Here comes your new homework:
1. straight line as a serpentine: now that you mastered straight lines too, it's time to show the dog they can come in different forms 🙂 Let's try angling the jumps as you can see in a video, still working on extension vs. collection. Keep angling the jumps all the way to a serpentine. You should still throw in some wraps to keep them attentive to possible collection cues.
Showing the angling in 4 steps, but try to go even more gradually and make it a serpentine in 6 or 7 steps:
2. sequencing
With long-strided dogs, 10 will be hard - so you can simply take the other entry instead.
3. let's check how far you have got with weave entries: send in your "top 5" - choose the 5 hardest entries your dog found, the 5 you are most proud of.
Hi Silvia,
Matilda and I worked on the sequence today. I have only one tunnel so we divided the sequence into sections. In section 1 I have one misplaced video clip that should have been in section 3.
What should we work on?
Liza
Great, what a nice commitment and tightness on 4! This sequence looks really well, you can practise some older ones again now that she knows cik&cap better.
Thank you. Good idea!
Liza
We have worked on the little sequence.
And the serpentine (video of that will come tomorrow).
We are not started at the weaves yet. Have enough to work on with that running contacts 😉
Here is the sequence:
Great job, as always! 🙂 -- But this time, you are somewhat late with cik on 4 afterall -- you don’t need GO -- cik, just say cik when you say go as cik means go&collect -- you don’t have time for both. On 6, you could also say cik. She does it on her own, because of the body language, of course, it’s just to make her see that cik can be done also with handler on the landing side. Also, she gets thrown out of a turn on 4 some, try to do some ball throwing in the direction of 5 as soon as she lands after 4 so that she makes more of an effort to stay on the line. Some dogs with cik&cap perform the turn well, but then get carried out and she is showing some of that tendency here.
Hi Silvia, Classmates,
Here a video with some sessions of the past weeks. I did not start the sequence of lesson 4, that’s something for tonight. Keen still runs with this brake on most of the time but still I’m really pleased. We are having fun that’s the most important. And I’m getting more and more confident that she will gain confidence and let that brake go one day. She gets distracted less and less. One thing I learned when I was editing the video, I reward when I’m standing still again. I’ll work on that! Do you think Keen has enough fun with banging the seesaw to go to the next step? Can you explain what the next step is. I saw it on your video but maybe there is something specific to be explained?
Weird… It seems that this comment box removes the second -- before the o. I do see it now, wonder what happens when I submit the comment.
It’s gone!! So to watch this video you need to add the “-“. The end must be “--o”. Sorry for that.
Great job, Inge & Keen!!! The “Keen cross” was too funny 🙂 but hey, she knew where you wanted her to go! 🙂
FYI--Your link worked when I added the extra “-” before the “-o”, but I also had to remove the “v” from “httpv” to make “http”.
Kathy & Elsa
Inge, would it be possible to send the video once more. It doesn`t work with an extra “-” and without “v” …………….. but I really would like to watch your video. Perhaps it`s my fault, or is there someone else who has difficulties to watch it?
I can’t watch it either. ?????
Here it is again (without the V) but the “-” will probably disappear again.
Just make sure it ends with “--o”
Hope it works…
Keen kiest gewoon de kortste weg naar de tunnel, zoals een echte agility hond moet doen eh.
Ik geef je helemaal gelijk Tamara 😉
Good job Inge! I loved the new type of cross! 😉
She sure looks faster&faster! Wraps are still very nice -- when you say it in time. You are often late saying it in that straight line -- with bars on full height, it would be too late every time, actually… It’s important to get in good habits of saying it in time already now. If it makes her pull off the jump, as on the last just of the sequence, you need to work through it, still say it early and if she pulls off, don’ reward and insists she takes it, she needs to understand it means go ahead & collect. Of course, you were stepping back early and that’s actually what pulled her off, but ideally, she learns cik&cap to the degree to know to take it even when you’re pulling off -- so don’t reward pulling off even when it’s caused by your movement. I also redo crossing behind my back when not told to, even if they are right and I’m in the wrong position -- but it’s still not their decision to make. They’re supposed to go with what I’m cueing even when I’m cueing wrongly -- or they think I’m cueing wrongly: because their logic is not necessarily the same as judges’! That’s why I sometimes like to do non-logical things too and like to challenge them by changing the sequence somewhat after they know it already, so that they learn to still follow even when they think they already know where they’re going. And yes, you can go to jumping on the see-saw with all 4 feet now.
