel]

Good morning!
Thank you for that guidance. So, as I’m understanding it, when I do the uphill and downhill tracks, I won’t use my “spot” cue. If he happens to offer a down, that’s fine, but I’ll be rewarding more his speed with going up and down, not waiting for any downs.

This morning we did our first official homework, working on end position on the plank. He was a little crooked a few times – especially when I added a little excitement. But, I didn’t back up to the end of the plank when I added the extra energy, so he also may not have had enough space to get his body sorted.

Sadly, can’t make the live chat today – I’ll be teaching at that time. But, I look forward to listening to the recording because I’m sure there will still be something to learn!

Thank you!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Hi Tracy!
We had a chance to try the straight line stuff again and your feedback was very helpful – he was immediately much clearer about the rear cross vs the wrap…and backsides worked too! I did raise the first jump to 12″ and he didn’t have any trouble with that. The video angle isn’t great, but looks like he gave it lots of clearance. We didn’t do too many reps overall as this was the end of his training session that day.

I also discovered that toys are single use 😉 He was happy getting rewarded once with a toy, but then the next rep needed a new toy (unless I use the food filled toys). Bringing out a little stronger toy drive is important to me since that’s really the only reward tool I’ll have when I start doing some NFC/FEO runs to test out skills in competition environments (not anytime soon though!).

And the paw targeting for the teeter. I did that this morning and the first couple reps he had a little bit of leading with the nose, but that faded (it was the first time with the cardboard stuck through for more stability, so maybe that got his attention?). At first I stay close to the target because as I move back, you’ll see he tends to drive a little over the target and drop back. I think a little bit of the issue is that the target is a little wobbly (which is why I added the cardboard). I was trying to use something (the wide blue yoga mat) that I could then transfer easily to other surfaces and the teeter. If the wobbliness is a problem, I also have a raised wooden carpeted foot target that’s a little longer than this target, but I could maybe attach the target too for now so he feels more secure hitting that with his paws.

Thank you!!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Hi Tracy,

Right after reading your post I cobbled together a foot target for the teeter, so we’ve been working on that on that flat. It took him a bit to figure out that he should then do a down, but he’s getting the idea now. So, no video, but it’s coming along. I also went ahead and bought a Teach it for the teeter work, which is arriving next week 🙂 I figure I’ll have to gradually add more drop to keep him driving and downing….so can’t do that with chairs/tables!

But today we had fun RUNNING playing the straight line game. First time TcOTC has had a set up conducive to this. A couple bumbles (poor pup ran his head into the wing on one backside) and for a bit he thought my wraps were rear crosses. But he did nicely with jumps at 8” and at the very end, even flew over an accidental 12”. I was going to end the session, but pulled out a new toy and he got excited, so did two final reps going back to the tunnel and I was so pleased that on both, he wrapped, found the right jump and drove right for the tunnel. 🙂

So glad to hear you got great news on Hot Sauce!!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Good afternoon!
We’ve been doing our teeter homework to get ready for the class – downs while moving, weight shift while tugging, drive ahead to target. Those ideas makes SO much sense! Its nice that the first two are so easy to integrate into every day life. Yesterday we did a session of drive ahead and I wanted to show you a few reps because I think he’s finally getting close. I’ve doing it on a two-on two-off board because his form was a little sloppy without the height. But if he’s starting to keep his body tucked, I might switch between on the floor and on the board (I think I’ll add a yoga mat so the board isn’t slipping on the carpet). He looks like he is still dipping his head to start to nose touch the target, then drops.

Now that he’s cleared to start adding height, I did a couple of jump grids from Susan Salo’s book with him this weekend – the ladder grid and variable grid (like we did in class this fall). We ran several dogs, so he did two grids in the span of an hour. All the bars were set at 6″, except for the final jump of the variable grid which was his first time jumping 8″. Next time I run any grids I’m going to chalk the right distance from the first jump, because it looked a little close sometimes. He seemed to be very comfortable with these and the one rep where he knocked several bars I think it was because he was a little too close and got distracted before I released him. It was probably a lot for him, so in the next week I may do the backside grid, but take the week off from big grids like this. Any suggestions for grids that are especially good at introducing him to more jump height?

AND, something from actual class 😉 Did tunnel, no tunnel, go tunnel. Poor Presto had to put up with me doing it wrong a few times. But with a little verbal “Presto” and a slight show of the reward arm he was bypassing the tunnel. On the Go tunnel rep where he runs by the tunnel, I think I was so proud of him for correcting his stride to go around the wing, that I verbally rewarded that and he thought it was time to get the toy! 😉

Now all dogs are snuggled in their preferred warm spots avoiding the frigid temps outside!! Hope your power comes back soon!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Hi Tracy,
Ever had one of those moments where you type all your stuff in, just to realize that the site had timed out and nothing got saved. Yep, one of those nights. Maybe I’ll be more succinct the second time 🙁

Good news – Presto had his physical check-up and is cleared to do big dog stuff! So, I’ll be moving to 8 inch jumping very soon, then adding two inches a month. Jump grids in our future 🙂

That also means I signed up for working spots in both the teeter and weave classes. Super excited. I did some teeter down position work tonight because a teeter board was around. I can see mastering weight shift is essential. So I’ll keep working on that between now and class starting. I’ve been doing it with tugging – when he wants to tug. Lately he really is mostly engaging with toys when we goof around in the family room. And he does prefer to just twist around. So, definitely lots of room for improvement. I noticed a little more weight shifting by the end of this session.

