I can't believe that we have only been doing this for 9 days. It feels like a lot longer than that! Today we worked at 16". And despite several (bad trainers!) days off, Bentley does well.
Video:
Stats:
Reps: 30
% Success: 100%
Thoughts:
1. Height. We honestly can't go any higher with this board in our backyard. We may try putting our mini A-Frame in the yard to see if we can use that.
2. Transitions. I think we need to move a bit faster as far as height goes. I know it's only been 9 days, but he is doing well. I think it will get harder as we get closer and closer to the regulation heights. I want to spend more time there, and then not only can we focus on strides, but also building speed.
3. Puppy. We took Lexi (7 months) out today to "play" on the board with it flat on the ground. I just took her out and treated any interaction with the board. With her smart sheltie brain she was running all the way across with just a few tries. Now it leaves me with the difficult question: What kind of contacts do we want with her? 2o2o for her? Or running?
Showing posts with label Board. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Board. Show all posts
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Day 8
Another day at 12". Short update--putting in a fence this weekend!
Video
Stats:
Reps: 26
% Success: 96%
Thoughts:
1. Analysis. Still having trouble identifying jumps/long strides.
Video
Stats:
Reps: 26
% Success: 96%
Thoughts:
1. Analysis. Still having trouble identifying jumps/long strides.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Day 7
Board is up to 12" off the ground.
Video:
Stats:
Reps: 34
% Success: 91%
Thoughts:
1. Analysis. We incorrectly identified 1 jump in this one (we click at 38 seconds, but it's a stride over the yellow). I think it becomes more and more difficult as his jumps become more and more like long strides.
2. Striding. It's as if he has learned not to jump, but not yet understanding that his goal is to stride to the end of the board. It is lucky because his strides take him to the end of the board around 90% of the time. I hope this will come with time.
3. Clicking. In combination with the above, we have to make sure that not only are we clicking for strides instead of jumps, but also ONLY strides through the yellow.
4. Transition. I think our goal is to get him up to full height on the dogwalk (48"). Then we will lower the A-frame and work on striding to the end of that. The teeter is a whole 'nother story!
Video:
Stats:
Reps: 34
% Success: 91%
Thoughts:
1. Analysis. We incorrectly identified 1 jump in this one (we click at 38 seconds, but it's a stride over the yellow). I think it becomes more and more difficult as his jumps become more and more like long strides.
2. Striding. It's as if he has learned not to jump, but not yet understanding that his goal is to stride to the end of the board. It is lucky because his strides take him to the end of the board around 90% of the time. I hope this will come with time.
3. Clicking. In combination with the above, we have to make sure that not only are we clicking for strides instead of jumps, but also ONLY strides through the yellow.
4. Transition. I think our goal is to get him up to full height on the dogwalk (48"). Then we will lower the A-frame and work on striding to the end of that. The teeter is a whole 'nother story!
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Day 6
Double update today! Quick one though, as I'm working on an exam...
We raised the height about halfway through the video from 5" off the ground to 9".
Video
Stats:
Reps: 37
% Success: 97%
Thoughts:
1. Height. Bentley takes the height change in stride (quite literally)! And only really goofs on the second to last rep. Notice that my husband accidentally clicked it!
2. Increasing Height. We are progressing more quickly than I expected. I'm currently brainstorming the best way to make the board taller and taller. What we're using now (extra boards) will maybe get us a few more inches, but no more than that without sacrificing stability.
3. Traction. We painted the yellow portion with sand and paint and the traction is great. We'll need to take another time out soon and add sand to the middle section.
We raised the height about halfway through the video from 5" off the ground to 9".
Video
Stats:
Reps: 37
% Success: 97%
Thoughts:
1. Height. Bentley takes the height change in stride (quite literally)! And only really goofs on the second to last rep. Notice that my husband accidentally clicked it!
2. Increasing Height. We are progressing more quickly than I expected. I'm currently brainstorming the best way to make the board taller and taller. What we're using now (extra boards) will maybe get us a few more inches, but no more than that without sacrificing stability.
3. Traction. We painted the yellow portion with sand and paint and the traction is great. We'll need to take another time out soon and add sand to the middle section.
Day 5
We skipped a day on Friday to add traction to our board. Unfortunately, we picked the worst day to do it because it was so humid. The board didn't dry until today (Sunday). Saturday we had class at our agility training field so we did a quick practice out there. We didn't bother raising the board, and the result was a very successful 25 reps.