Hi Silvia,
Thanks for your very valuable comments!
Hi there Silvia and Classmates,
I have not been able to do much of lesson 4 yet but hopefully by the end of the week we can do some.
Because Spy’s drive is down, i taped a session of weaves the Multi Task way cause then Spy’s drive is up and this is how i do it, i through the ball for my other dogs and Spy does the weaves when they have run off. She gets one wide cause she thought the ball was going that way and 1 wrong entry but i think the rest are cool and her drive is switched on!
Silvia if you think this is just a crazy way to train and not good or does not benefit Spy, please say so.
Happy training.
Wow-what a great way to train! I love how all the dogs know which ball is theirs. You cattle dog is FAST in the poles!
Thank you, been watching your Lab, very cool and fast too, happy training.
Sure, why not, she needs to learn to weave with distractions 🙂 And it sure makes her fast and drivey! 🙂
Thank you.
VERY COOL!!!
Thank you, Happy training.
Wow Spy sure is FAST! So cool, with all the distractions!
Thank you, happy training. You guys are sure doing great too:-)
How do you know who is who?! 🙂 Are those three related? Very fun to watch!
Thank you, Well i guess to you it sure is difficult for the 1st time but that is normal, my male, the largest of the 3, is Klu, and he is 11 and he is the father of Nip, 6 years and then there is Spy, smallest, now just 20 months and she in imported from Germany as we have a lot of health issues in the country’s ACD lines and both my older ACD’s are going blind (PRA ) and even my awesome Nip is retied for competition, so i needed to find a sound line. Glad you enjoyed it, we are a bit behind with lesson 4 but hope to catch up a bit this week. happy training and keep up your good work, you can do it!
Hello Silvia and classmates,
Today, finally I got to set up the sequence and try it out. It was fun, but I’m noticing that Maia is ‘jogging’ through it, as she does on most courses these days 🙁 I’m not sure why. Today for some reason, I kept getting cik and cap mixed up -- oops, my bad. She is still dropping the bar on cik’s so I am getting her to a chiropractor next week and I am working on tricks that strenghten her left side.
She was much, much faster on the serpentine set up. This was the second time I tried it with her. The only problem, is she is not coming to me when called and is taking jumps on her own (as was evidenced at the trial this past weekend where she blind crossed me and took a broad jump just because it was on her line) I must say, I love doing serps this way! It is so much easier and so much faster!
Oh I forgot to ask, is there anyway that I can motivate her more in these sequences and on courses? If I run any faster, I will lose her on course and she will miss obstacles. Here is a video of her jumpers course from the weekend. It was an easy course, very flowy and she jogged through it (so did I but that was so I did not loose her) I know she can run much faster than that. I’ve seen her do it. She runs much faster on the above serpentine sequence compared to the other sequence and on course. Any advice?
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I think that was actually a really nice run! The two places where you’re indeed loosing time is when you’re standing there, waiting for her to then rear cross and after she goes into a little barking circle to tell you your front cross was too late 🙂 To save time, you would need to front cross (or even better, as it’s a straight line: blind cross 🙂 ) there instead of rear cross and you would need to front cross earlier and call her to hand immediately to get her on the right line immediately. All in all, I think you need to run faster even if she misses a jump or two because of that: she will learn with experience that taking the jumps is important -- making it easy at first as we’re doing with serpentines and then adding difficulties, but slowly enough that she can keep full speed is the key to speedy dog. For now, just go deeper with her to obstacles instead of sending her as that way, you will need to run faster and then she will run faster too.
Thank you for your advice! I will definitely put it into practice. We don’t learn blind crosses here and they are frowned upon, but I hope to get the ‘courage’ to use them one day 🙂 “They” say that if I teach the dog to blind cross me, that the dog will then start taking off course obstacles and flick away -- I personally don’t know if that is true IF you teach your dog to follow you and your verbals and hands.
This weekend, I have a one day trial that I am entered in. I will run faster and run up to the obstacles where I can. What do I do if she misses a jump because I am too far ahead of her? I will be eliminated anyway, so do I just stop running and take her off the course, or do I ‘train in the ring’ and get her to take the obstacle that she missed? Thank you again!