I also did some decel and tunnel threadles. Since we’ve done so much tight thinky work lately, I mixed both of those up with some fun “let’s run” stuff too. And overall kept the reps minimal.

Tunnel threadles:
I was mindful of my arm, not as mindulful of my feet and forgot to add the tunnel exit verbals. BUT, he got two out of three threadles in a pretty difficult setup. So I was happy with our progress.

Deceleration:
I love to see that little head snake around the uprights! He can probably do a little better on collection before the jump (bad angle with the camera), but he is committing nicely to the wrap. I also like how he transitioned easily between the runs where I asked for collection and those where he got to keep going. This was my favorite exercise of the night 🙂

Thank you!!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Hi Tracy!
So here is my barrage of MaxPup videos I caught up on today 🙂

I did the deceleration exercise which is such a great idea. My set up wasn’t perfect – I left my toy and notes at the end of the other ring…and didn’t want to bug my training partner to get them, so fed from hand and may not have done all the steps quite correctly. But, hopefully still beneficial!

I also revisited tunnel threadles since it’s been awhile since I’ve worked on that. I may have increased the challenge a little too quickly, but we worked through it. Can’t wait until we can tackle some of the more exciting games…but for now doing what I can with whether is set up at TCOTC.

And I went back to the discrimination game. So, although I wasn’t trying to select the “obstacle” based on where he was looking, in watching the video I definitely saw a higher success rate when he happening to be looking where I cued. So, I’ll be more mindful of where that little nose is pointing in future sessions to try to isolate his understanding a little more. But, some incremental improvement.

And we did some Aframe box work. I finally added jumps before and after and it took a little adjusting, but he was starting to get his striding figured out. Definitely made him need to think harder!

Thanks for your feedback 🙂
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

I’ve been trying to integrate the games from this week into training sessions – they both are great ways to start!

Here’s a video of the volume dial and moving into the naked play. (although a little side note, don’t title your Youtube video “naked play” or you will immediately attract unwanted comments – had to fix that fast!!). Presto was doing a great job of staying focused, so I was already adding a few tricks away from the treats. Hadn’t quite gotten to the sit piece yet…although he defaults to that normally.

Working on adding more value and focus to “ready” is also good – it’s the word I’ve been using all along so has already had some value. It’s a little hard to catch him “unaware” because he has laser vision for treats on me. But, if I get to any different environments outside the house, hopefully I can work on it there.

Hope Hot Sauce is doing ok!!!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Hi Tracy!
LOVE the games for this week…did you intentionally pick ones I can do with a sprained ankle??? 🙂

I think it’s just a minor sprain and hopefully will be able to do more soon, but it is a good time for me to also focus on teaching verbals! So, Presto will get a break from some of the other stuff and hopefully those skills will percolate in his head 🙂

Can you believe he turns 1 this Sunday?!?!?!

Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Good morning!!

The feedback on the teeter makes perfect sense – balance is always the key, right?!

And I totally forgot about the wing/jump thing with the box…I can definitely see how that will add another layer to this learning. I’ll take a note on that so I don’t forget again 🙂

And I have been using “in, in” as my threadle verbal. I’ll be sticking with that for Presto so I don’t have to keep too many verbals sorted in my brain 🙂

Thank you!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Hi there! Did some stuff 🙂

We worked on this week’s teeter game, although I modified it a bit. I finally dragged tables around and it was good to see how nicely he was moving through the tipping point. I played around a bit with no target (until he started running off!) and using spot/down as commands. I think he still downs better with no target…so it would be nice to have something like the tip assist, because I think he was running because the table was there. But I also did more running past AND quick releases.

We also did Aframe work – both box on the ground and on the actual Aframe. I played around with exits, entries and motion and arousal and except for that one sharp angle, he was very consistent. On the Aframe itself the only thing that was a little too much was a pre-thrown toy. Next time I will drag along my MM or pre-place the toy to reduce the arousal a bit. I’m really pleased with how he is done with this, just want to make sure we are working on all types of exits, especially those annoying sharp turns 🙁

And turn aways!! I moved the jump out a little further and he was fantastic with the lap turns. The tandem turns were a little harder – I still need to get my body figured out. I was trying to call him earlier (as he was entering the tunnel), but on some I think I may also have had too much forward motion and not enough connection. I have noticed that in these (and on some of the exercises for the backsides) he still doesn’t quite understand the commitment to taking the bar…so definitely need to keep working on that. With the tandem turn – will they wrap the wing or to slice to the far wing?

Thanks!!
Christina

[Christina Wessel]

Thanks!
That clicking at the right time is just the death of me. Initially I’ve been focused on rewarding hitting the target at all, rewarding the back feet hit has been a little secondary in my brain. But I guess he’s understanding the concept well enough and getting enough back feet hits that I should shift my focus to that to help him understand THAT’s what I want!

And the feedback on the turn aways is just what I needed – I was fretting over my body position since I think I lean at the wrong times!

I did the obstacle discrimination with him again with the Manners Minder and it was SO interesting. The video is way longer than I usually post (sorry about that! I can’t imagine how much you have to watch in a day), but I was fascinated by a smart dog struggling to think through a difficult situation. Using the MM totally blew up his brain and all he wanted was the tunnel for that. And he let me know it through lots of barking and whining. I just had plain kibble in the MM and yummy meaty treats in my hand…but no matter…MM has insane value. However, with some patience, I definitely saw him working through it (although he was still pissed at me).

Thank you!
Christina

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