more Board & a crazy morning inspired by agilitynerd's TeamSmallDog Practice Sequence video
Stella's breakfast was the Silvia Trkman board again--so yay, no jumps at 18 1/2 inches---she's taking it just fine, confidently, but... not as fast as she was when it was lower... Its possible she doesn't trust my construction at this height yet, because of the time a few sessions back when it was bouncing and sliding and rattling... but I HAVE gotten it pretty solid now... in any case I think I should wait to raise it until she's faster again, but I keeping asking myself What Would Silvia Do? but I don't know... maybe add a little razmataz and break out a toy?
Meanwhile, I was inspired last night by agilitynerd's video of the Team Small Dog Practice Sequence challenge and realized I had enough equipment (just short the first and last jumps) to lug it out to Prospect Park and give the challenge a try at off leash this morning...
I had planned to just try the First Three Ways he handled it... I didn't get that far. I never got her focus enough to really do his Way #1 and then eventually DID get her focus barely enough to do our version of his Way #2... and these below were our ONLY successful runs out there today before I decided, um, we'd better stop while we were having a little bit of success
Lessons learned today:
A--Get out there MUCH earlier.
By the time I got my cart of stuff to the "quieter place" in the meadow and finished getting the sequence set up it wasn't quite as quiet anymore. Okay, so fine, bring on some distractions... but whoa, hmmm, maybe not that many dogs running in and out or stopping and standing in the sequence...
B--Don't forget to bring Stella's toys next time.
I can usually keep her happy and having fun and paying attention to me while I set up in the park by getting her to do retrieves with her orange football or kong on a rope while I set up... so instead she spent the entire set up running around yelling her head off, most likely telling everyone she could that this was HER agility stuff... so really, I don't know how I expected her to suddenly calm down and give me her focus when I was ready to start working.
C--Don't forget next time to do our usual focus warm-ups.
No bow? No right? No Left? No tippy toe? What was I thinking? Not thinking at all... I totally should have at least done two or three minutes of flatwork first to let Stella know that we're going to work together for a while this morning--before going off to play with her buddies. It was a switch on her--I haven't lugged equipment out there really since the fall and so off leash in the park pretty much has meant free time to be just a dog.
D--Maybe reward every obstacle the first couple of times through...
OR I could even ask her to do the weaves alone first, they seem to demand the most concentration from her... and it was REALLY hard in this situation...
E--Help her out sooner... When she finally got around to trying to do the weave she kept missing her entry, and it took me too long to figure out I should open the first 2, because as soon as I did she got the entry and I could close it right back up again after that...
F--Um, note to self: be prepared, she could be like this at the trial on Sunday... so think, what will I do exactly? think.
G--Kudos to me for stopping this morning when I did--It was a good idea, considering everything, to stop when I had some success and call it a morning---BUT we're going to try it again some other morning!!! We CAN do this.
Really I know, with all them dogs running in and around, it was not fair and way too much to ask of her just cold the way I did---the distractions were kind of extreme... or extreme for the way we have been working lately basically in a controlled environment inside. I think the only reason we got Way #2 was, not because it was the easer way for us, but Way #1 was our slapstick-get-the-jitters-out warm-up and I just decided to stop asking her to do the SAME thing she wasn't doing and by that time, we both had calmed down enough to work together for Way #2
So, this is a WARNING, this video below is posted ONLY for those who likes to LAUGH and CRINGE and then also maybe even think of helpful suggestions while viewing others semi disastrous training videos... here is my 8 minute unedited version of this morning's session in Prospect Park... oh man... yikes
after that we packed up and trucked back to the north end and Stella did get her happy playtime with Wally and Luna and Max and Maya and Abby and Nemo... all light-weights who don't body-slam... that eventually ended when a dog named Buddy (whose owner was a little too scarce for my taste) became obsessed with getting a vice grip on her hind end--which needs protecting these days--and trying to hump her
Meanwhile, I was inspired last night by agilitynerd's video of the Team Small Dog Practice Sequence challenge and realized I had enough equipment (just short the first and last jumps) to lug it out to Prospect Park and give the challenge a try at off leash this morning...
Click to viewI had planned to just try the First Three Ways he handled it... I didn't get that far. I never got her focus enough to really do his Way #1 and then eventually DID get her focus barely enough to do our version of his Way #2... and these below were our ONLY successful runs out there today before I decided, um, we'd better stop while we were having a little bit of success
Lessons learned today:
A--Get out there MUCH earlier.
By the time I got my cart of stuff to the "quieter place" in the meadow and finished getting the sequence set up it wasn't quite as quiet anymore. Okay, so fine, bring on some distractions... but whoa, hmmm, maybe not that many dogs running in and out or stopping and standing in the sequence...
B--Don't forget to bring Stella's toys next time.
I can usually keep her happy and having fun and paying attention to me while I set up in the park by getting her to do retrieves with her orange football or kong on a rope while I set up... so instead she spent the entire set up running around yelling her head off, most likely telling everyone she could that this was HER agility stuff... so really, I don't know how I expected her to suddenly calm down and give me her focus when I was ready to start working.
C--Don't forget next time to do our usual focus warm-ups.
No bow? No right? No Left? No tippy toe? What was I thinking? Not thinking at all... I totally should have at least done two or three minutes of flatwork first to let Stella know that we're going to work together for a while this morning--before going off to play with her buddies. It was a switch on her--I haven't lugged equipment out there really since the fall and so off leash in the park pretty much has meant free time to be just a dog.
D--Maybe reward every obstacle the first couple of times through...
OR I could even ask her to do the weaves alone first, they seem to demand the most concentration from her... and it was REALLY hard in this situation...
E--Help her out sooner... When she finally got around to trying to do the weave she kept missing her entry, and it took me too long to figure out I should open the first 2, because as soon as I did she got the entry and I could close it right back up again after that...
F--Um, note to self: be prepared, she could be like this at the trial on Sunday... so think, what will I do exactly? think.
G--Kudos to me for stopping this morning when I did--It was a good idea, considering everything, to stop when I had some success and call it a morning---BUT we're going to try it again some other morning!!! We CAN do this.
Really I know, with all them dogs running in and around, it was not fair and way too much to ask of her just cold the way I did---the distractions were kind of extreme... or extreme for the way we have been working lately basically in a controlled environment inside. I think the only reason we got Way #2 was, not because it was the easer way for us, but Way #1 was our slapstick-get-the-jitters-out warm-up and I just decided to stop asking her to do the SAME thing she wasn't doing and by that time, we both had calmed down enough to work together for Way #2
So, this is a WARNING, this video below is posted ONLY for those who likes to LAUGH and CRINGE and then also maybe even think of helpful suggestions while viewing others semi disastrous training videos... here is my 8 minute unedited version of this morning's session in Prospect Park... oh man... yikes
after that we packed up and trucked back to the north end and Stella did get her happy playtime with Wally and Luna and Max and Maya and Abby and Nemo... all light-weights who don't body-slam... that eventually ended when a dog named Buddy (whose owner was a little too scarce for my taste) became obsessed with getting a vice grip on her hind end--which needs protecting these days--and trying to hump her