You train in the ring and keep running and having fun, NOT taking her back for the missed obstacle as that kills the speed and the flow. Once you get all the lines right, she will be taking all the obstacles, no worries here.
And yeah, I know what “they” say, but personally, I saw way more crossing behind the back when not cued in US where nobody is doing blind crosses (and nobody teaches the dog to come to hand! 🙂 ) as in Europe where everybody is doing them (and therefore everybody teaches the dogs carefully to come to a lowered hand). I didn’t do blind crosses for first 10+ years, believing The Myth, but then discovered the advantages of blind crosses. The greatest thing is that you don’t need to circle your feet and can just RUN and is very useful for places, inappropriate for either front cross or rear cross (as both RC and FC cue collection and slow down the dog -- while BC cues extension and is great to use on curves or running contacts -- anywhere you don’t want to slow down the dog).
I didn’t see much jogging! She looks great. I thought she was faster when you were ahead of her than when she’s driving ahead of you-maybe less clear on what to do?
Yes, she does not do well ahead of me at all, except on the serpentine sequence here. I have a lot of trouble with her with rear crosses. The thing is, I know she can run much faster on course. I think I am going to start starting with her wrapping around me and then just running with her, rather than leading out half a jump to see if that will make a difference.
Serpentines are sure going GREAT!!! She has very good tight line there and great speed! Wraps could mostly be tighter, but you’re mostly too late to tell her about it: the faster the dog is going, the faster she needs to know about it!!! Basically, you should say it as soon as her front feet hit the ground after the previous jump. The sequence went really well too, but it’s true she doesn’t run so much as in serpentines, I think it’s because you can’t move as much and then she is not so much in a hurry either. Try to move as much as possible though, for example do front cross from 6 to 7 to be able to push more: pushing is always faster as pulling. Another thing that is always recommend for dogs very dependant on handler’s movement is reward a lot by throwing a ball -- but I see you’re mostly doing that already. To make her understand the difference between pulling to obstacles vs. coming to hand, sometimes practise with tug toy too, call her to a lowered hand (with a toy in it at first) and reward from your hand. Then try to move more&more and closer&closer to obstacles as you call and reward for staying at your hand.
Great serpentines! I love your training area.
Sorry this is a bit premature, the first time we tried the serpentine. But I am so proud of Arrow. At the start of lesson #2 he had never gone forward over a jump and it took some effort to train this. Now you would never know! We are learning so much.
Also, watch out for the bumpy ride. Unexpected to me too.
It’s definitely amazing! Keep angling those jumps, it doesn’t seem he will have any problems with serpentines!
Wow, Pam, what a fast little guy he is!!!
I love Arrow, he’s so cute!
Thank you, Jennifer and Mara. He is a cute, fun fast little dog.
Now I need to curb his destructive puppy habits. So fast to chew up my little alarm clock and puncture the battery! So fast to pull the thread to ruin the rug! Lucky he is so cute.
Hi Silvia,
Here is our 1st practice on sequence 2.
What do you think?
The video contains our whole work to give you an idea of how much she can do in a session. Since she is my 1st agility dog I have no comparison to know if I’m, or not, too demanding!
Thank you
Céline
Cool, she sure looks like lots of fun! I think that’s enough for one session for a dog of her age. Maybe you can try a break then and then some weaves or contacts after the break and that’s definitely enough. The sequence went really well, the only thing that could still be better is a turn on 6, that one is somewhat wide… Did you say cik? That would be cik too -- with handler on landing side. What additionally pulls her to the right is that you go so far in that direction with her: ideally, you cue the jump by standing at the wing, you are just pushing her in the wrong direction and then crowding her when you go to the middle of the bar -- look in my video where I stand to cue 6 for comparison. Other than this little detail, things are definitely going great! You sure both run really fast!!!
OK
On 6 I didn’t say cik…
I see on my video that I’m marking too much the fences, How could I be smoother and give distances btw her and me? Is it just time?
This session was actually divided into 3 parts with breaks in between.
I’ll let you know how many RC she can handle in a whole session (also divided into 3 parts).
But the more I analyze our videos and other’s videos, the more I think I’m just too demanding for my little puppy that is not even 8 months old 🙂
Yes, I think she is doing really great! You can start to trust her more&more and show her the jumps less&less 🙂 -- but yes, it will come with more experience.
