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I am not having a whole lotta luck with the weather! Yesterday was cold and rainy, and today is just plain cold! We did some more backside foundation work with me (hopefully) moving a bit faster, rewarding on a serp line, and throwing the cookie back further so I am more ahead. He is getting it really well on both sides now.
I’m also trying really hard to get his retrieve up to snuff, because I’d like him to be able to practice ball carrying for flyball. I’m using a target (the bowl) which I eventually will replace with my hand. Comments or suggestions?
We had another great agility trial experience this past weekend. Did lots more pattern games, practiced entering the building and I was able to get him down on the dirt and paying attention to me while other dogs were running.
Worked on the backside foundations adding in your suggestions. This latent learning thing is REAL yo’!
First attempts at Minnie Pinnie. Is it ok to help with a step or a hand when he gets “stuck?”
A little video of our first flyball class doing recalls with distractions.
Well, last week was not conducive to much training! I spent most of the week getting ready for our ISC trial. 125 handlers to cook for, lol! However, now that I think about it, we did all kinds of good training at the trial. Silly me! We worked on entering the building and orienting towards me for a treat. Walking along the upper concourse and paying attention to me with the ping pong game and 1-2-3. And I brought him down on the dirt, while dogs were not running, and played more pattern games. He did great. He spent a little time getting puppy “massages” on 2 different tables. Loves that shit. Lots of people commented on how great his attention was to me. And he got to see some good friends (Pattern, especially) and make some new ones.
Today I worked on the backside slice foundations. I thought he did really well turning to the right (as usual) but not as well turning to the left. Looking forward to the live class tonight!
A bit chilly today, so we worked inside. I tried out the baby dog version of the double wraps. It was really hard for me to discern when he was turning his head away because I kept thinking he’s just following the treat in my hand. Looking forward to feedback on my mechanics before I proceed.
I bought a shiny new set of cavalettis, so I decided to try them out today as I don’t have a smallish ladder.
After the cavaletti session, Yuzu told me he was not done training so I was just going to do some off camera perch work. Well, holy cow he was doing so well that I had to turn it on! We haven’t worked on this since last video, and I was able to fade to hand signal almost completely, and also stopped my movement. In watching, I see that his head is still high, but I’m not sure how to fix that when I am NOT using my hands. Should I try keeping hands by my sides?
balance the threadle slice with the serp by changing your position every couple of reps to sometimes cue the threadle, and sometimes cue the serp. The PT can be placed in a spot kind of on the line where it can reward both (almost on the same line as the exit upright) so you don’t have to move it between reps.
Question about this. So my position on the serp would be closer to the exit wing and on the threadle it would be closer to the entrance wing?
Here is where we are with perch work. Do I need to add a verbal at this point?
We also worked on the threadle slices today for the first time. He picked it up very quickly.
I am in complete agreement regarding your thoughts about flyball training. I believe training the pattern is the easy part (at least based on my own experience training Robie who got the box turn, ball carrying, jumping the jumps, etc. down very quickly but for the life of me can’t pass.) What I am really interested in working on is dealing with the environment and learning to work in high arousal around other highly aroused dogs.
In other news, we attended a seminar with Sheyla and Annette yesterday. He was quite brilliant, and I am pleased to say he worked for the tug the whole day! As you might imagine, both Sheyla and Annette broke things down for us substantially to ensure success. We were in a new place (RSCR) with the space divided in half by some covered fencing. At one point during my turn (my bad) I was interacting with Annette and was not paying attention to Yuzu. He took the opportunity to LEAP across the 4 foot (or more) barrier to check out what was happening in the other ring. Omggggggggg! Luckily there was no fallout. Holy moly, gotta watch this crazy boy.
Here is a video from a workshop with Casey last week where we worked on wraps, tunnels and driving ahead. He had a VERY hard time when we brought out the food for Casey to reward him with, but we worked through it. One thing I noticed that I was doing wrong (you’ll likely find others 😆) is that I wasn’t stepping towards the jump on the wraps.)
I took the retrieve outside today as you suggested. I tried to set it up so it looked as much like the same picture as it is in the living room when I am on the couch with the ottoman in front of me. There were a couple of lengthy “party of one” out-takes. I wasn’t entirely sure what to do when that happened. I let it go on for awhile, and a couple of times he eventually brought it to me. I’m probably talking too much as usual.
PS: Flyball class starts in January!
We worked on the rocking horses today. This game was very stimulating for him when I brought out the toy. He tried to grab it from my hand a couple of times. I don’t think I did the greatest job handling it with him either🙁. I am trying to improve our tugging, but I just don’t feel we are making much progress. He always wants to grab it by the handle, close to my hand, which makes me jerk my hand up which then makes it worse. I’m having a devil of a time trying to get him to grab hold and pull on his own without my having to keep it moving so much. I have tried SO many different toys without much luck. Any further ideas on this subject would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
– Frustrated in North CarolinaWe are skipping around a bit, so today we worked on the serps with the jump included and the “get out.” I completely forgot to add the verbal on the “get out,” so will do that next time. I had a question regarding the get out. When I am trying to get him to just walk parallel to me and not hit the prop, is it okay to sort of lure him with the magic cookie hand? I didn’t have a treat in that hand, but he failed twice when I just tried the name call. Or maybe I just didn’t have a strong enough connection? Gunnar has spoiled me SO much by just being able to read my mind, lol!
Also, we are making progress in the retrieve! The past two nights when I have settled in to watch Jeopardy, he has started bringing me toys to throw. I was able to up my criteria over the two nights so that he must drop it on the ottoman right in front of me in order to get me to throw. He is doing it! When it rolls off, he picks it right back up to try again. I don’t have this behavior yet in the great outdoors, but progress!
We worked on the parallel path through the uprights today. He was looking at me a lot, especially in the beginning, but I think after a bit he started looking forward more. I pressed the envelope and added some lateral distance since he was looking so confident. This was our first session on this exercise.
We also worked a little on those left turns around the barrel, hopefully putting your feedback into play, lol! I feel there was marked improvement.
Looking forward to seeing you on Thursday too! Can’t wait😁😁😁
We tried a session at the baby level of handling combos today. I was virtually certain that he was a right turner, but this exercise solidified that view. We started with a couple of “reminder” reps with food, and even then he was wrapping much wider turning to the left. Adding the toy made it crystal clear!
I worked a bit on the baby retrieve today in a small space. He didn’t take more than a step or two towards me, but I’ll keep working on it. I’ll go outside when it warms up a bit and try applying your feedback using the two toys.
Question. He does not have a retrieve, but we are working on it. He does a mini victory lap with the toy, where he walks slowly in a wide circle for just a couple of seconds and then drops it. If I throw the toy, should I have another toy on me to run away with?
We worked on the tunnel games a bit today. I tried to leave in all the tugging that we did. I feel like this is finally coming together! He didn’t try to bite me or hump me once!!! When I started working on the angles, I felt like I was “man-handling” him too much to get him into position, so I stopped so I could go back and watch your video again. I’ll probably go out later and try that again. It doesn’t appear that he will have any problems with that. Looking forward to your feedback.
This afternoon we added more angles and the threadle foundations.