Video
Stats:
Reps: 25
% Success: 96%
Thoughts:
1. Speed. He's a lot faster now than before. But ONLY when we run with him. He isn't motivated by himself (story of his agility career!)
2. Weather. The heat has an impact, which is going to make this tougher and tougher. Notice how hot/tired he is by the end. And we only trained for 6 minutes. We may have to do 2 five minute sessions a day when it starts to get hot rather than one 10 minute session.
Hopefully more to come tonight...
Video
Stats:
Reps: 25
% Success: 96%
Thoughts:
1. Speed. He's a lot faster now than before. But ONLY when we run with him. He isn't motivated by himself (story of his agility career!)
2. Weather. The heat has an impact, which is going to make this tougher and tougher. Notice how hot/tired he is by the end. And we only trained for 6 minutes. We may have to do 2 five minute sessions a day when it starts to get hot rather than one 10 minute session.
Hopefully more to come tonight...
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Day 4
Progress! Today we raised the board about 5 inches off the ground. And we had a high success rate!
Video
Stats:
Reps: 35
% Success: 97%
Thoughts:
1. Traction. We're adding paint/sand this weekend. In case you're wondering, about 36 oz. of sand to a gallon of paint.
2. Success. Though we had a high rate of success, I'd like to keep it at this angle one more day. No point in rushing things.
3. Speed. Definitely gaining speed and confidence. His head is down, and he's looking ahead pretty much every time now.
Video
Stats:
Reps: 35
% Success: 97%
Thoughts:
1. Traction. We're adding paint/sand this weekend. In case you're wondering, about 36 oz. of sand to a gallon of paint.
2. Success. Though we had a high rate of success, I'd like to keep it at this angle one more day. No point in rushing things.
3. Speed. Definitely gaining speed and confidence. His head is down, and he's looking ahead pretty much every time now.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Day 3
It's going to be a quick update. Puppy Lexi just got spayed, though she doesn't realize it, so most of my energy and efforts are spent keeping her busy, calm and quiet (good luck!)
We only got 30 reps in the video because our neighbor's dog started barking. We did 10 more later in the evening, and didn't record them.
Video
Stats:
Reps: 40 (30 in video)
% Success: 87%
Thoughts:
1. Speed. Seeing a definite increase in speed/confidence. Of course, his traction gets worse as his speed increases. Which leads me to...
2. Traction. We're going to have to do something about the traction. A friend of ours recommended mixing paint and sand and painting it, so I think we're going to have to do that. I wouldn't want him to slide off and get hurt.
3. Analysis. I'm still really struggling with this. Check out the reps at 10 seconds, 29 and 30 seconds. Are those strides or jumps?! I'm still not sure.
4. Trial. Depressing thought, I guess we're only entering gamblers (no snooker) offered in our upcoming trial. Obviously for a good reason, but still a bit of a bummer.
5. Graduation. Woohoo! High success rate! We'll add a block or step under the board tomorrow and see how it goes.
We only got 30 reps in the video because our neighbor's dog started barking. We did 10 more later in the evening, and didn't record them.
Video
Stats:
Reps: 40 (30 in video)
% Success: 87%
Thoughts:
1. Speed. Seeing a definite increase in speed/confidence. Of course, his traction gets worse as his speed increases. Which leads me to...
2. Traction. We're going to have to do something about the traction. A friend of ours recommended mixing paint and sand and painting it, so I think we're going to have to do that. I wouldn't want him to slide off and get hurt.
3. Analysis. I'm still really struggling with this. Check out the reps at 10 seconds, 29 and 30 seconds. Are those strides or jumps?! I'm still not sure.
4. Trial. Depressing thought, I guess we're only entering gamblers (no snooker) offered in our upcoming trial. Obviously for a good reason, but still a bit of a bummer.
5. Graduation. Woohoo! High success rate! We'll add a block or step under the board tomorrow and see how it goes.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Day 2
Day 2 is done! Man, it's going to be a long summer.
First, some comments that I got from a friend whose dogs have great contacts. She actually recommended the Trkman method to me.
1--Make sure to click when Bentley hits the yellow. We had previously been clicking as he strides off the board--oops!
2--Make sure he is driving towards something and not looking at us for the treat. We do have a bowl outside of the view of the camera, which is where the chicken is. However, Bentley is so handler focused that he would rather watch us to make sure we're not doing something different that he doesn't look ahead.