A new video of our kit/kat, multiwraps, figure-8, a small section and weaves:
Beautiful weaves and turns! I like the hoop trick 🙂
Thanks 😀
Wow, what a progress!!! I see you are doing several things to fix the bar problem 🙂 -- what do you think helped the most? He is sure getting tighter&tighter, you’re really doing a great job! He still gets taken away sometimes, but it really looks like you’re on the right way. You can spread the jumps some more for figure 8s and keep working the tunnel-wrap exercises, that’s really good for him. I think he will soon be ready for cik&cap sequences too. Great weaves and great tricks too!
Thanks. I’ll do that 😀
I’ve been doing several thinks to fix the bar problem: the stationary jumping (muscle work), acting crazy when he jumps and rewarded the bar for staying up and at last hanging stuff on the bars.
Whoops. Forgot to tell about the turning point in our bar knocking problem. I’ve been teaching him the off switch game, where he has to do a default behavior (lie down) before the fun (agility) starts again. If he can do the lie down fast (without cue, besides from me standing still), I know I haven’t crossed his border of excitement. Then I can exite him a little bit more and gradually increase the excitement 😉
Cool, he could definitely use some off switch yes 🙂 But he sure looks much calmer now, with tricks and downs in between -- great job!
That’s amazing -- i hope Grace & I can be as successful with fixing our bar problem as you have been 🙂
Hi Silvia and classmates,
Sorry, it’s a bit long and none of the particular lessons, so I’m not sure where to post it. Main objective here is motivation; I edited the singing and dancing out 🙂 This is before my regular agility class. Funny thing was that he was more willing to work and play after everyone else arrived. I didn’t tape that part since it had nothing to do with this class and it’s excercises. He is so concerned/worried about checking and sniffing his environment, he needs a very long warm up phase. It is clear that we need this class and some advice on how to proceed.
Well, here it is….
I don’t know if I should be laughing or crying watching this. A little bit of both I think
Now why would you edit out the dancing and the singing?! 🙂 He sure is cute though…:)
yeah, he is cute when he is not sniffing 🙂
Jennifer, darauf muss ich jetzt etwas schreiben, weil es sich so verzweifelt anhört. Und ist ja auch wirklich schrecklich, wenn man all die anderen supermotivierten, schnellen Hunde hier sieht. Aber Silvia ist nun wirklich der Fachmann für Motivation. Ich denke, das ist eine richtig gute Lösung mit der Box und nur rausnehmen, wenn Buddy an der Reihe ist. Wäre doch schon schön als Ziel für diesen Kurs, wenn er am Ende einfach motiviert ist, mit Dir zu arbeiten. Silvia hat auch mal irgendwann geschrieben (das fand ich auch echt richtig gut !!!), das man schauen soll, das der Hund immer mehr mit dem Hundeführer spielt als mit sich selbst: also wenn Buddy 2 Stunden am Tag schnüffeln geht, dann heißt das, das man über 2 Stunden mit ihm etwas Schönes machen müsste. Geht schwer. Da ist das Wegsperren in die Box dann auch eine Möglichkeit, ihm die Gelegenheit zu nehmen alleine zu schnüffeln und dann muss das gemeinsame Spielen eben auch nicht so superlang sein. Jennifer, auf keinen Fall will ich etwas besser wissen (kann ich ja auch nicht), ich möchte Dir nur sagen, das ich Deine Verzweiflung verstehe (lauhing or crying)….hoffentlich tut es Dir gut!!!!!!!!
Ja, danke, Birgit. Es geht schon seit ueber 2 Jahren so auf und ab mit unserem Training. Er ist der schwierigste Hund, den ich je hatte, und er hatte einen ganz schlechten Start ins Leben, und da hat er anscheinend gelernt sich selbst zu beschaeftigen und Menschen nicht zu trauen. Ich finde irgendwie nicht den richtigen Draht zu ihm, er haelt mich immernoch auf Distanz. Ich geh’ mir schon selbst auf die Nerven mit meinem Gejammer 😉
..mir nicht. Ich denke übrigens auch, dass es nicht unbedingt schlimm ist, sich für einen neuen Welpen zu entscheiden und dem ersten Hund dann trotzdem noch das bietet, was er braucht und ihn fördert wo es geht. Meine ältere Bergerhündin, die habe ich total falsch (bezogen auf das Agility, wo es ja vornehmlich um Tempo, Spaß geht) erzogen und wir werden nie schnell werden im Agility -- das macht uns beiden so keinen Spaß. Jetzt mit Fine trainiere ich ja nun hier bei Silvia und es ist einfach nur toll. Trotzdem mache ich noch viel mit Clara und auch die lernt jetzt noch das Spielen, aber eben nur im Rahmen ihrer von mir begrenzten Möglichkeiten. Vielleicht wäre das auch ein schöner Weg für Buddy und dich? Hattest du ja auch schon angedacht. Bei uns ist das sogar so das, seitdem Fine da ist, ich wieder viel gelassener (und deshalb besser) mit Clara umgehen, spielen, trainieren kann.
hallo Jenny,
ich bewundere dich wirklich für deine unendliche Geduld und dein Durchhaltevermögen! Ich hab’s mittlerweile aufgesteckt. Ich lese hier mit und schaue die Videos an und trainiere so für mich mit dem Hund meiner Tochter, damit ich das Ganze auf die Reihe bringe. Ich finde es für mich auch nicht einfach mir die Abfolge zu merken und zu laufen. Alice wird von Übung zu Übung schlechter, und bei all den anderen hier, die immer besser und immer schneller und sicherer werden, gebe ich es mir nicht Videos einzustellen. Da ich auch nicht jammern will, schweige ich dazu und freue mich für die restlichen Kursteilnehmer die alles wunderbar können, und deren Hunde immer besser, sicherer und schneller werden. Ich schreibe das auch nur, damit du weisst du bist nicht die einzige deren Hund nicht mitmacht
oh, Susanne!! Komm, lad einfach irgendwas hoch!! Schlimmer als meins kann’s nun wirklich sein 🙂 🙂 Ja, es ist nicht einfach sich hier die anderen tollen Videos anzuschauen. Ich habe aber extra das schrecklichste Training rein gestellt, das wir letzte Woche hatten, weil ich halt Hilfe brauche. Super Beispiel fuer unmotivierten Hund und verwirrtem Hundefuehrer…:) Auch das grosse Jammern hilft manchmal.
Silvia und die anderen koennen bestimmt helfen! Nur Mut!
Hallo Susanne, ich habe bei den Running Contacts auch superschlimme Zeiten (immer noch und auch immer gehabt). Trotzdem, wenn du etwas einstellst (und eben auch nur dann!!!!), gibt Silvia Tipps, die dich wirklich weiter voran bringen. Fine hat keinen einzigen Ball zurückgebracht und ich habe das hier ins Netz gestellt -- superviele Leute hatten superviele, supergute Tipps…jetzt holt sie Bälle. Und du wirst es auch erleben, dass es noch mehr Teilnehmer gibt, die deine Probleme haben und erst dann Videos einstellen, wenn du deines eingestellt hast. Ist ja ein geschützter Raum hier -- ich würde mich, wie bereits gesagt -- auch sehr freuen, wieder ein Video von dir zu sehen. Meinen Teilnehmern in meinen Fitnesskursen sage ich immer “..holt euch das Training, für das ihr gekommen seid.” Hol`du dir die Tipps, die du brauchst und die du ja offensichtlich auch haben wolltest, sonst hättest du diesen Kurs nicht gebucht.!!!!
hallo Birgit,
ich habe diesen Kurs gebucht, weil ich mir in Bezug auf Alice die ganze Zeit etwas vorgemacht habe. Das habe ich während dieses Kurses nun klar erkannt, und reagiere darauf indem ich kein Agi mehr mit ihr mache. Ich trainiere jetzt nur noch mit Feline. Da könnte ich Videos einstellen, aber da Feline alles richtig gut macht, ist das nicht wirklich nötig, weil es klappt, wenn ich es läuferisch auf die Reihe bringe. Auditing reicht mit Feline völlig aus, und mitlesen und Videos schauen bringt auch sehr viel.
Bei den RC werde ich auch Videos einstellen, denn Feline holt auch keine Bälle, aber sie läuft, und hat Spaß daran, ähnlich wie deine süße, kleine Fine…..