Video
Stats:
Reps: 43
% Success: 81%
Thoughts:
1. Success. The good thing is that his success rate increased drastically! I'm not sure if he's getting it, or we're making it too easy, or if it was luck, but I'm happy about that. Our goal is 85% success before moving the board. If it gets significantly worse, then we move it back to flat.
2. Traction. The board is really slippery. I'm not sure if there is a textured paint or some sort of paper we could glue to it. It's no big deal now, but once we add angles it's going to be hard for Bentley to stride without sliding.
3. Speed. He did seem a bit faster today. "Bit" being the key word, but I'll take it. I imagine days upon days of this should really build his confidence if nothing else. We did start sending him into a tunnel (can't see it in the video) and that seemed to help a little. I also think it helped him think about it.
4. Improvement. He also improved as the session went on. He missed 6 in the first 15 reps, and only 2 after that.
5. Analysis. Today seemed even harder to tell if he was jumping or striding. Sometimes he does what i call a "bounce" and I don't know whether or not to reward it...you can probably hear my late clicking as I debate (not good). I'm working on this.
First, some comments that I got from a friend whose dogs have great contacts. She actually recommended the Trkman method to me.
1--Make sure to click when Bentley hits the yellow. We had previously been clicking as he strides off the board--oops!
2--Make sure he is driving towards something and not looking at us for the treat. We do have a bowl outside of the view of the camera, which is where the chicken is. However, Bentley is so handler focused that he would rather watch us to make sure we're not doing something different that he doesn't look ahead.
Video
Stats:
Reps: 43
% Success: 81%
Thoughts:
1. Success. The good thing is that his success rate increased drastically! I'm not sure if he's getting it, or we're making it too easy, or if it was luck, but I'm happy about that. Our goal is 85% success before moving the board. If it gets significantly worse, then we move it back to flat.
2. Traction. The board is really slippery. I'm not sure if there is a textured paint or some sort of paper we could glue to it. It's no big deal now, but once we add angles it's going to be hard for Bentley to stride without sliding.
3. Speed. He did seem a bit faster today. "Bit" being the key word, but I'll take it. I imagine days upon days of this should really build his confidence if nothing else. We did start sending him into a tunnel (can't see it in the video) and that seemed to help a little. I also think it helped him think about it.
4. Improvement. He also improved as the session went on. He missed 6 in the first 15 reps, and only 2 after that.
5. Analysis. Today seemed even harder to tell if he was jumping or striding. Sometimes he does what i call a "bounce" and I don't know whether or not to reward it...you can probably hear my late clicking as I debate (not good). I'm working on this.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Day 1
So Day 1 is in the books!
Video
Sorry about the bad words, it took me so long to edit and put the video together that I'm too tired to try to change the song.
Stats:
Reps: 40
% Success: 65%
Thoughts:
1. Speed. The faster we go, the more of a tendency he has to jump off the end. However, if we slow down, he practically walks to the end of the board. I think he does better towards the end, so I hope that this will come with repetition.
2. Independence. The good thing about this exercise is that it allows me to work in a lot of different places. In the video, you'll see that in some cases we stay behind, in others we're on the left or on the right, running with him, walking, etc... This will hopefully eliminate another problem that Bentley has which is that he is very hesitant to perform contacts independently of us.
3. Analysis. The hardest part is determining what is a "jump" and what is a "running stride". Some are obvious (like the first one!) and some are not. I hope to get a better eye as we progress.
Video
Sorry about the bad words, it took me so long to edit and put the video together that I'm too tired to try to change the song.
Stats:
Reps: 40
% Success: 65%
Thoughts:
1. Speed. The faster we go, the more of a tendency he has to jump off the end. However, if we slow down, he practically walks to the end of the board. I think he does better towards the end, so I hope that this will come with repetition.
2. Independence. The good thing about this exercise is that it allows me to work in a lot of different places. In the video, you'll see that in some cases we stay behind, in others we're on the left or on the right, running with him, walking, etc... This will hopefully eliminate another problem that Bentley has which is that he is very hesitant to perform contacts independently of us.
3. Analysis. The hardest part is determining what is a "jump" and what is a "running stride". Some are obvious (like the first one!) and some are not. I hope to get a better eye as we progress.
The Set Up
Went to Lowe's, bought a 12' by 1' board, and painted it. The specs, in case anyone's wondering are 36" of contact zone on either end (this applies to the dog walk and the teeter...the a-frame is 42")
Note that our backyard is rather small...and unfortunately we'll have to keep Bentley leashed as the neighbor's cat loves to come out and taunt us while we work!
Video of Day 1 to come...
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