He sure reminds me of my Samoyed a lot. He hated drills and did the best with people around and watching, he loved excitement in the air. I think Buddy react well to it too, he is running much better when you start talking to him and run more. I think he will never do well with drills and I think you need to do things exactly the opposite way as I recommend to Charlotte for example: her highly excited BC with hyperventilation problem really needs her calm, mixing agility with tricks and make it more of a mental game as a racing game. Buddy needs minimum of drills, agility should be a party time, you should be as energetic, happy and dynamic as possible, running as fast you can and playing as wildly as you can. Where is that sock and where is the barking? I would keep him in a crate or car all the time when it’s not his turn, then go get him, act all happy and excited, do something short, fun and intense and reward as crazy. If he goes into a sniffing mode, I would take his collar and return him to the crate -- not angry at any way, but not giving him an option either. At home, with less interesting things to sniff, leaving him there alone might work, but I think you said already at home, he was choosing sniffing over working, so in this even more interesting environment, I wouldn’t even give him a choice.
yep, he didn’t seem to care all that much about me leaving, he’s doesn’t have separation anxiety at all. When everyone was there, he watched from his crate and then he played tug and barked and came out of his shell. He likes the lead out game with a start line stay, we play that a lot at home.
I got frustrated again, because I pay to rent the space to practice and I never know what mood he will be in, and then I just run around with a toy, so we are not able to practice the actual excercise enough. Phew! He is one tough nut to crack!
Don’t I know that feeling! I drive 2 hours one way plus pay for a private lesson and then Tibby just wants to run away and sniff. Very frustrating!
Well, it would be perfect if you could share a rent with a friend and take Buddy to the crate and give another dog a chance to run in between whenever he goes into sniffing mode. Might add to the excitement too!
yes, that helps for sure. I will try to make a date with somebody.
I’m really glad you posted this -- interesting to watch. He certainly gets more engaged when you go a little crazy 🙂 Grace loves it when i bark at her, wonder if buddy wld like a barking competition w you. You’ll have no social inhibition by the time buddy’s finished with you! IT’s good that he’s a showman and likes an audience, much better than if they shut down w too much hustle and bustle.I love silvia’s suggestions w using the crate and the other dog -- i bet he’ll love that game 🙂
Hey, Cam, glad you liked it. I didn’t really want to post it 🙂
About a year ago, he didn’t like it all when I raised my voice and he would shrink back or give me a worried look. So that’s better now. I tried capturing the barking, but he would stop when the clicker and food appeared. When I barked at him last night, he jumped for my face and scratched my legs. ouch!
Capturing can take a while as they indeed usually stop doing the thing and start thinking in other directions. But keep trying. Maybe don’t click right away, but start encouraging him to keep barking with an excited voice and saying your “bark” cue -- maybe you can keep him barking longer that way?
I am a fan for life after watching the teeter work, the part where he heads up the board, on the chair and over the aframe was priceless and made me fall in love with him:)
Thanks, Dawn. At least he’s not afraid, right?! 🙂 He went up the teeter, because I was holding it down with my foot. I was having another “duh!” moment 🙂 Once he climbed on the A-frame, I didn’t say anything, because I was afraid he might fall off, it was on weels and very wobbly. But the new rubber surface sure is very grippy and soft! It’s great stuff.
I think his middle name must be Magellan, because he is a great explorer.
His real name is actually Huck Finn, but he has many nick names, the latest one is Madeye Moody 🙂
I have to admit Jennifer, I was also laughing when he climbed up the teeter and that A-Frame all by himself 😉 He is just so cute!
Hi Silvia & Classmates,
Here is Emily & I’s current video. We have slowed down A LOT and made things way more fun and I am asking a lot less of her in each session so in our sequencing we only got to #4. She liked the serpentine game so we did more of that. I have the jumps probably higher than you would recommend but she gets REALLY freaked out when she hits a bar (to the point she would get so worried she didn’t want to go anywhere near jumps again if it made a big noise) and all the work with the lower jumps she was hitting the bar more because she wasn’t really jumping, often just trying to walk or trot over them. So I spent a couple weeks playing cik/cap wrapping games with one jump and got her all the way up to 26″ happy fast jumps without doing any jumps in sequences (except with the dog walk), so she could learn how to jump and use her body comfortably, then I lowered the jumps back down to the height that seemed to make her the most confident and happy which is currently 16″, at this height she jumps and doesn’t hit any bars and now she is finally thinking jumps are really fun again. I know that means she may jump a little wide sometimes but I think her confidence is more important then tightness right now. Hope you are ok with all that:)
She still needs more obstacle focus on the jumps when my motion is involved, it is really good with just one jump at home with the throwing the ball game (I can send her and peel off from 15ft away- once she learned that was the new get the ball game), and it is really good with the dog walk & weaves, but in a multiple jump sequence she will still sometimes stall out if I stop suddenly, so I am just trying to keep it fun and trying to support a little more with my motion for now. I think with time & confidence she’ll get better about it. Her sends to tunnels are really good now, so I think the jump sends will come too when she is a more confident jumper.
The weaves are coming along pretty good I think. I just showed the more extreme angles & speed entries we have done, I am still doing more proofing stuff as well. Tomorrow she is getting spayed so we’ll be off for the next week to 10 days, we’ll be doing an xray to check to see if her growth plates are closed which they should be by now, so if we get the ok from the vet after our break I’ll really be working on closing the channel more.
There are also some wraps to dog walk to wraps to dog walk on the video as well. I think her dog walk is coming along beautifully and I couldn’t be happier! I am SO happy we did you running contact class! With the turns she is at full height on the plank at home, haven’t tried them with the full dog walk yet. Also some teeters, which I know are not part of this homework but I snuck it in since there is so little jumping:) Once I went to where the board was level she just started jumping all the way on because it’s kind of high for her to just grab with the front feet, so I put it back a little lower and have been working on her jumping on & releasing, she offered downing on the board so I went with it since it makes her happy. I am SHOCKED she is this confident on the teeter with how noise sensitive she is, really shocked and very happy!
Thanks for all the help and suggestions, I know we are behind and now she’ll be off for another week, but hopefully we’ll catch up!
Oh, and do I get a prize for always have the longest comments? I think I am the clear winner on that:)
I think you are the happiest handler 🙂 I loved watching you two.
Thank you! She is a very easy dog to be happy with:)
Definitely looks faster as last time! Tightness is definitely not her problem, so it was good to focus on straight lines mostly, I think she needs lots of that, lots of ball throwing and just running. Speedy sends to get the ball are great too. I would also try to include DW in sequences as fast as possible as she seems to like it and it might speed her up. You can slowly build a sequence after each end, for example do a tunnel after a wrap, to another wrap back to DW, then maybe two jumps back to DW etc. And the same with weaves, you can use those to make jumps more fun too. She sure seems happy about her see-saw too, they usually love it when build that way even if they’re normally worried about the sound. Wishing Emily a fast recovery and return to agility! 🙂
Oh yes, she LOVES her dog walk:) the weaves have that same level of enthusiasm and I think the teeter and aframe will all have that same effect. She has two gears: careful methodical I must get this right, or rip roaring I totally understand this let’s do it. She won’t give me the speed until she understands what her part of the job is, so things right now that require handling where she has to change and adjust still throw her a bit. So jumps/turns by themselves she understands and is happy to do them, but changing between running straight & turning jumps still gives her a case of the worries:) The great news is once she understands her job she really gives me everything she’s got and is a dog who is not likely to be wrong often. She really loves the one jump turning work games, so I think like you said I’ll work much more on straight fast lines, add in the dog walk & weaves, then keep most of the turn work to one jump. Here are a couple videos of the one jump work we do, she really loves these games.
What a great job!!…and sooooo much fun for her 🙂
Thanks. We like to have fun around here:) My friend’s all make fun of my “eeeeeee” sound I make for her- they all call her Emilyeeeeeee now.
Cool, but I think I would very quickly add more distance and speed into that game: more like go run in that corner of the garden to go get that jump. I also wouldn’t overdo the height, she doesn’t look comfortable on higher as 16 and starts to jump too high, with too much preparation and legs completely tucked under her.
I only did the high heights that one day for the two sessions to show her how high she could jump so the lower jumps would be easy for her, they’ve been at 16″ since and I’ll keep her there until she’s bolder and happier about it.
Once she’s back from her spay recovery (surgery went great) I’ll work more on sends to the jump from further away. The good news, all my worrying about her hips because of her one sided tendencies on the tricks was for not, the xrays & hip evaluation showed she has great hips:) Her growth plates are closed too.
That’s great news! I’m sure she recovers in no time!
I love your one jump excercises!! You have great problem solving skills!!!
Thanks, we have such a tiny yard that we have to be creative to keep it interesting.